Huang Guowen, initiator and organizerof the current symposium, Chair Professor of Chang Jiang Scholars Program andDean of School of Foreign Studies of SCAU, chairs the Symposium

     On November 26, the first symposium on Ecolinguistics was held in the lecturehall of the library of South China Agricultural University (SCAU). Some 300scholars from Denmark, U.S., Russia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau etc. anddomestic universities like Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Xiamen University,Beijing Normal University, Sun Yat-sen University, China AgriculturalUniversity etc. gathered in SCAU and discussed the current issues in the fieldof Ecolinguistics. They put forward various ideas on the current status quo ofEcolinguistics, its theoretical research, theoretical innovation andapplication, which provided valuable insight on the future development ofEcolinguistics.

   The symposium was hosted by SCAU with the assistance of Guangdong ForeignLanguages & Linguistics Society, Journal of World Languages etc.The theme is "Ecolinguistics Studies in the Chinese Context".

President of SCAU Chen Xiaoyangdelivers a speech in the opening ceremony

Jonathan Webster, Director of theHalliday Center of Hong Kong University and Co-editor-in-chief of Journalof World Languages delivers a speech in the opening ceremony

Sune Steffensen, Professor at theUniversity of Southern Denmark and Editor-in-chief of LanguageSciences, delivers a speech in the opening ceremony

    President of SCAU Chen Xiaoyang, Jonathan Webster, Director of the HallidayCenter of Hong Kong University and Co-editor-in-chief of Journal ofWorld Languages, Sune Steffensen, Professor at the University of SouthernDenmark and Editor-in-chief of Language Sciences, Hu Gengshen,Professor at City University of Macau and Chair of the InternationalEco-Translatology Association, Xu Jianzhong, Editor-in-chief of ForeignLanguage Teaching and Research Press, and Chang Shaohua, Director of theEditorial Department and Deputy Editor-in-chief of Foreign Languages inChina delivered speeches in the opening ceremony. The symposium waschaired by Huang Guowen, initiator and organizer of the present symposium,Chair Professor of Chang Jiang Scholars Program and Dean of School of ForeignStudies of SCAU.

Hu Gengshen, Professor at CityUniversity of Macau and Chair of the International Eco-TranslatologyAssociation, delivers a speech in the opening ceremony

Xu Jianzhong, Editor-in-chief ofForeign Language Teaching and Research Press, delivers a speech in the openingceremony

Chang Shaohua, Director of theEditorial Department and Deputy Editor-in-chief of Foreign Languages inChina delivers a speech in the opening ceremony

    In his speech, President Chen Xiaoyang expressed his gratitude towards thescholars from domestic and overseas universities, research institutes andpresses. He also introduced SCAU and its efforts in Ecolinguistics. He remarkedthat studies in the field of Ecolinguistics not only concerned human linguisticdiversity and uniqueness but also the safety of human languages as well ashuman social development, and that research in Ecolinguistics and itsestablishment as a discipline offered new theoretical visions for humansustainable development.　

     Chen Xiaoyang also said that SCAU was the first to set up the discipline ofEcolinguistics and that by utilizing the university’s geographical advantages,this discipline would contribute to the integration of natural sciences andsocial sciences, the development of social sciences in SCAU and itsconstruction of a high level university.

     A congratulations message from Dr. Arran Stibbe, Convenor of theEcolinguistics Association, was read in the opening ceremony.

    The symposium will last for one and a half day. Professor Sune Steffensen,Professor Jonathan Webster, Professor Hu Gengshen, Professor Charles X. Li andProfessor Huang Guowen will make keynote speeches. Scholars attending thesymposium will discuss and exchange thoughts on the development ofEcolinguistics, theoretical research on Ecolinguistics, ecolinguisticcomparative studies of Chinese and foreign languages, linguistic diversity andcultural diversity, linguistic contact and code switch, Ecolinguisitcs andTranslatology, Ecolinguistics and language teaching etc.

(Report by Qin Jianhua  Pictures by Meng Li)