Guangdong-HK-Macao Greater Bay Area Cultural Forum–cfp

Melody Yunzi Li Announcement
Location
China
Subject Fields
Area Studies, Chinese History / Studies, Cultural History / Studies, East Asian History / Studies, Humanities

The First Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Cultural Forum

  • Date: Early June, 2018
  • Location: Guangzhou, China
  • Organizer: School of Humanities, Guangzhou University
  • Co-organizers: The Center of Media and Social Change Studies, Shenzhen University;  Department of Cultural and Religious Studies, Chinese University of Hong Kong; Department of History, University of Macao; Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, Washington University in St. Louis
  • Theme: Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the Rise of Contemporary Chinese Popular Culture

Reviewing the trend of evolution of popular culture on Mainland China from the late 1970s to the late 80s, the particular geographical location of coastal cities in the Greater Bay Area holds clear cultural significance. One might say a new era of popular culture on China’s mainland flowed first from Hong Kong to Guangdong, and then spread to other regions of the nation primarily through southeastern provinces such as Fujian and Zhejiang. At the same time, China’s post-Mao economic reform in the 1980s brought forth new conceptions and practices of publicness, for the most part culturally based on imported Greater Bay Area popular culture — pop songs, television and movies, fashion, cultural icons, and more. Therefore, the work of sorting out the history of Greater Bay Area’s popular culture of the last four decades; the work of exploring the internal relationships between contemporary Mainland Chinese culture and local cultures in Guangdong, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan; the work of discussing the future of the Greater Bay Area’s cultural ecology — all of this work is to observe the area’s growth, it is to reflect on forty years of popular culture renewal during China’s reform era, and more than anything it is to look forward the future of cultural development in the region.

We invite submissions on any of the relevant topics, including but not limited to:

1.     The rise of contemporary Chinese popular culture: periodization, routes of cultural dissemination and exchange, key events and personalities

2.     The study of contemporary Chinese popular culture: theoretical frameworks, source materials, methodologies, and scholarly debates

3.     Changes of the cultural polices at the levels of central and local government

4.     The flow of people and goods in the Greater Bay Area and its cultural impact

5.     Remaking of existing cultural resources, local cultural ecology, and regional cultural network

6.     Impact on material culture and everyday life

7.     New media technology and consumer electronics and their cultural impact

8.     Cantonese and Fujianese dialects and the change of vocabulary and expressions of modern Chinese language

9.     The (trans)formation of cultural identities and cultural imaginations of local, regional, and national “others”

10.  Other related topics

We invite interested scholars to submit individual abstracts of their own research interests and topics. Please email the abstract of no more than 300 words by January 31, 2018 to Lyu Heying (lvheying@126.com) for scholars from Mainland China and to Melody Yunzi Li (melodyli@wustl.edu) for scholars from Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and overseas. Successful applicants will be notified before February 15, 2018 and will be asked to submit a draft of their papers (no less than 2,000 words) by May 15, 2018 for pre-circulation purposes. Local accommodations including food and lodging will be covered by the conference.

 

Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Cultural Forum

       Call for paper

On March 5, 2017, in the fifth meeting of China’s 12th National People’s Congress, Primer Li Keqiang proposed in his report to expand collaborations between Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macao. He called to prepare a strategic urban development plan in the Bay Area, to strengthen Hong Kong and Macau’s advantages in the regional economy, and to further develop such regional advantages to better serve the need of national economic development. Under the government plan, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (henceforth the Greater Bay Area) has acquired a strategic position, emerging from a driver of regional economic collaboration to a crucial player in the national and global economy.

The Greater Bay Area consists of the nine cities, Guangzhou, Foshan, Zhaoqing, Shenzhen, Dongguan, Huizhou, Zhuhai, Zhongshan, Jiangmen, Hong Kong, and Macau. It is one of the four biggest bay areas in the world, along with New York, San Francisco, and Tokyo. The Greater Bay Area also houses the two Special Administrative Regions Hong Kong and Macau. And so unlike the other three major bay areas, the principle of “One Country, Two Systems” has developed within the region separate administrative systems and cultures, along with diverse social values. Major cities in the Greater Bay Area share rich cultural ties that are deeply rooted in historical and contemporary development. It is the mission of the forum to advance the understanding of and strengthen these cultural ties, which is as important as expanding economic cooperation.

Guangzhou University works closely with cities in the Greater Bay Area, including Hong Kong, Macau, and Shenzhen, to organize the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Cultural Forum. This forum invites cultural studies experts both foreign and domestic to study Greater Bay Area cultural development. The forum aims to build a platform to mobilize the theoretical energy of the humanities and social sciences toward examining historical resources, existing institutions, and social conditions and trends in the region. In doing so, may we identify an optimal path for its development, and offer wisdom along the way.

Themes of the forum include but are not limited to:

1.     Theoretical works and case studies of the cultural development in the Greater Bay Area

2.     The emergence of contemporary culture in the Greater Bay Area and China’s mainland

3.     The cultural ecology in the Greater Bay Area: new concepts, trends, and challenges

4.     The making of popular culture and cultural community in the Greater Bay Area

5.     Comparative studies on local cultural practices in the Greater Bay Area

6.     Relationship between popular culture and tourist industry in the Greater Bay Area

7.     Other related topics

The forum is launched by Guangzhou University, in collaboration with Shenzhen University, Chinese University of Hong Kong, University of Macao, and Washington University in St. Louis. It aims to foster long-term collaborations. The first forum will be hosted by Guangzhou University. 

Contact Information

Lyu Heying (lvheying@126.com) for scholars from Mainland China and to Melody Yunzi Li (melodyli@wustl.ed) for scholars from Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and overseas

Contact Email
melodyli@wustl.edu