As the laptop and smart phone are widely used in thousands of contemporary households, will the abacus with a history of more than 3,000 years that sprouted in Shang and Zhou Dynasties, originated from Qin and Han Dynasties and blossomed in Tang and Song Dynasties be phased out by life and only perch in a corner of the museum? On May 20, the Fourth Forum on Preservation of Ancient Books sponsored by the University of International Business and Economics gave us the answer: No!

This Forum was opened with a lecture entitled "Successful Inclusion of Chinese Abacus Skill into the List of World Intangible Heritages and Its Cultural Value" in the “Qiuzhen Building”. On the podium, three students in their teens listened to a long list of multi-digit additions or subtractions reported by the app at the fastest speed, and immediately gave standard answers by moving the abacus in their hands and even just using the mental abacus in their brain. Chinese and foreign audience were greatly surprised or marveled at this. Liu Qinying (Deputy Secretary-General of Chinese Abacus and Mental Arithmetic Association) explained the principles it contains in detail to them.

In the Lecture Hall on the first floor of the library, the opening ceremony of the Fourth Forum on Preservation of Ancient Books entitled “Learning Abacus as You Grow up--Time Changes from ‘Chinese Abacus Skill’ to ‘Digital Governance’” was held.

Chen Yuan (Former Vice Chairman of the 12th CPPCC National Committee) sent a letter of speech, stressing the need to tell the story of Chinese Abacus Skill to the whole world, further protect Chinese Abacus Skill in modern times and deepen the inheritance of Chinese Abacus Skill.

Jiang Qingzhe (Secretary of the Party Committee of the University of International Business and Economics) unveiled an extraordinary “wealth” of the University in the abacus field--a collection of 242 kinds of abacus textbooks, ranking top among universities in China. These abacus textbooks span from the late Qing Dynasty, the Republic of China, early days since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the 1980s and 1990s to the present. Abacus is an essential skill to get started in banking. Taking abacus as a required course, the University has trained more than 7,000 abacus professionals for the financial field across China.

Ma Shengde (Former Deputy Director General and Inspector of the Department of Intangible Cultural Heritage, Ministry of Culture) discusses the living inheritance of abacus culture from the perspective of “intangible cultural heritage”. Since the first year that Kun Opera was successfully included into the UNESCO list of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2001, it has been 20 years in 2020. In 2013, Abacus was also successfully included into the list. This provides a new opportunity for the abacus culture to influence the contemporary world and go global. Entrusted by the “Chinese Abacus Museum” in Nantong, Ma Shengde presented the “Chen Yun Abacus” (replica) used by Comrade Chen Yun in Hangzhou in the 1970s to Xia Wenbin, President of the University of International Business and Economics. This new collection of the University of International Business and Economics embodies the inheritance of abacus culture from generation to generation. Chen Yun, who had a lifelong relationship with accounting and abacus, died in 1995. The small, worn abacus that had been used by him for many years is the symbol of his operation of the “great abacus” of national economy and people's livelihood. Today, the University of International Business and Economics aims to pay tribute to the devout style of our ancestors and inherit the red spirit of Chinese Abacus Skill in the name of “Chen Yun Abacus Class”.

Zhao Xiangyi (Secretary-General of CAMAA and Assistant to Secretary-General of WAAMA) introduced the history and current development of abacus at the opening ceremony, and expressed his expectations on the application prospect of abacus in enlightening wisdom and training thinking. 

At this short but lively opening ceremony held during the pandemic, the students also presented us excellent art shows such as “Abacus Dance” and poem recitation “Chen Yun's Letter”. The opening ceremony only represents the beginning of the exhibition of abacus culture--welcome to the “Chinese Abacus Culture Exhibition” with a diversity of display boards and physical objects in the library building.

(Reproduced from Wenhui Daily; Author: Jiang Shengxin, Reporter of Wenhui Daily in Beijing Office)