From September 27 to 28, the China-UK Higher Education Young Scholar Alliance Academic Forum, organized by the China-UK Association for the Humanities in Higher Education and the British Academy, was held at Fudan University, one of the founders of the Association.
Under this year’s theme “Cities in Literary Imagination”, participants shared their own studies on it and joined the panel discussions on “Utopia/Dystopia”, “urban cycle” and “urban representation”. The discussions covered literary texts of both general and specific contexts since ancient Greece about cities. The scholars explored the utopian and dystopian depictions of cities in literary texts, the rise and fall of cites as well as the representation of urban experience in texts, from the perspective of literature, linguistics, history, politics, criminology and urban design.
Vice-President of Fudan University Chen Zhimin delivered a welcoming speech at the opening ceremony. He pointed out that the forum has promoted the exchanges between researchers of different disciplines and fields, and enabled scholars from both countries to discuss topics of shared interest. It would not only benefit academic research, but also give inspiration to modern life.
Yan Haiping, Dean of Institute for World Literatures and Cultures at Tsinghua University, congratulated on the success of the forum on behalf of the China-UK Association for the Humanities in Higher Education.
Aiming at strengthening cooperation among young scholars of Humanities in Chinese and British universities, the forum has provided a platform for the young scholars to explore issues of common concerns and form a tangible goal for in-depth and targeted academic collaborations in the future.