Our institute is pleased to announce a new lecture series for this year, entitled “The In’s and Out’s of East-West Translation and Adaptation”. This series will run from March to November 2005, with locally and internationally renowned scholars from various disciplines in translation, literature and cultural studies to deliver talks at LEWI.

In the East-West context, translation is always a cross-cultural and “inter-lingual” practice, mining the veins of semantic and syntactic structures running beneath ordinary language. East-West translation, then, is not merely linguistic conversion but also a cultural adaptation, either by domesticating a foreign tongue or “foreignizing” a local vernacular. Translation and adaptation, as two sides of the same coin, entails a sense of unity that is misleading. The transformations take place painstakingly and simultaneously, particularly in moments of East-West contact and bear witness to sometimes turbulent exchanges across cultural and linguistic divides. These East-West interactions occur in many languages and multiple forms, so they can be approached from various (inter) disciplinary tools and methods: linguistic, literary, visual, cinematic, electronic and performative.

The lectures in this series aim to provoke thinking about the stakes of contemporary translation and adaptation. What has been gained and lost in the practices of East-West translation/adaptation? On whose terms do these transpositions take place and on what grounds may they be considered legitimate (or not)? What subjectivities are implicated in the translation/adaptation process? Is translation the end, in the sense of a destination, of East-West contact? “The In’s and Out’s of East-West Translation and Adaptation” takes aim at developing a thick description of the terms, conditions and stakes of cross-cultural translation, in its practical and theoretical dimensions. 

Professor Jan Walls from Simon Fraser University will deliver the first lecture in the series. The title of his lecture is “Form and/or Content: An Argument for Stylistic Diversity in English Translation of Chinese Poetry”. Professor Walls is the Director of the David Lam Centre for International Communication, Director of the Asia-Canada Programme, Simon Fraser University, and Director of North America-China Research Programme of LEWI. A devoted scholar and educator in East-West culture and literature, Professor Walls has published widely on Chinese poetry translation and cross-cultural business development. He is also a multi-talented performing artist, known for his bilingual (English/Putonghua) performance of bamboo clappertale. His lecture will focus on seeking a balance between structural (form) transfer and translation of meaning (content) in the translation of Chinese poetry. We are also very honoured to have Professor Martha Cheung, Director of Centre for Translation of Hong Kong Baptist University, to chair Professor Wall’s lecture.  

Other speakers for this series include: Professor Rey Chow, Brown University; Professor Leo Lee, The Chinese University of Hong Kong; Professor David Wang, Harvard University; Professor Eugene Eoyang, Lingnan University; Professor Martha Cheung, Hong Kong Baptist University and Professor Thomas Luk, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. More information about the lecture series is available on our website.

Professor Xing Yue from the Institute of International Studies, Tsinghua University will be LEWI’s visiting scholar in March. Professor Xing is an expert in international relations, and she has also been a visiting scholar at Harvard University.  The main objective of Professor Xing’s visit to LEWI is to collaborate with Professor Herbert Yee of the Department of Government and International Studies on a study of China’s role in international relations in the age of globalisation. Professor Xing and Professor Yee will co-publish a paper on this topic, and she will also deliver a lecture about her research during her stay in Hong Kong. 

- - Select other topics - - LEWI Lectures 2005 LEWI Visitorship - Professor Xing Yue RGS Recipient - Spring 2005 Recent Visits by Member Institutions LEWI Publications

In Spring 2005, we welcome four new students to our University to participate in the Resident Graduate Scholarship (RGS) Programme:

HE Mei, Master’s degree candidate, School of Journalism & Communication, Tsinghua University. Thesis topic: “The Comparative Study of the Hollywood, Hong Kong and Mainland Film Industry”. Field supervisor at HKBU: Dr Cheuk Pak Tong, Department of Cinema & Television. 

My name is He Mei, and I am conducting research in Hong Kong for my thesis from January to June under LEWI’s RGS programme. I am grateful to LEWI for giving me a great opportunity to make use of the vast academic resources in Hong Kong. My research will be focusing on the cinema and television in Asia, especially in Hong Kong and Mainland China. I have published a number of papers in academic journals such as China Television and Movie and Media Today. I am enthusiastic about cinema and television and I look forward to learning more about them in Hong Kong, a fast-paced metropolitan city as well as a society with a colorful cultural background. I hope I will be able to keep up with the vigorous lifestyle here, and I will try my best to achieve my goals. 

NGO Sheau Shi, Ph.D. candidate, School of Communication, Arts and Critical Enquiry, La Trobe University. Thesis topic: “Sexual Representations in Hon Kong Wuxia Genre: A Western Analysis”. Field supervisor at HKBU: Dr Cheuk Pak Tong, Department of Cinema & Television. 

Ngo Sheau Shi received her B. Communication (Hons.) and M. Arts degrees from Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang. She was previously researching on a contemporary Malay director in Malaysia, U-Wei Haji Shaari, from a feminist psychoanalytic point of view. She is currently enrolled as a Ph.D. candidate in Cinema Studies at La Trobe University in Australia, working on Hong Kong wuxia genre from a feminist perspective. She is also active in a Malaysian Chinese-language website called "The Free Media" <http://www.thefreemedia.com/>. 

SUN Jing, master’s degree candidate, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Tsinghua University. Thesis topic: “The Comparative Research Between British Aestheticism at the end of the 19^th Century and Chinese Aestheticism in the Period of the May Fourth Movement”. Field supervisor at HKBU: Dr Eva Man, Department of Religion and Philosophy. 

My name is Sun Jing, and I am a master’s degree candidate at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences of Tsinghua University. The goal of my comparative research is to learn about the difference between British aestheticism at the end of the 19th century and Chinese aestheticism in the period of the May Fourth Movement. After obtaining my Bachelor in journalism and communication at Peking University, I have also obtained a Double Major in economics from the China Center for Economic Research at Peking University. With the support from my supervisors, Dr Xiao Ying of Tsinghua University and Dr Eva Man of HKBU, and LEWI, I will commit myself to my thesis research in the coming months. After living here for a month, I am learning more about Hong Kong, and I feel the climate here is just like my hometown, Wei Hai, a well-known seaside and tourist city in China. I also find the different cultures very appealing, and I believe I will enjoy my studies and my stay in Hong Kong. 

WU Ning, Ph.D. Candidate, Chinese History and Culture Institution, Jinan University. Thesis topic: “The History of the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention in South China”. Field supervisor at HKBU: Dr Lee Kam Keung, Department of History. 

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Visit by University of Leeds (27 January 2005)

Ms Ottolie Evers, International Liaison Officer, China & Hong Kong, International Office, University of Leeds, visited the LEWI office on 27 January, while she was in Hong Kong for the Education UK Exhibition. Ms Evers met with Dr Emilie Yeh, Associate Director of LEWI, and Ms Jennifer Law and Ms Nicole Lee, Programme Officer of LEWI. She also saw the Leeds office at LEWI and discussed with our staff the ways to make better use of the office.

Visit by Ohio University (25 February 2005)

A delegation from Ohio University, led by their President, Dr. Roderick McDavis, visited HKBU on 25 February 2005. This was President McDavis’s first visit to our University since he assumed presidency of Ohio University in July 2004. The delegation met with the President, Vice-Presidents and Deans of our University, as well as the Directors and Associate Directors of IIBD and LEWI. In the morning, they visited the LEWI office and Dr Emilie Yeh, Associate Director of LEWI, gave a powerpoint presentation about the Institute to the visitors and showed them the Ohio office at LEWI. The delegation also visited the School of Chinese Medicine and School of Continuing Education. Other members of the delegation include: Dr. Alan Geiger, Assistant to the President; Mr. Dan DeLawder, Member of Board of Trustees; Dr. Josep Rota, Associate Provost for International Programs; Dr. Thomas Shostak, Dean of Life Long Learning Program; and Dr. Daniel Shao, Ohio University International Advisor.

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Working Paper Series

The LEWI Working Paper Series is an endeavour of LEWI to foster dialogues among institutions and scholars in the field of East-West studies. It was launched in April 2002 and serves as a forum for the speedy and informal exchange of ideas as scholars and academic institutions attempt to grapple with issues of an inter-cultural and global nature. Thirty papers have been published so far and we welcome papers in any academic field related to East-West studies, from authors within and outside of our LEWI consortium. For further information, please contact Mrs. Maria Shing at lewi@kbu.edu.hk or visit http://www.hkbu.edu.hk/~lewi/publications.html#4 for details about ordering and manuscript submission.

Recent Publications in the Series (abstracts are available on our website):

31. CHAN Kwok Bun and Vivienne LUK, Hong Kong Baptist University, Conflict Management Strategies and Change in Sino-Japanese, Sino-Korean, and Sino-Taiwanese Joint Ventures in China, English/38 Pages, November 2004.

32. Yingjin ZHANG, University of California, San Diego, Styles, Subjects, and Special Points of View: A Study of Contemporary Chinese Independent Documentary, English/31 Pages, December 2004.

33. Ashley TELLIS, Eastern Illinois University, Cyberpatriarchy: Chat Rooms and the Construction of “Man-to-Man” Relations in Urban India, English/14 Pages, January 2005.

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