Date: July 12, 2025 

Source: Jinan University Media Convergence CenterJNU Integrated Media Center

Editor: Chen Guoqiong

The Lingnan Digital Humanities Alliance was officially launched during its inaugural ceremony and the Forum on Humanities Digitalization Platform Construction held at Jinan University. Co-hosted by the University’s School of Liberal ArtsCollege of Liberal Arts and the Guangdong Lingnan Digital Humanities Experimental Teaching Demonstration Center, the event brought together experts and scholars from universities, publishing houses, and libraries across Guangdong, Guangxi, and other regions to discuss cutting-edge topics in digital humanities and foster coordinated development in the field throughout the Lingnan area.

In his opening address, Xia Quan, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Jinan University Committee, highlighted the University's achievements in humanities and social sciences and reiterated its support for the Alliance. He expressed hope that resource sharing through the Alliance would accelerate the development of New Liberal Arts and digital-intelligent transformation in the Lingnan region.

Wei Xia, Secretary of the CPC Committee of the School of Liberal ArtsCollege of Liberal Arts at Jinan University, underlined the School’sschool's role as a founding member of the Alliance and its commitment to the principle of Openness, Sharing, Cooperation and Mutual Benefits. She pledged to work closely with all member institutions to advance digital humanities initiatives in Lingnan.

Wang Jingzhou, Vice Dean of the School of Liberal ArtsCollege of Liberal Arts, presented an overview of the provincial-level liberal arts experimental platform. He noted that since its establishment in 2008, the platform has developed five physical laboratories, launched a series of digital humanities courses and micro-programs, and achieved significant research outcomes across multiple fields.

Representatives from supporting institutions, including Xiao Fenghua, President of Guangdong People’s Publishing House, Wang Bing, Executive Deputy Director of Shenzhen Library, and Yao Jianbin, Head of the Department of Chinese Literature at Beijing Normal University’s College of Arts and Sciences, delivered speeches. They expressed support for collaborative efforts in preserving and digitally promoting Lingnan culture, and in integrating technological and humanistic resources.

The Alliance was formally established with the adoption of its Charter by all founding members. Comprising 30 universities, publishers, and libraries, the Alliance operates under the principle of “Deepening Humanities, Empowering with Digital Intelligence, Leading Innovation, and Achieving Win-Win Cooperation.” It aims to serve as a collaborative platform for advancing resource sharing and joint innovation in digital humanities across Lingnan.

A session showcasing digital humanities achievements featured several demonstrations by Jinan University faculty. Professor Liu Xinzhong presented a digital platform for analyzing dialect speech characteristics and a speech synthesis system designed to support dialect preservation. Professor Gan Yuen introduced the digital platform for the Great Dictionary of Chinese Dialectology and a dialect geographic information system, which enables new research perspectives through digital integration.

Additional presentations highlighted the application of digital technologies in teaching and research: Dr. Long Runtian exhibited an AI-powered online course Introduction to Linguistics; Dr. Zheng Huanzhao shared curriculum design experiences for cultural industry programs; Dr. Liu Yiping introduced an online course series on keywords in traditional Chinese culture; and Dr. Guo Shiqiang demonstrated a historical typhoon information platform for East Asia.

During a panel on high-quality development of the Alliance, experts including Liu Pingqing, Executive Deputy Director of the Guangzhou Dadian Research Center; Wang Lei, Director of the Digital Humanities Laboratory at Sun Yat-sen University; and Ma Zhe, Vice Dean of the School of Humanities at Guangzhou University, exchanged views on the core concepts, development pathways, and collaboration mechanisms in digital humanities. Representatives from other universities also shared their experiences and challenges in the field.

A parallel session on digital achievements included exchanges on curriculum and micro-program development by Zhang Ning, Lecturer from Beijing Normal University, and Peng Zhifeng, Deputy Director of the Guangdong Lingnan Digital Humanities Experimental Teaching Demonstration Center. Representatives from Sun Yat-sen University, South China Normal University, Shenzhen University, and other institutions shared experiences in laboratory development, integrated Chinese studies education, and new liberal arts reforms combining technology and humanities.

Presentations also featured specialized projects: Prof. Zhang Qiong (Guangdong University of Finance & Economics) on the Greater Bay Area Digital Humanities Center; Prof. Qi Jiayin (Guangzhou University) on a new-generation Cantonese corpus and large language model evaluation; Prof. Yan Xiuhong (Guangdong University of Foreign Studies) on a Cantonese spoken corpus and rural geo-linguistics; and a team led by Prof. Shao Huijun (South China Normal University) on quantitative phonetic research of Cantonese dialects using big data.

Additionally, representatives from Baise University, Hezhou University, Guangdong People's Publishing House, and Jinan University Press reported on progress in digitizing ancient Zhuang scripts, digital explorations in language museums, the development of a Lingnan culture knowledge base, and the prospects of digital textbooks in humanities.

In their concluding remarks, Professor Zhang Sanxi from Central China Normal University and Professor Liu Xinzhong from Jinan University emphasized that the conference laid a solid foundation for collaborative development in Lingnan digital humanities. Participants expressed their commitment to strengthening cooperation through the Alliance to drive innovation and contribute new energy to the preservation and development of Lingnan culture.