Asian & Western Values

Jan Wall

After completing his B.A., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Chinese and Japanese
languages and literatures, Dr. Walls began his academic career teaching Chinese language and East Asian cultures at the University of British Columbia and the University of Victoria.

In addition to teaching, he founded and directed the Centre for Pacific and Oriental Studies at Victoria. From 1981 to 1983 he served as First Secretary for Cultural and Scientific Affairs at the Canadian Embassy in Beijing, and from 1985 to 1987 he was Senior Vice President of the newly established Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, where he founded and developed the first Education and Cultural Affairs programs. In September, 1987, he joined Simon Fraser University, where he founded and directs a centre for interdisciplinary study of international, intercultural and interlingual communication at SFU*s Harbour Centre campus in downtown Vancouver: the David Lam Centre for International Communication. He was the 1995 Chair of NCCP (the Network College of Communication in the Pacific) and is a member of the Board of Directors of the David Lam Institute for East-West Studies at Hong Kong Baptist University.

Currently, he is the founding Director of Simon Fraser University*s newly established Asia-Canada Program, an interdisciplinary minor or intensive minor degree program for undergraduates who wish to complement their traditional major program with basic competence in Asian languages and cultures, as well as an understanding of Canada*s own Asian heritage. He has published literary and cultural studies and translations, and lectured widely in the fields of East Asian culture, intercultural communication, the theory and practice of translation, and the computerization of East Asian languages.