Visiting Scholar Scheme

The Mr. Simon Suen and Mrs. Mary Suen Sino-Humanitas Institute of Hong Kong Baptist University is very honoured to invite Professor Chen Guanghong, Director and Professor of Chinese Classics Research Institute at Fudan University, to serve as HKBU University Fellow during 22 June and 21 August 2026, and give a public presentation in person during the visit to share his first-hand experience and insight on classical Chinese philology, etc. with local faculties, students and members of the public who are interested. Moreover, Professor Chen will conduct a research seminar for the research staff and research students of the Institute.

The public lecture is open to all. Please find details as follows.

Lecture by HKBU University Fellow: Historiographical Reflections on the Learning of Ji (Belles-Lettres) Section and Its Contemporary Methodological Approaches 

Date: 31 July 2026, Friday
Time: 10:00-11:30am
Venue: RRS 905, 9/F, Sir Run Run Shaw Building Ho Sin Hang Campus Hong Kong Baptist University
Speaker: Professor Guanghong CHEN (Distinguished Professor of Fudan University, Director of the Chinese Classics Research Institute, University Fellow of Hong Kong Baptist University)
Language: Mandarin

Regstration link: https://forms.office.com/r/t0YDfZdBGq

Abstract:
The learning of the Ji (Belles-Lettres) section has a long history of formation and has maintained a relatively stable configuration. Since the Ming and Qing dynasties, the emergence of methods for reading Ji-section texts that corresponded to principles of prose composition, together with specialized bibliographies devoted to the Ji section, gradually manifested a systematic understanding of Ji-section knowledge. With the establishment of literature as a modern academic discipline, cizhang studies was institutionalized as the Chinese discipline of literature, thereby aligning it with the Western concept of “Literature,” and its primary textual basis lay precisely in Ji-section texts. Early literary historians such as Xie Wuliang and Qian Jibo consciously regarded Ji-section learning as a systematic scholarly framework for literary studies. This suggests that any genuine grasp of the distinctive character of Chinese literature requires us, at the very least, to return to the original point at which the traditional Fourfold Learning (sibu) was transformed into the Seven-Discipline curriculum (qike) of the late Qing educational system. From today’s standpoint, revitalizing and renewing the study of the Ji section may better contribute to constructing China’s autonomous knowledge system and discourse system. Reflecting on the paradigm of Chinese literary studies that has taken shape since the modern era, one central task in our disciplinary construction is to break down, at a fundamental level, the barriers among literary history, literary criticism, and literary textual studies. Only then can we, through an integral path of restoration, return to the original historical setting and thereby reconstitute the scholarly system of Chinese literature.

About the Speaker (in Chinese only):
陳廣宏，復旦大學特聘教授、古籍整理研究所所長，兼任全國古籍整理出版規劃領導小組成員、中國明代文學學會副會長等。主要從事元明清文學及明代古籍整理研究，亦關注文學思想史、文學史學及日韓中國學等方面。曾任韓國首爾大學招聘教授、日本早稻田大學交換研究員。入選教育部長江學者特聘教授，主持完成國家社科基金重大項目“全明詩話新編”、教育部人文社科重點研究基地重大項目“中國近世文學思想史”。著有《竟陵派研究》《閩詩傳統的生成》《中國文學史之成立》《文本、史案與實證：明代文學文獻考論》《文學史的文化敘事》等專書，編校《明代詩話珍本叢刊》《陳繼儒全集》《日本所編明人詩文選集綜錄》《明人詩話要籍彙編》《稀見明人文話二十種》《稀見明人詩話十六種》等。曾獲上海市哲學社科優秀成果獎七項，教育部高校科學研究優秀成果獎二項，中國政府出版獎提名獎一項。

Acknowledgement: The seminar is supported under University Fellowship Program Supported by Sir Run Run Shaw Endowment Fund.