Launch Ceremony of from a head, through a head, to a head and Authorization Ceremony for Minister’s Notes Grandly Held at Our College

"I heard that Mr. Fakir Syed Aijazuddin, the author of from a head, through a head, to a head, is coming to our school!" "I also want to ask Mr. Fakir Syed Aijazuddin to sign my book." On the campus of Honder College of Inner Mongolia Normal University, several students were talking with the book's translator, Mr. Tang Jun, while holding copies of from a head, through a head, to a head. At the time, the book was a bestseller at the college, sparking heated discussion and wide circulation among faculty and students.

On September 26, 2018, Fakir Syed Aijazuddin, the author of from a head, through a head, to a head, flew from Pakistan to Hohhot, bringing with him another book—Minister's Notes. That same day, Fakir Syed Aijazuddin came to Honder College of Inner Mongolia Normal University, where the launch ceremony for the Chinese edition of his book from a head, through a head, to a head and the authorization ceremony for Minister's Notes were held in the college library.

Fakir Syed Aijazuddin previously served as Pakistan's Minister of Culture and as Principal of Aitchison College in Pakistan. He is currently a columnist and commentator for Dawn, Pakistan's largest-circulation newspaper. The book from a head, through a head, to a head was translated by Tang Jun, a teacher at the Pakistan Research Center of Honder College of Inner Mongolia Normal University, and published by World Affairs Press in May 2018. With the help of Ali Yahya Khan, son of former Pakistani President Yahya Khan, the author obtained forty-nine top-secret documents on secret diplomacy between China and the United States. By combining these with declassified U.S. archival documents and interviewing individuals directly involved, he wrote this book, which vividly reveals many little-known twists and turns in the process of establishing diplomatic relations between China and the United States, recreating that historic course which captured the world’s attention and shock.

Minister's Notes was published in Pakistan in 2013 and has not yet been translated or published in China. In the form of a journal, the book records the author's experiences from November 2007 to April 2008, when he was selected to the Punjab caretaker cabinet and served as minister, witnessing the shocking assassination of Benazir Bhutto and the state of social turmoil. With a humorous tone and sharp observation, the author documents the political background and the full spectrum of society in Pakistan during that period, offering reference value for South Asian researchers, commentators, security analysts, and general readers alike. At the ceremony, Fakir Syed Aijazuddin granted the Chinese translation rights of this book to the Pakistan Research Center of Honder College of Inner Mongolia Normal University.

After attending this event, Fakir Syed Aijazuddin will also participate in our college's 10th anniversary celebrations on September 28.

Since 2010, Honder College of Inner Mongolia Normal University has established ties with the Embassy of Pakistan in China, opening a new chapter of educational exchange. The college has sent forty-seven teachers to Pakistan to teach Chinese, while fourteen students have gone to Pakistan for exchange studies. With the deepening of the Belt and Road Initiative, Pakistan's demand for Chinese-language professionals has been continuously increasing. The Pakistani government has set up special scholarships to sponsor students learning Chinese. Since September 2016, the college has received three cohorts of international students under the scholarship programs of the Punjab and Balochistan provincial governments of Pakistan, becoming one of the five Chinese partner institutions of the Pakistani government. Currently, there are sixty-eight Pakistani students studying at the college.

To enable more students to understand and learn about Pakistani culture and to deepen the "iron brotherhood" friendship, in 2013 Honder College of Inner Mongolia Normal University became the first higher education institution in the autonomous region to offer a course on Pakistan—An Overview of Pakistan. Over the six years since the course was launched, more than four thousand students have enrolled. The college has made positive contributions to promoting educational and cultural exchanges between China and Pakistan.