At 7 p.m. on October 25, 2018, the College of Foreign Language Henan University held a lecture on "Gentleman Culture in British Society"，the speaker is Professor Nicholas Chrimes of Cambridge University. Professor Chrimes, who is an erudite writer and historian, a columnist for the Chinese Weekly magazine and chairman of the Fitzwilliam Museum Lecture at Claire College, Cambridge University, who has a profound and unique perspective on British culture, especially on education and history. In the past few years, he has given speeches at Beijing University, Tsinghua University and other famous Chinese universities. What’s more, he has been interviewed to program called Dialogue on CCTV 9 to talk about his special understanding about culture and custom. In October 2016, Professor Chrimes visited China again and gave lectures at various Chinese universities to enable more and more Chinese students to understand the history and culture of Cambridge University and Britain. Mr. Fu Jiangtao chaired this lecture, teachers, undergraduates and postgraduates attended this brilliant lecture.
Professor Chrimes introduced the changes of gentleman culture in different periods of Britain, including the transition of dress custom, education culture, behavior habits, and so on, which deepen the recognition of students about long history of British gentleman culture and the understanding of British cultural background. He also made a comparison between British indigenous gentleman culture and other countries’, for example, he noted some traditional figures: Charles I, Francis I and so on, which vividly demonstrated the good quality that gentleman should have. He also explained the class differences between the British nobility and the ordinary people, especially in the wedding. Finally, Professor Chrimes said after a long period of social development, good gentleman habits have become a part of social morality, which confirms the fine traditions of British gentlemen from ancient times to the present. All of professor’s lecture enlightened students and teachers greatly.
This lecture helped students and teachers to understand a series of historical background and development of British gentleman culture, opened up their own eye horizons, which laid a good foundation for the future study of English literature and history.(author: Xia Jie)
