The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) is pleased to welcome 2013 Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters recipient Professor Pai Hsien-yung, renowned contemporary writer and a staunch advocate of Kunqu, who has made a special trip to visit the University and deliver a literary talk today (5 December).
Since Professor Pai was not able to attend the Congregation last month, PolyU has arranged a special ceremony to deliver the citation and present the award parchment to him. The ceremony was then followed by a talk by Professor Pai on the topic of “What if there is a Chinese Renaissance in the 21st Century”. This event has attracted a full house of nearly 1,000 audience members in the University’s Jockey Club Auditorium.
Professor Pai Hsien-yung is a world-renowned contemporary novelist, critic, playwright and an essayist whose literary creations have earned him great critical acclaim. His published works have been translated into different languages and adapted for the stage, television and the cinema. After earning his Master’s degree at the University of Iowa in 1965, he became a Professor of Chinese Literature at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and has resided in Santa Barbara ever since.
In 1994, Professor Pai took early retirement from the University of California to devote himself completely to restoring and promoting Kunqu, a traditional form of Chinese opera. The Young Lovers’ Edition of the Peony Pavilion, adapted from the classic and newly created with modernist techniques by Professor Pai, has been staged more than 200 times in Taiwan, the Chinese mainland, the U.S. and Europe.
It was the second time that Professor Pai delivered a talk on PolyU campus. In March 2012, at the invitation of PolyU, Professor Pai delivered two talks on The Beauty of Kunqu Opera and Love in Kunqu Opera, accompanied by performance of national first-class Kunqu singers. The lectures were also part of PolyU’s 75th Anniversary celebration activities and drew full houses of audience.
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Press Contact : Mr Wilfred Lai
Division Head (Media and Community Relations)
Communications and Public Affairs Office
Telephone : (852) 2766 5218
E-mail : [email protected]
