Oral history week: The event will allow academics to engage in leading-edge discussions and share with the world the stories of China.
In November, Beijing will host the Fourth China International Oral History Week
The fourth China International Oral History Week will be held from Nov 5 to 11, allowing academics to engage in leading-edge discussions and share with the world the stories of China.
Under the theme of “Multiple Uses of Oral History”, this year’s oral history week will examine ways of preserving and managing the increasingly abundant archives.
The oral history week is co-hosted by the Cui Yongyuan Center for Oral History at the Communication University of China and the School of History at Renmin University of China. Founded in 2012, the Cui Yongyuan Center for Oral History at CUC has been contributing to research, information exchange and popularization in this field.
Academics have pointed out that there is a growing trend toward oral history, and Lin Hui has been at the forefront of its promotion in China. Currently the deputy director of the center — where she has worked since its establishment — she is also the executive president of the China International Oral History Week organizing committee, and has planned and organized the event since 2015.
Speaking about the upcoming event, Lin said, “It is our hope to build a platform of exchange and cooperation for the practitioners, researchers and observers of oral history at home and abroad, through which we could further promote the development of oral history in China.”
The fourth China International Oral History Week consists of five major sections, including an international workshop, and an international seminar entitled “Oral History in China”.
Upholding the motto of “recording the past for the future”, the center employs the advanced approach of using video interviews entirely and has developed China’s largest oral history database through interactions with nearly 10,000 interviewees.
It is imperative to start investigatthe ing the systematization and preservation of the archives, according to Ding Junjie, director of the center. “We hope to be able to store these materials in a scientific and systematic way. These individuals’ memories could become the treasure of our nation.”
Each international workshop allows for an academic discussion of the topic of the year, inviting experts and scholars to share the latest research findings in oral history in form of lectures. This year’s guest speakers come from worldleading institutes, including the International Oral History Association, the National Archives of Singapore and the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
In order to better raise public awareness and make oral history projects, books and films more widely known to the masses, the oral history week will also feature video screenings and an exhibition of posters relating to oral history projects.
“Oral history can be applied to various fields. Apart from publishing and documentary making, it can also be used in exhibitions and narrative cinema. Our screenings and poster exhibition intend to showcase the latest achievements in these areas.” Lin said.
During last year’s event, the screenings — which included Paths of the Soul and Twenty Two — alongside Q&A sessions with the filmmakers and poster exhibitions of films based on true stories, attracted a lot of visitors.
In fact, it has long been a mission of the center to attract enthusiasts and students to join in the cause. In 2017, a project was launched by the center to offer information sessions in major cities of China, introducing to the public the concepts, values and implications of oral history.
This year, the oral history week has added a project sharing session. With applications open to all, the organizing committee will select representatives from 10 outstanding oral history projects to present at the sharing session, with funding offered by Shenzhen Yuezhong Public Welfare Foundation.
“Nonfictional oral history is an immersive representation of history, focusing on the observation of everyday, ordinary and trivial events, exploring the facts, the era and the story,” Chen Wenshen, the party secretary of the CUC, commented on the center’s work. “Because of oral history, ordinary people who were previously anonymous, now have a chance to make their voices heard.”