Sin Wai Kin Distinguished Professor of Chinese Culture and Translation – John Minford Culture and Translation Series Pu Songling and His Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio

22 April 2023

 

The School of Translation and Foreign Languages was thrilled to once again welcome Professor John Minford, a prominent scholar, to host a public lecture series, on the topic of “Pu Songling and His Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio” from March to April 2023.

To boost cultural exchange between the East and the West through reinterpretation of Chinese literature, we cordially invited the HSUHK family and the general public to attend the four lectures and go on a journey across the imaginary world of Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio created by literary giant, Pu Songling.

Participants were guided through Pu’s life and lineage, the various themes and treatments in the great work, and were able to observe what Pu had created­­­­ ­­- fascinating and poetic stories in an immersive exhibition of culture and humanities.

Professor Minford used a number of Chinese ink paintings to elaborate the intertwined relationships between the paintings and the colophons on them, which share a close similarity between the great work and its commentators from various perspectives. 

The public lecture series was enthusiastically received with over 600 literature-lovers, especially those from the translation industry.