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Date: 2023-07-19 17:42丨Source丨Author: Shi Hui

On the afternoon of March 30, 2023, Liberal Arts College of Chongqing University and the Institute for Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences of Chongqing University held a grand inaugural speech of new professor in the Lecture Hall of Liberal Arts College. Jin Lang, a new Professor of the Department of Chinese Language and Literature, delivered a report entitled “Why ‘Aesthetics’ is ‘Chinese’?”. This was the first time in the history of our college that an inaugural speech was held for a new professor, which also marked an innovative exploration of the system for revitalizing Chongqing University’s basic liberal arts. The event attracted nearly 100 teachers and students and created a warm atmosphere. Zeng Zuoling, Secretary of the Party Committee of the Liberal Arts College of Chongqing University; Professor Li Guangyi, Vice Dean of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences of Chongqing University; and Associate Professor Tang Jie, Vice Dean of the Liberal Arts College of Chongqing University, attended the event.

The inaugural speech

Before the speech began, Dr. Chung Rongbing, lecturer in the Department of Chinese Language and Literature, who hosted the event, introduced that the professor’s inaugural speech system was borrowed from an academic tradition in Europe. It was a ceremony for professors to obtain a formal chair. In the inaugural speech, newly appointed professors would share their latest research results and would be reviewed by fellow scholars. This ceremony would mark a milestone in life worth remembering and provide an opportunity for scholars to reflect on their achievements and affirm themselves. It would be an important moment to clarify their responsibilities, gain a more thorough self-cognition, and even activate their imagination for the next stage of life.

Dr. Chung Rongbing as the host

Professor Jin Lang giving speech

In the warm applause, Professor Jin Lang took the stage to give a speech. He deeply reviewed his ten years of academic experience in the Institute for Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences of Chongqing University. And he encouraged and motivated himself with the belief that German writer Friedrich von Schiller mentioned in his inaugural speech to become a scholar who “pursues the truth”.

Then Professor Jin shared the core concerns of his decade-long research. And his forthcoming monograph, Reinventing “Tradition”: The Cultural Imagination of Wartime Aesthetics, was to be published by Peking University Press. He first traced the origin and development of the concept of “Chinese aesthetics”. And he regarded it as a knowledge paradigm in the change of Chinese thought and culture in modern times and explored the context and internal logic of this paradigm. Professor Jin Lang explored the tension between the universal appeal (i.e., “civilization”) and the special appeal (i.e., “culture”) of the discipline of “aesthetics” during its birth and development in Germany. Based on the inspiration of the German road, he returned to “Chinese” from the cultural and political perspective of “aesthetics”. He reviewed in detail the attempts of thinkers represented by Wang Guowei, Cai Yuanpei, and Liang Qichao in the May Fourth Period to realize national and social transformation by exploring the “beauty” in Chinese culture. During the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, scholars such as Zhu Guangqian, Zong Baihua, and Li Changzhi tried to reinterpret traditional Chinese culture through aesthetic vision to rebuild the self-confidence of national culture during the war.

Professor Jin Lang believed that the deep integration of “aesthetics” and “Chinese” generated “Chinese aesthetics” as a knowledge paradigm. From this point of view, Professor Jin Lang finally returned to Schiller’s passionate inaugural speech and shared encouragement with the teachers and students present. He hoped that he and all colleagues committed to the academic career would continue to ignite the “noble desire” of “pursuing truth” in their hearts. And together, they would join their limited lives into the great river of human thought, which was flowing endlessly and continuously.

In the comments section, Professor Zhang Wentao, chairman of Department of Philosophy, believed that Professor Jin Lang’s research on “aesthetics” was based on culture and civilization issues, with profound thoughts and great scenery. Professor Long Hong of School of Architecture and Urban Planning Chongqing University, spoke highly of Professor Jin Lang’s speech, and specifically mentioned the significance of the speech held by this new professor. Professor Li Guangyi, Vice Dean of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences of Chongqing University and chairman of Department of Chinese Language and Literature, believed that Professor Jin’s achievements of ten years of assiduous research fully had proved that the academic original intention of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences of Chongqing University was absolutely right. And contemporary scholars needed to jointly promote the aesthetic research of the new era, enrich Chinese self-consciousness and world-consciousness with the beauty of science, technology and industry and connect the history, the present and the future with the new “Chinese aesthetics” .

Prof. Long Hong, Prof. Zhang Wentao and Prof. Li Guangyi were commenting

The event concluded successfully in a warm atmosphere. The implementation of the new professor inaugural speech system reflected the university’s respect for the academic duties and academic life of scholars as a learning community. It expressed the expectations and encouragement of colleagues for advanced colleagues, fostering an environment where they could discuss and encourage each other to make progress together. To establish the academic trend in the southwest and set the Zeitgeist, Chongqing University College of Liberal Arts and Advanced Research Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences were committed to exploring and building the best basic liberal arts in western China.

Contributor: Shi Hui

Photographer: Tu Xinyu