Boya Humanities Forum: The Shared Century
Oct 31, 2015
Peking University, Oct. 29, 2015: The first Boya Humanities Forum “The Shared Century: Communication between Humanities and Literature” was held in Yingjie Overseas Exchange Center in Peking University on Oct. 26. French writer and Nobel-prize-winner Jean Marie Gustave Le Clézio was invited to address on the relationship between literature and globalization.
The opening ceremony
In the welcoming speech, Liu Wei, executive vice president of Peking University, said China’s achievements in the humanities could be attributed to the communication with other nations. He pointed out that Peking University was keeping up with the trend and was leading academic research and communication among cultures. He expected more writers and scholars to come and voice their opinions.
Liu Wei giving the welcoming speech
Jacques Pellet, PKU alumnus and minister of French embassy in China, talked about the great influence that Le Clézio’s works had on him. Pellet pointed out that literature was one of the earliest products of globalization and had great importance in international relations. He looked forward to more communication between China and France that would nourish the literature on both sides.
Jacques Pellet delivering the speech
Jean Marie Gustave Le Clézio spoke highly of the role Chinese literature played in the world. He said good understanding in Chinese literature would benefit the study of western literature. He exemplified it with the impacts of Tang poetry, A Dream of Red Mansions and Journey to the West on European literature. In addition, he mentioned that the recognition of Chinese literature, instead of being limited to its glorious past, should be extended to the stronger role that it would play in the future.
Jean Marie Gustave Le Clézio giving a speech on the opening ceremony
Later, the forum was centered on the humanities from the perspectives of China and the West. Prof. Chen Pingyuan from the Department of Chinese Language and Literature at Peking University pointed out that more communication was needed between the humanities under different culture backgrounds. Prof. Xu Jun at Nanjing University discussed the dual image of Saint Exupéry in Chinese interpretation. Associate Prof. Carlos Rojas at Duke University from USA discussed about the translation in Chinese culture.
In the forum on the encountering and collision of the humanities, scholars focused on the issues of the European culture in the twentieth century, the canonization of Chinese contemporary literature in the international context, China's contribution to world literature, and the significance of the Third World’s literature, etc.
Around the topic of sharing the poetical thinking, scholars talked about the composition of poetry in the electronic fragmentation era, and the translation and dissemination of Chinese classical poetry.
Prof. Chen Xiaoming from Department of Chinese Language and Literature concluded the session with a speech on the reviving focus of rural life in literature after the era of modernism.
Background info:
The forum is led by the Faculty of Social Science, and jointly organized by School of Humanities and Social Science, Department of Chinese Language and Literature and Tencent Corporation. It aims at inviting influential scholars and experts around the world to join in the discussions on topics such as the development of the humanities, the coming challenges and opportunities in society, etc.
Written by: Fu Guirong, Wang Zehua
Edited by: Wu Zhangxin’an
