Sino-UK academic dialogue sheds light on cultural legacy and sustainable development

A joint workshop on cultural legacy, held in London on Tuesday and attended by Chinese and British academics, highlighted the growing global vision of scholars in Shanghai.

The workshop, UCL-Fudan/SFSSA Joint Workshop in Archaeology, History and Heritage, was a joint effort between the Shanghai Federation of Social Sciences Associations (SFSSA), Fudan University, and University College London (UCL).

The first of its kind to be held overseas, the event was conceived of the paradigm of similar workshops hosted by the SFSSA, and masterminded by scholars from top universities.

In addressing the workshop, Wang Weisong, full-time vice chairman of the SFSSA, said that the premiering of the short documentary film on renowned social sciences scholars astride both Chinese and English scholarship epitomizes the vibrancy of scholarly exchanges between the two countries.

He added that the event was a salute to the centenary tradition of mutual exchanges in scholarship, hinting at the fondest wishes for future such exchanges and cooperation between Chinese and overseas academia.

Given Shanghai's traditional strength in philosophy and social sciences, of the first 68 masters in social sciences selected by the SFSSA in 2018, six have made indelible contributions to Sino-UK scholarly exchanges. They are: Zhu Dongrun, a biographer; Wu Lifu, a literary critic; Fang Zhong, a philologist in ancient and medieval English; Wang Zaoshi, a political scientist; Hu Jichuang, an economist; and Lu Gusun, a lexicographer.

These outstanding scholars have either pursued studies in the United Kingdom, or engaged in translating scholarly works from Chinese to English, or the other way around, all representing significant milestones in facilitating cross-cultural communication.

At the Tuesday workshop, leading scholars from both Fudan University and UCL also shared their insight into the development of riverside cities, the symbiosis of ecology and humanities, the protection of cultural legacy, and a number of other topics critical to urban regeneration.

In light of zero-carbon waterfront and urban regeneration, for instance, there has been an on-going dialogue between Shanghai and London officials about the Huangpu River, Suzhou Creek, and the River Thames.

The talks are part of the attempt to discuss the best practices in Shanghai along the riverside area of Yangpu District in the context of a scholarly discourse, with a view to enhancing in-depth communication between Shanghai and London in knowledge reinvention and social governance.

Select scholars from both Fudan University and UCL also delivered keynote speeches on urban spatial production in riverside areas in Shanghai, the role of culture and museums in facilitating the transformation of the waterfront in Yangpu District from rust belt to leisure space, rethinking the green transformation of legacy and museums, and low-carbon revelations from agrarian civilization.

This dialogue, transcending spatial and disciplinary constraints, was not only a renewal of urban memory, but also an exploration of sustainable development of human civilization that promises to contribute significantly to global urban development.