To further enhance academic exchanges at our university, broaden the academic horizons of teachers and students, and promote high-quality development of academic research, on the afternoon of June 12th, Professors Zhang Jian and Ye Ye from Peking University, along with Associate Professor Yu Fei from Hebei Normal University, were invited to our university for academic exchanges. The leaders of the School of Literature and History, as well as representatives of teachers and students, participated in the exchange activities.

Before the event began, President Wang Yongqin cordially met with Professors Zhang Jian and Ye Ye and their team. President Wang warmly welcomed the two experts and introduced the development history of our school, educational characteristics, and achievements and future plans in the field of humanities and social sciences, especially in the discipline of Chinese language and literature. President Wang stated that this exchange was a valuable opportunity for our teachers and students to get close to top academic ideas and broaden their horizons, and expressed the hope for further deepening of academic cooperation and resource sharing between the two universities in the future. Professors Zhang Jian and Ye Ye expressed their gratitude for the warm reception and shared the experiences and thoughts of the Department of Chinese Language and Literature at Peking University in exploring the frontiers of the discipline and serving social culture. The meeting was cordial and in-depth, laying a solid foundation for the subsequent series of academic activities.

Professor Ye Ye delivered a lecture titled Banquets and Transportation: The Collection of Flowers as a Cultural Text, introducing the significant importance of The Collection of Flowers as a cultural text for the study of the culture of the times. He discussed the cultural diffusion of The Collection of Flowers through three geographical routes: “Chang’an - Chengdu”, “Bianluo - Chengdu”, and “Bashu - Lingnan”. From the perspective of literary geography, he analyzed the distribution of the 18 poets’ native places to decipher the geographical codes, and from the perspective of music history, he restored the musical migration route from the Central Plains’ teaching music to the music of Sichuan and then to the tunes of Jiangnan. From the perspective of material culture, he inferred the transportation network through the description of local products. Professor Ye Ye broke through the traditional research paradigm of Ci-poetry studies and achieved an interdisciplinary study of literature, history, and geography with The Collection of Flowers as the core text.

Professor Zhang Jian gave a wonderful comment on Professor Ye Ye’s lecture and further conducted theoretical reasoning and academic interpretation. He pointed out that Professor Ye Ye’s research paradigm broke the “genre-centered theory” and reconstructed the cultural network of The Collection of Flowers. He highly affirmed the methodological approach of “dynamic literary history research” based on interdisciplinary studies constructed by Professor Ye Ye.

The academic dialogue between the famous scholars from Peking University opened up new research perspectives for the teachers and students on site and sparked in-depth thinking and lively discussions. During the interactive exchange session, the teachers of the school engaged in in-depth exchanges with the experts on issues such as breaking through research bottlenecks, the latest developments in the discipline, and innovative models of talent cultivation.

This academic exchange activity enhanced the understanding of the research frontiers in the field of literature among the teachers and students of the School of Literature and History, and also provided them with a valuable opportunity to have close exchanges with academic authorities, broadening their academic horizons. In the future, the School of Literature and History will continue to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with renowned universities and research institutions, invite more academic experts to give lectures and exchanges at our university, strengthen discipline construction, enhance research capabilities, and promote new and greater breakthroughs in talent cultivation, scientific research, and social services.

(Contributed by School of Literature and History; Written by Zhang Jingyi)