The forum aims to nurture young scholars in Chinese Studies and strengthen their academic networks. With the theme "Intellectual Networks and Knowledge Production: Remapping Chinese Studies", this year's forum had invited a total of 26 young scholars to present their research papers. The papers were divided into 8 panels and scheduled over a period of two days. Topics of interest include but are not restricted to:

1. Rise and fall of schools of thought in any period of the history of China and the Chinese;
2. Spread of key concepts and genealogies of knowledge of/ about China in local and global contexts;
3. (Re)interpretation, dissemination, appropriation and reception of classics and important texts;
4. Knowledgeable communities: e.g. intellectuals, scholars, officials, literati, craftsmen, connoisseurs and more;
5. Groups that were marginalised by traditional beliefs ;
6. Methods for studying intellectual networks and knowledge production in Chinese studies.

CUHK faculty members including Professor Lai Chi Tim from the Department of Cultural and Religious Studies, Professor Poon Shuk Wah from the Department of History, Professor Ye Jia from the Department of Translation and Professor Tsui Lik Hang from the Department of Chinese and History at the City University of Hong Kong, were invited to serve as discussants. This year's forum received 184 applications and 33 applicants were invited. A postponement had resulted in seven withdrawals out of the 33 selected applicants. Participants came from different countries, including 13 from mainland China, three from the U.S.A, three from Europe, three from other countries in Asia and six from Hong Kong, reflecting the forum's effort to enhance international communication in Chinese studies.