Wang Jingli

wangjingli0715@163.com

EMINENT scholars from home and abroad in the comparative literature field gathered last week in Shenzhen for the International Comparative Literature Association (ICLA) Executive Council Meeting and International Comparative Literature Forum held at Wuzhou Guest House in Futian District.

The event, which was co-organized by the Chinese Comparative Literature Association (CCLA) and Shenzhen University, is said to be the first international comparative literature forum to be held on the Chinese mainland, attracting over 370 participants from 19 countries and regions around the world.

Wang Lixin, deputy Mayor of Shenzhen Municipality, Liu Hongyi, chairman of Shenzhen University Council, Zhang Longxin, president of ICLA, and Wang Ning, president of CCLA, each delivered a welcome speech at the opening ceremony Saturday.

Shenzhen, as an immigrant city, encourages cultural inclusiveness and diversity as well as people’s imagination and creativity, while comparative literature is like an inclusive culture. Therefore, the idea of comparative literature is in line with Shenzhen’s inclusive spirit, according to Wang Lixin.

“The world today is filled with some uncertainties. Comparative literature is not only very important for academic researches but also relevant to the political and social reality of the world today,” Wang Ning said at the opening ceremony.

Aside from the keynote speeches ahead of the opening ceremony, the forum also organized a roundtable talk featuring the editors-in-chief of SSCI and A&HCI Journals, a dialogue between famous Chinese writers Wang Anyi and Xiang Nanxiang, and several parallel sessions where scholars shared their insights and ideas on topics like comparative literature and the rise of digital humanities, world literature and China, comparative literature and world literature, cosmopolitanism and the community of a shared future for humankind, and the Belt and Road Initiative as a form of globalization.

As the organizer, Shenzhen University has played a significant role in cultural exchanges and cooperation. In 1985, Shenzhen University witnessed the establishment of CCLA. Over the last few decades, Shenzhen University has held several events related to comparative literature, contributing greatly to the development of the field.