South China's prestigious Jinan University appointed former Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing honorary professor on Wednesday.

At the appointing ceremony, Hu Jun, president of the university, which is based in the southern Chinese metropolis Guangzhou, appointed Li honorary professor and consultant to the university.

Li delivered his first lecture on the topics of international relations, patriotism, and personal development, winning wide applause from the student audience.

Li, 66 and a native of east China's Shandong Province, was enrolled in the Department of Western Language and Literature at Peking University in 1959 and, after graduating in 1964, did three years of advanced study at Beijing Foreign Studies University.

Li, who retired in April this year, served as China's ambassador to the United States between 1998 and 2001. He was appointed minister of Foreign Affairs in 2003.

Li was replaced as foreign minister by Yang Jiechi, another former ambassador to the United States, in April.

Li started his campus career after retiring from the foreign affairs arena. He has been invited to join the staff of China's elite Peking University and becomes professor in the School of International Relations.

He also became dean of the Zhou Enlai School of Government at Nankai University in north China's Tianjin Municipality and honorary dean of the newly-established International Relations College of Beijing Foreign Studies University.

Last month, the former minister and poet was appointed dean of Foreign Affairs at the International Relations College of the China Foreign Affairs University, a university dubbed the "cradle of diplomats", where former Chinese ambassador to France Wu Jianmin serves as president.

(Xinhua News Agency, December 6, 2007)