You can often see the silver-haired figure of Eugene Wu weaving its way through the Harvard- Yenching Library . Although already 70, he climbs up and down the stairs nimbly, speaks forcefully, and smiles easily--his nose and eyes becoming a mass of wrinkles.
Expansion and assimilation: He has headed up the Harvard-Yenching Library for 27 years. In this period the library has moved to its present address and changed its name (it was originally called the Han-ho Library), and has come under the jurisdiction of the Harvard Library. The number of volumes has gone from 400,000 to 800,000, with holdings expanded from the original Chinese, Japanese, and Korean language materials to include Vietnamese plus Western materials on East Asia.
Because Wu began his study in the U.S. from university level, and not just graduate school, he has a deeper understanding of American society than most Chinese, and has assimilated to a greater extent. He is one of the few Chinese to serve as a high ranking administrator in a top American university.
Eugene Wu, who believes that "in American society, you don't have to give in if you're in the right," has his hard and sharp side when taking care of business. But in private moments he has a soft and gentle side. Having himself passed through the experience of leaving home and feeling left out, especially around the holidays, Wu annually invites some Chinese students to his home on Thanks-giving. He prepares a turkey in accordance with American tradition, and hosts a group of students from home, most of whom he didn't know to start with, and whom he might not remember afterwards.
Seeing the forest by looking closely at the trees: As head of the largest East Asian library in the Americas or Europe, Wu always has visitors at his door. Of them, many are scholars from East Asian nations who have heard good things about Harvard-Yenching and come to have a look. Regardless of whether they have made an appointment ahead of time, unless he has an emergency or another visitor, Wu will greet most of them with a hearty smile, and very rarely refuses to see people.
With so many people coming to Harvard- Yenching, since this is the way Wu is, naturally the director's office is like Grand Central Station. So how does he get anything done? No worries--amidst the stacks he has an isolated small room, his secret office, where he can take refuge when he needs some quiet space to work.
These are all perhaps little things, but Wu is able to combine the Chinese emphasis on human relationships with the American ideal of efficiency, revealing how he has become an outstanding example of American Chinese.
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Eugene Wu, director of the Harvard-Yenching Library, is one of the few Chinese to serve as a high ranking administrator in a major American university.
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