Sino-Malaysian Writers and Scholars Exchange Symposium successfully held

BEIJING, May 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Sino-Malaysian Writers and Scholars Exchange Symposium on "Mutual learning of cultures, Diversified beauty of civilizations", hosted by National Press and Publication Administration of China, organized by China National Publications Import and Export (Group) Co., Ltd., and co-organized by the Chinese Cultural Center in Kuala Lumpur, was successfully held on May 26. 11 writers and scholars from China and Malaysia attended the event. As one of the series of events of China as Guest of Honor at 2023 Kuala Lumpur International Book Fair, this symposium received enthusiastic attention from local readers, with more than 200 readers participating.

The symposium invited Dato' Seri Dr. Hou Kok Chung of Malaysia and Professor He Yaomin of Renmin University of China as guest speakers. NG Yean Leng, Dean of Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) of New Era University College of Malaysia moderated the event.

In his speech, Professor He Yaomin said, "The flourishing exchanges between China and Malaysia today, in economy, education and culture, did not happen overnight. It is the result of the unremitting efforts of the two countries over the past decades, from government cooperation to people-to-people exchanges, which have continued to foster mutual understanding and respect through sincere dialogue." He hopes that Asian civilization, Oriental civilization and Chinese civilization will develop further in the future.

Former Deputy Minister of Higher Education of Malaysia, Dato' Seri Hou Kok Chung, pointed out that he had the opportunity to participate in educational and cultural exchanges between China and Malaysia, and also witnessed the governmental and people to people exchanges between the two countries, and with the support of the then Minister of Higher Education of Malaysia, Dato' Seri Khaled Nordin, jointly promoted the mutual recognition of China-Malaysia diplomas with the then Deputy Minister of Education of China, Hao Ping. He said, "Our ancestors came to Malaya more than 100 years ago and took root here. This makes Malaysia and China historically 'far and close'. But at that time, we were not always able to communicate freely with our Chinese friends as we do now. "

In the keynote speech session, focusing on the topic of "Literature Exchange", Chinese writers Liu Zhenyun and Dong Xi, Malaysian writers Dai Xiaohua and Gong Wanhui shared their insights.

Chinese writer Liu Zhenyun said that literature has this magic to quickly get people acquainted with each other. Cultural differences are inevitable, but the basic emotions of people are still the same. Among the various exchanges, the most cost-saving communication is cultural exchange. Books are an indispensable carrier of cultural exchange.

The Chinese writer Dong Xi said that in his work Life Without Language, he wrote a story in which the father was blind, the son was deaf, and the daughter-in-law was mute, and they formed a family that "could not see, hear and speak". There is no more difficult communication than between them, but each of them with the help of the others' healthy organs accomplished the impossible communication. The communication barrier between Chinese writers and Malaysian readers is far less enormous than the one between the three of them. Therefore, he believes and expects that the stories penned by Asian writers will be the first to be appreciated by their immediate neighbors and will have a good chemistry in preference to European and American readers.

Dai Xiaohua said, "Literature is one of the tools for interaction and spiritual communication among the nations of the world, and one of the ways to promote the development of civilization around the globe. A nation's literature can only make great progress and development through interaction, influence, mutual penetration and integration with foreign national literature; but no matter how it blends, it must have its own uniqueness. Only when it has uniqueness can it stand firm in the forest of world literature."

Gong Wan Hui shared with the audience a review of the development of Malaysian Chinese publishing and Malaysian Chinese literature, especially how Malaysian Chinese literature has landed, taken root and grown in this region, and how young people are now experimenting with new forms of creativity, resulting in a new form of literary exchange.

On the second topic "Cultural Inheritance and Youth Growth", Chinese writers Xue Tao and Ding Mo and Malaysian writers Khor Ewe Pin, Wong Sien Biang and Liu Yulong were invited to exchange views. Chinese writer Xue Tao mentioned that he had seen new books published by ASEAN writers at the book fair and was particularly interested in reading their stories, understanding and learning from their experiences. When it comes to literature, he says, "The merit of literature is that it connects the scattered gazes and hearts of human beings. I am always proud of being a writer, because our words are flowing into the ocean as a drop of water, contributing waves and light to this dance of civilizations."

Regarding the development of children's literature, Malaysian children's literature writer Khor Ewe Pin said that the golden period of children's literature was from 2006 to 2016, however, the reading culture of Malaysian children is becoming more and more depressed, because there is no recommendation of some must-read books for children like in China. He also said: "Perhaps due to the change of times, everyone now uses mobile phones, and reading long novels requires a large amount of time, but now people are used to reading short texts, such as poetry, maybe children's poetry can continue to develop in this era."

As for online literature publishing, Chinese online writer Ding Mo pointed out, "As the stories of China created by the public and read by all, online literature has entered in a stable stage of mature development in terms of industry prospects, market scale, cultural influence, content quality and development of the whole industry chain." From a cultural view, she said that online literature, "as a new and unique cultural perspective in China, is very young and vigorous, and can cross all ages and cultural levels of readers, and also crosses national borders, bridging the communication between the spiritual worlds of readers in China and Malaysia."

Wong Sien Biang and Liu Yulong successively introduced Malaysia's hard work and achievements in Chinese education, especially the promotion of children's literature, focusing on topics such as Malaysian children's reading camp and children's poetry teaching and creation.

Sino-Malaysian Writers and Scholars Exchange Symposium is of great significance to deepen the people to people exchanges and to promote mutual learning of culture between China and Malaysia. Literature carries the common emotions of readers from all over the world, and publishing builds the bridge of cultural communication between countries. Writers and scholars expressed their in-depth insights on Sino-Malaysian literature and publishing exchanges, and their expectations for deepening Sino-Malaysian cultural communication.