Neurons and Texts: New Frontiers of Chinese Humanities
The symposium Neurons and Texts will be held on October 17–18, 2025, at Lingnan University in Hong Kong. The title reflects the intersection of “neurons,” which are the fundamental units of intelligent systems underpinning natural cognition and artificial intelligence, and “texts,” which embody the diverse forms and patterns of natural and cultural expression.
The symposium aims to expand the limits of interdisciplinary dialogue, showcasing the integration of traditional humanistic approaches with cognitive science, digital tools, and computational theory, thereby advancing the study of Chinese literature and culture.
Venue: Paul S. Lam Conference Centre, LYH 308, Lingnan University, Hong Kong
Time: Oct 17-18, 2025, 9:30AM–6:00PM
Organizers: The Advanced Institute for Global Chinese Studies (AIGCS) and Department of Chinese, Lingnan University
To attend the event, please register here.
Symposium Schedule
Day 1 — Friday, October 17
09:30–09:45 — Opening remarks:
- Prof. Zong-qi Cai (Lingnan University, Director of the Advanced Institute for Global Chinese Studies)
- Prof. Maciej Kurzynski (Lingnan University)
Panel 1: Embodied Cognition and Meaning Making
09:45–10:15 — Michael A. Fuller (University of California, Irvine), “Biologically Embedded in a World of Meaning: Neuroscientific Models and Reconceptualizing the Reading of Classical Chinese Poetry”
10:15–10:45 — Cheng Ziyue (The University of Macau), “A Cognitive Poetics of Sensation: Representing the Non-Visual in The Story of the Stone"
10:45–11:15 — Lan A. Li (Johns Hopkins University), "A Grave of Rigid ma 麻: Botanical Textures from Sesame to Sensation"
11:15–11:30 — Discussant: Maciej Kurzynski (Lingnan University)
11:30–12:00 — General discussion
12:00–13:30 — Lunch
Panel 2: Computational Poetics
13:30–14:00 — Zong-qi Cai (Lingnan University), "Pentasyllabic Syntax in Tang Poetry: A Computational Study of Sentence Patterns (Verbless and Single-Verb Sentences)"
14:00–14:30 — Chen Jing (The Hong Kong Polytechnic University), "Speaking of the Literary Past: Distant and Close Readings of Paratexts in Sixty Late Imperial Chinese Poetry Anthologies, 1500s–1900s"
14:30–15:00 — Zhao Wei (Chinese Academy of Social Sciences), “On the Possibility of Prosody in Modern Chinese Poetry: A Computational Study of Two ‘New Literary Forms’ (xin wenti)”
15:00–15:15 — Discussant: Paul Vierthaler (Princeton University)
15:15–15:45 — General discussion
15:45–16:00 — Coffee break
Panel 3: Pixels in History – Neural Models for Image Recognition
16:00–16:30 — Du Lin (National University of Singapore), "Mobilizing Vision: Wartime Photographic Exhibitions and the Remaking of Spectatorship in 1940s North China”
16:30–17:00 — Qiuzi Guo (The Education University of Hong Kong), "Images and Revolutionary Slogans: A Computational Analysis of Chinese Revolutionary Photography and Its Political Inscriptions"
17:00–17:15 — Discussant: Jeffrey Tharsen (University of Chicago)
17:15–17:45 — General discussion
Day 2 — Saturday, October 18
Panel 4: Patterns of Embodied Thought
09:30–10:00 — Ning Yu (Penn State University), "The Metaphors in the Motivational Passages of the People’s Daily"
10:00–10:30 — Maciej Kurzynski (Lingnan University), “Words Close to Heart: Economies of Empathy in Chinese Fiction”
10:30–10:45 — Discussant: Wang He (Shanghai Normal University)
10:45–11:15 — General discussion
11:15–11:30 — Coffee break
Panel 5: Historical Data Extraction with Large Language Models
11:30–12:00 — Paul Vierthaler (Princeton University), “Understanding the Impact of the Complete Library of the Four Treasuries on Large Language Models and Chinese Literary Culture”
12:00–12:30 — Michael Chung (The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology), “Extracting Empire: A Hybrid Approach to Named Entity Recognition on Qing Biographical Texts with Large Language Models”
12:30–12:45 — Discussant: Li Linfang (Peking University)
12:45–13:15 — General discussion
13:15–14:45 — Lunch
Panel 6: Networks, Texts, Imaginations
14:45–15:15 — Jeffrey Tharsen (University of Chicago), “Texts as Nodes: Intertextual Networks for Comparative Philology and Computational Intellectual History”
15:15–15:45 — Michelle Jia Ye (The Education University of Hong Kong), “Periodicals as Neurons: Perspectives on Chinese Newspapers and Journals in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries”
15:45–16:00 — Discussant: Chen Jing (The Hong Kong Polytechnic University)
16:00–16:30 — General discussion
16:30–17:15 — Roundtable: Neurons and Texts
17:15–17:30 — Closing remarks
Registration
If you plan on attending the event, please register here.
Contacts
For general inquiries, please contact the symposium secretariat at [email protected].
For specific questions regarding the symposium program, please contact the convener, Maciej Kurzynski, at [email protected].