On November 15, the Understanding China International Communication and Area Studies Academic Seminar and the 2025 Language and Communication Academic Exchange Conference were successfully convened at Shenzhen University. Centered on the theme “Precise Empowerment of International Communication by Area Studies under the New Global Governance Landscape,” the seminar closely aligned with the strategic requirement of “enhancing the communication power and influence of Chinese civilization” outlined in the proposals for the 15th Five-Year Plan reviewed and adopted at the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. The event aimed to explore innovative mechanisms for the deep integration and collaborative empowerment of international communication by area studies and foreign language disciplines. Over a hundred experts and scholars from the fields of international communication, foreign language education, and area studies gathered at Shenzhen University, engaging in in-depth discussions on enhancing the efficacy of international communication through interdisciplinary approaches.
Wang Yuexing, Deputy Party Secretary and Secretary of the Commission for Discipline Inspection of Shenzhen University, Delivered a Welcome Speech
Wang Yuexing, Deputy Party Secretary and Secretary of the Commission for Discipline Inspection of Shenzhen University, and Zhang Haigang, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of 21st Century Newspaper, attended the opening ceremony. In his welcome address, Wang Yuexing stated that since its founding, Shenzhen University has consistently shouldered the mission of “cultivating talent for the Special Economic Zone and pioneering reforms in higher education,” having nurtured over 300,000 innovative and entrepreneurial talents rooted in the Greater Bay Area. In the fields of area studies and international communication, the university continues to strengthen the development of the School of Foreign Languages and the Institute of Area and International Communication Studies. Leveraging platforms such as the Center for China’s Overseas Interests and the Institute of Bay of Bengal Studies, the university has established high-level research teams focusing on key issues like the “Belt and Road” Initiative and the Global South. Through solid research to underpin international communication and innovative practices to promote regional cooperation, it serves the nation’s strategy of opening-up.
Professor Zhou Min, Changjiang Scholar Distinguished Professor of the Ministry of Education and Dean of the School of Foreign Languages at Hangzhou Normal University; Professor Wang Zhan, Member of the Discipline Evaluation Group for Area Studies under the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council, from Tianjin University; Professor Wu Minsu, Deputy Head of the Faculty of Journalism and Communication at Communication University of China; and Professor Dai Yonghong, Distinguished Professor of Shenzhen University and Dean of the School of Foreign Languages and Director of the Institute of Area and International Communication Studies at Shenzhen University, delivered keynote speeches successively.
Professor Zhou Min Delivers a Keynote Speech
Professor Zhou Min delivered a keynote report titled “Synergistic Innovation Pathways for Area Studies and International Communication.” Starting from the dilemmas faced by international communication, she explained the theoretical and practical support that area studies provide for international communication, and proposed a new pathway from “understanding crises” to “co-construction of civilizations.” She pointed out that area studies and international communication empower each other and grow symbiotically. International communication in the new era should take mutual learning among civilizations as its core concept, promote equal dialogue and collaborative knowledge creation, and contribute to building a community with a shared future for mankind.
Professor Wang Zhan Delivers a Keynote Speech
Professor Wang Zhan delivered a keynote speech titled “The ‘Big BRICS’ Opening a New Vision for the Global South.” He systematically traced the developmental trajectory of the “Big BRICS” cooperation mechanism, elaborated on its important role and practical significance within the global governance system, and noted that, despite facing multifaceted challenges in the current international situation, the “Big BRICS” mechanism demonstrates strong resilience and vitality. This mechanism contributes Chinese wisdom and solutions to promoting a more inclusive and harmonious new international landscape and achieving the grand goal of global sustainable development. It also opens up a forward-looking and practically significant new vision for Global South countries to build consensus and jointly create the future.
Professor Wu Minsu Delivers a Keynote Speech
Professor Wu Minsu delved into the topic of role reconstruction for teachers in international communication. She pointed out that promoting university teachers to reshape their roles in international communication is key to addressing the many challenges in this field. To this end, she proposed two practical pathways: “knowledge transboundary” and “discourse transformation.” The former advocates breaking down disciplinary barriers and achieving the organic integration and mastery of cross-domain knowledge; the latter emphasizes the effective translation of academic achievements into public discourse, systematically cultivating students’ cross-cultural narrative abilities, and helping them better convey China’s voice in international contexts.
Professor Dai Yonghong Delivers a Keynote Speech
In his keynote speech, Professor Dai Yonghong discussed “Empowering the Cultivation of Internationally-Competent Innovative Talents through Area Studies and International Communication.” He pointed out that against the backdrop of intertwined contexts—the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and profound global changes unseen in a century—the innovative transformation of foreign language disciplines has become an imperative of the times. The cultivation of internationally-competent talents is a crucial measure aligned with this trend. Precise and effective international communication and profound, solid area studies knowledge mutually support and complement each other, jointly constructing an educational system that integrates a global perspective with cross-cultural communication skills. This provides a solid foundation for cultivating innovative talents who possess a deep understanding of the world and are adept at communication.
In the two parallel forums held in the afternoon, Forum One focused on “Empowering International Communication through Area Studies.” Professor Wen Chunying from Communication University of China analyzed the competitive discursive constructions of the “Asian Imagination” by neighboring countries, revealing their differentiated perceptions and providing a “discourse toolkit” for optimizing regional cooperation mechanisms. Sun Ming, Vice President of the Academy of Contemporary China and World Studies, proposed promoting the coordinated development of area studies and targeted communication from three aspects: institutional building, cultivating versatile talents, and applying new technologies.
Professor Luo Shengrong Delivers a Presentation
Professor Luo Shengrong from Yunnan University delivered a thematic report titled “From the Other to Co-construction: The Shift in China’s Narrative within Area Studies.” He pointed out that China’s overseas cooperation often faces three persistent myths: the economic dependency theory, cultural invasion theory, and security threat theory. Therefore, the international narrative needs to shift from passive response to proactive co-construction. He proposed three drivers: agenda integration, discourse co-creation, and value dimension elevation. Citing cases like the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway and the China-Laos Railway, he emphasized the need to make partners the subjects of narratives. He called for researchers to transform into “narrative engineers,” possessing both cross-cultural communication skills and practical capabilities. Through deep localization and youth-oriented expression, co-construction stories should resonate with the civilizations of partner countries and connect with the lives of ordinary citizens.
Associate Professor Huang Leping Delivers a Presentation
Associate Professor Huang Leping from Shenzhen University delivered a thematic report on “Latin American Area Studies and International Communication Targeting Latin America.” He first introduced the geographical scope and historical-cultural origins of Latin America, comparing its core differences with the United States in history, culture, political systems, and religious traditions. He outlined its developmental trajectory from the colonial period to modern times and its economic reform journey. Subsequently, focusing on China-Latin America relations, he mentioned important cooperation outcomes such as the “1+3+6” cooperation framework and the China-CELAC Forum. He noted that current research hotspots in Latin American studies concentrate on areas like political situations, economics, and China-Latin America relations. He suggested that communication targeting Latin America should be based on cultural commonalities, involve precise audience segmentation, and leverage multiple forces and new media for effective communication.
Associate Research Fellow Fu Le Delivers a Presentation
Associate Research Fellow Fu Le from Shenzhen University delivered a thematic report titled “Protection of Overseas Interests and Localized Research in International Communication,” incorporating empirical research on the Colombo Port City in Sri Lanka. She highlighted Sri Lanka’s strategic value as the “Crossroads of the East on the Sea.” Her research employed an interdisciplinary theoretical framework and combined qualitative and quantitative methods, collecting data from diverse perspectives through six years of cross-scale interviews. The report analyzed the formation and conflicts surrounding the Port City’s landscape from temporal, spatial, and media dimensions, deconstructed the common mechanisms of Western narrative traps, aiming to counter related negative agendas. She proposed building an international communication empowerment framework characterized by “top-down and bottom-up connectivity, and comprehensive communication.” Achieving localized communication through “dwelling-style precise communication” can aid the protection of overseas interests.
Chairperson Ding Li Delivers a Presentation
Ding Li, Chairperson of Yunyi Technology Co., Ltd., shared insights on the theme “Artificial Intelligence Empowering Practices in Area Studies.” She introduced that Yunyi Technology, a multilingual solution provider specializing in AI and Natural Language Processing, has accumulated 4 billion sentence pairs of industry data since its establishment in 2016, mastering core self-developed technologies like speech recognition and machine translation. Its core product, the “Intelligent Information System for Regional and Country Studies,” enables automatic collection of global public opinion in hundreds of languages, cross-lingual retrieval in Chinese, AI-powered Q&A, and generates high-credibility, in-depth reports based on DeepResearch and RAG technologies. It has served institutions like Shenzhen University, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, and the military-industrial sector. Additionally, the system includes data statistics and manual review functions, providing efficient and precise technical support for area studies and international communication.
Roundtable Dialogue
During the subsequent roundtable dialogue session, Shenzhen University assistant professors Li Jingcheng, Pan Yating, and Yang Le explored pathways for capacity synergy between area studies and international communication based on the university’s practices.
Attendees Listen to Thematic Reports at Parallel Forum Two
Parallel Forum Two engaged in in-depth discussions on the theme “Cultivating International Communication Talents for Generation Z.” Professor Luo Lianggong from Central China Normal University pointed out that cultivating the international communication capacity of foreign language majors should not only systematically integrate “Telling China’s Story” type courses into the curriculum but also strengthen practical teaching components to tangibly enhance students’ practical international communication skills. Professor Chen Jing from Xiamen University shared the “XMU Approach” of the “Three Countries, One Foreign Language” educational system, emphasizing that foreign language education should transcend the traditional “language-competency-oriented” model, shifting towards a composite cultivation path combining “language + domain,” “language + thinking,” and “language + action.” Professor Pan Haiying from Jilin University proposed constructing a new system for cultivating international communication talents, with cross-cultural empathy, technological creativity, and global expressiveness at its core, to meet the developmental needs of Generation Z. Liu Canguo, Vice President of the China Economic Media Association; Professor Zhan Cheng from Sun Yat-sen University; Professor Zhang Haomin from City University of Macau; and Peng Lun, Director of the 21st Century English Education Research Institute, also discussed innovative strategies and implementation pathways for international communication driven by both area knowledge and foreign language disciplines, based on their respective research and practice.
Professor Wen Chunying Delivers Closing Remarks
Professor Wen Chunying, Dean of the School of Foreign Languages and Cultures at Communication University of China, delivered the conference summary. She noted that the seminar was highly focused in theme and broad in perspective. Through a day of substantial discussions, participating scholars further consolidated the consensus on the “two-way empowerment between Area Studies and International Communication”—that academic research and communication practice should mutually support and guide each other, jointly contributing the wisdom and strength of academia to building a new pattern for China’s external communication.
The Language and Communication Academic Exchange Conference is the annual conference of the Professional Committee of Language Education and International Communication (hereinafter referred to as “the Committee”) under the China Association for Comparative Studies of English and Chinese. This year’s seminar was jointly organized by 21st Century Newspaper of China Daily, the Committee, the “Belt and Road” Language Education and Culture Organization Alliance, the School of Foreign Languages of Shenzhen University, and the Institute of Area and International Communication Studies at Shenzhen University.
The Secretariat of the Professional Committee of Language Education and International Communication is located at 21st Century Newspaper. The Committee is dedicated to promoting the interdisciplinary integration and innovative development of language education, international communication, and area studies through academic exchanges, thematic research, and teacher training. It supports the construction of China’s discourse and narrative systems, enhances the efficacy of international communication, promotes cross-cultural cooperation and people-to-people exchanges, and contributes professional strength to enhancing the communication power and influence of Chinese civilization.
Written by: Wen Lanyu
First Review and Edit: Cui Jie
Second Review and Edit: Li Huimin
Third Review and Edit: Qiu Jiangping
Layout and Design Department: Zhou Muyan
