A Celebration of Isabel Crook’s 103rd Birthday, with the Premiere of Two Documentaries about Her Life was held at Beijing Foreign Studies University on December 15, 2018. Zhang Jianguo, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) and Administrator of the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs, addressed the event and presented Professor Isabel Crook a medal of “The Most Influential Foreign Expert during 40 Years of China’s Reform and Opening-up”. The event was chaired by Yan Guohua, Vice President of Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU). Peng Long, President of BFSU, and Gong Changhua, Vice Mayor of the People‘s Government of Pengzhou City in Sichuan Province, attended and addressed the event.  
In his speech, Vice Minister Zhang Jianguo first gave birthday wishes to Professor Isabel Crook and sent cordial greetings to her family. He said that Professor Isabel Crook had witnessed the historical process of the China‘s revolution going from hardship to victory. Professor Isabel devoted herself to socialist development in China and made outstanding contributions to China’s education, presenting a true image of China and sending China’s message of peace and harmony to the world.
Professor Isabel Crook was born in Chengdu and returned to China from Canada in the 1930s. She is a pioneer of English teaching in the People’s Republic of China and a foreign expert at BFSU. She went through the historical periods of the War against Japanese Aggression, the War of Liberation, the Agrarian Revolution and the founding of the People’s Republic of China. She and her husband started teaching at BFSU in 1948. They trained a large number of diplomats and made pioneering contributions to English education in China. As an anthropologist, Professor Isabel Crook conducted social surveys in China, observed and recorded China’s revolution and construction, and has written many works to introduce China’s development to the West and the world. At the celebration, two documentaries on Professor Isabel Crook were also premiered, showing her deep affection for China.
Deputy Director-General Gao Xiang of the Department of Overseas Intellectual Resources Cooperation of MOST and Director-General Wang Haiyang of Research Center of International Talent, MOST attended the event.