Obituary for Prof. GU Jiazu

Dear colleagues,

With great sadness, we announce that the former editor-in-chief of our journal Chinese Semiotic Studies, Prof. GU Jiazu, passed away in Jiangsu People’s Hospital on July 4, 2015, aged 74.

Prof. Gu was born on July 14, 1941 in Soochow, Jiangsu. He graduated from Soochow University in 1964 and started teaching there upon his graduation. From 1988 to 1989, he worked as visiting professor atSaginaw Valley State University, and from 1989 to 1991, he worked as visiting researcher at Michigan StateUniversity. In 1992, he was promoted to associate professorship at Soochow University. In 1993, he went to teach at Nanjing University. In 1995, he went to teach at Nanjing Normal University and was promoted to professorship. In 2004, he retired from his post.

Prof. Gu was engaged in studies on cross-cultural communication and on semiotics. Even after his retirement, he still persevered in academic activities and research work. He launched the publication ofChinese Semiotic Studies in 2009, five years after his retirement. His efforts promoted the development of semiotic studies not only at Nanjing Normal University but also in China, laid the foundation for Chinese Semiotic Studies to develop into an international journal, and built a good platform for semioticians at home and abroad to communicate with each other. The journal is now published in De Gruyter Mouton, and has exerted great influences, which owes much to Prof. Gu’s enthusiasm, efforts, and wisdom.

Prof. Gu was right-minded, warm-hearted, and helpful, which won him love and esteem from his students, colleagues, and friends. He was always rigorous both in his own academic research and in editing the journal. He set a good example and model for us. His death is a great loss to our journal and to the semiotic studies. We painfully mourn the passing-away of Prof. Gu.

We must turn grief into strength and work harder to run our journal better and better.

Editorial Department of Chinese Semiotic Studies