Media

HKU to hold opening ceremony on International Conference on Jing Jiao (Nestorian Christianity)

05 Jun 2015

 

The Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences of the University of Hong Kong (HKU) will host the International Conference on Jing Jiao (Nestorian Christianity) with the HKU School of Chinese, and the Divinity School of the Chinese University of Hong Kong on June 10 to 12, 2015 (Wednesday to Friday).

An opening ceremony will be held at 9:30am on June 10 (Wednesday) in Theatre 303, 3/F, Chong Yuet Ming Amenities Centre, the University of Hong Kong.

Nestorian Christianity was introduced to China in Tang dynasty (635 CE) from Persia (today’s Silk Road). The discovery of the Jing Jiao stele from Xian, the stone pillar containing the Nestorian Xuan-yuan Zhi-ben Sutra in Louyang, the Jing Jiao literature written in Turkic language around the 11th century excavated at Turfan were some of the archaeological artifacts that bearing witness to the popularity of Christianity in China.  Although Jing Jiao went into decline after the Tang dynasty, Nestorian Christianity, called by another name ‘ye-li-ke-wen’, a term in the Mongol language was once again revived in 1289 under the reign of Kublai Khan (reign 1260-1294).  The F. A. Nixon Collection of Nestorian Crosses in the HKU Museum is the archaeological discovery of this period from the Mongolian steppes. In conjunction with the Conference, an exhibition of the Collection will be opened to the public. 

The Conference marks the 1380^th anniversary of the introduction of Jing Jiao to China. It also celebrates the golden jubilee of HKU’s late Professor Hsiang-lin Lo’s publication Nestorianism in the T’ang and Yuan Dynasties. Members of the Organizing Committee include Professor David Lung, Dr. Kam Wing Fung, Dr. Florian Knothe, Professor Angela Leung, all from the University of Hong Kong; and Professor Fuk-tsang Ying of the Divinity School of Chung Chi College, the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

The keynote speaker Professor Samuel Lieu and 19 scholars from Hong Kong, China, Japan, Europe and USA to Hong Kong will be sharing their fascinating research discoveries on the Nestorian faith in Tang and Yuen dynasties as well as its religious and cultural influences in East Asia. The speakers will give presentations at 3 panels focusing different but inter-related themes – artistic, scientific, religious influence, linguistic and textual.  

The Keynote Speaker, Professor Samuel Lieu is Inaugural Distinguished Professor of Ancient History at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia, and is a long-term Visiting Fellow at Wolfson College, Cambridge (UK). Born in Hong Kong, he was an Exhibitioner at Emmanuel College Cambridge and took his Doctorate in Ancient History at Oxford where he was also a Junior Research Fellow at Wolfson College (Oxford). He was successively Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Reader and Professor of Ancient History at Warwick University in the UK. In 1996 he was appointed to the Edwin Judge Chair of Ancient History at Macquarie University in Sydney. He has been co-director of the UNESCO-sponsored Corpus Fontium Manichaeorum project since 1996 – a project also sponsored by the British Academy as well as by the Australian Academy of the Humanities. He is also co-ordinator of the ‘China and the Ancient Mediterranean World’ Project of the International Union of Academies. In 2012 he was awarded a prestigious Discovery Outstanding Research Award by the Australian Research Council to enable him to concentrate on research on religious texts from Central Asia for three years (2013-2015).

Professor David P.Y. Lung, Professor of Architecture, and Lady Edith Kotewall Professor in the Built Environment, the University of Hong Kong, is internationally recognized for his scholarship and work in the field of heritage conservation and World Heritage properties.  He is instrumental in bringing to fruition three World Heritage Inscriptions: Historic City of Macao, Kaiping Diaolou and Villages, and the Historic Cities in the Straits of Malacca.

Dr. Kam Wing Fung, Associate Professor of Chinese, the University of Hong Kong, is currently leading couples of project focusing on history of science and technology in East Asia, history of Jesuit science, and history of Islamic astronomical-astrological knowledge in Ming China.

Dr. Florian Knothe, Director of the University Museum and Art Gallery and Honorary Associate Professor at the Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences, the University of Hong Kong, is currently working on the scientific developments of glassmaking in Qing China, bringing together results from both historical and chemical analysis.

Professor Angela Leung, Director of the Hong Kong Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences and the Joseph Needham-Philip Mao Professor in Chinese History, Science & Civilisation, is currently in the process of building an international team of scholars to pursue a large scale research project on technology and its role in the development of East Asian societies in the modern and contemporary period.

Professor Fuk-tsang Ying, Director of Divinity School of Chung Chi College, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, is an expert in the history of Christianity in China. He is currently working on research projects focusing Hong Kong Christianity and its history, party-state, society and Protestant Christianity in Contemporary China.

The details of the Conference are as follows:

(Day 1) Opening Remarks, Keynote Speech, and Panel One: Artistic and Scientific
Date/Time: June 10, 2015 (Wednesday), 9:30 AM – 4:30 PM
Location: Theatre 303, 3/F, Chong Yuet Ming Amenities Centre, the University of Hong Kong

(Day 2) Panel Two: Religious Influence
Date/Time: June 11, 2015 (Thursday), 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Location: Lecture Theatre 3, Esther Lee Building, the Chinese University of Hong Kong

(Day 3) Panel Three: Linguistic and Textual
Date/Time: June 10, 2015 (Wednesday), 10:00 AM – 4:30 PM
Location: Theatre 303, 3/F, Chong Yuet Ming Amenities Centre, the University of Hong Kong

Language: English
More information and registration: www.hkihss.hku.hk/events/jingjiao2015/index.html.

If members of the media would like to interview Professors Samuel Lieu, David Lung, Drs Kam Wing Fung and Florian Knothe, please contact Ms Julie Chu, Knowledge Exchange Officer, Communications and Public Affairs Office, HKU, at tel: (852) 2859 2437, email: juliechu@hku.hk.