A 15-member group from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, led by poet Guo Muruo, arrived in Hiroshima on December 15 aboard an express train from Okayama and proceeded directly to Hiroshima University. The group, which is in Japan to visit institutions of higher education, attended lectures and met with professors and students from various departments before leaving at 5:30 p.m. to dine on Japanese food at Issaen. Today the group visited Miyajima, toured Hiroshima, and paid their respects at the cenotaph in Peace Memorial Park before having lunch with interested persons and then heading for Fukuoka by express train.
The group met with Arata Osada, professor emeritus of Hiroshima University, and the heads of various academic departments and enjoyed conversation in the cozy atmosphere of the office of the university president. Feng Naichao, 55, second in charge of the group and vice president of Zhongshan University in Guangzhou, met with the press and said that as a representative of the people of China he wanted to offer words of solace to the people of Hiroshima. Feng noted that since coming to Japan he had realized that Japanese people have deep feelings of friendship for the Chinese and said the group was very interested in the academic research by the Science Council of Japan, which they had not been aware of. He also said that the people of China are absolutely opposed to the manufacture and use of atomic and hydrogen bombs and feel strongly that the technology should be used for peaceful purposes. He added that if diplomatic relations between Japan and China are restored, he hoped that student exchanges with Japan would begin right away.
At 3 p.m. Guo gave a lecture entitled “Peaceful Coexistence” in the university’s small auditorium in which he described the professors and students of Hiroshima University as “comrades at the forefront of efforts to preserve world peace.” He said that the discovery of atomic energy, which was the greatest achievement resulting from mankind’s knowledge, has been misused by some people and urged the Japanese, as fellow Asians, to join hands and call for an end to war. The audience of 1,500, which filled the hall, gave Guo a big round of applause.
Meanwhile, the Chinese specialists in the humanities, science, education, and engineering were invited to gatherings with professors and students in their respective fields. In the Humanities Department approximately 40 books were given to the group, including an “Index to Chinese Poetry” and an “Index to the Teachings of Zhu Xi” by two of the university’s professors, who have conducted research over many years and whose work has been published internationally. Various laboratories gave copies of their research reports to the group, including a report by the archaeology laboratory on their research into the Mitsujo burial mound, and asked that their work be introduced to scholars in China. The Science Department meeting was attended by the department chairman, and at the request of a representative of the group from China, they discussed the situation in Hiroshima at the time of the atomic bombing.