3S Co-sponsored Event: World Chronicles: Margins, Travel, and Liu Zichao's Writing
CUHK Contemporary Voices in Chinese Literature Lecture Series - Fifth Session
World Chronicles: Margins, Travel, and Liu Zichao's Writing
This lecture invites writer Liu Zichao to discuss his travel writing across the Global South, Southeast Asia, and Southeastern Europe, from Chasing the Monsoon: Journeys from India to Southeast Asia to Blood and Honey: A Journey Across the Balkans. The conversation will explore Liu's work through the lens of travel, history, memory, and the genre of youji 遊記 or jixing 紀行 (travel writing or travel chronicles). By reading Liu’s work, we examine how contemporary Chinese travel writing navigates geographical and conceptual margins and destabilizes reified boundaries between center and periphery. Liu’s literary reportage, blending curiosity without voyeurism and empathy without sentimentality, complicates boundaries between Chinese literature centered on China and Sinophone literature emerging from Chinese-speaking communities worldwide. His peripatetic narratives also raise urgent questions: how do margins create their own meaning without becoming the next center? What ethical possibilities emerge when we write from and about the world’s peripheries? What is the urgency of writing about the world and out of “obsession with China?”
Guest:
Liu Zichao (Writer)
2025/11/13
Thursday 15:30-17:30
Fung King Hey Building KHB220
CUHK
Moderator:
Jannis Jizhou Chen
Assistant Professor
Department of Chinese Language and Literature
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Language: Mandarin
Organizers:
Department of Chinese Language and Literature, CUHK
Society of Sinophone Studies (SSS)
Writer’s Bio
Liu Zichao (劉子超) is a Chinese writer, reporter, and travel essayist known for finely observed narrative nonfiction that bridges reportage and literary sensibility. A graduate of Peking University’s Chinese Department and a former journalist-editor at Southern People Weekly and GQ China, he has journeyed widely across Eurasia, translating field experience into vivid, humane portraits of place and people. His recent and representative books include The Lost Satellite (《失落的衛星》), Chasing the Monsoon (《沿著季風的方向》), and Blood and Honey: A Journey Across the Balkans (《血與蜜之地：穿越巴爾幹的旅程》), alongside the essay collection Arrival Before Midnight (《午夜降臨前抵達》). Liu’s prose is praised for curiosity without voyeurism, empathy without sentimentality, and a quiet wit that opens complex regions to general readers. His reportage on Central Asia received a Special Mention at the 2019 True Story Award; he was named Young Writer of the Year at the 2021 One Way Street Bookstore Literary Award. Blood and Honey was selected for the Harvest Literature List (Long Non-fiction) and as one of Asia Weekly (Yazhou Zhoukan)’s Top 10 Chinese Books of 2024 (Non-fiction). Liu frequently speaks on borders, memory, and the ethics of seeing, and collaborates across photography and documentary projects.
華語文學的當代聲音系列講座第五講
世界紀行: 邊緣、旅行和劉子超的寫作
從《沿著季風的方向: 從印度到東南亞的旅程》到《血與蜜之地:穿越巴爾幹的旅程》，劉子超的書寫和遊歷跨越全球南方、東南亞及歐洲。本次講座邀請作家分享他的旅行書寫。我們的對話將以旅行、歷史、記憶，甚至是遊記或紀行文類為視角, 探討當代中文世界的旅行書寫和非虛構文體如何穿梭各類地緣與詩學的邊緣地帶,並解構中心與邊緣之間的僵化關係。在好奇與獵奇、共情與煽情的張力間，劉的書寫不但模糊了以中國為中心的中國文學與源自全球華語社群的華語語系文學之間的界限，也提出了一系列迫切的問題:邊緣如何在不成為下一個中心的前提下創造自身得意義?當我們從世界的邊緣書寫時,會面臨何種倫理的壓力和可能？最後，從各種民族國家的內部和外部我們應該如何走出「感時憂國」來書寫世界?
嘉賓：
劉子超（作家）
2025/11/13
星期四 16:00-17:30
馮景禧樓KHB220
香港中文大學
主持人
陳濟舟
香港中文大學中文系助理教授
語言：普通話
主辦單位:
香港中文大學中國語言及文學系
華語語系研究協會（3S）
劉子超中國作家、記者與旅行散文作者，以兼具報導性與文學感的細膩非虛構寫作著稱。畢業於北京大學中文系，曾任《南方人物週刊》與《GQ智族》記者、編輯。他長年行走於歐亞大陸，將田野經驗轉化為生動而具人文關懷的地方與人物書寫。其近年代表作包括《失落的衛星》、《沿著季風的方向》與《血與蜜之地：穿越巴爾幹的旅程》，並著有散文集《午夜降臨前抵達》。劉子的文字以「好奇而不獵奇、共情而不煽情」見長，為廣大讀者打開複雜地域的多重面向。他以中亞題材報導獲2019年「全球真實故事獎」（True Story Award）特別關注；並獲2021年「單向街書店文學獎·年度青年作家」。 《血與蜜之地》入選「收穫文學榜·長篇非虛構」與《亞洲週刊》2024「全球華文十大好書（非小說）」。他亦常就邊界、記憶與觀看倫理發表演講，並與攝影與紀錄片團隊合作。
