2nd MeTChE Conference
The Mediterranean Through Chinese Eyes:
Transcultural Encounters and Representation in Chinese Sources
May 16th-17th, 2025
UNIVERSITY OF PALERMO
Botanical Garden, Lanza Conference Room
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The international conference The Mediterranean through Chinese Eyes: Transcultural Encounters and Representation in Chinese Sources is the second conference of the MeTChE research project. This event aims to investigate how the Mediterranean has been perceived, represented, and reimagined in Chinese sources across time. Bringing together scholars from diverse disciplines, the conference will explore the construction of a transcultural perception of Mediterranean civilization(s) in Chinese geographical texts and travel diaries. Particular attention will be given to how representations of the sea and distant lands contributed to shaping the image of the “other” in Chinese thought.
Organizer:
Renata Vinci, MeTChE Project PI (University of Palermo)
Scientific Committee:
Victoria Almonte (Tuscia University of Viterbo)
Federica Casalin (Sapienza University of Rome)
Miriam Castorina (University of Florence)
Renata Vinci (University of Palermo)
Organization Support:
Laura Lettere, Antonio Leggieri, Giuseppe Rizzuto, Yu Yating
Contacts:
EMAIL: china-mediterranean@unipa.it, renata.vinci@unipa.it
INSTAGRAM: @chinamediterranean
FACEBOOK: The Mediterranean Through Chinese Eyes
Date:
May 16th-17th, 2025
Location:
University of Palermo
Botanical Garden, Lanza Conference Room
Google Maps
To follow online:
LINK WILL BE SHARED SOON
List of panels and papers
INTRODUCTION
Renata Vinci (University of Palermo), Looking Back, Looking Forward: Tracing the Journey of the MeTChE Project
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PANEL 1: First Glimpses of the Mediterranean: Arab Knowledge and Early Chinese Accounts
Chair: Renata Vinci
• Victoria Almonte (Tuscia University of Viterbo) e Daniele Sicari (University of Palermo), The Role of Arab Sources in Shaping Chinese Geographical Knowledge from the IX to the XIV Century
• Margaret Kim (Tsinghua National University, Taiwan), Princely Power and Empire in Rabban Sauma’s Account of the Western Mediterranean in the “History of Mar Yahballaha and Rabban Sauma”
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PANEL 2: Mapping the Mediterranean in Sino-Missionary Sources
Chair: Miriam Castorina
• Paolo De Troia (Sapienza University of Rome), Mediterranean World in Sino-Jesuit Geographical Sources
• Federica Casalin (Sapienza University of Rome), Mapping Mediterranean Environments: Protestant Missionary Contributions to 19th-Century Chinese Geographic Writings
• Laura Lettere (Sapienza University of Rome), Did Religion Shape History? On William Muirhead’s (1822-1900) “Dili quanzhi” 地理全志 and its Influence on Early Chinese Travelogues to Europe, with a Focus on the Representation of Religions Across the Mediterranean
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PANEL 3: Maritime Imaginaries and Global Horizons
Chair: Victoria Almonte
• Mathieu Torck (Ghent University/KU Leuven), Dietary Practices and Provisioning at Sea: Comparative Insights from Mediterranean, Spanish Pacific and Chinese Maritime Traditions (16-18th century)
•Alexander Jost (LMU München), Changing Perceptions of the Northern Terra Incognita Across Eurasia from Antiquity to the Middle Ages
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PANEL 4: Routes and Reflections: Chinese Travellers in the Mediterranean in the Late Qing Era
Chair: Federica Casalin
• Miriam Castorina (University of Florence), Beyond the Well: The Mediterranean Landscapes of Guo Liancheng
• Federico Masini (Sapienza University of Rome), Liang Qichao and the Mediterranean: Maritime Traces and Inspirations
• Yu Yating (University of Florence), Travellers in the Late Qing Dynasty on the Political Landscape of the Mediterranean
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PANEL 5: Cultural Encounters and Representation in Early Modern and Modern Times
Chair: Renata Vinci
• Antonio Leggieri (University of Palermo), Quotation as a Cognitive Act in Zhang Deyi’s Acquaintance of the Mediterranean
• Feng Lisi (Nankai University), Italian Renaissance Art and China's New Culture Movement
• Alessandra Brezzi (Sapienza University of Rome), “Only the Waters of the Mediterranean Flow Westward”. Sheng Cheng and his “Jindong” (近东): Near Eastern Europe or Western Asia? (1929)
Conference Program
Tentative program
(FULL PROGRAM AND DETAILED TIMETABLE COMING SOON)
DAY 1: May 16th
Morning
– Registration
– Institutional greetings & Opening remarks
– Introduction
– Panel 1
Afternoon
– Panel 2
– First Day Round-up and Open Questions
DAY 2: May 17th
Morning
– Panel 3
– Panel 4
Afternoon
– Panel 5
– Second Day Round-up and Open Questions
Book of Abstracts
COMING SOON