Title: Written Communications and East Asian Cultural Exchange: Focusing on the Written Communication Materials of the First Chinese Envoy to Japan during the Qing Dynasty

Speaker: Liu Yuzhen (Professor, Doctoral Supervisor at Nankai University)

Time: 14:00-15:30, May 29, 2023 (Monday)

Venue: First Lecture Hall, Binhai Central Campus, TUST

All faculty members and students are warmly invited to participate.

Speaker Introduction:

Liu Yuzhen, professor at the School of Foreign Languages, Nankai University, director of the East Asian Cultural Research Center, part-time professor at the Institute of Japanese Studies, Doctoral Supervisor, concurrently serving as president of the East Asian Cultural Negotiation Society, president of the China Branch of the East Asian Comparative Culture International Conference, vice president of the Chinese Association for Japanese Language Teaching, executive director of the Chinese Japanese Studies Association, director of the Chinese Japanese History Society, director of the Chinese Japanese Philosophy Society, and director of the Chinese Japanese Literature Research Association. He has served as a foreign researcher at Waseda University, the University of Tokyo, and the International Research Center for Japanese Studies, and as a visiting professor at the Japanese Studies Center of Beijing Foreign Studies University. His research fields include Japanese literature, Sino-Japanese comparative literature, and the history of Sino-Japanese cultural exchanges. Several works have been published, including Research on the History of Sino-Japanese Literature and Cultural Exchanges,Compilation of the First Resident Embassy Staff's Notes in Japan during the Qing Dynasty,History of Japanese Classical Literature and Investigation of Japanese Political and Legal System,among others. In 2021, he was awarded the “Top Ten Teacher Friend” at Nankai University.

Lecture Content:

This lecture will focus on the compilation of The First Resident Embassy Staff’s Notes in Japan during the Qing Dynasty (two volumes, Tianjin People’s Publishing House, 2010) compiled by the speaker. It will systematically analyze the notes from such first resident embassy staff members as He Ruzhang, Zhang Sigui, and Huang Zunxian, in correspondence with their Japanese friends during the Meiji period, including OkouchiKousei, MiyajimaSeiichirou, Ishikawa Kouzai, and Korean envoy Kim Hongjip. The discussion will delve into issues related to note-taking and East Asian cultural exchanges from such perspectives as the appreciation of flowers through Han poetry, discussions on friendship in cuisine, and the allure and pitfalls of note-taking.