On October 19th to 20th, the seminar on “Study of Current Social Literary Life” and “Establishment of the Research Center for Contemporary Chinese Literary Life of Shandong University (hereinafter referred to as the Center)”, co-sponsored by the Literature and Journalism School (LJS) and the discipline of Chinese Modern and Contemporary Literature of LJS, was held at Eighty-one Villa in Jinan. The party secretary of Shandong University (SDU) Li Shouxin met with Liu Zhongshu, a senior professor and former president of Jilin University. The director of Liaison Department of China Federation of Literary and Art Circles (CFLAC) Luo Chengyan, First-Grade professor of SDU Wen Rumin, the director of SDU office Jing Haiming, the dean of LJS Zheng Chun and some other delegates presented. Deputy president Lou Hongxiang attended the opening ceremony and delivered a speech.

On behalf of SDU, Lou greeted the delegates of experts and scholars and congratulated on the establishment of the Center. He introduced the history, size and characteristics of SDU, as well as the rapid development in recent years. He also fully affirmed the academic achievements and vital significance of LJS and the discipline of Chinese Literature. He said, “Professor Wen has won great respect and affection for making important contributions to the development and construction of the discipline of Chinese Literature, particularly the discipline of Chinese Modern and Contemporary Literature.” He spoke highly of the innovation value of “Literary Life”, he also pointed out that the establishment of the Center was remarkable in expanding both depth and range of Contemporary Literary studies. Amid warm applause the Center was inaugurated by Lou Hongxiang and Wen Rumin. The opening ceremony was presided by Zheng Chun, the Dean of LJS. He introduced the preparation for the seminar and relevant information of founding the Center. In addition, he expressed his deep gratitude to academic colleagues for their long-term support and assistance.

Professor Wen used The Concept of “Literary Life” and the Writing of Literary History as his topic for this seminar. He stressed that “Literary Life” referred specifically to “the literary life of ordinary citizens”, and literary studies should focus on “the people’s livelihood”: literary consumption in lives of the popular masses. His lucid explanations on the details, objects, methods, emphasis and difficulties of literary life studies as well as the characteristics of current conditions of literary life made complicated subjects understandable to audience. With regard to Wen’s report and the subject “Study of Current Social Literary Life”, some outstanding scholars spoke one after another: Liu Zhongshu, Wu Fuhui, Luo Chengyan, Kong Fanjin, Zhu Defa, He Xizhang, Cheng Guangwei, Zhu Xiaojin, Liu Yong, Kong Qingdong, Shen Weiwei, Wei Jian, Tan Guilin, Bi Guangming and Fan Xing, to name but a few. Their remarks on the value and significance of literary life studies were meaningful and thought-provoking, and their views on how to further refine, deepen and optimize literary life studies were constructive and fruitful. After that, all the delegates perked up and began a heated group discussion. Everyone expressed his views freely in which both exploratory consensus and magnificent collision were present, manifesting the spirit of being rigorous and realistic.

The seminar contained two topics, one was academic discussions on various current social issues relating to literary life, the other was announcement of the Center’s establishment and recent research programs. Over 20 major universities and institutes attended the meeting, such as Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, National Museum of Modern Chinese Literature, Peking University, Renmin University of China, Beijing Normal University, Nanjing University, Jilin University, Wuhan University, Sun Yat-Sen University, Xiamen University, Central China Normal University, Nanjing Normal University, and so on. More than 80 experts and scholars from SDU were also present. Additionally, journalists from Xinhua News Agency, Guangming Daily, Wen Wei Po, Social Sciences Weekly, Literary Review, Literary Debate, Tianjin Social Sciences and other major media were invited to the seminar. In the domestic literature research field, the Center is the first academic institution to implement sociology methods to study the interaction between literature and life. Professor Wen Rumin serves concurrently as the director of the Center. The research team is composed of scholars from our discipline of Modern and Contemporary Literature, our discipline of Journalism, and some scholars in related fields outside.