海角大神

When Prof. Shelly Kagan sat cross-legged on his desk in front of a class of Yale University students in the spring of 2007, introducing his course 鈥淧hilosophy 176 鈥� Death,鈥� he could hardly have expected that he would one day gather an enormous and avid fan base in China.

But that is precisely what has happened. Professor Kagan is at the forefront of a new craze sweeping educated young Chinese: auditing the courses that Yale and other top universities around the world now post on their websites.

Several hundred thousand Chinese have begun following Kagan鈥檚 sometimes abstruse classes since Netease, one of China鈥檚 largest Web portals, posted them last October says Zhang Rui, deputy chief editor of the site.

But the Yale philosopher is not alone in drawing such virtual mega-crowds to his video-recorded lectures.

鈥淲e want to be like a digital Confucius, spreading knowledge鈥� says Mr. Zhang, whose site has posted scores of courses 鈥� under Creative Commons licenses 鈥� given at Harvard, Princeton, Oxford and other leading seats of learning.

Teaming up for maximum benefit

The courses have spawned online study groups, dedicated to particular courses.

鈥淚t is hard for people to keep at it alone鈥� says Zhao Xing, a young public relations executive who established the 鈥淕et Up Early in the Morning and Take an Online Course Each Day鈥� group on Douban, a website popular with young intellectuals.

鈥淲hen a lot of us do it together, we feel the strength of a team鈥� Ms. Zhao says. 鈥淭he ones who understand help the ones who don鈥檛.鈥� Zhao set her group up in early November and within a month it had drawn 2,000 members, the most that Douban allows in a group.

Something for the heart, not just the mind

The foreign courses are popular, say Chinese fans, because they go beyond the standard Chinese university fare. 鈥淭here is nothing like this in China鈥� says Zhao. 鈥淐lasses here are just about academic things. There is nothing for the heart.鈥�

The most popular courses that are drawing hundreds of thousands of Chinese auditors each, says Netease鈥檚 Zhang, are on profound subjects such as happiness, justice, and human nature.

Netease chooses which courses to post 鈥渙n the basis of what is missing in China and what would be popular鈥� says Zhang. 鈥淲e choose the courses we choose because of our dissatisfaction with Chinese education.

鈥淧eople are looking for enlightening education,鈥� he goes on. 鈥淏ut just like kids get obese if you keep feeding them heavy food, young people get materialistic if you just keep teaching them practical courses.鈥�

An army of volunteer translators

Chinese young people do not lack for sources of advice on how to behave, Zhang points out. The ruling Communist party, parents, teachers, 鈥渢hey all tell us what we should do鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut they all speak with the same voice. We are trying to teach people that there are different moral values, different choices.鈥�

That lesson would not reach very far if Netease simply reposted the original lectures in English. Instead it calls on an army of volunteer translators around the world, and some professionals, to sub-title the lectures in Chinese.

Even so the courses are not always easy. 鈥淚t is hard to watch and study alone鈥� says Li Yun, an advertising manager who has been struggling with 鈥淭he Philosophy of Love in Western Culture鈥� and 鈥淏iological Engineering,鈥� among other courses. 鈥淚f you are going to really follow a class, you need discussion.鈥�

To that end, Ms. Li spends up to an hour making notes on each class she streams, and posting them to her study group on QQ, a popular instant messaging service. Though she says she is disappointed that not many of her fellow students take up the debate, she says the courses still satiate her thirst for knowledge.

鈥淭he lectures make points that I would never have thought of,鈥� she says. 鈥淪tudying like this is worth it if only because of the conversations I can have with myself.鈥�