Grand talk on African literature at distant venue

Beijing conference evokes memories of Uganda meeting half a century earlier

Peking University, the first modern national university in China, was the venue for what is believed to have been the first conference on African languages and literature held in China.

Scholars drawn from across Africa and different parts of Chinese mainland gathered at the university for the event over three days in May, organized by the university's Department of Asian and African Languages and Literature and the Center for African Studies.

Discussion was dominated by fiction by Chinua Achebe of Nigeria and Ngugi wa Thiong'o of Kenya, and participants received free copies of their works translated into Chinese. Chinese and African scholars presented papers.

Chinese scholars Du Zhiqing, Jiang Hui, Qi Lindong, Zhang Wu and Yu Tian presented papers about Chinese translations of Achebe's books. However, much of the focus was on Lindong Qi's paper on the translation and study of Achebe's works. The event evoked memories of a conference in 1962 on African literature titled Conference of African Writers of English Expression held at Makerere Unversity in Kampala, Uganda. That conference was the first African writers conference, and both Achebe and the young Ngugi attended.

At Peking University, Professor Chima Anyideke of Obafemi University in Nigeria argued in his paper that at various times Ngugi wa Thiong'o pointed out the imperialist and capitalist dimensions of the language question in African literature, and Chinua Achebe often articulated the cultural implications of the problem even as he also saw the positive side of using English as a medium of expressing oneself in African fiction.

He argued that both writers often saw themselves and were also seen by others as opponents in the debate concerning the continued use of foreign languages by most African writers.

Participants led by several African scholars agreed with the arguments advanced in the paper but said the differences between the two scholars in African fiction needed to be studied further.

Li Yansong, vice-president of Peking University, opened the event, which attracted more than 50 international and local participants. African students from universities throughout China also attended. They included Chinese and foreign students majoring in African languages and literature.

More Chinese universities are now offering courses in African languages and African literature, which has attracted a growing number of students from China and abroad. This signifies the growing curiosity among Chinese in understanding Africa and its rich culture carried in its indigenous languages and literature.

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs says 27,000 Africans are now studying at Chinese universities. The number of Chinese in China studying African fiction is set to increase with the increase in the number of translated works available on the market and the influx of African scholars teaching African fiction in Chinese universities.

(China Daily Africa Weekly 08/29/2014 page16)