On December 16 and 17, 2017, CFLC held the 10th Graduate Students’ Academic Symposium. Events included opening and closing ceremonies, lectures by renowned scholars and academics, presentation and defense of academic papers, and a peer exchange salon.
The symposium, which was open to all major universities and colleges in the country, received a total of 129 papers from Peking University, Nanjing University, Fudan University, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Beijing normal University, Nanjing normal University, and other institutions.
The papers covered linguistics and lexicography, literature and culture, translation and interpreting. There were 35 papers submitted by students from other universities and 94 from Xiamen University. The symposium also attracted a number of international students in master’s and doctoral degree programs.
Both the total numbers of papers received and student participating in the symposium set new records. Following a rigorous process of assessment, 17 papers were awarded the first prize, 20 the second prize papers, and 26 the third prize.
The symposium kicked off at 8:30 AM on December 16. Professors attending the opening ceremony included Qu Weiguo, Dean of the School of Foreign languages at Fudan University; Wu Jiewei, Vice Dean of the School of Foreign Languages at Peking University; Wang Hongzhang, Chair of the Translation Department of the School of Foreign languages at Fudan University; Wang Zhenhua, Director of the Martin Center for Applied Linguistics of the School of Foreign Languages at Shanghai Jiaotong University; Li Shuguang, Professor of the School of Foreign Languages at Nanjing Normal University; Chen Zhiwei, CFLC’s Party Secretary; Zhang Longhai, Dean of CFLC; Xin Zhiying, Vice Dean of CFLC; Wu Guanghuang, Vice Dean of CFLC; Yang Shizhuo, Chair of CFLC’s English Department; Jiang Guiying, Chair of CFLC’s Department of Foreign Language Education; Lin Bin, Vice Chair of CFLC’s English Department; Fang Housheng, Vice Chair of CFLC’s Department of European Languages; Lu Jingming, Vice Chair of CFLC’s French Department; Yang Xinzhang, CFLC linguistics professor; and Yu Zhongxian, CFLC French professor. The opening ceremony was presided over by Zheng Xinfeng, CFLC’s deputy Party secretary.
CFLC Dean Prof. Zhang Longhai delivered the opening address at the symposium. He extended a warm welcome to all professors and students attending the symposium and briefed them on CFLC’s recent developments and academic endeavors. He said that 2017 marked the 10th anniversary of the symposium and that it was the first time that the symposium had been opened to all other major universities throughout the country. He also expressed his hopes that faculty and students would take advantage of this symposium to absorb insights, pool academic resources, increase exchange with other scholars and academics, broaden their horizons, and work together to unleash the potential for academic research and innovation. Finally, Prof. Zhang wished the symposium a complete success.
After the opening ceremony, all participating professors and paper authors had a group photo. Immediately afterwards, the thematic presentation session kicked off, chaired by Professor Yang Shizhuo, head of CFLC’s English Department. The first lecture, given by Professor Qu Weiguo of Fudan University, was entitled “A Case Study of Critical Discourse Analysis of Western Centrism in Post-Colonial Translation Theory”, was based on an evaluation of postcolonial translation at home and abroad. He shared his reflections on the theory of postcolonial translation, and pointed out that the theory makes the study overly broad and detached from the translation ontology. The second lecture was presented by Professor Wu Jiewei of Peking University and entitled “Practice and Thinking of Internationalizing the Cultivation of Foreign Language Talent from the Perspective of Globalization.” Prof. Wu used a large amount of data to illustrate the successful experience of Peking University in international exchanges. He also put forward suggestions for the training of international studentsin the context of the “Belt and Road” Initiative.
At 1:30 PM on December 16, students presented and defended their papers in 13 groups covering translation, interpreting, linguistics and lexicography, and literature and culture. Professors from Xiamen University and other participating universities servedasreviewers. The students each were given eight minutes to share their research and then answered questions posed by the reviewers, who would offer suggestions for improvement. After that, the reviewers discussed the papers with one another and selectedhigh-quality ones for prizes.
In order to provide a platform for students to exchange ideas and lean from one another, a peer exchange salon was held on the evening of December 16. Graduate students from CFLC and various other colleges and universities shared their research and learning experiences. As hosts, CFLC students introduced the history, geography and architecture of Xiamen University to their peers from other universities. A number of interactive games were also staged to enhance friendship.
At 8:30 AM on December 17, the symposium entered its second day of thematic presentations. The first and second lectures were moderated by Professor Jiang Guiying, CFLC’s Department of Foreign Language Education. The first lecture was given by Zhang Hui, a professor from Nanjing Normal University. Entitled “Critical Cognitive Linguistics: Theory and Application”, the lecture introduced the theory of critical cognitive Linguistics, explored the characteristics and language manipulation of information discourse, and shed light on the hidden position and ideology behind language, taking the Sino-American Strategic Intelligence reports as the corpus.
The second lecture was given by Professor Xu Hai of the Guangdong University of Foreign Studies. In his lecture, entitled “Cognitive Interpretation and Dictionary Expression of English Spatial Prepositions”, Prof. Xu introduced prior studies on the spatial semantics and the metaphorical meanings of the English prepositions of “on” and “over”, and shared his insights into the application of cognitive linguistics to the study of the prototype scene schema and semantic network of the spatial preposition of “to”. He revealed the mapping relationship between its spatial meaning and metaphorical meaning,and put forward a “four-level” lexical meaning arrangement model.
The third and fourth lectures were moderated by Professor Lu Jingming, Vice Chair of CFLC’s French Department. The third lecture was given by Professor Wang Hongzhang of Fudan University, who explored ways for doctoral students to identify an area of research for their dissertations. In his lecture, Prof. Wang also introduced the basic ideas of the history of cultural exchange between China and the West and the history of philosophy and comparative poetics. The fourth lecture was presented by Professor Wang Zhenhua of Shanghai Jiaotong University, entitled “From Motion and Quality to Materiality - On the Nominalization Analysis of English Translation of Chinese Clauses”.By comparing English and Chinese grammars, Prof. Wang shared his insights into how to accurately grasp the constraints of lexical meaning and context in translation. Each lecture was followed by a Q&A session.
At 2 PM on December 17, the closing ceremony for the symposium took place in Nanguang III 112 Lecture Hall. The ceremony was presided over by Wu Guanghui, Vice Dean of CFLC and included presentation of papers by first-prize winners. Zhang Zichen, a PhD student from Beijing Normal University specializing in foreign linguistics and applied linguistics, analyzed the hot spots and development prospects of translation studies on the basis of the project data of the National Social Science Foundation in 2013-2017. Yun Chengbin, a Xiamen University graduate student specializing in English language and Literature, shared his research on the correlation between silent pauses and fluency scores in English and Chinese consecutive interpreting. Du Xiufan, a Nanjing University graduate student in English language and Literature, took doctoral dissertations as an example to explore pragmatic mitigation strategies in the interaction between academic and spoken English. Ling Mengyue, a PhD student specializing in comparative literature at CFLC’s Japanese Department, probed the travel experience of Okada and Koshiro in “Mongolia”.
After the wonderful presentations by the four students, Xin Zhiying, Vice Dean of CFLC, delivered a speech. She first expressed her congratulations to all prize-winning students and expressed thanks to all the professors and students from other colleges and universities. She then summarized the papers received at the symposium and said that in the course of the defense, the students' academic paradigm, theoretical literacy, and scientific research ability had all been improved. She thanked the professors and students who helped organize the events. In particular, she expressed her appreciation to professors from other colleges and universities for their strong support and for their roles as reviewers in ensuring the high quality of the symposium. She expressed her hopes that that this year’s participating students would continue to participate in the symposium next year and press ahead on their academic journeys.
Subsequently, Zheng Xinfeng, deputy Party secretary of CFLC, read out a list of prize-winning students. Professor Wang Hongzhang from the School of Foreign Languages at Fudan University, Chen Zhiwei, Party secretary of CFLC,Zheng Xinfeng, deputy Party secretary of CFLC, Xin Zhiying and Lin Bin, vice chairs of CFLC’s English Department, Lu Jingming, vice chair of CFLC’s French Department, and Yue Wuyang, secretary of CFLC’s Communist Youth League, presented the prizes to the winning students.
The symposium closed with an address by Chen Zhiwei, Party secretary of CFLC. On behalf of the organizers, Secretary Chen expressed her sincere thanks to the expert reviewers from other colleges and universities, all the students who participated enthusiastically and the staff in preparing for this symposium. She said that it was the concerted efforts of all parties that enabled the two-day event to proceed smoothly and achieve fruitful results. Secretary Chen also extended warm congratulations to the students and praised all participating students for their devotion to academic research.
The CFLC Graduate Students’ Academic Symposium is one of the College’s signature academic events. Since its inauguration in 2008, it has been held annually for 10 consecutive years, receiving a total of 884 papers. The participation rate of students has steadily increased every year. It has significantly promoted the academic research in the College and created a positive academic atmosphere. For each academic symposium, CFLC invitesrenowned scholars and academics from other institutions to give thematic talks and shared their research findings, thereby expand students’ scientific research horizons and creating a broader research platform. At its 10th anniversary this year, the symposium turned out to be a grand occasion for academic exchanges of great significance. Outstanding foreign language students from major colleges and universities throughout the nation listened to expert lectures and comments, exchanged ideas and learned from one another, and gained a better understanding of academic norms, theoretical development and scientific research methodology. 
