Leaving the Twentieth Century Behind

Gao Xingjian, laureate of the 2000 Nobel Prize for literature, visited Hong Kong at the invitation of the French Centre for Research on Contemporary China (CEFC) and the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) in May 2008. He took part in a series of events: an international academic conference co-organised by the CEFC and CUHK in collaboration with the University of Provence, the inauguration of an exhibition of his ink paintings, the world premiere of his play Of Mountains and Seas, and the launch of his new collection of essays, On Creation (Lun chuangzuo, Taipei, Lianjing, 2008). On this occasion, Mingpao Monthly organised a discussion between Gao Xingjian and Liu Zaifu, a prominent Chinese intellectual who has lived in the United States since 1989, and who is author of the much-debated essay Farewell to Revolution (with Li Zehou, 1995) and of the preface to Gao’s new volume. The debate was moderated by professor Park Jae-woo (Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Seoul)