On May 30 and 31, Prof. Sheng Anfeng from Tsinghua University was invited to the academic forum of the School of Foreign Languages and Literatures where he delivered two lectures.

The first lecture, entitled “Academic Research and Project Application: Strategies for Applying for National Social Science Fund Projects”, was convened by Prof. Zhang Hongli, vice dean of the School, and attracted teachers and students not only from Lanzhou University but from Lanzhou Jiaotong University, Northwest Minzu University and Lanzhou University of Finance and Economics. Based on his own experience, Prof. Sheng shared some strategies for applying projects of the National Social Science Fund of China, Chinese Academic Translation and Humanities and Social Sciences General Research Program of the Ministry of Education, focusing on commonly-seen problems in the whole process from topic selection to the writing and revision of the application form, and to the formal application. According to Prof. Sheng, project application is supposed to be reasonably combined with the applicant’s academic interests and research foundation so as to let research and project reinforce each other.

The second lecture, entitled “Irish Literature from the Perspective of Cosmopolitanism”, was convened by Prof. Jiang Hongxia, director of the Institute of Foreign Languages and Literatures, and attracted both teachers and students of the School. The lecture started with an introduction to the theory development of the Cosmopolitanism, followed by an opinion that literature research should be conducted with a global perspective and Cosmopolitan thought, which is in line with the Great Harmony thought in traditional Chinese culture. Citing examples, Prof. Sheng referred to some literary criticism and research practice on cosmopolitanism made by Chinese scholars. Next, Prof. Sheng analyzed such intertwining and complicated features as scattered imagination, language recombination, and text parody of characters in Joyce’s works, including Dubliners, Exiles, Self Portraits of Young Artists, Ulysses, and Finnegan's Wake.  Prof. Sheng concluded that, those works, all set in Dublin and hence reflecting commonalities through characteristics, exactly demonstrate a rooted Cosmopolitanism.