Event — Symposium

Reading Matters: Chinese and Western Traditions of Interpreting the Classics

Textual, exegetical and philosophical investigations have long constituted some of the most important scholarly pursuits in the areas of Chinese and Asian studies. The Chinese hermeneutic traditions are continuous, corpulent and complicated, composed of multiple layers of meanings accrued over time and deposited by hosts of intellectually diverse exegetes and commentators, spanning and traversing the intellectual domains of Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism, and beyond. Since antiquity, the canonical and classical texts have been constantly reread and reinterpreted, and thus vitally refreshed, reinvented and renewed, serving as crucially important cultural, spiritual, ideological as well as political inspirations for successive generations of interpreters as they sought to rebuild and reform culture. Not only has intra-sectarian reading (within the ken of Confucianism alone, for instance) generated new commentarial texts, but inter-sectarian (Confucian-Buddhist syncretism, for example) interpretation has also produced innovative exegeses. 

On the other hand, research and translations in the past decades, not to mention centuries, have thrown into relief the humane and humanistic values of the rich Chinese classical traditions in cross-cultural and universal terms. They have done much to establish the rightful place of the Chinese classics in the world’s canon. European and American sinologists, bringing their knowledge of Western hermeneutics and theories of reading to bear on the Chinese texts, have made enormous contributions in bringing to light their pluralistic and global significances.   It is reasonable to say that we have come to a pass where we may fruitfully rethink the Chinese classical traditions in light of western hermeneutic theories.  It is also time we productively embarked on meaningful comparisons between Chinese hermeneutics and the European counterparts.

IIAS is a key institution in Europe that promotes inter-disciplinary and cross-cultural research. In keeping with its goal and mission, this international symposium, under the auspices of IIAS, with the support of Pennsylvania State University and National Taiwan University, looks forward to stimulating interests in, and generating understanding of, the Chinese and Western traditions of interpreting the Classics in comparative and inter-cultural terms. With your participation and input, we are confident the symposium will be a rewarding and successful undertaking.

Confirmed speakers

  1. Professor On-cho Ng - Department of History and Religious Studies, Penn State University, USA
  2. Professor Erica Brindley - Department of History and Religious Studies, Penn State University, USA
  3. Professor Huai-chen Kan - Department of History, National Taiwan University, Taiwan
  4. Professor MIZUKAMI Masaharu - Faculty of Education, University of the Ryukyus, Japan
  5. Professor Tze-ki Hon - History Department, SUNY-Geneseo, USA
  6. Professor Yuet Keung Lo - Department of Chinese Studies, National University of Singapore, Singapore
  7. Professor Haizheng Yang - Department of Chinese Language & Literature; Center for Ancient Chinese Classics & Archives, Peking University, China
  8. Prof. Hung-lam Chu - Department of Chinese Culture, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong
  9. Kaishuan Fu – National Taiwan University, Taiwan
  10. Professor Dennis Cheng - (IIAS Professor, holder of the European Chair of Chinese Studies at Leiden University, the Netherlands / National Taiwan University, Taiwan)

Programme