UM Macao Humanities Forum discusses literary interpretation and allegorical traditions in Chinese and Western literature

The Faculty of Arts and Humanities (FAH) of the University of Macau (UM) held the Macao Humanities Forum on 10 March 2025, where Zhang Longxi, Li De Chair Professor at Yenching Academy of Peking University and Xiaoxiang Chair Professor of Comparative Literature at Hunan Normal University, delivered a lecture titled ‘Meaning Beyond the Text and Allegorical Interpretation’. The lecture attracted a large audience of students and faculty.

Speaking at the event, Joaquim Kuong, assistant dean of FAH, highlighted Macao’s role as a hub for exchange and cooperation where Chinese culture is the mainstream and diverse cultures coexist. He noted that the theme of the forum was related to the comparison of Eastern and Western cultures and involved various disciplines of the humanities, which was in line with Macao’s important role in the cultural exchange between the East and the West. Zhang Jian, associate dean of FAH, introduced Prof Zhang Longxi’s academic background and achievements, as well as his long-standing dedication to the comparative study of Chinese and Western literature and culture. With over 20 monographs published in both Chinese and English and hundreds of academic papers, Prof Zhang Longxi is also known as ‘the ferryman between Chinese and Western cultures’. His academic journey exemplifies the perseverance of intellectuals in difficult times, and serves as an inspiration to students and faculty.

During the lecture, Prof Zhang Longxi began by discussing his motivation for writing the book A History of Chinese Literature, highlighting the historical dominance of Western literature in the global literary landscape in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He pointed out that with China’s rising global influence, international interest in Chinese literature has grown, but there remain significant gaps in its reception and interpretation. Prof Zhang also criticised the long-standing Western academic tendency to contrast Chinese and Western cultures, which often leads to an inadequate understanding of Chinese literary traditions. He noted that Western scholars often perceive traditional Chinese literature as primarily documentary, lacking the imaginative and fictional qualities central to Western literary traditions. This misconception, he argued, disregards the Chinese aesthetic ideal of ‘meaning beyond texts’. Prof Zhang then explored the philosophical roots of this concept in Confucian and Taoist thought, tracing how the scepticism of classical scholarship towards language shaped literary criticism and made ‘meaning beyond texts’ a key concern of Chinese literati. Drawing on the arguments of the Qing dynasty poet Shen Deqian, Prof Zhang pointed out that both Eastern and Western traditions recognise the role of the reader in rendering multiple interpretations. However, unlike the absolute relativism found in Western literary theory, traditional Chinese literary criticism recognises differences in the depth and quality of readers’ interpretations. By comparing Western criticism of the Homeric epics with Chinese literary criticism of the poetry of the Tang dynasty poet Li Bai, Prof Zhang highlighted the similarities between Chinese and the Western poetic criticism.

During the Q&A session, UM students and faculty engaged in in-depth discussions with Prof Zhang Longxi on issues such as whether non-phonetic writing systems can inherently avoid logocentrism and the notion of ‘deyi’ (literally, apprehending the ideas of words) in the chapter ‘External Things’ of the Zhuangzi. Prof Zhang emphasised that literary interpretation, regardless of perspective, must be grounded in the textual and historical context and supported by substantial evidence.

This was the fifth lecture of the Macao Humanities Forum for the 2024/2025 academic year. Each year, the forum invites prominent scholars in different fields of the humanities to share their latest research findings with students and faculty members in Macao. Previous lectures of the forum have covered a wide range of topics, including literature, linguistics, history, translation, and arts.

To read the news on UM’s official website, please visit the following link:
https://www.um.edu.mo/news-and-press-releases/press-release/detail/60773/