Overseas Chinese literature innovation research is in the ascendant (concern of overseas Chinese)

On December 4, 2021, the academic seminar on "Overseas Chinese Literature and Exchange of Chinese and Foreign Civilizations: Theoretical Innovation and Text Interpretation" was held. Courtesy of respondents

Recently, the academic seminar on "Overseas Chinese Literature and Exchanges between Chinese and Foreign Civilizations: Theoretical Innovation and Text Interpretation" jointly sponsored by the Institute of Chinese Culture and World Civilizations and the College of Literature of Huaqiao University was held in Quanzhou, Fujian Province.

The focus of research shifted from "literature" to "people"

Overseas Chinese literature is the key word of this conference, and in terms of discipline structure, it is often referred to as overseas Chinese literature.

Professor Chen Qingfei of the College of Letters of Huaqiao University, overseas Chinese literature and taiwan-Hong Kong literature research center said that the slightly different concept of "overseas Chinese literature" was put forward because Chinese literature has long been naturally included in the secondary discipline of Chinese modern and contemporary literature from the perspective of "literature", that is, language literature, and it is easy to focus only on "literary" and look at problems from The chinese position, ignoring the influence of overseas special historical and cultural contexts on the literary creation of overseas Chinese and Chinese. As a result, it loses the vitality and unique value of research outside of literature. The conceptual adjustment from "Chinese literature" to "overseas Chinese literature" is a shift in the focus of research from "literature" to "people", and a shift from the study of text content to the study of a broader world of overseas Chinese and Chinese.

"Those who have a long history are long, and those who have deep roots have a strong branch." Chen Qingfei said that since the late Qing Dynasty, with the expansion of Western colonization, overseas Chinese literature was born in the era of Great Chinese immigration.

The "Guofan Song", which was once popular in the Fujian and Guangdong regions, recorded the suffering experience of southern laborers "going to Nanyang" and "passing through the Fan" in the form of folk songs; the late Qing dynasty diplomats Huang Zunxian, Zuo Binglong, and Qiu Shuyuan, who was known as the "Xingzhou Yugong", constituted the overseas prose vein of classical Chinese poetry. Together, these two branches constitute the source of overseas Chinese literature.

After the May Fourth Movement, new overseas Chinese literature emerged, ushering in the era of modern writing of overseas Chinese literature. After World War II, with the independence of southeast Asian nation-states, overseas Chinese completed the identity transformation, and their literary writing also transformed from overseas Chinese literature to Chinese literature, becoming the ethnic literature of the host country. Overseas Chinese literature in European and American countries has become part of the multiculturalism of the emigrant countries with its Chinese nature.

"At present, overseas Chinese literature is composed of several important literary plates such as Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia, North America, Europe, and Australia. As far as the current creations are concerned, the literature of new immigrants that emerged after the reform and opening up with the tide of Chinese mainland studying abroad has attracted the most attention. With flexible citizenship, newly immigrated writers flow in both directions between the country of emigration and the country of origin (home) and become the overseas army of China's contemporary literary scene, telling the story of China and the story of overseas Chinese and ethnic Chinese overseas, while taking the demands of literary creation as the legal right of new citizens of the country of emigration. Chen Qingfei said.

Promote the establishment of disciplinary autonomy

Chen Qingfei said: "The academic seminar 'Overseas Chinese Literature and Exchanges between Chinese and Foreign Civilizations: Theoretical Innovation and Text Interpretation' was held under new historical conditions, on the one hand, it is expected to continue the discussion of Chinese cultural poetics theory from a new theoretical perspective and the height of dialogue between Chinese and foreign civilizations, and expand the research horizon of Chinese literature with the theories and methods of sociology and anthropology; on the other hand, it aims to connect ethnic studies in international scholarship with the history of overseas Chinese and Chinese, and to explore the writing power and way of speaking of the overseas Chinese group as a minority ethnic group. As well as the communication path of ethnic harmony and civilizational symbiosis. ”

The conference is invited by young and middle-aged scholars, and looks forward to the inheritance and innovation of disciplines. The main topics of the conference include: Chinese Cultural Poetics and Theoretical Innovation of Chinese Literature, Overseas Chinese and Chinese History and Minority Theory Research, Southeast Asian Chinese Literature Research and Civilization Mutual Learning, European and American Chinese Literature Research and Civilization Mutual Learning, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao Literature Research and Building a Solid Chinese National Community, etc.

Dozens of scholars from more than 20 universities, research institutes and Huaqiao University, including Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, University of Geneva in Switzerland, Dongya University in South Korea, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Fujian Academy of Social Sciences, Zhejiang University, Wuhan University, Xiamen University, Sun Yat-sen University, Jinan University, China University of Political Science and Law, Fujian Normal University, etc., attended the meeting.

The inheritance and innovation of scholars of different generations and different countries have made the discussion of the topics of this conference extensive and in-depth, and the various possible ways of civilization exchanges have been explored with a rigorous academic spirit, and various obstacles in civilization exchanges have also been presented.

"Understanding the differences between civilizations and resolving them is the prerequisite for ethnic harmony and civilizational symbiosis. Among different civilizations, only the beauty of each other, the beauty of beauty, and the beauty of the United States can share the fruits of world peace and development. Overseas Chinese literature not only tells the historical story of overseas Chinese and Chinese, but also tells the story of China that is happening, which has a specific significance for understanding contemporary China, and its location and way of telling are more in line with the cognitive psychology of the people in the host country. Chen Qingfei said, "It is precisely based on this duality of cognition that we hope to combine overseas Chinese and Chinese studies with literary studies, establish disciplinary autonomy, and promote the study of overseas Chinese and Chinese literature in the vision of dialogue and mutual learning among global civilizations." At the same time, it condenses the wisdom of Chinese scholars around the world and builds the seminar on "Overseas Chinese Literature and Exchanges between Chinese and Foreign Civilizations" into a high-end academic platform for sustainable development, and continuously deepens and transforms research results. ”

The Chinese experience is blended with the local experience

"The road is long and the road is long, and I will seek it up and down." The inheritance and development of overseas Chinese literature is inseparable from the intensive research of many scholars for many years.

Shen Ling, a teacher at the School of Chinese Languages of Huaqiao University, said in her article "Chinese Experience: Cultural Representations of Overseas Chinese Poetry" that the Chinese experience in overseas Chinese poetry has two connotations: one refers to the embryo of Chinese culture such as its language and artistic expression, which is determined by the inheritance of Chinese culture; the other is that the Chinese experience in overseas Chinese poetry is integrated with the local experience of the author's country of residence, which is determined by the multiple identities of the creative subject, and is also determined by the variability that culture inevitably accompanies in exotic transmission and ethnic inheritance.

Shen Ling said: "Because my school is an overseas Chinese school, many of our students come from Southeast Asia, so I am also concerned about Chinese education and the development of Chinese literature in Southeast Asia. In the article "Co-prosperity with the same root: A Historical Review of Chinese Education and Chinese Literature in Southeast Asia", I reviewed the history of Chinese education and the development of Chinese literature in Southeast Asia and found that the two are a relationship of common prosperity with the same root. ”

Chen Qingfei has also been committed to the study of overseas Chinese literature, and is currently responsible for the national social science fund project "Research on overseas Chinese and Chinese overseas resistance literature in Southeast Asia" and the late-stage funding project "Research on the Phenomenon of Literary Return of New Immigrants" funded by the Ministry of Education.

In the article "The Literary Narrative of "Overseas Chinese" and Its Writing Ethics - Taking New Immigrant Writers as the Object of Investigation", she proposed that "Overseas Chinese" connects overseas Chinese and their ancestral homeland, and is a social regional space with a unique history and value concept, and the study of overseas Chinese cannot be limited to the data analysis mode of sociology, economics, and international immigration, but should become an aesthetic object with unique connotations. Reveal the overseas survival status and mental state of overseas Chinese and ethnic Chinese in the era of global mobility.

"Engaging in the study of overseas Chinese literature is not only derived from the purpose of Huaqiao University to 'serve overseas Chinese because of overseas Chinese', but also from personal academic interests and emotions." Chen Qingfei said.