On February 20, Professor Chen Duoyou from the Guangdong University of Foreign Studies (GDUFS) gave a lecture on Japanese culture at CFLC to undergraduate and doctoral students from the Department of Japanese.

In his lecture, Prof. Chen first elaborated on the origins of the Japanese nation. He introduced the various hypotheses in the academic community and pointed out that the commonality of the hypotheses lies in the combination of Japanese studies and Orientalism, which is an indication of the essence of Japanese studies. Prof. Chen then proceeded to expound the mythological form and commensality of Japanese worship of “things” since ancient times. He illustrated the core connotation of Japanese culture with examples from daily life. Finally, Chen made a comprehensive analysis and summary of the national character of the Japanese from the perspectives of Japanese geographical position, history and culture, traditional thought and so on. He concluded that one of the most important concepts in Japanese culture is the “the sorrow of things”.

Prof. Chen’s lecture was engaging, insightful and informative, providing a more complete and advanced view on Japanese studies to students. After the lecture, Prof. Wu Guanghui, who moderated the lectured, expressed his thanks to Prof. Chen for his remarkable talk.

Prof. Chen Duoyou is dean of the School of Japanese and Asian-African Language and Culture at GDUFS. He is a member of the Ministry of Education’s Steering Committee for Foreign Language Teaching in Higher Education Institutions. He is also vice president of multiple academic associations and editors of scholarly journals relating to the Japanese language and culture. Moreover, he is a guest professor at universities throughout the country.