The 2026 Annual Conference of the China Association for Comparative Studies of Chinese and Foreign Languages and Cultures (CACSFLC), a national first-class academic society, was held at the School of Foreign Languages, Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), from 23 to 25 October 2026. Co-organized by the Association and the School under the theme “Mutual Learning among Civilizations and Innovation in the Independent Knowledge System of Foreign Language Studies,” it drew more than 200 scholars from 126 universities and research institutes, with academic support from journals including Foreign Literature Studies and Contemporary Foreign Language Studies.
Opening Ceremony
Hu Weiwei, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Committee of SJTU, and Su Hui, President of the Society and Chief Editor of Foreign Literature Studies, delivered opening addresses.
In her opening address, Hu Weiwei, Deputy Secretary of the CPC SJTU Committee, welcomed the participants. She noted that SJTU has in recent years invested heavily in philosophy and social sciences, in “smart humanities,” and in interdisciplinary collaboration, while exploring new approaches to discipline building, foreign language education reform and talent training. She hoped the conference would strengthen cooperation with the wider academic community and yield original research serving a philosophy and social science with Chinese characteristics and exchanges between civilizations.
Su Hui, President of the Association and Editor-in-Chief of Foreign Literature Studies, reviewed the Association’s development and thanked senior scholars and the organizing team. Foreign language studies, she argued, should take a Chinese standpoint and cultural confidence as its foundation, advance mutual learning through dialogue on equal terms and comparative inquiry, and strengthen the international communication of Chinese culture. The Association would keep fostering intersections between established research and emerging agendas and support young scholars.
The opening ceremony was chaired by Shang Biwu, Dean of the School of Foreign Languages, SJTU.
Keynote Sessions
In two keynote sessions, 20 distinguished scholars delivered reports on several interrelated themes:
Building autonomous knowledge systems: Wang Ning (SJTU), Liu Hong (Liaoning Normal University), Zhong Shuneng (Guangdong University of Foreign Studies), and Wang Lixin (Southern University of Science and Technology) argued that foreign language studies should be grounded in Chinese practice and cultural tradition, leveraging linguistic and cross-cultural strengths to build an autonomous knowledge system and take original Chinese scholarship global.
World literature and mutual learning among civilizations: Wu Di (Zhejiang University) examined mutual learning in the formation of Goethe's "world literature"; Yuan Xiaoyi (Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences) proposed reinterpreting world literature from Chinese experience; Zhou Min (Hangzhou Normal University) advocated "inter-reading" among Global South literatures; Jin Wen (SJTU) discussed fragile communities in global modernity; and Jiang Chengyong (Zhejiang Gongshang University) called for transcending the "substance-function" dichotomy and the "Chinese learning as substance, Western learning for application" paradigm.
AI, digital transformation, and the future of the discipline: Nie Zhenzhao (Guangdong University of Foreign Studies) highlighted ethical literary criticism as a response to the value deficit of technological development; Shen Qi (Tongji University) proposed "digital-intelligence symbiosis" to guide disciplinary transformation; Li Xue (Harbin Institute of Technology) envisioned a new language-technology industry ecosystem built on "digital Chinese"; and Zha Mingjian (Shanghai International Studies University) called for a "new humanism" to shift the discipline from knowledge transmission to critical thinking.
Reading, literature, and education: He Chengzhou (Nanjing University) explored digital-age reading through the game in Liu Cixin's The Three-Body Problem; Yin Qiping (Hangzhou Normal University) urged scholars to examine the imagination of community in Anglo-American literature from the perspective of Chinese-style modernization; Wang Zhuo (Shandong Normal University) emphasized "literary competence" in education; Xu Jinlong (Chinese Academy of Social Sciences) analyzed historical reconstruction and political metaphor in Oe Kenzaburo's The Beautiful Annabelle Lee Was Chilled and Killed; and Wu You (East China Normal University) advocated cultural "spacing" for equal dialogue among diverse cultures.
Area studies and interdisciplinary approaches: Peng Qinglong (SJTU) discussed integrating area studies with foreign language studies, citing the China-Australia comprehensive strategic partnership; Chen Liang (Fudan University) proposed a "field interaction model" to shift area studies from a discipline-centered to a problem-centered approach.
The sessions were chaired by scholars from SJTU, the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and other institutions.
Forum for Young and Mid-career Scholars
Five scholars presented at the forum, addressing the narrative turn of new immigrant literature toward mutual learning among civilizations (Zhu Wenbin, Zhejiang University of Media and Communications), positive foreign language education integrating language competence, individual strengths, socialization, and well-being (Li Chengchen, SJTU), classical moments in contemporary Chinese science fiction (Du Lanlan, Nanjing University), Sino-foreign theatrical exchange and the autonomous knowledge system (Liu Maosheng, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies), and critical approaches to reading war diaries and preserving historical memory (Wang Shengyuan, SJTU).
Roundtable Forums and Parallel Sessions
Three roundtables and ten parallel sessions extended the discussion to women’s growth and literary education, knowledge translation studies, literature and economics, the conceptual framework of an independent knowledge system, the discipline’s discourse mission in a changing international communication landscape, translation studies and area studies as emerging knowledge systems, foreign language education reform, digital humanities, and language policy and discourse power.
Closing Ceremony
Yang Feng, Vice President of the Association and Editor-in-Chief of Contemporary Foreign Language Studies, delivered the closing address. Reflecting on humanistic consensus, academic institutionalization and intellectual autonomy, he argued that mutual learning among civilizations and knowledge autonomy are mutually conditioning, and that the discipline must uphold cultural subjectivity while remaining open to dialogue. He encouraged comparative research grounded in Chinese linguistic and cultural practice and supported the substantive participation of young scholars.
Zhou Min, Dean of the School of Foreign Languages at Hangzhou Normal University, invited participants to the next annual conference, and Zhang Shengzhen of Beijing Language and Culture University extended an invitation on behalf of the hosts of the coming year’s standing council meeting.
Zhen Fengchao, Vice Dean of the School, chaired the closing ceremony.
The conference consolidated research strengths across the field and deepened discussion of civilizational exchange and knowledge-system innovation. Grounded in Chinese practice and open to international perspectives, participants used interdisciplinary dialogue to sharpen research questions, contributing to an independent knowledge system for foreign language studies with Chinese characteristics and international influence.