From September 26 to 29, 2025, the International Conference "Literatures and Arts Across the Indian Ocean" was held at Peking University. The event was jointly organized by Peking University’s Research Center of Eastern Literature, the School of Foreign Languages, and the Institute of Oriental Studies, with co-organization by the Department of History at East China Normal University and the Transcultural Studies Branch of Academy of Chinese Culture.

The conference brought together over 90 scholars from 15 overseas institutions—including the University of Chicago (USA), King’s College London (UK), and the University of Pretoria (South Africa)—and more than 40 Chinese universities and research institutes such as Peking University, Tsinghua University, Fudan University, Beijing Foreign Studies University, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the Chinese National Academy of Arts, and the Film Art Center of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles. Through interdisciplinary and cross-regional perspectives, participants explored how multilingual and multi-form literatures and arts have stimulated, carried, and recorded the complex, multi-threaded historical progress of human civilization through exchange and integration across time and space.

Group Photo

Some Guest Speakers

The opening ceremony was chaired by Assistant Professor Zhang Minyu, School of Foreign Languages, Peking University. In his address, Professor Lin Fengmin, Deputy Director, the Office of Humanities and Social Sciences, Peking University emphasized that the conference served as a significant platform for gathering scholars from different countries, fostering interdisciplinary dialogue, and international academic cooperation. He noted that the event not only advanced research on exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations in the Indian Ocean region but also reflected Peking University’s commitment to implementing the Global Civilization Initiative through academic innovation and exchange.

Professor Chen Ming, Dean of the School of Foreign Languages and Director of the Research Center of Eastern Literature highlighted the particular historical significance of the conference, coinciding with the 620th anniversary of Zheng He’s maritime voyages and the 70th anniversary of the Bandung Conference. He pointed out that, in recent years, on the basis of the major National Social Science Fund projects on maritime studies it has undertaken, the School of Foreign Languages has hosted a series of academic conferences and diverse academic exchange activities both domestically and abroad. This has established cross-disciplinary research on the ocean in relation to history, literature, and culture as one of the School's flagship academic brands, thus continuously fulfilling its founding mission of building bridges between civilizations.

A editors-in-chief forum featured heads from 12 prominent domestic and international academic journals, including Peking University Journal (Philosophy and Social Sciences), Foreign Literature, Studies in Foreign Literature, Theory and Criticism of Literature and Art, Film Art, Beijing Cultural Review, Art Work, African and Asian Studies, and Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, who discussed disciplinary development, journal construction, and academic frontiers.

Professor Jude Chudi Okpala from the Department of Philosophy, Classics, and Humanities at the University of Texas at San Antonio and Professor Mu Hongyan from the School of Asian Studies at Beijing Foreign Studies University delivered keynote speeches titled "Transcendence: A Framework for Indian Ocean (Africa-Asia)" and "Sinbad the Sailor and the Western Indian Ocean Trade" respectively.

The conference included twelve breakout sessions that cover a wide range of topics, including classical texts, modern literature, performing arts, painting and visual arts, and cultural heritage preservation, etc. The conference also featured special events, including the screening of the documentary Film "Chasing Tuna in the Ocean" followed by a dialogue with the director and producer, the Indian Ocean Music Culture Salon, and a series of lectures on the diverse civilizations of the Indian Ocean region.

Text: Cai Xinyi

Photos: Wu Xiaolong, Yan Yichen

Translate by Zhou Junxia