"The precepts in the Harvard University library" is an international joke

After verification, it was found that the "precepts" do not exist. "One day, has not been ableagaintocome." Will not come again.) "Studies this matter, lacks the time, but islacsdiligently." "Instructions on the Wall of the Study Room", Chen Yinghong probably would not have thought that one day he would establish contact with the Harvard University Library on the other side of the ocean. Chen Yinghong was told in early December last year that the school would ask an advertising company to produce a batch of slogan display boards in both Chinese and English. The content was 20 Chinese and English mottoes on the walls of the Harvard Library. However, he was very surprised when he found that the English of these precepts was "a mess" and some did not even have a subject. On December 14 last year, he sent an email to the Harvard University Library to ask whether there were any. These "instructions". The next day, Deborah Kelley-Milburn, a research librarian at Harvard University Library, responded to Chen Yinghong's email: "Many people have asked us about this issue. I think this is a folklore circulating on the Internet. We at Harvard University None of the libraries in the country (there are more than 70 libraries in Harvard University - reporter's note) have no such 'motto'." He then asked for verification: What is the motto of Harvard University? As a result, I was told that the motto of Harvard University is the Latin word "VERITAS" (which means "truth" in Chinese - reporter's note). Roadmap for the dissemination of false "precepts" Reporters found that there have been discussions on this topic on some online forums dating back to at least March 1, 2008. Some netizens posted on an English translation forum called "Xunxiang Xunxiang" to discuss "a more formal translation of "Aphorisms from the Harvard University Library". The forum administrator who initiated the topic said that some Chinese sentences circulating on the Internet about the walls of the Harvard University library "have been translated into unclear English, and some have even been passed down as the 'Harvard School Motto.'" He is worried that some people may mistake the random things posted on the Internet as examples of good English sentences. The reporter found that there were ~20 Chinese and English aphorisms in the original post. Among them, the Chinese content was almost the same as what was later published in magazines and books, but the English content was very different from subsequent versions. The post quickly aroused heated discussion in the "Xunxiang Xunxiang" forum, and the administrator commented on some important developments. For example, he points out that some English aphorisms are actually "translated" word-for-word from Chinese using relevant software. In June 2008, Beijing Institute of Technology Press published the book "The Precepts on the Wall of Harvard Library". The author is Danny Feng. He stated in his introduction that he graduated from a university in Beijing in 1991 and was working for a company in Michigan, USA. According to media reports, in the ranking list of Zhongguancun Book Building from December 29, 2008 to January 4, 2009, the social science book "The Precepts on the Wall of Harvard Library" ranked seventh in sales. From November to December 2008, "Sanjin Metropolis Daily" serialized part of the book "The Instructions on the Wall of the Harvard Library". On January 30, 2009, the eighth page of the Spring Festival special issue of "Liberation Daily" devoted more than half of the page to publishing these 20 "instructions" and part of the content of the book. At the same time, doubts on the authenticity of the so-called "instructions" have never stopped on the Internet. Some of them contacted the Harvard University Library or people who had been to the Harvard University Library to verify whether these precepts really existed. But this has not stopped the spread of these unfounded "precepts": there are still many netizens who repost these "precepts" on forums or their own blogs; some schools have also made them into bilingual display boards and placed them in school classrooms and Hallway wall.

Although the English version of the precepts mentioned in Danny Fung's book "Precepts on the Walls of the Harvard Library" are different from the versions circulating on the Internet, and there are grammatical problems, these "precepts" are misleading. Quite a few readers. Some readers later quoted some of the "precepts" in the book when writing articles and published them in newspapers and magazines, which even included some relatively important theoretical articles (such as the 7th issue of "Xinxiang Review" in 2008 published the article "Promoting Party Building from a New Starting Point"), which in turn caused a wider range of falsehoods. The author admits to making up "precepts" Danny Feng, the author of "Precepts on the Wall of the Harvard Library", wrote in the "Foreword" of the book: "Although I don't have the strength to study at Harvard University, I know that many Chinese people have Harvard dream, dream of entering that beautiful university in Massachusetts. When my friends from China come to the United States to visit, I must visit Harvard every time I go to that sacred and beautiful university. When I look at the ancient and simple library and see the mottos on the walls of the Harvard Library, I will have new insights." Chen Yinghong sent an email to Danny Feng to verify: "This is really from the Harvard University Library. Is the motto on the wall an international joke made up by you? Or is it some foreign cultural garbage? If so, please send me the original English version for my viewing." But he never received a reply from the author. Call the publisher of the book and ask about it. One of the editors in charge of the book told him that she was only responsible for proofreading the content and had not seen the original English text of these "precepts". She needed to contact the author to verify before giving a reply. On January 4 this year, during a telephone communication with the editor-in-chief of the publishing house, Chen Yinghong was told that the publishing house had contacted the author, and the author admitted that these so-called "precepts" did not exist. Therefore, the publisher will remove the relevant introduction from its website and will no longer print the book. Chen Yinghong told reporters that on January 5, there was no introduction to the book on the publisher’s website. "The planner of the book called me specifically on the afternoon of January 5 to apologize and admit that he had not been strict in controlling the situation," Chen Yinghong said. The dangers of the spread of fake "precepts" Chen Yinghong expressed concern about these fabricated "precepts": "I have only heard of candidates making up so-called 'famous quotes' or similar precepts in their Chinese compositions for the high school entrance examination or college entrance examination. It has fooled some marking teachers into not being sure whether it is true or not. Now I didn’t expect that there was actually a “Harvard Admonition” planned and fabricated by a formal publishing house to deceive the public. If this phenomenon is not exposed, it will not only make more Chinese people. I was deceived and regarded this as a classic. There will be more 'Oxford Lectures', 'Cambridge Lectures', and even 'Peking University Lectures' and 'Tsinghua Lectures'." Chen Yinghong said that these so-called lectures. There is no harm in itself. In his opinion, these "motivations on the walls of the Harvard library" mentioned in the book are actually made up according to Chinese values. "Why put on a foreign coat? It shows that the author or publishing house pursues economic interests regardless of social impact." Chen Yinghong said that he hopes that authors can strictly exercise self-discipline and not give up their moral bottom line for economic interests; the press and publishing industry must We must do more solid and detailed work and resolutely put an end to similar "pseudo-culture" and "pseudo-foreign culture."