From Sep.12thto 13th, 2020,the First Forum of Middle East Security and Development in Zhuhai, co-organized by the Middle East Studies Center and Institute of Belt and Road Studies of Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU) was held on Zhuhai Campus of SYSU. Wang Cheng, Party Secretary of the School of International Studies (SIS) of SYSU made an opening statement. Wu Sike, former Special Envoy of the Chinese Government for the Middle East, Gong Xiaosheng, former Special Envoy of the Chinese Government for the Middle East, Yang Guang, President of the Middle East Institute of China and Professor Zhou Lie, former President of Beijing International Studies University delivered keynote speeches. The hot issue of United Arab Emirates and State of Israel on normalization of bilateral relations was discussed in depth by over twenty experts and scholars. They shared their views on various aspects like the impact of this event on the evolution of the situation in the Middle East, the international reaction and China’s response. They also thoroughly exchanged their views on the discipline development of International and Regional Studies and the writing of the blue book, Report on the Development of Relations between China and the Arab States of the Gulf (2019-2020)co-edited by the Middle East Studies Center, SYSU and the Middle East Studies Center, Fudan University.These experts and scholars come from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Peking University, Tsinghua University, Fudan University, Sun Yat-sen University, Shanghai International Studies University, Northwest University, University of International Business and Economics, Beijing Foreign Studies University, China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, Shanghai Institutes for International Studies and Social Sciences Academic Press (China). Initiated by the Middle East Studies Center of SYSU (one research center for international and regional studies approved by the Ministry of Education of China), the Forum of Middle East Security and Development in Zhuhai is aimed to create an internationally influential high-end platform for the exchange of ideas based in Guangdong and embrace the whole country. It also serves the promotion of the “Belt and Road” initiative and the development strategy of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

On September 13th, 2020, Empathetic Doctors and Competent Translators Fight against COVID-19, the fifth lecture for the new student orientation of the School of International Studies (SIS), was successfully held in the teaching building. Xiao Fei, Party Secretary of Infectious Disease Department of the Fifth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU), reported to the new students of 2020 on their anti-pandemic work. Lin Qiaoyi, one of the postgraduates of SIS, shared with the new students how the volunteers helped the hospital fight against the pandemic. From their speeches, the new students realized the difficulties of responding to the pandemic and felt a great passion to serve the country. In the beginning, Mr. Xiao told the students about his career in medicine. It was a long and difficult journey to become a doctor. Twenty-four years ago, medical students were required to do self-study in school. There were no weekends and summer and winter vacations. Tedious reality stood in sharp contrast to glorious dreams. However, Mr. Xiao had always been inspired to push his boundaries along the journey by the motto “live a life of contentment; be aware of your limitations at work; stay hungry for knowledge”.(Party Secretary Xiao Fei reporting to the new students on the anti-pandemic work of the Fifth Affiliated Hospital of SYSU)During the pandemic, Mr. Xiao and the medical team of the Fifth Affiliated Hospital of SYSU, battled against COVID-19, which was arduous but unforgettable. As the vanguard, CPC members played an exemplary role, setting aside their fears to fight at the frontline. It was their selflessness and bravery that led the hospital to gain significant progress in anti- pandemic work and become rightfully acclaimed as the backbone for fighting against corona-virus in Zhuhai. Regarding decontamination and cleaning, the Fifth Affiliated Hospital performed sterilizing and disinfecting properly, reducing the risk of infection to the minimum. In terms of scientific research, the hospital accumulated rich experience from practice and formulated a characteristic plan to defeat COVID-19. And when conducting clinical research, the hospital built the first permanent structured makeshift emergency hospital in China. The Fifth Affiliated Hospital of SYSU has always borne in mind the words of the General Secretary Xi Jinping’ and put the people’s lives and health first. The staff of the hospital keeps the guard up against COVID-19 and stay on full alert, fulfilling their responsibilities perfectly.In the end, Mr. Xiao encouraged the students to “forge ahead with even greater resolve, live the life to the fullest, hold strong to faith and shoulder responsibilities”, no matter which position they occupy. He also inspired them to make contributions to the development of the country.Next, Guo Cong, a postdoctoral researcher of SIS, and Lin Hong, head nurse of the Phoenix International Medical Center of the Fifth Affiliated Hospital of SYSU shared with the new students the stories of the postgraduate volunteers of SIS working with the Fifth Affiliated Hospital in response to the pandemic. Mrs. Lin started her speech by noting the background of international medical cooperation, and proposed the idea of “building the bridge for cross-cultural communication wholeheartedly”. She indicated that with the growing integration of the world, international medical cooperation had been strengthened across the five continents, and therefore, more translators and interpreters were in need to act as assistants for communication between doctors and patients. What the postgraduate volunteers did to assist the hospital to guard against the virus was exactly playing the role of the bridge. They sorted out and classified the medical supplies donated by foreign countries, made patient communication cards, and so on. The volunteers participated in the efforts to fight against the pandemic in their way, which added vibrant color to their youth.(Dr. Guo telling stories of the postgraduate volunteers of SIS working with the Fifth Affiliated Hospital in response to the pandemic)(The head nurse Lin Hong recognizing the voluntary work of the postgraduates of SIS)Dr. Guo implied that under the influence of the Belt and Road Initiative, a national strategy, Zhuhai is undoubtedly an emerging global city considering its position in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area. She hoped that the Fifth Affiliated Hospital of SYSU should earn its reputation, go abroad and make China’s medical presence felt by the world.(The students listening attentively)At last, Yang Chengshu, a professor of SIS, introduced the special postgraduate course: International Medical Translation. She elaborated on the present career options and the development prospects of international medical services and encouraged students to actively take cross-disciplinary studies and contribute their shares to the development of the international medical service system.(Professor Yang introducing the special postgraduate course: International Medical Translation)Battling against COVID-19 is a daunting task. The current security and stability are won by numerous medical workers and service providers. With a heart of gold, they are fully occupied containing the virus in various areas. As Chinese young people in the new era, we should be as passionate and selfless as them, live up to the expectation of the university, and work hard so that we deserve what the country has done for us.

On July 18th, 2020, the award ceremony of the third National Competition for Machine Translation and Post-Editing was held online. Sponsored by Tencent Transmart, the competition attracted more than 4,200 participants from over 370 colleges and 80 enterprises and public institutions. They were from 10 countries around the world, and from 31 provinces across China. 10 students from School of International Studies (SIS) entered the final, and five of them were finally awarded. The 2018 undergraduate of English major Zhang Congqian won the first prize, and Dr. Luo Xuejuan was awarded as “Excellent Mentor”. Having been held three times, the competition adopted online test mode aided by YiCAT, an online translation management platform. It required participants to post-edit the initial translation done by machines and submit the results within two hours. This year, the competition also introduced Transmart’s translation mode of human-computer interaction, which allows the machine to automatically revise the translation in real time based on the input segments, helping translators obtain satisfying results as soon as possible. The competition was jointly held by Tongji University, Shanghai Scientific and Technical Translation Society, and Jiangsu Scientific and Technical Translators Association. It aimed at popularizing the knowledge of machine translation and post-editing, examining participants’ abilities of translation and collaboration with computer, so as to adapt to the trend of technological development and intelligent translation. The committee of the competition organized senior judges to evaluate the submitted results with the help of LQA tools, and participants were allowed to check the feedbacks. The competition finally produced one Grand prize, two First Prizes, five Second Prizes, 11 Third Prizes and 52 Honorable Mentions. There were 60 students from Sun Yat-sen University that took part in the competition, 10 of whom entered the final, and five won prizes. Zhang Congqian won the First Prize. Li Ruoxuan won the Second Prize. Both Sun Yi and Lv Junlan won the Third Prizes. All of them were junior students from English B Class. Zhan Qijia, 2019 postgraduate of MTI translation, was awarded “Honorable Mention”. As one of the mentors of the competition, Dr. Luo Xuejuan was awarded as “Excellent Mentor”. Zhang Congqian and Dr. Luo Xuejuan delivered speeches at the award ceremony as representatives of the winners and excellent mentors respectively. SIS attaches importance to organizing and instructing academic competitions, and encourages students to try and apply what they have learnt into practice, so as to enhance their comprehensive language abilities. The achievements of SIS in this competition fully demonstrate the teaching results of our English majors, and provide valuable experience to the teaching and the practice of “translation technology”.

On July 11th, the award ceremony of the Covid-19 Essay Contest in Arabic was held both online and offline. The Contest was co-organized by the China Arabic Language Education Association of Colleges and Universities, the expert board of the National Test for Arabic Majors Band 4, Department of Arabic of School of Foreign Languages, Peking University (PKU), and Middle East Studies Center, PKU. The essay contest was entitled “Working Together to Defeat the COVID-19 Outbreak through Mutual Assistance and with Solidarity”. It was held by the China Arabic Language Education Association of Colleges and Universities since May 2020 under the guidance of the expert board of the Tests for Arabic Majors. From the epidemic perspective, it was to meet the objective needs of the international community to work together to fight COVID-19 pandemic, strengthen cooperation between China and Arab countries in this field, and demonstrate the confidence of the Chinese college students in combating the epidemic together with the Arab people; from the academic perspective, it is to promote Arabic language teaching quality, consolidate online teaching results and improve the language practice and writing competency of college students. The contest was open to undergraduates and postgraduates regardless of their grades. On July 11th, 2020, the award ceremony of the contest was held online through Tencent Meeting. The contest received 153 articles of Arabic majors from more than 40 universities across the country. After several rounds of evaluation by the Arabic Language Education Association, the works of 30 students finally stood out. Among them, Xu Yue and Li Xiaohui from Department of Arabic, School of International Studies (SIS), won the Second and Third Prizes respectively for their excellent performance. Professor Ma Yanzhe, Chair of Department of Arabic, and Professor Chen Jie from SIS attended the award ceremony. The faculty of Department of Arabic, represented by Professor Ma Yanzhe, encouraged students to take an active part in the contest, provided clarity on certain issues and offered guidance and advice for students. Because of its prominent overall strength shown in this contest, Department of Arabic, was awarded the Outstanding Organization Prize. SIS has all along adhered to the educational characteristics of “humanities, bilingual proficiency and global perspective” to cultivate new interdisciplinary foreign language talents with Global Vision and China’s Stand, fulfill the fundamental task of moral education and continue to upgrade talent training mode. In addition, SIS values the organization and guidance of discipline contests. The aim is to promote learning and increase the rate of student pursuing further education through contests, and fruitful results have been achieved in recent years. In this contest, the students of Department of Arabic, on the basis of their life and study experiences at home and abroad, shared anti-epidemic stories that China and Arabic countries help each other in trying times and expressed their aspiration that the two nations would strengthen cooperation and consolidate traditional friendship. This demonstrates the humanistic care and global vision of SIS students who took a global view while bearing motherland in mind, and exhibited the outstanding teaching ability and characteristics of Department of Arabic. All the teachers and students of this department would set sail again and redouble their efforts to strive for better results!(Xu Yue: Second Prize)(Sun Yat-sen University: Outstanding Organization Prize)

On July 6th, 2020, China Postdoctoral Science Foundation released its list of No.67 General Program approved grantees. Huang Yaohsin, postdoctoral fellow of School of International Studies (SIS), received second-class funding for her project “A Study of the Language Usage and Interpretive Lineage of Spanish Translation of the Daodejing (1889-2017)”.(A Photo of Huang Yaohsin)Huang Yaohsin is a postdoctoral fellow of SIS, Sun Yat-sen University. She receives her doctor’s degree from the Graduate Institute of Cross-Cultural Studies, Fu Jen Catholic University. Her research interest includes Translation Studies, Spanish Sinology and Comparative Literature. She is also a member of the Daodejing translation group of the SIS translation research team.The funded project of Huang is a study of the Chinese-Spanish translations carried out by six representative translators, in which she deeply discusses the translation and circulation of the book in Spain over a century. To explore the emergence and evolution of Daodejing’s cross-cultural significance, the project is intended to thoroughly study the translation-centers, translators, translations, media, publishing houses and areas of circulation. It is hoped that the study framework of the research would lay the groundwork for the translation and circulation of Daodejing in the Hispanic world, and thus preparing the readers for a further exploration of the existing Spanish editions, which amount to almost 100.With the project being funded, SIS has shown its capacity of scientific research by forming the research team for its “Daodejing Translation Studies”. SIS pays close attention to the international influence of “Chinese classics” and will continue promoting the translation and the circulation of Chinese classics in areas of different languages.

On July 6th, 2020, China Postdoctoral Science Foundation(CPSF) officially released the list of No. 67 General Program approved grantees. Zhang Xinyu，postdoctoral fellow of School of International Studies(SIS) was granted second-class fund for her project “The Development of Populist Parties in Latin America and Their Influence on State Governance”.Zhang Xinyu is a postdoctoral fellow of SIS, SYSU. In 2019, she received a Doctor of Laws degree from the Institute of Latin American Studies (IAL) of China Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). In 2017, she paid an academic visit to University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill funded by the Joint PhD Program of China Scholarship Council. In 2015, she gained Master of Laws from IAL, CASS. In 2012, she graduated from the Department of Teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language, University of Havana, Cuba with a Bachelor of Arts degree. Her current research areas include international politics, comparative politics, Latin American politics, China-Latin America relations.The abstract of her project titled “The Development of Populist Parties in Latin America and Their Influence on State Governance” is introduced below:In the process of economic and social changes, populist parties emerge as a direct response to the economic and identity anxieties of common people. In Latin America, populist parties include both traditional parties and new types of parties. These parties are constantly changing their developmental policy, with internal division, the sign of decay and alliances between political parties appearing at the same time. They show strong regional characteristics compared with their counterparts in the United States, Europe and Southeast Asia. Their development is exerting a profound impact on Latin America’s political system, political culture, and state governance.