The first 'Asian Conference on the Ancient World' academic conference was held online on 29 January. A total of 25 scholars from the world including Singapore, India, Australia, the US, Hungary, Italy, the UK, as well as China's Beijing, Zhejiang, Hong Kong and Taiwan attended the conference and presented 25 papers on the latest results in the field of ancient civilisations.
UIC Provost and Director of RCHC, Prof Chen Zhi, along with the Deputy Dean of the Institute of Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences (RCHC) at Beijing Normal University (BNU), Dr Li Jiayong, delivered the opening speeches at the conference.
Prof Chen Zhi expressed his warmest welcome and sincere appreciation to the participants and hoped that this conference would allow a personal exchange of research results, facilitate new acquaintances, and strengthen personal friendship among participants from different parts of the world. Prof Chen also introduced the vision and mission of RCHC and highlighted the book series Ancient Languages and Cultures and the academic journal Old world. Journal of Ancient Africa and Eurasia, published by the research centre in collaboration with Brill Publishers.
Dr Li Jiayong expressed his congratulations for the conference's success and briefly introduced the Institute of Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences at BNU to the participants. He also affirmed the contribution of RCHC to the academic exchanges and friendship between BNU and UIC.
After the opening ceremony, 25 scholars from China and abroad presented their papers on the ancient civilisations. Papers concerned different aspects of these civilisations, including history, archaeology, art and architecture, philology, literature, philosophy, religious studies, linguistics, sociology, anthropology, etc. The papers were organised into different sessions: one Chinese session and two parallel English panels.
In the Chinese session, Prof Chen Zhi shared his findings on the theme of exploring the origin of character 仁 (Ren). Based on the existing ancient text data, he re-examined the different glyphs of the character "Ren" in the pre-Qin text data. He believes that the Chinese character "Ren" commonly used after the Han Dynasty may have originated from the Warring States period.
Prof Peng Guoxiang from Zhejiang University analysed the destruction of authority and self-establishment of "巫 (Wu)", an intermediary between heaven and human, being replaced by the human mind. He also examined the political and cultural significance of this trait. He believes that Confucianism also emphasises the self, but it does not submerge oneself among all living beings. The realisation of self is not through isolation, but from the relationship between human and home, country, nature, and the world.
Associate Professor of the University of Florida College of the Arts, Prof Lai Guolong shared on the modern changes and international background of the nature of cultural relics collected by the imperial family in the Forbidden City. He mentioned that cultural heritage and its protection are a modernisation product, closely related to China's transition to a modern country. It is also an essential aspect of China's international exchanges and international influence in the process of modernisation.
According to their areas, the two English panels had different subsections, such as South-East Asia, South Asia, the Ancient Middle East, and the Ancient Mediterranean. This subdivision created thematic links among papers devoted to different disciplines of the same geographical area.
Prof John Miksic, emeritus professor of the Southeast Asian Studies Department, National University of Singapore, talked on Archaeology of Early Chinese Settlement in Southeast Asia. He described some related archaeological sites and the artefacts found in them and explained some of the problems in interpreting the archaeological data.
Dr S.A.S. Sarma, a researcher from Pondicherry Centre of the École Française d'Extrême-Orient in India, discussed the oral tradition of ancient education in India, especially Vedic education, and the promotion of the written tradition that includes the preparation of manuscripts and their donation.
Dr Jacquelyn Tuerk-Stonberg from Kean University in the US analysed magical amulets of the Late Antique Roman Empire, and the way of thinking reflected on them. She mentioned that magic is an exploration of human's powerlessness, but it is also an exploration of how human create their power.
The conference attracted over 300 viewers, who actively communicated with the speakers. The RCHC plans to publish the proceedings of the Conference by Brill. Speakers have been notified about technical details for submission, and many have already adhered to the initiative.
From MPRO and RCHC
Reporters: Covee Wang, Zhang Fan
Editors: Samuel Burgess, Deen He
