PRESENT

COM to Collaborate with Tokyo University on Research

The Department is concluding an agreement on research collaboration with the Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies at the prestigious University of Tokyo.   "We are looking forward to starting a network of productive relationships with leading institutions in Asia," said Professor Lee Chin-Chuan, in referring to this new initiative he has helped bring to fruition. 

Professor Lee will give a keynote speech to a joint symposium, "Mapping the Spaces of Media Culture in Asia: Information, Communication and Politics," to be held from 29 to 30 October 2009, sponsored by the University of Tokyo and National Seoul University.    CityU will become a new partner as Professor Lee is scheduled to sign an agreement of research collaboration with Dean HIdetaka Ishida during the conference.    The agreement mandates both units to exchange faculty, conduct collaborative projects, hold joint lectures and symposia, as well as share academic information and materials.

In thanking Professor Kaori Hayashi for her contribution to bring both sides together, Professor Lee believes that this research collaboration will be conducive to internationalizing western-dominated media studies from East Asian perspectives.

Professor Lee Invited to Lecture

CCR Director Professor Lee Chin-Chuan has been invited to give lectures in the Academic Year 2008-09 at Lund University, Sweden; Central European University, Hungary; Rikkyo University, Japan; Chaotung University, Taiwan; Fudan Unviersity and Renmin University, China.  From 29 to 30 October 2009 he will represent the CCR and the Department of Media and Communication to deliver a keynote speech to a symposium sponsored by the University of Tokyo.

"The Learned Club" Enjoys Fellowship and Ideas in Kunming

About 30 young communication scholars from Greater China will meet in Kunming on the campus of Yunnan Normal University on 11-12 August 2009 to discuss current research of mutual interest. 

This is an outgrowth of the Visiting Program for Young Scholars from China sponsored by the Department of Media and Communication, under which every year 10 to 18 scholars from major universities have come to take residence in the City University of Hong Kong for one month. "We have developed a strong national network with the rising stars of the field in China," said Professor Lee Chin-Chuan, head of the Department, who started the program.  The Department has hosted more than 60 Chinese scholars in the past five years.

To strengthen the academic ties and personal bond, the participants of the visiting program have volunteered to form a "Learned Club" (多聞雅集) with its name taken from Confucius to mean "making friends with people of broad learning."  When 40 members of the Learned Club went to Nanjing University to hold the first meeting last summer, the dean of its School of Journalism and Communication expressed warm welcome by hosting a sumptuous dinner party. 

"We treasure our strong fellowship that has been a source of support for our intellectual growth," said Professor Chen Xianhong, Associate Dean of the School of Journalism and Communication at Huazhong University of Science and Technology who was one of the early participants in the Program.  Dr. Zhang Ping of Fudan University echoed, "Attending this reunion is one of my high priorities."

This year's conference will be held under the auspices of the Department and the School of Journalism and Communication at Yunnan Normal University.  Professor Zhuang Xiaodong and Dean Hao Puning of the hosting institution will inaugurate the conference. Professor Lee and Professor Chang Tsan-kuo from the Department will deliver keynote speeches.  Parallel sessions will then be held to present current research by participants. 

After the conference, participants will tour the beautiful Dali and Lijiang on a voluntary basis.

Asia-Pacific Internet Users Top the World

Acting Provost Professor C. H. Chan praised the conference of the Asia-Pacific Internet Research Alliance (APIRA) as "significant to the CityU's goal to strive for a dialogue between science and humanities." The conference was held on 6-7 August 2009.

Entitled "Opportunities and Challenges for the Internet in the Post-Financial Tsunami Era," the conference was organized by Professor Jonathan Zhu under the auspices of the Department of Media and Communication and the Center for Communication Research.

Professor Lee Chin-Chuan, head of COM, welcomed the APIRA to return to the CityU where it was first founded six years ago. In noting that new media are the focal point and common platform of education for the Department, he said, "Technological development should be guided by the enduring values of freedom, equality, and democracy."

Professor Guanrong Chen, a pioneering scholar, from the City University of Hong Kong delivered a keynote speech on the research models that treat Internet as complex networks. Prof. Yan Ma of the China Education and Research Network reported the blueprint of the IPv6-based infrastructure and applications for China's next-generation Internet. Dr. Fumi Yamazaki of the University of Electro-Communications examined the patterns and economics of Internet gaming in Japan, and Mr. Hui Xu, senior manager of the largest social network site (Xiaonei.com) in China, analyzed the promises and problems with online games, online video and online communities.

The conference also consisted of country reports on Internet use. There were two research panels on Internet research methods and Internet economy.  

Conference on Modern Chinese Press History to be Held in early December

The Center for Communication Research (CCR), in collaboration with the Department of Media and Communication, will host the second conference on modern Chinese press from 5-6 December 2009. It will focus on the concept and practice of press freedom in modern China.

This is a sequel to the conference held in April 2007, which has resulted in the publication of a highly acclaimed volume, Literati cum Political Commentators: Intellectuals and the Press in Republican China" ( 文人論政：民國知識分子與報刊 ), by Guangxi Normal University Press in the mainland and National Chengchi University Press in Taiwan.

"Social understanding would not be complete in historical vacuum," said Professor Lee Chin-Chuan, head of the Department and the director of CCR, "Given our strategic position and available resources, we are happy to provide a forum that would give much-needed impetus to interdisciplinary research on modern Chinese press, which can be seen as a window on the larger political, economic, and cultural contexts of modern China." Sixteen noted historians and media scholars from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, and the United States will come to the City University of Hong Kong to present their papers. The themes of this conference include (a) the Chinese press and liberalism; (b) western influence and Chinese adaptation; (c) the impact of press commercialization and professionalism on press freedom; (d) the Nationalist government’s media policy, the Nationalist-Communist media rivalry, and implications for press freedom; and (e) exemplary journalists in modern China. Planning is also underway on another conference, "Media Representations of China." CCR and the Department will co-sponsor the conference. Participants will include leading scholars from a dozen countries around the world.  

Young Scholars from China and Taiwan Meet in the Department.....


Four young communication scholars, including three from China and one from Taiwan, arrived on 9 February as part of the Department's highly prestigious Young Scholars from the Mainland Program, which is now in its fifth year.  The three mainland scholars include Lei Weizhen (Renmin University), Liu Yunfeng (Nankai University) and Xiao Qing (Yunnan Normal University), to be joined next week by Liu Shan (Tongji University), Zhou Kai (Nanjing University) and Zhou Yu (Xiamen University).   This marks the first time a scholar from Taiwan, Hsiung Peiliing (National Chengchi University), is invited to participate in the program.  These scholars were selected among 70 applicants.  They will be in residence for a month to work on their research and attend seminars.  This year the Department hosts 16 young scholars under this program, and the second group of 8 will arrive in mid-March. For further information, visit http://com.cityu.edu.hk/ccr/scholars/