VU Centre of Oriental Studies for the first time organized Baltic Alliance for Asian Studies conference which was held on the 3-4th of April, in Vilnius. Scholars fromEstonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Armenia, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the United Kingdom, the Unites States, gathered under 10 panels, presented 50 papers.
The themes of the panels involved a wide range of Asian research conducted at the universities in three Baltic countries. There were discussions focused on the poetry and painting under Tang and Song, interpretations of Buddhist textual heritage, traditional systems of knowledge in Asia, expression of identity in Asian visual culture and art, perceptions and representations of Asian countries in Europe, contemporary philosophical issues from East Asian perspective, translations of Asian literary texts in the Baltic countries, religious heritage of Turkic speaking nations in Eastern Europe, Islamic political discourse in Greater Central Asia, also anthropological field research made in Asia were presented.
Director of VU Confucius Institute prof. Zhang Donghui from Liaoning University made a presentation about Tao Yuanming poetry: „Coming back to nature and harmony – reading Tao Yuanming poetry“. Confucius Institute is glad having an opportunity to contribute to such important scholastic events and stimulate collaboration among Asian studies scholars.
The first Baltic Alliance for Asian Studies unifies Asian studies research centres in Vilnius, Vytautas Magnus, Latvia, Tartu and Tallinn Universities. Alliance is aimed at fostering Asian research in Baltic countries, stimulating international visibility, enhancing co-operative research which would be based on mutual collaboration, establishing competitive regional research infrastructure of Asia. These goals have been pursuing by developing Asian studies, research, networking, sharing experiences and resources, co-ordinating scholastic publishing, motivating academic mobility and dispersion of research works.
