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Advanced Workshop on Studies of Chinese Translations of Buddhist Sutras and Chinese Pronouns

Advanced Workshop on Studies of Chinese Translations of Buddhist Sutras and Chinese Pronouns

Advanced Workshop on Studies of Chinese Translations of Buddhist Sutras and Chinese Pronouns

A three-day Advanced Workshop on Studies of Chinese Translations of Buddhist Sutras and Chinese Pronouns, organised by The Department of Chinese Language Studies at The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK), concluded successfully today (31 December).

 

Sponsored by the General Research Fund (GRF) and Chiang Chen Chair Professor Fund, the workshop was held between 29 and 31 December. Twenty one renowned scholars from universities and research institutes in the Mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong were invited to explore the relationship between Chinese pronouns and Chinese translations of Buddhist sutras. These included Peking University, Nanjing University, Zhejiang University, Renmin University, Beijing Foreign Studies University, Beijing Language and Culture University, Shanghai Normal University, and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, among others.

 

The workshop featured four keynote speeches by Professor Wei Peichuan, from the Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica; Professor Wang Weihui, from Zhejiang University; Professor Dong Zhiqiao, from Nanjing Normal University; and Professor Zhu Qingzhi, from EdUHK.

 

Professor Zhu Qingzhi, Chair Professor in the Department of Chinese Language Studies at EdUHK, said, “The workshop gathered renowned scholars, who delivered four keynote speeches and presented 17 papers, delving into the theme from various perspectives, and took part in in-depth discussions on the topic. The workshop yielded fruitful results and provided a great contribution to Chinese pronouns studies, far beyond our expectations.”

 

Chinese translations of Buddhist Scripture, which is a key to Buddhist Chinese Studies, had a profound impact on the development of the Chinese language since the Medieval Period from the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Song Dynasty. During the period, over 1,000 translated Buddhist sutras were produced, comprising more than 40 million words and featuring characteristics of Indian texts in canonical scriptures. The Chinese pronouns changed significantly during the period, and their development and evolution have become a popular research area in the past 20 years. The workshop was organised against this backdrop to explore Chinese pronouns in Chinese translations of Buddhist sutras.

 

For more details, please visit the following link: http://www.eduhk.hk/chl/tc/page.php?msid=121