Dean QIAN recounted a discussion that he had with Professor Ferguson in early 2013. The discussion was regarding Alexis de Tocqueville’s classical 1856 book,The Old Regime and the Revolution, and Professor Ferguson’s 2011 book,Civilization: The West and the Rest.In his book, Professor Ferguson summarizes Tocqueville’s insights on the five fundamental differences between the French and American societies against the backdrop of two revolutions—the French Revolution and the American Revolution, pointing out that the key difference lies in the choice by the French of Rousseau over Locke.  Dean QIAN believes that this is one of the most important lessons from the modern history of mankind. Quoting Churchill’s famous saying that “the lesson from history is that people never learned from history”, Dean QIAN encouraged students to learn more about history, from history, and of history. To him and the School, learning and understanding history is a very important component of Tsinghua SEM’s general education.