Chinese President Jiang Zemin will speak at Harvard University on Nov. 1, Chinese Embassy spokesperson Yu Hsu Ning confirmed to The Crimson yesterday.

The trip marks the first visit to the United States by a Chinese president since 1985.

Harvard President Neil L. Rudenstine will likely introduce the 71-year-old Jiang at 11 a.m. in Sanders Theatre, but arrangements have not been finalized.

More than 1,100 members of the Harvard community, mostly undergraduates, entered an e-mail lottery conducted last week by the John K. Fairbank Center for East Asian Research. Between 500 and 600 people will be randomly selected by a computer program after seats have been distributed to faculty and administrators.

Since Jiang's speech will be given in Mandarin, audience members in Sanders Theatre will be provided earphones with simultaneous English translation. Organizers hope to have two lecture halls in the Science Center connected to Sanders via simulcast, with English in one room and Mandarin in the other.

Following the speech-which is scheduled to last half an hour-will be a 10-to-15-minute question-and-answer session. In contrast to the standard procedure of having an open microphone forum for questions, Jiang's representatives have requested that the president see all the questions in advance.

Ezra F. Vogel, director of the Fairbank Center, has anticipated criticism about altering the question format. According to Vogel, plans are underway to form a fourmember Faculty committee to review and select student questions, which will then be asked by Vogel. Jiang must receive the selected questions by Oct. 30, Vogel said.

"We'll be taking important and interesting questions submitted by legitimate Harvard students," said Vogel, who is also Ford professor of the social sciences.

The Fairbank Center is hosting Jiang's visit and coordinating his activities at Harvard. Over the past year, Vogel has spoken personally with Jiang twice while traveling with American delegations to Beijing.

In previous visits, Vogel had pitched to Jiang the idea of speaking at Harvard. With the upcoming summit in Washington, it became possible for Jiang to visit the University, dubbed the Kremlin on the Charles by former President Nixon.

"It's a great coup that Harvard got him," Vogel said in an interview last night. "We feel very fortunate to have him speak."

Jiang insisted on speaking at Harvard, despite warning from Chinese diplomats

Who said they were concerned that there would be confrontational protests, reported an Oct. 19 article in The Washington Post.

The Robert F. Kennedy Center for Human Rights in Washington, D.C. is organizing protests at each of Jiang's appearances in America, said Sean Crowley, an Asia expert at the center. Crowley said he expects thousands of people to protest at the Boston rally.

Abigail Abrash, the center's program director, expressed concern about Jiang's presence at Harvard.

"It would be a cruel irony if Harvard, an institution standing for the free exchange of ideas, gives Jiang a platform to voice his policies," Abrash said in a phone interview yesterday. "It is very troubling that Harvard will give the implication of approval to the leader of a country that suppresses the freedom of expression."