Date: April 10, 2023 

Source: Guangming Daily

Author: LEI Aixia, ZHOU Shimin, XIAO Daping

Translator: ZHOU Xuan, LIANG Qianxi

The first International Symposium on the Overseas Dissemination of Ancient Chinese Novels opened at JNU on April 8. This conference, the first international one on this topic in mainland China, aimed to promote research on the overseas dissemination of both ancient Chinese novels and Chinese culture.  

The symposium was co-sponsored by JNU's Collaborative Center for the Promotion of Chinese Culture in Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and Overseas; the Chinese Institute of Folk Literature, and the World Sinology Center of Beijing Language and Culture University. It was jointly organized by the JNU's Department of Social Sciences, College of Liberal Arts and Japan Campus.

Nearly 90 scholars attended from more than 50 universities and research institutions in China and more than 10 countries and regions, including South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, the United States, Russia, Denmark, Spain, Australia, Turkey, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.

The symposium was held both online and off. JNU President Song Xianzhong said the dissemination of ancient Chinese novels was a kind of acceptance and reinterpretation of the other, a philosophical term to describe a different group from one’s own. The symposium deepened exchanges of Chinese literature and cultures of other nationalities, and it advanced research on the promotion of Chinese culture.

The scholars discussed four sub-topics: studies on the overseas dissemination and translation of ancient Chinese novels; versions and values of overseas ancient Chinese novel collections; studies on ancient Chinese novels by overseas sinologists; and studies on the overseas communication of ancient Chinese novels. In addition to the two-day conference, four Korean sinologists were invited to give a series of lectures on Ancient Chinese Novels and Exchanges Between Chinese and Korean Literature, a special session under the Expert Forum on Promotion of Chinese Culture: Overseas Sinological Studies.

To better spread Chinese culture in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan and overseas, JNU led the establishment of the Collaborative Center, which was officially recognized as a project co-constructed by Guangdong province and the Ministry of Education. With a subsidiary for overseas sinology and the first overseas sub-center in Japan, the center aims at a widespread, profound and effective promotion of the classic Chinese culture through talent cultivation, scientific research and social service.