Tsinghua University hosted the 9th Biannual Conference of the China Association for the Study of Literatures in English from May 9 to 11. Themed “English Literatures and China,” the conference brought together over 300 scholars from 128 universities and research institutions.
Cao Li, Director of the Center of European and American Literature, Tsinghua University, and vice-president of the association, chaired the opening ceremony. In her welcome speech, she traced the rise of English studies in China back to 1926, when the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures was founded in Tsinghua University. The study of English literatures, she pointed out, is closely related to the process of modernization and the rise of modern thought in China. She expressed her hope that the conference would serve as a new beachhead and platform for “developing new concepts, new categories, and new expressions that would bridge Chinese and international perspectives”.
Yang Yongheng, Director of the Office of Humanities and Social Sciences, Tsinghua University, emphasized Tsinghua’s rich humanistic tradition of bridging East and West, past and present in his welcome speech. He highlighted the growing influence of artificial intelligence on the humanities and called for deeper inquiry into how AI can empower foreign literature studies. He urged scholars to explore new paradigms grounded in Chinese cultural contexts while engaging with global academic discourses.
Wu Xia, Dean of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, Tsinghua University，emphasized that English literary studies should not only interpret “the other,” but also reflect on China’s own culture. Recalling the legacy of earlier Tsinghua scholars who collectively shaped the “Tsinghua School”—Wu called for preserving the depth of humanistic studies in the AI era and fostering integrations between local characteristics and global perspectives. English literary studies, she remarked, offer a unique prism for understanding both the world and the self.
Shen Fuying, President of the China Association for the Study of Literatures in English, said the conference is a high-level academic gathering contributing to the construction of China’s autonomous knowledge system in the humanities and social sciences. She encouraged scholars to broaden the horizons of English studies, strengthen academic independence, and amplify Chinese scholarly voices in the global intellectual community.
Four plenary sessions were moderated by Professor Jin Li and Professor Zhang Jian from Beijing Foreign Studies University, Professor Yang Jincai from Nanjing University, and Professor Guo Yingjian from Renmin University. Yuan Heh-hsiang (Xinya College, Tsinghua University), Lu Jiande (Chinese Academy of Social Sciences), Yan Haiping (Tsinghua University), Wang Ning (Tsinghua/Shanghai Jiaotong University), Yang Jincai (Nanjing University), Gao Fengfeng (Peking University), Jason Harding (City University of Hong Kong), Hao Tianhu (Zhejiang University), and Zhou Min (Hangzhou Normal University), etc., delivered lectures at the plenary sessions on topics ranging from reinterpreting classical texts to revisioning world literature framework. Themes included “mimesis and apostasies,” “mutual trans-writings and creative modernity,” “civilizational critique and spiritual reconstruction,”? “artificial intelligence and ethical challenges”, and “Global South and Chinese solutions.” “Only connect” serves as a central motif that encapsulates the evolving values and innovative methodologies of English studies in today’s China.
On the afternoon of May 10, sixteen parallel sessions, informed by a strong sense of theoretical, cultural and practical awareness, addressed topics including English, American, Irish, Oceanian, Canadian, African, Caribbean, and Indian literatures in English, alongside literary theory, pedagogy, and China-Anglophone cultural relations.
Two special roundtables, convened by Chen Li and Zhang Jian (Beijing Foreign Studies University), and Wang Zuo (Shandong Normal University) respectively, added depth to the conference. In the evening of May 10, the roundtable “Core Topics in Foreign Literature Studies: Themes and Paradigms”, co-hosted by Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press (FLTRP), discussed key paradigms and methodological issues in English studies. The following morning featured the roundtable “English Literary Education and Teaching in 21st-century China,” which engaged in an in-depth discussion on the regionalization, digitalization, and general education of English literary courses, as well as the challenges and opportunities brought by AI technologies.
The conference concluded with a closing ceremony chaired by Shen Fuying. Representatives from Hezhou College and Yunnan Normal University announced that they will host the 2026 symposium and the 2027 10th biannual conference, respectively.
The conference was co-organized by the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, Tsinghua University, and the China Association for the Study of Literatures in English, with support from Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, Tsinghua University Press, and a number of academic periodicals, including Foreign Literature, Foreign Literature Studies, Contemporary Foreign Literature, Foreign Languages and Cultures, and Island Studies Journal.
Writers: Wu Juanjuan, Chen Xiangjing
Editors: Li Han, JP
