The Role of Discourse as the Interface 

between various Disciplines studying Chinese Society

       November 5th 2010

Royal Academies for Science and the Arts of Belgium (KVAB)

Hertogstraat 1, B-1000 Brussels

09:00 – 10:00   Opening Session

Introduction

- Lutgard Lams (HUB - Hogeschool Universiteit Brussel, Belgium)

- Frank Gotzen  (HUB; Center of IPR Studies, KU Leuven, Belgium)

Keynote speech:

“THE UBIQUITY OF DISCOURSE IN PUBLIC LIFE: Some pragmatic principles for an interdisciplinary approach”, Jef Verschueren, University of Antwerp, Belgium; Secretary General, International Pragmatics Association (IPrA)

10:00 – 11:20  Session I: Discourse & Society: Language and Politics

1)    Rethinking the idea of Chinese nation-Assessments of Chinese policies toward    

     ethnic minorities, Chen Mu-min, Graduate Institute of International Politics, 

     National Chung Hsing University, Taiwan

2)  Language strategies in official Chinese discourse as disseminated in the state media, Lutgard Lams, HUB, Belgium

3) A case study on China’s (re-)securitization discourse along the institutionalization of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Xavier Liao, Dept. Political Science, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Belgium 

11:20 – 11:40   Coffee break 

11:40 – 13:00   Session II: Discourse & Society: Culture

                            1) Changing Chinese Modernity and Discourse of Culture

Chang Pi-Chun, National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan

2) Ambivalence in Western thinking, an echo to the Eastern way of thinking?  

Martine Van Goubergen, HUB, Belgium

3) “Chinese particularisms” theory seen from China and from France, Catherine Legeay-Guillon, Director of CPEI Studies, INALCO, Paris, France

13:00 – 14:00   Working lunch

14:00 – 15:20   Session III: Discourse & Society: Law

  1) “Experiences from 30 years of intellectual property discourse with China-

                              preparation of legislative reforms through personal and scientific relations and     

                              exchange”, Adolf Dietz, Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property, 

                              Competition and Tax Law, Germany 

                            2) “Law in China, to believe or not to believe”, Brian Jun Yao, Beijing Normal   

                               University Zhuhai Campus, China

                             3) “Conflict and Fusion of Western and Chinese Discourses in Copyright Law”, 

                               Zhao Kexiang, Intellectual Property School, Jinan University, China

 15:20 – 15:40   Coffee break

 15:40 – 17:00   Session IV: Discourse & Society: Discourses of Human Rights 

                           and Democracy

      1) China’s Human Rights and Neo-Confucianism, Chou Chih-chieh, National 

         Cheng-kung University, Taiwan

  2) Democrats without Democracy. Contemporary Chinese Democratic   

      Thought and Practice in Comparative Perspective, Christian Göbel, Centre 

      for East and South-East Asian Studies, Lund University, Sweden & Andreas 

      Fulda, Nottingham University, UK

 3)  Hegemony and discourse in political systems with single-party rule,       

      Henrieta Serban, Romanian Academy, Institute of Political Science and 

      International Relations, and Institute of Philosophy and Psychology, 

      Bucharest, Romania

17:00 – 17:15    Wrap-up session: Conclusion and perspectives

17: 15                Closing speeches: Martine de Clercq, Acting Vice-Chancellor 

                      KUB (Catholic University of Brussels)