On November 6th, 2021, the 15th China Conference of the International Conference on Comparative Cultures of East Asia and the International Symposium on Mutual Learning of East Asian Cultures was held in the 111 Academic Lecture Hall. The conference was organized by the Chinese branch of the International Conference on Comparative Cultures of East Asia and the East Asian Cultural Research Center of the School of Foreign Languages of Nankai University, and co-organized by the Cultural Contents Technology Institute of Chung-Ang University. Nearly 100 experts and scholars from China, Japan and South Korea met online. More than 50 teachers and students from school of Foreign Languages, School of Japanese Studies, School of Literature and School of History attended the conference.
The opening ceremony and the appointment ceremony of Dr. Nakanishi as visiting professor were presided over by Associate Professor Wang Kai, vice dean of school of Foreign Languages. Professor Zhang Bowei, assistant president of Nankai University, delivered the opening speech and presented the visiting professor appointment letter to Dr. Nakanishi online. Professor Yan Guodong, dean of school of Foreign Languages, introduced Professor Nakanishi’s resume and academic achievements. Professor Zhang Bowei stressed that Nankai University attaches great importance to international cooperation and exchanges and has established various forms of exchange and cooperation with more than 40 universities in Japan, such as the University of Tokyo, Kyoto University, Waseda University and Keio University, as well as more than 20 universities in Korea, such as Seoul University, Koryo University, Central University and Yonsei University. Professor Nakanishi has served as the president of Osaka Women's University and Kyoto City University of The Arts. He has made remarkable achievements in the research on “Manyoshu” and the research on Sino-Japanese comparative literature. We hope that Dr. Nakanishi can be invited as a visiting professor of Nankai university to better promote the overall development of Japanese studies and East Asian studies.
Professor Nakanishi, the founding president of the International Conference on Comparative Cultures of East Asia and the organizer of the Reiwa era of Japan, said in his speech that this Conference in China is the first International Conference on Comparative Cultures of East Asia since Japan entered the Reiwa era. As the founder of the conference, he felt very happy and thanked Nankai University for inviting him as a visiting professor. Professor Nakanishi introduced three characteristics of the International Conference on Comparative Culture of East Asia. First, the conference is hosted by Japan, China and South Korea in turn, and participants come from different countries. Second, the Conference does not have a headquarters, because the host is the headquarters while the three countries have equal status; Third, the conference took the form of an ancient Greek academic forum, which was called an “international conference” rather than an academy. Professor Nakanishi also gave an enlightening explanation on the connotation and methods of comparative culture.
Later, Professor Liu Yuzhen of Nankai University, Professor Yosuke Gutian of Meisei University and Professor Lee Can-wook of Chung-Ang University delivered speeches as the president of the branch of China, Japan and South Korea respectively. Professor Liu Yuzhen, President of the conference, President of the Chinese branch and director of the East Asian culture research center of the school of foreign languages, pointed out that the International Conference on comparative culture in East Asia has been held in China four times, namely, the 3rd (Peking University) in 1998, the 6th (Nankai University) in 2001, the 9th (Fudan University) in 2006 and the 12th (Zhejiang industrial and Commercial University) in 2014. The fifteenth session of the general assembly was scheduled to be held in autumn 2020, because COVID-19 postponed one year. This conference will be held online and offline for the first time. Scholars from China, Japan and South Korea will explore East Asian culture from multiple perspectives from the aspects of language, literature, history and culture, which has important theoretical value and practical significance for further deepening the mutual understanding and exchange among the three East Asian countries. The keynote speech in the morning was presided over by Professor Liu Yuzhen. Professor Wang Xiaoping of Tianjin Normal University, China, and Professor Yosuke Furuta of Meisei University, Japan, respectively gave wonderful speeches entitled “Refinement and International Cooperation of East Asian Classics -- Academic Proposal of Writing Workshop” and “Tang Poetry in China and Chinese Poetry in Japan”, which received warm responses both online and offline. In the afternoon, more than 50 experts and scholars from China, Japan and South Korea were divided into 10 sessions to discuss ancient East Asian literature, modern and contemporary East Asian literature, East Asian literature and cultural exchanges, East Asian thoughts and culture, East Asian languages and other topics, closely following the theme of mutual learning of East Asian cultures. Rich and varied contents of publications, active and in-depth academic exchanges, outspoken comprehensive discussions and professional and diverse ideological collisions fully displayed the latest academic achievements of East Asian comparative cultural studies, and further promoted academic and cultural exchanges among China, Japan and South Korea.
Professor Han Lihong, dean of Department of Japanese, School of Foreign Languages, presided over the conference summary and plenary meeting, and professor Yosuke Furuta, President of Japan, Professor Lee Can-wook, President of Korea, and Professor Liu Yuzhen, President of China made summary speeches respectively. At the closing ceremony, Prof. Liu Yuzhen, chairman of the Conference, summed up the conference with two key words of diversity and refinement, and expected the conference to harvest more academic achievements in the future and continuously enhance academic and cultural exchanges.
The conference ended in warm applause from the representatives of China, Japan and South Korea. The 16th International Conference on Comparative Cultures of East Asia will be hosted by Chung-Ang University in the summer of 2023.
