2021 Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Postgraduate Academic Exchanges in Foreign Languages and Translation
On the morning of May 15th, the 2021 Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Postgraduate Academic Exchanges in Foreign Languages and Translation was declared open. In response to relative national epidemic prevention and control requirements, the opening ceremony was held in the forms of online and offline meetings.
The 2021 Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Postgraduate Academic Exchanges in Foreign Languages and Translation was sponsored by Guangdong Society of Foreign Languages, Guangdong Provincial Foreign Literature Association, Hong Kong Translation Society and SIS of SYSU, and organized by the Graduate Student Union of SIS. It obtained the approval of the Office of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Affairs of Ministry of Education. This academic event aims to strengthen cultural exchange among the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao students, promote academic communication between universities, advance the development of foreign language disciplines in Hong Kong, Macau and South China and help the young develop in the region. The 2021 Academic Exchanges, after six-month preparation, has won active response and strong support of the postgraduates and doctors from across the board since its launch last December.
Distinguished Guests
Chairman of Guangdong Society of Foreign Languages
Dean of School of Foreign Studies of South China Agricultural University (SCNU)
Professor Huang Guowen
Deputy Secretary-General of Guangdong Society of Foreign Languages
Deputy Dean of School of Foreign Studies of SCNU
Professor Chen Yang
Chairman of Guangdong Provincial Foreign Literature Association
Director of Academic Committee of School of Foreign Studies of Guangzhou University
Professor Li Zhimin
Deputy Secretary-General of Guangdong Society of Foreign Languages
Director of National Center for Technology-based Simultaneous Interpretation Teaching, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies (GDUFS)
Professor Mo Aiping
Standing Council Member of Guangdong Provincial Foreign Literature Association
School of Chinese Language and Literature, South China Normal University (SCNU)
Professor Shen Jieling
Deputy Dean of School of Foreign Studies, SCNU
Professor Huang Liyan
Vice-Chairman of Guangdong Society of Foreign Languages
Dean of School of International Studies (SIS), Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU)
Professor Chang Chenguang
Deputy Dean of SIS, SYSU
Professor Zhou Hui
Party Committee of SIS, SYSU
Deputy Party Secretary Huang Aicheng
Professor Dai Fan of SIS
Professor Zeng Lei of SIS
Associate Professor Xie Guixia of SIS
Teacher representatives from universities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau region and over 100 graduates and post-graduates were present at the offline opening ceremony. Associate Professor Dechao Li from the Department of Chinese and Bilingual Studies, Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), the vice-chairman of Hong Kong Translation Society attended the ceremony through the online platform of VooV Meeting, so did the post-graduates from colleges and universities of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau region and other provinces.
Review on the Opening Ceremony
At the beginning of the ceremony, Professor Chen Yang, a representative of Guangdong Society of Foreign Languages, extended a warm welcome to the teachers and students present and sincere appreciation to the hosts. She noted that Guangdong Society of Foreign Languages has all along upheld the fine tradition of academics first and taken an active part in the organization of activities for foreign language studies and academic exchanges. She also hoped that such high-level academic exchange platforms would promote the in-depth communication and close cooperation among universities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau region to better help students develop an interest in academics and improve academic ability. At last, Professor Chen hoped that all students present could achieve regular progress by exchanging and communicating in this academic event to further boost academic sensitivity and insight. All these would help them lay a solid foundation for attaining more academic achievements and becoming outstanding professionals.
Then, Professor Li Zhimin made a remark about this exchange activity as a spokesman for Guangdong Provincial Foreign Literature Association. He hoped that the contestants would exchange ideas of disciplinary frontiers to increase academic literacy, appreciate the changes of cities and the development of the times, to better promote cultural interaction and strengthen sentiment towards our motherland.
Following that, Professor Chang Chenguang, Vice-Chairman of Guangdong Society of Foreign Languages and Dean of SIS, expressed a hearty welcome and heartfelt appreciation to all the attendees. He mentioned that SIS, guided by the goal of professional cultivation of SYSU to nurture students who have both ability and moral integrity, able to cultivate charisma and eager to serve their country, has been dedicated to nurturing bilingual professionals with global thinking, China’s stand and the knowledge of the liberal arts. SIS also leverages its unique characteristics and advantages to facilitate in-depth communication and cooperation among universities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau region. The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Postgraduate Academic Exchanges in Foreign Languages and Translation serves exactly as an active effort of SIS in response to the calls of SYSU in encouraging academic dialogue among students in this region and strengthen communication between scientific research and culture.
Finally, Professor Chang Chenguang declared the 2021 Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Postgraduate Academic Exchanges in Foreign Languages and Translation open. The four-day exchange activity began with warm applause from the present teachers and students.
Keynote Speech
After the opening ceremony, Professor Chang Chenguang presided over the round of keynote speech. Professor Huang Guowen, Professor Shen Jielin, Associate Professor Dechao Li delivered excellent speeches for the participants both online and offline.
01
Professor Huang Guowen delivered a speech called “Foreign Language Study and Research from the Perspective of New Liberal Arts”. He mentioned that China has been putting much emphasis on educational reform and improvement, particularly the development of new engineering, new medicine, new agricultural science and new liberal arts. Against such a background, the above four disciplines (especially the new liberal arts) demand new requirements for the construction and development of foreign languages. Given the national realities and features of foreign language teaching in the new era, we should combine the disciplinary features of various universities to cultivate interdisciplinary foreign language professional with a focus on language and culture studies. Professor Huang pointed out that China needs a large number of non-foreign-language-major professionals with proficiency in foreign languages rather than the average foreign language graduates who lack the knowledge of other disciplines. Thereby, the teaching and research teams should push forward the interdisciplinary research of foreign language studies, especially the research combining foreign language and natural science, and nurture students’ ability to transfer knowledge and skills in different disciplines.
02
Then Professor Shen Jielin gave a speech, “On the Fusion of Chinese and Western Fiction Traditions Based on the Fiction Translation and Creation in the Late Qing Dynasty and the Early Republic”. With the Chinese translation of foreign novels as the research subject, the study discussed the process during which fiction translation was divided and re-organized. The first-person fiction, in particular, encountered greater transmutation during the translation process. This is because there are essential differences between the first-person fiction abroad and Chinese traditional fiction narrated by “storytellers” and “historiographers”. For Chinese translators and readers, foreign fiction is heterogeneous. The foreign first-person fiction and its translation practice drove the different first-person narrative traditions in China and Western countries to collide and blend. Gradually, the first-person novels written in classical Chinese realized the separation between narration and composition and the fictionality of Chinese novels was established. Then followed the flourishing period of modern first-person fiction in classical Chinese.
03
Associate Professor Dechao Li made a keynote speech, “Rethinking Translation and Its Essence”. He mentioned a kind of viewpoint that translation is the conversion between different languages, during which the meaning of the source text should be conveyed in the target text in a faithful, comprehensive and smooth way. This viewpoint, deriving from the western Positivism academic paradigm, is an embodiment of Eurocentrism in translation studies. Based on the review of historical definition, categorization and imagination of translation of other major cultures and nations in the world (such as East Asia, South Asia, Arabia), Dr. Li pointed out that the definition of translation is far richer than the common concept of faithfully conveying the meaning of the source text. The reason behind this phenomenon is inseparable from the fact that translation in essence is a kind of social behavior. There are several definitions of how to describe the richness and complexity of the connotation and extension of translation concepts, including Prototype Theory, Family Resemblance and Descriptive Translation Theory. With the advancing science and technology and accelerating globalization, the scope and category of the translation will expand, the boundary of translation definition will become blur, while the essence will become more diversified and complicated.
In the following three days, over 200 postgraduates from Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau will continue to explore academic frontiers, join paper appraisal and exchange scientific research experiences through online and offline; they will pay a visit to the Museum of Dr. Sun Yat-sen to promote cultural communication between the three regions; they will visit the Kimka Creative Valley to feel the changes of cities; they will have a better understanding of the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area to undertake their due responsibilities and missions as foreign language students along the journey in the new era.
