The Graduate Institute of Chinese Linguistics and Documentation, College of Liberal Arts, will co-host the Second Tamkang Global Sister Universities Conference on Chinese Linguistics and Culture at Chueh-sheng International Conference Hall on October 15 and 16 (Wednesday and Thursday). Scholars from Tamkang’s sister universities in the US, Japan, Korea, and Spain are to present papers, and active participation and discussion can be expected.

In accordance with Tamkang’s promotion of globalization, the Graduate Institute of Chinese Linguistics and Documentation was established this August. Under President Horng-jinh Chang’s leadership, Tamkang has succeeded in establishing sister ties with a variety of well-known universities all over the world. Scholars attending the conference come from Nagasaki University, Chuo Gakuin University (Japan), Dankook Univ. Kyungnam University, Hanyuan University (Korea), California State University, Sacramento and Long Beach (USA), and Universidad de Barcelona (Spain). Some other native scholars from Chinghua University, Soochow University, Chinese Culture University, Taidong Normal College, Chungcheng University and Tamkang University will also present papers at the conference.

The focus of this conference is placed on the related issues of Chinese linguistics and culture. Professor Che-fu Wu, chair of the Graduate Institute of Chinese Linguistics and Documentation, and Professor Kou-ping Lu, the general secretary of the conference, indicate that the interdisciplinary study of culture and language has always been the dominant field in sinology, and Tamkang’s Graduate Institute of Chinese Linguistics and Documentation is the first academic institute dedicated to the study of sinological culture and language. For the related information and enrollment, please contact Graduate Institute of Chinese Linguistics and Documentation or the website http://mail.tku.edu.tw/088073/.

The Department of Chinese is holding the 8th International Conference on Literature and Aesthetics at Chueh-sheng International Conference Hall on October 17 and 18; native and foreign professors of literature will hold discussions on “Contemporary Chinese/Taiwanese Literature,” the topic of conference.

The main purpose of this conference is to study the social formation, expression and transformation of “beauty” in contemporary Chinese/Taiwanese literature. Stylistics, thematics, analogy, globalization, future prospect, computerization and so on are the subtopics to be assessed. Literature as a site of production is discussed from material, social, and psychological perspectives.

Scholars joining the seven sessions of presentation and discussion include Hung-shi Tsui from Korea, Kuang-da Chang from Malaysia, and around twenty native scholars including Cheng-tseng Jen, Run-hua Wang, Tong Chiao, Ing-tai Chang, I-lu Lu, Shuang-ing Chang, and Yu-huei Liao.