Academic interest in the philosophy and intellectual history of Asia has grown steadily over the past few decades and has intensified further since the influential 2016 public appeal by Jay L. Garfield and Bryan W. van Norden, two leading scholars of Asian thought, to diversify these predominantly Eurocentric fields. In particular, there is growing scholarly openness to integrating classical and modern Buddhist philosophy into both research and teaching.
Despite this welcome trend in scholarship, regions beyond the Euro-American centers of academic activity often remain underrepresented in contemporary global scholarly discourse, owing to a range of factors, including language barriers and divergent academic traditions. Such marginalization is also true of Jiangnan (江南), the region surrounding the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, where Buddhism has flourished for nearly two millennia. From the third-century Wu Kingdom, when pioneering translators helped forge foundational Buddhist vocabularies, to the Republican Era, when cultural and economic centers such as Shanghai, Nanjing, and Hangzhou played a crucial role in Buddhism’s resurgence, and into the present, Jiangnan has remained a major center of Buddhist activity and study, both within and beyond the academy.
The symposium aims to expand existing scholarly boundaries by bringing together a diverse group of scholars working on Buddhist philosophy and intellectual history in China, the majority of whom are based in the Jiangnan region, and representing a variety of academic emphases, disciplinary backgrounds, and methodologies. The symposium will provide an opportunity for participants who share a common interest in Indian and Chinese Buddhism, especially their philosophical dimensions, to present their current research to others in the field, learn about the work of colleagues, and engage in scholarly exchange. A core priority of the event is to strengthen networks between Chinese and non-Chinese scholars working in China, thereby creating a sustained local basis for cross-cultural intellectual collaboration.
Dates: 16–17 April 2027
Confirmed Speakers
Muyou Fan 范慕尤 (Shanghai Jiao Tong University)
Eberhard Guhe 顾鹤 (Fudan University)
Oren Hanner (Duke Kunshan University)
Huanhuan He 何欢欢 (Zhejiang University)
Jenny Hung 洪真如 (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology)
Ching Keng 耿晴 (National Taiwan University)
Qian Lin 林倩 (Qingdao University)
Yufan Mao 茅宇凡 (Shanghai University)
Ben Van Overmeire 欧馥般 (Duke Kunshan University)
Jiade Shao 邵佳德 (Nanjing University)
Mingjun Tang 汤铭钧 (Fudan University)
Paolo Visigalli 魏葆珞 (Shanghai Normal University)
You Zhao 赵悠 (Peking University)
