Simon Koo: Leading the Last Jesuit Institution in Mainland China, Part 1
Interviewing the Executive Director of The Beijing Center
Prof. Simon Koo is the Executive Director of The Beijing Center. He’s a scholar and academic administrator committed to advancing East-West dialogue and fostering mutual understanding. At TBC, he leads efforts in curriculum design, academic planning, accreditation, faculty development, and global partnerships, supporting TBC’s mission to promote intercultural engagement.
The interview was conducted with Dario Cowdery, currently an Erasmus Mundus Scholar and was previously a fellow Yenching Scholar. He received his BA in Theology and Religion from the University of Oxford.
Can you tell us more about the primary stakeholders of The Beijing Center?
Simon: The Beijing Center or TBC was established as an intellectual and academic institute and we are proud to say that we are the only Jesuit institution in mainland China. The way that TBC was set-up established for us a lot of connections with the Jesuit university network. If you're talking about primary stakeholders, the Jesuits played the role. Definitely. But on top of that, our main interactions or encounters are with academics, universities, and scholars.
Initially, TBC served as a hub for intellectual exchange between different Chinese universities and Chinese scholars and the Jesuit network scholars and universities. As our Center developed, our foreign stakeholders expanded to other universities with an interest in China – those who want to be engaged with China. Because we are physically in Beijing and have established a lot of deep relations with their institutions, we have a great position to serve this kind of interest and be a bridge for the dialogue.
We are a Catholic institution but our role and what we do here is nothing evangelical. We are strictly an academic and research institution. We do study religion like Buddhism or Taoism and so on as an academic discipline as opposed to the study of theology or any kind of evangelical activities.
The full interview with Simon is available on your favourite podcast platforms:
Wow, that makes me want to visit The Beijing Center myself! Luckily you can now with China Hands!
Photo 1. Entrance of The Beijing Center guarded by ‘Terry’, a replica terracotta warrior.
Photo 2. The office area of The Beijing Center.
Photo 3: Interviewing Simon together with Dario in the Map Room of The Beijing Center.