BCCDS Brussels

2020 BCCDS Annual Lecture       

'Identifying shifts in interpreter-mediated formal interaction'

Date: March 19, 2020, 12:30-1:30 pm

Guest speaker: Zhang Rui, Dalian University of Technology, P.R. of China

*The event was cancelled because of corona-virus health measures

2018 BCCDS Annual Lecture 

 'The Chinese Media in a New Era of Disruption'

Date: October 25, 2018, 7 - 9 pm

Guest speaker: David Bandurski, co-director of the China Media Project, research program in partnership with the Journalism and Media Studies  Centre at the University of Hong Kong

Interviewer: Catherine Vuylsteke, journalist and author

For this event, two China experts were invited to share their views about contemporary Chinese official discourse on the role of the media. First, David Bandurski, co-director of the China Media Project, University of Hong Kong, presented a chronological survey of continuities and changes in the Chinese official media policies since Chairman Mao came to power. Drawing on his years of experience observing Chinese political and media affairs, Bandurski positioned contemporary Chinese state/media connections within a broad historical context and offered the audience a fascinating insight into the cyclical nature of disruptions of the ‘normal’ in the Chinese political and media scene. This presentation was followed by an in-depth interview of David Bandurski by the Belgian Sinologist-author-journalist Catherine Vuylsteke, who opened up the discussion into the wider area of Chinese political guidance of public opinion. The event was closed with some keen observations and questions from the public. 

2017 BCCDS Annual Lecture 

'The Historical Development of Taiwanization of Buddhism after 1945: the Politics of Religion'

Date: May 18, 2017, 6:30-8pm    

Guest speaker:  Dr. Cheming Yang, Associate Prof. Cheng Kung University, Taiwan; Taiwan Studies Chair, Fac. Soc. Sciences, KULeuven 

In this lecture, Prof. Yang discussed the different types of Buddhism as practiced in Taiwan. He focused on the role of discourse in the politics of promoting a particular brand of Buddhism, through the development and consolidation of Buddhist monasteries (i.e. Fokuangshan, Dharma Drum, Chung-tai, and Tsu Chi), against the backdrop of the emerging quasi-Buddhist denominations such as I-Kuan Tao, Ching-Hai or Falungong.  

2015 BCCDS Annual Lecture

 'The Asian Paradox: Cultures of Trade and Politics'  

Date: June 25, 2015, 7-9 pm    

Guest speaker:  Dr. Wolfgang Pape, Research Fellow Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) 

In this lecture, dr. Pape, former Principal Administrator for Asia-Policy, at EU Commission, DG RELEX-H1, discussed the apparent paradox between the economic interdependence of the growth economies in Northeast Asia (China, Taiwan, Korea and Japan) and the tendency to preserve their national cultural identities. The ‘Asian Paradox’ appears to be particularly evident in the North East of that continent if seen through European eyes. While one of the tightest networks of intra-regional trade binds the economies of China, Taiwan, Korea and Japan, their political leaders hardly ever connect with each other in substantive exchanges. The media these days serve us permanently cold images of frozen faces and of an ‘icy lady’ that seem to contrast with the warm embraces, which their business people frequently enjoy after successful deals over political borders. However, dr. Pape wondered whether this is the view only in the eyes of the European beholder, who is used to the myriad of regular institutionalized meetings at all political and bureaucratic levels of the EU? 

2014 BCCDS Annual Lecture

• 'A Critical Study of Chinese Political Discourse: the Case of Taiwanese Presidential Speeches'    

Date: December 04, 2014, 7-9 pm    

Guest speakers:  Prof.dr. Wei-lun Lu, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic; Prof.dr. Lutgard Lams, KULeuven Campus Brussels

In the first lecture, Wei-lun Lu discussed how Cognitive Linguistics, as a linguistic sub-discipline that gives special focus on how language is used to create a construal, is applied to critically investigate Chinese Political Discourse. The first part of the talk consisted of the theoretical groundwork, where dr. Lu introduced the Contemporary Theory of Metaphor. In the second part, he showed how CMT can be applied to investigate Taiwanese presidential speeches.

The second lecture dealt with the dynamics of meaning generation in the ROC/Taiwan nation-building process against the background of regionalization and globalization tendencies. Based on the insights of Language Pragmatics, Lutgard Lams traced the ideological processes of ‘Taiwanization’ and ‘Sinicization’ in Taiwanese presidential speeches.

• 'Discourse of the China Dream: what, why and how?'      

Date: April 24,2014,  7-9 pm    

Guest speaker:  Prof.dr. Tao Xie, School of English and International Studies, Beijing Foreign Studies University

In this lecture, Prof. Tao Xie unraveled the enigmatic formula of the 'Chinese dream', coined by President Xi Jinping.  As he explained, "the Chinese people have dreams too, just like other peoples around the world. But the China Dream has never been as powerfully and eloquently articulated as the American dream until President Xi Jinping came into power in 2012". Prof. Xie examined the China Dream in the broad context of rhetorical campaigns by Chinese leaders since Deng Xiaoping. From Jiang Zemin's Three Represents to Hu Jintao's Harmonious Society to the most recent China Dream, each rhetorical campaign represents not only the top leader's attempts to distinguish his tenure from his predecessors but also different governance challenges faced by each top leader. The talk analyzed, in particular, the instruments of communication that have been employed by the Chinese government to promote the China dream, as well as foreign and domestic perceptions of the China Dream.

2012 BCCDS Annual Lecture

'Perception and Functioning of IPR in China'

                                                           Date: March 12, 2012

Guest speaker: Dr. Li Yi, School of Public Affairs, USTC, Hefei

Further to the discussion at the exploratory workshop, the 1st BCCDS-Contact Forum in 2010, the existing gap between the implementation, functioning and discourses on IPR issues in China remains considerably large. European and Chinese legal scholars and IPR lawyers who follow BCCDS-WG's research interests recognize the fact there is a constant and slow convergence on IPR concepts between China and the West. However, more endeavors for bridging such a gap are also deemed necessary among concerned parties in the "glocalization" context. In this regard, BCCDS-WG devoted one of its lectures in 2012 to further exploration of the question about "Perception and Functioning of IPR in China".

The lecture was given on March 12, by Prof. dr. Li Yi from the School of Public Affairs, University of Science and Technology of China on “Perception and Functioning of IPR in China”. Prof. Li Yi explained how the Chinese IPR national policy is implemented on the provincial level with an example of the 12th five-year plan on IPR in Anhui Province.  He also gave a survey of the number of patent applications and offered some examples of local patent disputes. At his School of Public Affairs, training is provided for patent agents and Prof. Li Yi expressed the need for further international exchange. With the enthusiastic participation of the audience, among which members of the Centre for Intellectual Property Rights at the Catholic University of Louvain as well as a partner from a European Law Firm in Hong Kong, a discussion followed about practical implications of IPR policy development, especially after China’s entering of WTO, differences noted between practices of foreign and domestic patent applications in China, and difficulties involved in foreign license applications for technology transfer.

2010 - BCCDS Kick-off Contact Forum

'The Role of Discourse as the Interface between various Disciplines studying Chinese Society'

Date: November 2010

Venue: Royal Flemish Academy (KVAB)

This kick-off event, organized at the Royal Flemish Academy (KVAB) in November 2010, was an exploratory an international workshop aiming to identify the extent to which discourse can provide the common ground or interdisciplinary link between diverse research areas within Chinese Studies.  The role of discourse was examined in the field of political communication, intercultural communication, and in the domain of law (IPR) and human rights. Besides embedding the empirical exploration in a deeper theoretical perspective (of discourse studies and language pragmatics), the workshop broadened the scope by looking at comparable research from other regional studies. For example, links were drawn between political discourse in China and other regions with comparable political histories (such as Romania). Philosophical perspectives on East/West dichotomous discourses were given on cultural aspects of communication with and about Chinese communities and vice versa. Similarly, legal issues, such as intellectual property rights, were also approached from a comparative angle.

2010 BCCDS Lecture: Pilot Event on discourses in and about China/Taiwan' 

'Discourses on the Cross-Strait Rapprochement'

Date: February 1, 2010

Guest speaker: Leou Chia-feng (SOAS, Ph.D. Cand.)

Venue: KULeuven Campus Brussels, Hermes building, Room 6306

For this event, Leou Chia-feng was invited to give a talk on 'Discourses on the Cross-Strait Rapprochement' on February 1, 2010. The session was opened by Lutgard Lams who explained the purpose of the meeting, upon which the participants from various Belgian universities and EU institutions introduced themselves to facilitate tracking common interests. The guest speaker then presented his recent research on the diverging perspectives concerning the political economy of the changing Cross-Strait relations. Referring to various media reports, the speaker discussed the complexity involved in the discursive construction of the renewed rapprochement and raised questions about implications on the practical level, such as Cross-Strait exchange of agricultural produce and intellectual property right matters.

The talk was followed by a lively discussion about the discourses on the impact of China’s rising influence not only on the Asia-Pacific region but also on a global scale. Various avenues for future workshops within a joint research framework were put forward:

- the role of discourse in the Cross-Strait issue

- China’s current self-profiling discourse in the international realm (e.g. soft power strategies and public diplomacy through the expansion of its media following the Al Jazeera model, the establishment of Confucius Institutes)

- the discursive aspect of Chinese humanitarian aid, economic development, and peace-keeping programs worldwide

- the newly emerged IPR issue (for example, copycatting))

- domestic rise of Chinese nationalist discourses against foreign capitalist ‘imperialism’ (recent Google case)  

2021 BCCDS Annual Seminars      

   (in collaboration with the Brussels Center for Journalism Studies)      

'Western media representation about China'

Date: November 25, 2021, 6:30-8:30 pm

Guest speaker: Zhang Rui, Dalian University of Technology, P.R. of China

Moderator

Prof. dr. Lutgard Lams

Invited speakers

Prof. dr. Qing Cao, Durham University, Durham;

Prof. dr. Shasha Wang, Bangor University, Bangor (Wales);

Dr. Damien Ng, Julius Baer, Zurich 

Venue: KU Leuven Campus Brussels, Hermes II-building, Room 2201. 

This seminar will be hybrid with some on-line talks and one ‘in-situ’ talk.

*Free entrance, but registration is required by sending an e-mail to lut.lams@kuleuven.be

**Facial mask is required and COVID SAFE TICKET required for external visitors

*PROGRAMME*

Introduction

Western Media Representations about China by Prof.dr. Lutgard Lams

 Online and In-situ presentations:

·         ‘Reporting China in the Anglophone Media: Perceptions, Parameters ad Priorities’

  Online presentation by Prof. dr. Qing Cao, Durham University, Durham (England, UK)                    

·        ‘Currency Wars with China and Japan in Western News Magazines’

In-situ presentation by Dr. Damien Ng, Julius Baer, Zurich (Switzerland)

·       ‘Images of China Through the Lens of British TV Documentaries’

Online presentation by Prof. dr. Shasha Wang, Bangor University, Bangor (Wales, UK)

Time for Q&A

BCCDS International Workshop 2020

“Discourse in and about China”

December 11, 2020

The 11 December 2020 international workshop, which was to gather the institutional partners and individual scholarly contributors in Brussels, was transformed into a virtual webinar, in which the participants engaged in an exchange of insights from their current research in the domain of “Discourse in and about China”.

Discourse ‘in’ China was covered in a presentation by Ying Xu, PhD Candidate and Prof. Lutgard Lams (KU Leuven, Belgium) on how Chinese media narratives portray the 2018 Sino-US trade conflict, and how presuppositions greatly contribute to implicit meaning making. The second contribution to this angle of ‘discourse in China’ was brought by Prof. Qing Cao (Durham University, UK), who shared his fascinating latest insights on how political terms in modern China were translated from Western concepts. 

The studies on discourse ‘about’ China were presented by Damien Ng (Julius Baer Bank, Zurich), who explored the portrayal of the 2010 trade dispute between China and its major trading partners in Western Newsmagazines’ headlines. His insights were very much echoed in the study by Prof. Shasha Wang (Bangor University, Bangor, UK), who outlined the images of China through the lens of British TV documentaries.

Although the meeting was originally planned for two hours, the lively exchange among this core group of researchers, sharing similar interests, went on for four hours and we still had the feeling so many aspects were still waiting for further discussion. This enthusiastic scholarly discussion led to the idea that the ‘to-be-continued’ panel discussion could become a full-fledged public BCCDS event in Brussels, December 2021. More news is coming.

17th International Conference of

the European Association of Taiwan Studies

                          with                         

BCCDS, Brussels & EASt (ULB) 

'Narrating Taiwan: Re-imagining, re-writing, and re-connecting Taiwan' 

Date: April 6-8 2020

Venue: ULB, Brussels

Follow the news on: https://www.eats-taiwan.eu/conference/eats-2020-conference

***Due to corona-virus health measures, the 2020 conference was postponed to 2021 and is being integrated into the 18th Int'l EATS conference on 15-17 April 2021 at Masryk University, Brno