You are cordially invited to the lecture Shanghai: From Past into Present  delivered by Prof. Leo Lee at 9:00-11:00 AM, Wednesday, November 30, 2016. The Lecture is held by Diligentia College as a brand-new series of activities, through which we aim to bring together students from different majors and cultural backgrounds, and then guide them to think in a different way.

Guest Speaker: Prof. Leo Ou-fan Lee

Prof. Lee is currently Sin Wai Kin Professor of Chinese Culture at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, having taken early retirement from teaching at Harvard University to become a long-term Hong Kong resident.  Apart from his academic work, he has been an active participant in the Hong Kong cultural scene, having published in the past decades nearly 20 books of cultural criticism in both Chinese and English, including (in English) City Between Worlds: My Hong Kong (Harvard University Press, 2008). Among his scholarly books are Shanghai Modern: The Flowering of a New Urban Culture in China, 1930-1945 (Harvard University Press, 1999). In addition to literature, his other humanistic interests include classical music, film, and architecture. 

Time: 9:00-10:00 AM, Wednesday, November 30

Venue: Room 110, Zhi Xin Building

Language: Chinese

Abstract:

“Shanghai Modern: The Flowering of a New Urban Culture in China, 1930-1945”, written by Professor Leo Lee, is a model which brings the view of urban research into the field of Chinese literature research. By repainting the cultural geography of Shanghai in the Republic of China in the twentieth Century, the book reveals the dynamics between the city's material culture, literary imagination and modernity. Professor Lee's "modern Shanghai", not only provides a new imagination about Shanghai, but also provides a new way of imagining Shanghai, which has a paradigmatic significance for the study of cities in China. This lecture, Professor Lee will carry out creative analysis and reflection on "Shanghai modern", and focus on the "nostalgia" and Shanghai "cosmopolitanism" issue.