CHL Hosts International Symposium on Poet Li Bai
- 2025
- News
- Department of Chinese Language Studies
On 29 and 30 May 2025, the Department of Chinese Language Studies (CHL) of The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK) hosted the ‘Singing under the Meandering Moon’: International Symposium on Li Bai and Tang Poetry and History with a resounding success. Invited speakers from Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, the United States, and Europe gathered at EdUHK’s Tai Po campus to give a comprehensive analysis of the great medieval Chinese poet Li Bai (701–762)—the man, his thought, and the works he left behind, masterfully weaving historical overview and close reading into the discussion.
The two-day Symposium featured six thought-provoking keynote speeches and 22 outstanding presentations. All keynote speakers are major scholars in the study of Li Bai, including Professors Paul W. Kroll from the University of Colorado; Lee Fong-mao from National Chengchi University, Taipei; Chen Shangjun from Fudan University, Shanghai; Stephen R. Bokenkamp from Arizona State University; Xue Tianwei from Xinjiang Normal University; and Kawai Kōzō from Kyoto University.
Revolving around the central figure Li Bai, the six world-renowned scholars addressed a variety of topics, such as his inimitable writing style, his pursuit of transcendental spirituality, his poems that have been considered spurious, his friendship with and poems gifted to Daoist priest Yuan Danqiu, his unique worldview as an inspiration to the modern world, and his literary construction of an otherworld beyond human perceptions.
Nine sessions of panel discussions were also organised for in-depth discussion on the following themes: emotional expression in writing, geographical and spatial dimensions, musical references and connotations, Daoist connections and pursuits, locales and locality, ancestry and life events, political ideals and ambitions, poetic techniques and prosody, and reception history.
Prof Timothy Wai-keung Chan, Head of CHL and convenor of the Symposium, expressed in the closing speech that he was confident the Symposium helped facilitate a meaningful dialogue between scholars from different academic traditions around the world.
Prof Pui-wan Pamela Leung (first from left), Prof Kat-hung Dennis Cheng (second from left), Prof Timothy Wai-keung Chan (fourth from left), and the keynote speakers at the opening ceremony
Prof Chan expresses that the Symposium helps facilitate meaningful dialogues among scholars from different academic traditions
Group photo of speakers, guests, and participants
