22 June 2024

HSUHK’s Department of Chinese organised the “Auditory Culture and Transcultural Modernity: Symposium on Chinese Literature and Culture” on 22 June 2024, marking Hong Kong’s first academic conference on the theme of “auditory modernity”. Over 10 distinguished scholars and artists from Shanghai, Taiwan, and Hong Kong attended the symposium and delivered presentations on various topics.

Dr Ivan Chen, Associate Head of the Department of Chinese began the symposium by delivering opening remarks. His speech was inspired by the Chinese character “聰” (cong), embodying the essence of listening and its profound connection to human knowledge acquisition. Professor Huang Ziping, Emeritus Professor from Hong Kong Baptist University, also delivered a thought-provoking keynote speech, delving into the “ethics of sound” and the “politics of sound” as exemplified in early works of Lu Xun.

The symposium featured three thematic sessions, “Soundscape of Nature and the City”, “Sound Memory and Film Space in the Sinophone World”, and “Audiovisual Sensory Experience and Technologised Sound”. These sessions offered cross-cultural and global perspectives, examining a wide range of issues pertaining to auditory culture within the Sinophone world. Scholars presented their findings from cutting-edge research and an audio engineer shared his expertise and experiences in environmental sound recording, to further foster interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary exchange.