This Spring, the Sino-Russian Cultural Research Center, jointly established by Sichuan University and the Institute of Far Eastern Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences, hosted its first joint discussion forum, “China and Russia: Dialoguing between Civilizations,” organized around the theme “The Chinese Tao and the Russian Language.” The event was supported by the Sino-Russian Cultural Research Center, SCU’s Research Institute of Chinese Traditional Cultures and SCU’s Contemporary Russian Studies Center at the School of International Studies.

Participating scholars included Deputy Director of SCU’s Social Sciences Department, Fu Qilin; Director of the Far East Comparative Civilizations Research Center of the Institute of Far Eastern Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences, Professor Anatoly Lukyanov; and Vice Dean of SCU’s School of International Studies, Li Zhiqiang. The Director of SCU’s Research Institute of Chinese Traditional Cultures welcomed the assembled scholars from China and Russia and made some introductory remarks.

Scholars entered a lively debate around the forum’s theme following a series of stimulating talks given by Professor Lukyanov and other Russian experts from the Institute of Far Eastern Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences, as well as faculty from SCU’s Contemporary Russian Studies Center, the College of Foreign Languages and Cultures, the College of Literature and Journalism and related schools and departments of Sichuan University.

Professor Liu Yading of SCU’s Contemporary Russian Studies Center summarized the forum’s highlights and contributions toward ongoing debates within the different disciplines represented by participants, including Chinese studies, Sinology, Russian studies and Russian literature, as well as contemporary Sino-Russian relations; the discussions also proved of value in promoting the ongoing intellectual dialogue and cooperation between the two sides. Professor Lukyanov described the forum’s discussion as one of amicable dialogue, a small-scale example of the wider Sino-Russian cultural exchange between equal dialogue partners. Lukyanov also introduced the latest fruits of the SCU-Institute of Far Eastern Studies joint Sino-Russian Cultural Research Center’s collaboration: the newly translated, recently completed side-by-side Chinese-Russian version of theSpring and Autumn Annals.