Jan's New Website

Who do I think I am?

I'm a retired professor of Chinese language, culture and intercultural communication, now Professor Emeritus, Humanities Dept., Simon Fraser University, currently enjoying my second adolescence, but with a slightly larger allowance and a much smaller ego this time around.

Charlemagne: “To have another language is to possess a second soul.”

查理曼大帝: “掌握另一種語言等於具有另一個靈魂”

John le Carré: "To teach another language is to implant a second soul.”

勒卡雷: “給人教另一種語言等於灌輸另一個靈魂”

Jan W. Walls is a Professor Emeritus in the Humanities Department at Simon Fraser University, where he was Founding Director of the David Lam Centre for International Communication and the undergraduate Asia-Canada Program. In addition to teaching at Aichi University in Japan, the University of British Columbia, the University of Victoria and Simon Fraser University, he also served as First Secretary for Cultural and Scientific Affairs at the Canadian Embassy in Beijing (1981-83), and Senior Vice-President of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada (1985-87).

He has published many translations of traditional Chinese poetry and prose. He is currently a Director of the Canadian Society for Asian Arts, and serves as Honorary Advisor to the Chinese Canadian Writers Association, the Chinese Canadian Artists Federation of Vancouver, the International Arts Gallery, and other non-profit cultural organizations.

He has been a trustee on the board of the Dr. Sun Yat Sen Classical Chinese Garden Society, a director on the board of S.U.C.C.E.S.S., Co-President of the Vancouver Asian Heritage Month Society, and a member of the Government of British Columbia’s Multicultural Advisory Council. In 1992 he was awarded the Confederation Medal, and in 2012 the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal, honoring Canadians who have made a significant contribution to their fellow citizens, to their community or to Canada.

王健博士是西門菲莎大學人文系的榮休教授，也是當校林思齊國際交流中心與亞加課程組的創辦主任。除了在日本的愛知大學與加拿大的不列顛哥倫比亞大學，維多利亞大學與西門菲莎大學教書以外，他曾任職加拿大駐華大使館的文化兼科技一等秘書 (1981-83), 和加拿大亞太基金會的創會副會長 (1985-87). 他的出版有許多中國傳統詩詞與散文的英文翻譯與研究。他也做過溫哥華中山公園的理事，中僑的理事，溫哥華亞裔文化節協會的聯席會長，和 B.C.省政府多元文化顧委的委員。他現任加拿大亞洲藝術協會的前任會長，也是加華作家協會，温哥華華人藝術家協會，金熊貓國際電影節，國際畫廊與許多多元文化組織的榮譽顧問。1992年曾獲得加拿大聯邦勳章， 2012年獲得英女王登基鑽禧勳章。