On the morning of April 11th, CUEB School of Foreign Studies held the inaugural ceremony of natural writing research center and the seminar on the prospects of foreign literature courses in colleges and universities. Experts, teachers and students discussed and exchanged ideas on multiple aspects ranging from how to build the research center to the prospects of foreign literature courses. 

At the ceremony, Prof. Zhu Anbo, dean and Liu Wendong, branch Party secretary of School of Foreign Studies awarded the appointment letters of guest professors to experts from outside the school. Prof. WangNing, Yangtze Scholar of the Ministry of Education and doctoral adviser of Tsinghua University, Prof. Zhang Hua, doctoral adviser of Beijing Language and Culture University, Prof. Fang Hong, doctoral adviser of Nanjing University, Prof Wei Qingqi, doctoral adviser of Nanjing Normal University and Prof. Liang Kun, doctoral adviser of Renmin University of China. 

After the inaugural ceremony, experts and scholars discussed on important issues concerning the construction of the research center and the development of natural writing and foreign literature discipline. Speaking first, Prof. Cheng Hong, academic adviser of the center, thanked experts and scholars for their attendance and delineated the goals and wishes of the research center. By quoting the famous saying “It takes a great deal of history to produce a little literature,” she summarized the development of natural writing studies at CUEB. She said, “We have made a little history, rallied a small team and developed our unique mode of teaching and research.” 

As the pathfinder of natural writing studies, Prof. Cheng Hong leads a focused team where teachers and students are academically and emotionally bonded and make progress in tandem. She has by far published many translated works, monographs, textbooks and papers, and helped funding and building ecological literature bibliotheca. Besides, she has also mentored three batches of graduates majoring in natural writing. The themes of the graduates’ graduation theses include aesthetics of desserts, history of gardens, pilgrimage to trees, villages in natural writing and Zen of mountains in natural writing. Prof. Cheng also hosts a regular book club that lasts for more than 3 hours every time, where teachers and students discuss problems encountered in reading and studying. The book club can not only boost such exchanges, but also inspire sparks of thoughts and fusion of emotions. Natural literature is all about the awe, respect and care for nature to foster the environment of heaven-human unity. 

Prof. Cheng Hong mentioned the 2016 edition of research anthology of John Burroughs gifted by his great-granddaughter, Joan Burroughs recently. Inspired by the book’s prologue, she shared her own insights, “As a teacher of natural writing, we may describe our mission as helping students find their glitters in the diversified nature and ever-changing society”. 

The research center, first in Chinese universities and colleges, not only provides a platform where experts and scholars in the field of natural writing at home and abroad can exchange their wisdom, but also charts the course for in-depth development of foreign literature courses in colleges and universities.