Conference Proceedings - 8th World Conference of Chinese Studies 2024: Chinese Studies - Special Topic: Artificial Intelligence

The proceedings of the 8th World Conference of Chinese Studies (2024) bring together over 60 contributions with a special focus on Artificial Intelligence in the context of Chinese Studies. Several papers explore the intersection of generative AI and Chinese cultural tradition, examining parallels between AI-generated simulacra and classical Ming and Qing novels such as Journey to the West and Dream of the Red Chamber, as well as the potential of digital tools to transform legal reasoning. In comparative philosophy, contributions investigate the concept of imagination in Kant's Critique of Judgement alongside its counterparts in early Chinese poetics by Lu Ji, Liu Xie, and Sikong Tu, while another study compares the Daoist Dao and the Zoroastrian Asha as competing models of cosmic order, contrasting passive harmony with active moral engagement. Papers on literature and book history trace the transformation of the Nine-Tailed Fox from divine beast to demon, examine Western "Chinoiserie" poetry, and analyze a rare block-printed edition of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. A substantial sociological contribution analyzes China's modernization through the lens of multiple modernities and "Next Society" theory, arguing that a multi-centric world society is replacing the Western universalist model. Related papers examine China's Social Credit System in comparison with Western scoring mechanisms, tracing its roots from the Danwei system to its current digital form. Further contributions address the evolving concept of filial piety and its intergenerational transmission, cyber-nationalism among China's "Little Pinks" as a force potentially slipping beyond Party control, the cultural foundations of morning exercise rooted in Yangsheng philosophy, the disappearing Sini-style Arabic calligraphy in eastern China as an expression of Hui Muslim identity, and a German-Chinese university cooperation model.