On Saturday, May 12, 2007, a retirement party for Professor Jing-heng S. Ma of Wellesley College was held at the Sichuan Gourmet in Framingham, MA. After a distinguished career in Chinese linguistics and language pedagogy, Prof. Ma has decided to spend more of her time on writing textbooks, monographs, and supplements, which she has loved. A prolific author, Ma created the breakthrough HyperChinese: The Grammar Modules, winner of EDUCOM’s Distinguished Humanities Software Award in the Higher Education Software andCurriculum Awards Program.
That was followed by the much-welcomed practical and user-friendly grammar companion Chinese Unmasked: Grammatical Principles and Applications. Throughout her career, Ma has been much loved and honored, not the least of which was the recognition by the Chinese Language Teachers Association in 2006 with their highest prize, the Ronald Walton Lifetime Achievement Award, funded by a perpetual endowment from the Cheng & Tsui Company (http://clta-us.org/).
The party was a true celebration enjoyed by all, with sumptuous food, drinks, and speeches of all types—sentimental, serious, light-hearted, grateful, and always respectful. In attendance were some of Ma’s former students, colleagues, collaborators, mentees, and second-generation students: Beth Hoffman and her Wellesley daughter, Claudia Ross, Chih-wen Su, Weina Zhao, Nicholas Lin, Mei-ju Hwang, Qun Ao, Weijia Huang,
Baozhang He, Dai Chen, Wanli Hu, and many others.
Those who were unable to attend sent their good wishes: Cecilia Chang, Mark Lenhart, Cornelius Kubler, Songren Cui, Hong Gang Jin, De Bao Xu, Yu-Lan Lin, John Berninghausen, and others. In his written testimonial in honor of her retirement, John Berninghausen perhaps captures best the sentiments of all who have known Jing-heng Ma (see below). The party was hosted by the Cheng & Tsui Company.
Tribute Letter from Prof. John Berninghausen
May 8th, 2007
Zunjing.de, qin'ai.de Ma Jingheng laoshi, ge wei zunjing.de guibin, tongshi.men, pengyoumen,
Please allow me to send in these warm greetings to you from across the Atlantic Ocean, more precisely from here in Somerset, England.
How much I wish I could be with all of you this evening to join in the festivities, to congratulate Ma laoshi in person on this occasion and to pay homage to one of the truly outstanding members of our profession. Knowing that there will be so many of Ma Jingheng's past and present colleagues, good friends and former students present there in Framingham this evening, I fear that these words of mine can do little more than state the obvious. Knowing Jill Cheng and imagining the array of superb dishes she will have ordered for this special occasion, I also must admit that I am doubly sad to be missing out on the fabulous banquet you all are enjoying this evening.
Professor Ma Jingheng's many and deep contributions to the field of Chinese language pedagogy, grammar and cultural studies have enriched the lives and professional careers of all of us; indeed there can be no question that she ranks among only a handful of the most influential and dedicated educators in Chinese language studies in this country and around the world. As one who has been involved Chinese language, literature and culture studies for more than four decades, having had the good fortune to have learned from and having been personally acquainted with many of the leading figures of our profession, I feel reasonably well-qualified to proffer the above observations. But along with all her many professional accomplishments and her profound knowledge of and love for all facets of Chinese culture, it is and has always been equally important that:
"to know Ma Jingheng is to respect her and to admire her and to really, really like her as the wonderful person she is."
For close to a half century, for almost a quarter century leading the Chinese Department at Wellesley College, Prof. Ma Jingheng has exemplified the highest standards of professionalism, has worked tirelessly and effectively to improve the teaching and learning of Mandarin, has been an inspiring yet demanding teacher while demonstrating that one can do all that and at the same time be a delightful, caring and gracious human being.
Ma laoshi, well done! We are all indebted to your erudition, hard work, great teaching and your example. Gongxi, gongxi!
Sincerely,
Bai Zhi'ang jiaoshou (Prof. John Berninghausen, Truscott Professor of Chinese at Middlebury College), and yet another of the many long time friends of Ma Jingheng laoshi.