On October 23 and 24, Professor Jin Guoping from the Center for Macaology of Jinan University was invited by the Portuguese Department to give two lectures titled “Arrival of Portuguese in China in the 16th Century” and “Portuguese Language, Macaology, and Portuguese-speaking World”. The lectures received a number of faculty members and students from the Portuguese, Japanese and Translation Department, as well as those from the Faculty of History and others. Professor Yan Guodong, Dean of the College of Foreign Languages, gave a speech at the second lecture.
Professor Jin is a Research Fellow, Academic Advisor and Distinguished Professor of the Center for Macaology of Jinan University. He is the Academician of Academy of Portuguese Science History and was awarded the Order of Infante D. Henrique of the Republic of Portugal.
In the first lecture titled “Arrival of Portuguese in China in the 16th Century” on October 23, Professor Jin shared his decades of experience in historical research. He first analyzed the factors behind Portugual’s overseas exploration in the sixteenth century, and then systematically explained the Portuguese navigation routes and trade activities in Asia. While illustrating the geographical, political and economic factors that prompted the Age of Discovery by navigations, he argued that the most prominent reason lies in the development of commerce. Professor Jin also made comparisons between the Portuguese navigations with Zheng He’s navigation to the West during the same period. In addition, Professor Jin also pointed out that it was most likely the Portuguese that launched the globalized exchange of species and trade, with supporting historical facts. Professor Jin also described the activities of the Portuguese people in Asia and their impact on the cultural life of the locals, emphasizing the importance of Chinese Macao in the Portuguese commercial network in Asia.
In the second lecture titled “Portuguese Language, Macaology, and Portuguese-speaking World”, Professor Jin discussed the position of Portuguese language in the world’s language system, as well as how its status in the East changed over the centuries. Portuguese bears importance in the following aspects: it was the universal language of the East in the Age of Discovery, it is one of the official languages in Macao, China today, and the most-studied one of the five Neo-Latin languages. Professor Jin specifically explained many concepts such as Creole, Creolization, and mutual loaning. At the end of the lecture, Professor Jin gave an outlook on the future of Portuguese language education in China, hoping that universities could highlight the teaching on ancient script literacy.
Professor Jin also made in-depth exchanges with the attendees during the Q&A session, providing many valuable insights to the topics.
