On the morning of July 2, 2023, “Leading Lecture Series on Frontier Studies of Foreign Literature” of the Tung Foundation Youth Academic Salon of Literature, History, and Philosophy, along with the 9th session of the Zijingang Global Forum on Interdisciplinary Studies 2023, was successfully held at Room 201 of East Building 5 on Zijingang Campus, Zhejiang University. Professor LIU Xiaofang, Head of the Department of Japanese at Tongji University’s School of Foreign Studies and a member of the Japanese Sub-committee of College Foreign Language Teaching Steering Committee of the Ministry of Education, was invited to give a lecture entitled “Translation and Dissemination of Chinese Academic Thought in Japan”. The lecture was moderated by Professor REN Jie from the Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies of World Literature of Zhejiang University, with Professor YANG Gexin serving as the commentator.
During the lecture, Professor LIU Xiaofang underscored the crises of literary concepts and theories faced by academia worldwide, in particular, the challenges encountered in Japanese literary studies. He asserted that under the context of globalization and the impact of Western literary criticism theories, Japanese literary criticism has encountered dilemmas similar to those in the field of Chinese literary criticism, such as the alienation of criticism from literature or the absence of morality in criticism, amidst the collision of Eastern and Western cultures. Ethical literary criticism, as an original Chinese literary criticism theory, has developed a theoretical and discursive system with unique Chinese characteristics and style over a course of about 20 years. This system highlights the historical mission and academic responsibility of Chinese scholars, providing a significant reference for the globalization of Chinese academia and the discourse power of international academic. The translation and dissemination of ethical literary criticism theory play a positive role in improving the academic ecology in Japan, offering new perspectives for world literary criticism, including Japanese literature.
In the discussion, Professor YANG Gexin further elaborated on the crises faced by worldwide academia in literary concepts and theories. Japanese literature, as part of world literature, cannot thrive in isolation. Ethical literary criticism, with its strong theoretical advantages, will undoubtedly lead world literary criticism, including Japanese literature, out of its predicament. Excellent Chinese academic ideas should receive more recognition and dissemination on the international academic stage, and this requires the joint efforts from scholars worldwide.
The lecture is supported by the 29th Zhejiang University “Tung Foundation Research Award Scholarship for Literature, History, and Philosophy” and the major project of the National Social Science Fund “Collation, Translation and Research of Contemporary Western Ethical Criticism Literature” [Project No. 19ZDA292].
Text/Photos: LOU Yu, CHEN Yubing
Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies of World Literature, Zhejiang University
3rd July, 2023
Translated by GOH Qing and HAN Zhuojun, Proofread by XU Xueying
