Ronald Walker

(Australian National University, Canberra, Australia)

 

Soon after the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Australia in 1974, the head of the Australian National University was a member of a delegation of Australian educators to China. There had long been an interest among Australian Quaternary scientists in the possible similarities and differences between the histories of the two land masses and their biotas during the Quaternary period. One of them had, by chance, discovered the existence of a Quaternary Committee in the Chinese Academy of Science, so sent a letter with the delegation suggesting the exchange of research literature. As a result of this, and to our amazement, six Quaternary scientists were invited by name to visit China in November 1975 as guests of the Chinese Academy.

So it was that in the early evening of the 16th November 1975, when the Australian National University’s Quaternary delegation to China disembarked at Beijing airport to be met by a small crowd of  Chinese scientists, the first person to shake my hand and greet us, with smiling eyes and modest but well-spoken English, was Liu Tungsheng.  It was an event verging on the fabulous for Australians and Chinese alike in which the science we had in common supplanted the disparity of our societies. We had no idea what to expect and, by bedtime, were astonished at what we were to see. From this and a reciprocal visit of Liu and colleagues in the following year grew the , the Australian National University – Academia Sinica Quaternary Studies Programme.  Many people were involved in its research in both countries but its leading figure in China, and an inspiration to all, was Liu Tungsheng. Without his scientific initiative and experience and his ability to get things done, often on a grand scale, it would have been a far less successful undertaking. To mark this, as well as his international distinction as a scientist, Liu was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science degree by the Australian National University in 1987.  A week before the ceremony he became ill and had emergency abdominal surgery but, despite this, addressed the large assembly in Canberra, refusing even the assistance of a wheel chair. He was a very determined man.

Tungsheng and I became good friends. I never tired of our conversations, sometimes scientific, more often philosophical in the broadest sense. I admired the quiet speech and generosity of mind balanced by his forcefulness in discussion. I think that we both profited from the other’s experiences in quite different cultures. But it was not a friendship that probed our individual histories. To this day I wonder how he weathered the repeated political and social upheavals through which he lived and how, against that background, he contrived to do good science. Above all, he was a man of steadfast intent. I am grateful for the time that we spent together.