Lung Ying-tai is one of the most important public intellectuals in the Chinese-speaking world. She is the author of more than 30 books, many of them bestsellers, as well as a respected academic. She is an important and influential government official and Cofounder of the Lung Yingtai Cultural Foundation. In May 2012 she became the first Minister of Culture of Taiwan and has remained an outspoken critic of Taiwan’s (and the world’s) political and cultural developments.
The subject of the workshop was Lung Ying-tai's book "Great River, Great Sea - Untold Stories of 1949". It is a tribute to the tens of millions of people who, according to her, “were trampled on, humiliated and hurt by the era”. It tells the story of the many Chinese families that were broken up by the civil war in 1949, with more than two million Chinese inhabitants escaping to Taiwan. Many, like her own parents, hastily said goodbye to loved ones in mainland China and never saw them again.
The workshop was part of the Taiwan Lecture Series that takes place during this summer semester at the Institute of Chinese Studies. It started with a screening of "Farewell 1949", a documentary that accompnies the book "Great River, Great Sea" and was commentated by Lung Ying-tai. Following the screening, Lung Ying-tai entered into a dialoge with the student, scholars and interested public about her literary oevre, the documentary, the story of her family and the underlying topic of the book - the civil war. In the third part of the workshop students presented a recitation of six chapters from the book in their own English translations.
The workshop was organised by Prof. Dr. Barbara Mittler, director of the Cluster of Excellence "Asia and Europe" as well as a Professor for Chinese Studies.
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