2025 No.3
News: Public Lecture Series on “Lingnan Culture and the World” 2025 Humans and Deities Connected Through Celebrations: Festivals and Customs in Lingnan
The 2025 Public Lectures Series on “Lingnan Culture and the World”, with a foucs on “Humans and Deities Connected Through Celebrations: Festivals and Customs in Lingnan”, was held on 25 October and 2 November 2025. Following on the success of the 2024 series themed “Lingnan: A Literary Landscape”, this year’s programme was again co-organized by the Research Programme for Lingnan Culture, Institute of Chinese Studies (ICS), The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and the Hong Kong Public Libraries, offering a blend of academic depth with engaging insights.
$caption
more ...
News: Signing Ceremony of Memorandum of Agreement between École française d’ Extrême-Orient and Institute of Chinese Studies and International Conference on “The Territorial Management and Its Mapping Process in East Asia”
For more than three decades, the École française d’Extrême-Orient (EFEO) and the Institute of Chinese Studies (ICS) have maintained a close partnership, fostering joint research initiatives and academic dialogue between France and Hong Kong. To further strengthen this longstanding collaboration, a new Memorandum of Agreement was signed on 3 December 2025, marking the beginning of a new chapter in scholarly exchange between the two institutions. The ceremony was graced by the presence of Prof. Max Xiaobing Tang, Director of ICS and Prof. Valérie Gillet, Vice Director of Research of École française d'Extrême. It was also our pleasure to have Mrs. Christile Drulhe, Consul General of France in Hong Kong and Macau, witness the ceremony.
 
$caption
more ...
News: ICS Visiting Fellowship Programme 2027 Call For Applications
Deadline: 30 April 2026
$caption
Event Report: Distinguished Lectureship in Chinese Culture and Digital Studies
Distinguished Lectureship in Chinese Culture and Digital Studies 2025

Speaker: Prof. Jieh Hsiang

From 3 to 7 November 2025, the Institute of Chinese Studies (ICS) hosted the second “Distinguished Lectureship in Chinese Culture and Digital Studies 2025” (the Lectureship), funded by Bei Shan Tang Foundation. ICS was honoured to invite Prof. Jieh Hsiang, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of the Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering at National Taiwan University (NTU), as the keynote speaker. As the founding director of the Research Center for Digital Humanities at NTU, Prof. Hsiang has led the development of over 40 databases for Chinese historical sources and the DocuSky collaboration platform, setting a benchmark for integrating information technology with humanities research.
$caption
more ...
Event Report: ICS Experiencing Chinese Culture Series 2025–26
Chinese Calligraphy Workshop - Elementary

The Workshop, taught by Dr. Chan Kwun Nam,Phil, Painting and Calligraphy Curator from the ArtMuseum, CUHK, was held from September toNovember 2025 at the Experiential Learning Spaceof Art Museum West Wing. Eighteen applicantsearned a place in the ten-session Workshop. Focusingprimarily on Clerical Script, the Workshop introducesthe participants to classical calligraphy masterpiecesand guides them through hands-on practice to help them master the fundamental techniques ofthe style. Through exploring the heritage and aesthetics of Chinese calligraphy, the course aims tolay a solid foundation for participants to deepen their understanding and cultivate a lastingappreciation of Chinese culture.
$caption
Event Report: ICS Visiting Scholar Public Lecture Series
Plantations as “Anti-Plantations”: Victorian Ecological Limbo and Its Aftermath in the Malay Archipelago

Speaker: Dr. Menglu Gao

Institute of Chinese Studies were honoured to invite our visiting scholar of ICS Visiting Fellowship Programme – Dr. Menglu Gao, Assistant Professor of Victorian Literature at University of Denver, to deliver a Public Lecture on the topic of “Plantations as ‘Anti-Plantations’: Victorian Ecological Limbo and Its Aftermath in the Malay Archipelago”.

Drawing on her current project project on plantation ecology in nineteenth-century, Dr. Gao’s presentation focused on four different texts: Alfred Russel Wallace’s travelogue The Malay Archipelago, Joseph Conrad’s novel Lord Jim and two short stories by contemporary Malaysian writer Ng Kim Chew. Dr. Gao argued that authors writing about the colonial or postcolonial Malay Archipelago depict plantations as forest-like to explore an “ecological limbo”—a state in which colonialism’s control of plant life appears chaotic, incomplete, or even unsuccessful, blurring the distinction between cultivated land and wilderness. The lecture provided different angles for audience to understand more on colonial development in Malay Archipelago.
$caption
Event Report: ICS Luncheon 2025
  • 漆器類文物保護修復——以《康熙朝壽慶人物圖六曲款彩漆屏風》為例
    Speaker: Ms. Hua Chunrong

  • 英雄:歷史記憶與香港的移民、定居和糾紛的傳說
    Speaker: Prof. Choi Chi Cheung
 
$caption
more ...
Event Report: ICS Public Lecture
  • Tōseiden: Sino-Japanese Communication and the Vinaya Tradition
    Speaker: Prof. Wang Xingyi

  • Picturing Displacement: Yip Yan-chuen 葉因泉 (1903–1969) and the Afterlife of the Liumin tu 流民圖 Tradition
    Speaker: Dr. Alice Bianchi
$caption
more ...
Event Report: T.T. Ng Chinese Language Research Centre
  • The 6th International Workshop on Syntactic Cartography

  • Studies in Chinese Linguistics and Current Research in Chinese Linguistics Reselected for Inclusion in CSSCI
$caption
more ...
New Publications
  • Journal of Chinese Studies no. 81 (July 2025)
  • Twenty-First Century Bimonthly, Issue 210 (August 2025)
  • Twenty-First Century Bimonthly, Issue 211 (October 2025)
  • Twenty-First Century Bimonthly, Issue 212 (December 2025)
  • Current Research in Chinese Linguistics (Volume 104 Number 2)
more ...
Event Highlight: Research Programme for Lingnan Culture
International Symposium on “Lingnan Culture and the World: Waterways, Watermanship and Public Energies”
 
The symposium invites interdisciplinary contributions to address the burgeoning interest in water-bound connectivity among pan-Cantonese communities originating in the Lingnan/South China region from the late imperial period to the modern era. By gathering scholars from Hong Kong, Mainland China, the UK, and France alongside local independent researchers, the symposium foregrounds the waterways that have structured the historical, cultural, linguistic, and aesthetic landscapes of what is now the Greater Bay Area.

Date: 26 – 27 February 2026
Venue: Day 1 – C-LP-02, Tai Po Campus, EdUHK
            Day 2 – Ma Wan (Invited Scholars Only)
Language: Chinese and English
Details: https://lwis.eduhk.hk
Organizers: Department of Chinese Language Studies, EdUHK, CKC TechCulture Innovation Centre, EdUHK
Co-organizers: Department of Literature and Cultural Studies, EdUHK, Research Programme for Lingnan Culture, Institute of Chinese Studies, CUHK

*RGC Collaborative Research Project “Lingnan Culture and the World” (2023–2026)

$caption
Event Highlight: Prof. Dame Jessica Rawson Chinese Art History Lecture Series 2026

The Department of Fine Arts and the Institute of Chinese Studies at The Chinese University of Hong Kong are honoured to welcome Prof. Dame Jessica Rawson as our 2026 Distinguished Visiting Professor, sponsored by Bei Shan Tang Foundation. Prof. Rawson, from the University of Oxford, is a world-renowned scholar in Chinese art and archaeology, and the recipient of the Tang Prize in Sinology (2022). Her research has profoundly shaped our understanding of ancient China, including Chinese ornamental systems, burial practices, and cultural exchanges between China and Eurasia.

Under the theme “The Loess and China’s Civilisation”, Prof. Rawson will deliver three public lectures:

China’s Unique Architecture: A New View from Recent Archaeological Discoveries
Date: 29 January 2026 (Thursday)
Time: 4:30 – 6:15 pm (Tea Reception at 4:00 pm)
Venue: Cho Yiu Conference Hall, G/F, University Administration Building, CUHK

Jade and Gold: Chinese and Eurasian Cultures Compared
Date: 31 January 2026 (Saturday)
Time: 3:00 – 4:30 pm
Venue: The Hong Kong Jockey Club Auditorium, Hong Kong Palace Museum

The Dancing Horses of the Tang Dynasty (618–906) and their Predecessors
Date: 4 February 2026 (Wednesday)
Time: 4:30 – 6:15 pm (Tea Reception at 4:00 pm)
Venue: Activities Room, 2/F, East Wing, Art Museum, CUHK

For details, please visit: https://www.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/~fadept/zh/news/professor-dame-jessica-rawson-tc/

$caption
Event Highlight: Research Centre for Contemporary Chinese Culture
The 7th Chen Kai-wen Lecture on Modern Chinese History
Speaker: Prof. Wang Qisheng

Date: 23 March 2026 (Monday)
Time: 4:00 – 6:30 pm (Tea reception: 3:30 pm)
Venue: LT2, G/F, Yasumoto International Academic Park, CUHK

The 7th Chen Kai-wen Lecture on Modern Chinese History – Symposium
Speaker: Prof. Wang Qisheng, Prof. An Dongqiang, Prof. Li Lifeng

Date: 26 March 2026 (Thursday)
Time: 4:00 – 6:30 pm
Venue: LT2, G/F, Yasumoto International Academic Park, CUHK

More details will soon be disseminated on website, please refer to: https://cuhk.edu.hk/ics/rcccc/index.html

Event Highlight: T.T. Ng Chinese Language Research Centre

15th International Workshop on Theoretical East Asian Linguistics (TEAL-15) Call For Papers

Organized by the T.T. Ng Chinese Language Research Centre, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) and sponsored by the United College, CUHK, the 15th International Workshop on Theoretical East Asian Linguistics (TEAL-15) will take place at CUHK on 5–6 June 2026 as one of the commemorative activities for the 60th anniversary of the Centre. We are pleased to invite submissions addressing theoretical issues relating to languages spoken in the area of East Asia, such as Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and/or other languages spoken in East Asia and Southeast Asia. We particularly welcome comparative work in syntax, semantics, or morphology, that contributes to the understanding of Universal Grammar.

For the details of the Workshop, please visit https://www.cuhk.edu.hk/ics/clrc/teal15/.

Event Highlight: Fai Chun Writing for the Chinese New Year 2026
Editorial Board Committee
Editor: Lai Chi-tim
Executive Editor: Heung Ting-ting
Copy Editing: Chu Man-ling (Chinese), Wang Cheng (English)
Publisher: Institute of Chinese Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
News: Public Lecture Series on “Lingnan Culture and the World” 2025 Humans and Deities Connected Through Celebrations: Festivals and Customs in Lingnan
News: Signing Ceremony of Memorandum of Agreement between École française d’ Extrême-Orient and Institute of Chinese Studies and International Conference on “The Territorial Management and Its Mapping Process in East Asia”
News: ICS Visiting Fellowship Programme 2027 Call For Applications
Event Report: Distinguished Lectureship in Chinese Culture and Digital Studies
Event Report: ICS Experiencing Chinese Culture Series 2025–26
Event Report: ICS Visiting Scholar Public Lecture Series
Event Report: ICS Luncheon 2025
Event Report: ICS Public Lecture
Event Report: T.T. Ng Chinese Language Research Centre
New Publications
Event Highlight: Research Programme for Lingnan Culture
Event Highlight: Prof. Dame Jessica Rawson Chinese Art History Lecture Series 2026
Event Highlight: Research Centre for Contemporary Chinese Culture
Event Highlight: T.T. Ng Chinese Language Research Centre
Event Highlight: Fai Chun Writing for the Chinese New Year 2026
Editorial Board Committee
 
Past Issues
Copyright 2026. Institute of Chinese Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. All Rights Reserved.
This E-Newsletter is solely owned by Institute of Chinese Studies. The Institute accepts no liability for any loss or damage howsoever arising from
any use or misuse or reliance on any information in this E-Newsletter.