The Second International Conference on Ecological Discourses, organized by the Department of English, was held on December 5 and 6; native and foreign scholars joined panel discussions and presented papers on their specialized fields, discoursing on the current conditions and developments of international ecology with respect to contemporary society, environment, literature, feminism, pollution, and art.

Professor Patrick Murphy, from the University of Florida (US), delivered the first speech at the conference; through his own daughter’s example, Professor Murphy pointed out that owing to the impact of technology, more and more people acquire knowledge from recreational activities, which blurs the boundary between education and recreation. The speech aroused enthusiastic discussions among the participants: some optimistically looked forward to a brand new environment of learning for the new generation, while others worried about the negative effects of cyber-learning.

On the second day, Professor Chao-cheng Lin and Ph. D. candidate Shan-shan Wu (both from Cheng kung University) co-presented a paper on the “green imagery” in Chinese classical poetry. The paper focused on the color of Nature “green” and surveys the history of its use and analyzes its variations. Surveying various poems, the paper proposes that green does not merely represent aspiration, hope, and fertility; through its multiple imagery, green can be interpreted as spiritual serenity and the rise and fall of moods, displaying to readers of later generations a world re-configured by colors.