Chair

Went to the other side of the harbour with TL to attend a meeting. Our chat somehow touched on the two newly promoted chair professors in our sister university - TL was obviously not too happy.

I can understand his feeling; it is not all sour grape. When we were medical students, there were only one or two chair professors of medicine on each side of the harbour. Now, we have seven; they, nearly 20. Oh, that's not because we have now many more distinguished academics than 20 years ago: universities make up new chairs for anyone who donate the money.

I suddenly realize local universities are following the footsteps of the Qing (清) Empire: When the king was tight in his purse, titles of government official were sold to generate revenue. Yes, it does solve the problem for a while - but we face an explosion of people with flowery titles, inevitably followed by declining respect. Oh, when the head has so many things, the organization develops intra-cranial hypertension, as evident by papilloedema.

That explains the constricted visual field and enlarged blind spot.

PS. The most interesting account on this happening is the all-time classic of Li Boyuan (李伯元): 官場現形記.