Date: Sept. 7, 2023

Source: JNU's College of Chinese Language and Culture

Author: WANG Wenhao

Translator: XIE Naixin

The second China-ASEAN Language and Culture Forum, with “Language and Culture Exchange in the Digital Age” as its theme, kicked off in Guiyang on Aug. 29, attended by more than 100 scholars from China and countries of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Chen Jie, vice minister of education and director of the State Language Commission (SLC); Liu Limin, president of the China Education Association for International Exchange; and other officials attended and addressed the forum.

(Chinese and foreign delegates attending the forum)

The Compiling Project of the Nanyang Chinese Literature Classification Series, led by the SLC’s Overseas Chinese Research Center (OCRC), was officially launched at the forum. Prof. Xiao Yuanping, party secretary of Guizhou Normal University, presided over the launch ceremony, and Prof. Guo Xi, director of the OCRC, introduced the attending guests and scholars to different types of Nanyang Chinese literature, as well as the cultural resources and cultural heritage value of Chinese literature. 

Along with the collaborators represented by Lü Yaodong of the Regional Center for Language of the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization in Singapore, and Huang Duanming, chairman of the Philippine Chinese Education Research Center, Guo lit the lamp pole for countdown and announced the compiling work’s official launch.

（The launch ceremony

Lü Yaodong (left), Guo Rui (center) and Huang Duanming) 

The compiling work, organized mainly by the OCRC, has gained support from the National Social Science Fund of China and the SLC, as well as assistance from institutions in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia and other countries. The project is to be compiled into two series based on the type of literature, initially issuing 10 volumes for each series. After the launch ceremony, Ewe Hong Tat, president of University Tunku Abdul Rahman in Malaysia, and other forum participants said they intended to cooperate on the collection and organization of Nanyang Chinese literature.