The Macau Ricci Institute is organizing an International Symposium on “The Individual and Society in Modern Chinese Literature” from November 29, 2007 to December 1, 2007 at the Inspiration Building of the Institute For Tourism Studies, Macau.

With the economic growth and the revival of Chinese contemporary arts and culture, Chinese literature seems to have regained its traditional dynamic and leading role. It reflects upon what is at stake for the individual person involved in social changes, be they in the cities or in the countryside. Chinese modern writers bear witness to the construction of a new Chinese society and of its identity. Chinese modern literature is at the same time continuously searching for new ways of expression and for its ancient roots and millenary traditions.

The questions posed by the human being about its shaking value system, its uncertain future, its longing for stability, its deep sense of human life and its challenging aspirations will be at the center of the symposium debates.

Since its very origins, Chinese literature is grounded on four primordial cultural patterns. The first comes from its relation with the Empire, the imperial ritual and the philosophy of individual cultivation (The Classic of Poetry, The Elegies of Chu , the fu of the Han dynasties, etc.). Then, in a Taoist and Buddhist background, comes a pattern that, despite the influence of a religious culture, has preserved the independence of the forms that have become a kind of refuge for many Chinese literati. Popular culture generated also a pattern through which writers, while exploring tales and fables of various ethnic groups, have preserved their customs and usages, including ballades and folk songs. But Chinese literature is most of all routed on a pattern which expresses the real spirit of the East, that is to say: the ziranguan (the contemplation of what is as it is), this xuanxue or « mystery study » of the Wei and Jin times, as well of Chan or Zen; as such, in literature, this spirit has kept itself apart from its religious form; it has become a kind of “mode of life” for the literati who wanted to escape from the pressure of political power. To sum up, nearly all the most creative works of classical Chinese literature come from these four cultural patterns.

Today, after going through destruction, enslavement and commercial consumerism, Chinese literature strives for exerting its revealing role of the human conscience and for finding the right language to describe its real feelings.

That is why the present symposium aims to bring together leading Chinese writers and literary critics, in dialogue with outstanding Western literary sinologists, modern Chinese thinkers and opinion making publishers.

The detailed information of the Symposium can be found on our website at http://www.riccimac.org/eng/symp2007/index.htm.

Please note that the registration deadline for those who wish to attend is November 15, 2007 and interested parties can register online at the above website. A registration fee of MOP$/HK$100 has to be paid in cash on the first day of attendance at the Symposium

The two official languages of the Symposium are English and Mandarin (simultaneous interpretation will be provided). For further information, please call 28532536 or (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

The Macau Ricci Institute