The Space of Negotiation: My Art across Borders

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At one glance:

Start: MON., 2026, July 6th, 6:00 PM

Venue: CATS Auditorium (Map)

Speaker: XIAO Lu

Event language: English

Xiao Lu is a pioneering figure in contemporary Chinese art and one of the earliest artists associated with Chinese feminist practice. Long before she consciously embraced feminism, her body had already become a site of artistic and social intervention. Throughout her career, she has remained committed to translating lived experience into art. In this lecture, she reflects on the changing space available for artistic practice in China and internationally, discussing the opportunities, constraints, and negotiations that have shaped her work across different cultural and institutional contexts.

In cooperation with the Institute for East Asian History at Heidelberg University

 

Lin Hierse: Das Verschwinden der Welt

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„Alles wird sich ändern, mein Kind, nichts bleibt.“

Foto: © Linda Rosa Saal / Piper Verlag

Das große Haus am Fluss verspricht Marta einen Neuanfang. Sie verliebt sich in das alte Gebäude, das Zeuge zahlloser Leben, Träume und Verluste geworden ist. Nur wenige sind noch hier: neben Marta nur Herr Yi, die Dichterin und Lu. Als Marta kurz nach ihrem Einzug erfährt, dass das Haus abgerissen werden soll, will sie kämpfen, findet in den anderen aber keine Verbündeten. Also stemmt sie sich allein gegen das Verschwinden der Geschichten, Erinnerungen und einer ganzen Welt.

Ein berührender Roman über das Aufbrechen und Zurücklassen, über Erinnerung und Verlust. Und eine traumwandelnd kluge Parabel auf das Leben in einer dauerbedrohten Welt.

Lin Hierse ist Schriftstellerin und Journalistin sowie stellvertretende Ressortleiterin der wochentaz. Ihre Texte und Kolumnen erscheinen unter anderem in der taz, der Zeit und in Literaturzeitschriften. Nach ihrem hochgelobten Debüt Wovon wir träumen (Piper 2022) ist Das Verschwinden der Welt (Piper 2024) ihr zweiter Roman. Im Herbst 2026 ist Lin Hierse Max Kade Writer in Residence an der University of Michigan.

 

Eine Veranstaltung in Kooperation mit feeLit Internationales Literaturfestival Heidelberg.

International Graduate Student Conference 2026 – “Memory—Between Experience, Culture and Transculturality”

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Memory has become one of the central categories through which the humanities interrogate the past, the self, and the conditions of historical knowledge. Far from being a mere repository of bygone events, memory unfolds at the intersection of experience, narration, embodiment, and cultural transmission. This conference invites graduate students from across the humanities to explore memory as a dynamic and contested field—one in which individual recollection, communicative exchange, and culturally sedimented forms of remembrance are in constant dialogue.

Drawing on theories of cultural memory, this conference encourages reflections on how societies stabilize, ritualize, and transform images of the past through texts, images, practices, and institutions, while also attending to communicative memory as it circulates in everyday interactions and lived social relations. Equally central is the notion of collective memory, which foregrounds the ways in which remembering is never purely private but shaped by social frameworks, power relations, and shared imaginaries. What are the functions of different dimensions of memory, how should its media (such as writing, images, or monuments) be evaluated, and what forms of dealing with stored knowledge exist that attach growing importance not only to history, politics, and science, but also to art? In an increasingly interconnected world, different dimensions of memory further cannot always be adequately understood without addressing questions of transculturality: the movement of memories across borders, languages, and historical contexts, as well as the frictions and creative reconfigurations that arise from such encounters.

This conference particularly welcomes interdisciplinary and comparative approaches that open new perspectives on memory beyond national or disciplinary boundaries.

Conference program and schedule can be found here.

Lecture: #MeToo – A Transnational Case from China

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Edited Truth, Maltranslated Consent and Usurped Discursive Space: A Transnational #MeToo Case from China

 

Abstract 

This talk unpacks a high-profile #MeToo case in which a Chinese female student filed an alleged rape claim against a prominent Chinese business elite in the United States. The case later sparked heated debate on Chinese social media and passionate mobilization among Chinese feminists, thereby linking U.S. legal proceedings with gender politics in China. Of particular interest is the regime of truth production surrounding the case: edited visual evidence, strategic maltranslation, and platformed misogyny shaped public understandings of consent, credibility, and justice, while further shaming the alleged victim. Feminist actors, in turn, contested these dynamics through counter-discourse and what I call “critical feminist solidarity.” Aspects of censorship will also reveal themselves during the course of analysis.  

Bio  

Qi Chen is a Sinologist whose research focuses on social organizing and “civil society” in contemporary China, with particular expertise in women’s issues and feminism supported by her long-term and immersive fieldwork. Her broader research interests include feminist philosophy, theory, and praxis, as well as the relationship between theory and practice within social movements and the interactions between academia and activism.  

In cooperation with the Institute of Sinology and the Centre for Asian and Transcultural Studies (CATS) at Heidelberg University.

 

Half of the Sky, the Whole Sky – A Dance Performance by Yinfu GAO

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© Poster: Yi LI © Photo: YUN Tian

Revisiting “Half of the Sky, the Whole Sky” – How to dance Ding Ling 丁玲 (1904-1986) and why 

 

A lecture dance performance with artist Yinfu Gao

Half of the Sky, the Whole Sky is a lecture dance performance . Through interviews, archival photographs, and dance, artist Yinfu Gao tells the story of her family and explores the question: Why should women never give up writing?

At the centre of this narrative stands Ding Ling（丁玲 1904-1986). She is one of the most influential Chinese writers of the 20th century. Despite 22 years of political persecution, she returned to the stage of history through her literary works. Inspired by Ding Ling’s feminist legacy, GAO reflects on her own relationship with writing and uncovers the deep-rooted connection among the writing women in her family.

The title Half of the Sky, the Whole Sky refers to the Maoist slogan “Women hold up half of the sky,” which encouraged women’s participation in public life in China—yet often under the condition of conforming to male ideals. The so-called “Half of the Sky Generation” includes women like Ding Ling, who have shaped and inspired artists like Gao.

Today, a new generation begins to question this influence: How can these stories be connected across generations and borders? And what impulses do they offer for the future?

 

About the Trilogy

This work is part of Yinfu Gao’s feminist theatre trilogy. The first part, Mulans, is inspired by the Chinese feminists of the May Fourth Movement over a hundred years ago and uses the story of Mulan to explore gender equality. The second part, Her Face, the Hands, Finally Her Hair, tells the story of Yinfu Gao’s grandmother during the Cultural Revolution. Starting from the image of the revolutionary woman in model plays（样板戏）, the piece asks: “What does revolution mean?” The third part, Half of the Sky, the Whole Sky, draws on the life of the revolutionary writer Ding Ling, a relative of Yinfu Gao’s, to reflect on the relationship between women and writing.

 

About the artist: 

© Foto: YUN Tian

Yinfu Gao, born in 1995, from China, currently lives in Frankfurt am Main. She is a freelance performing artist, director, dramaturg, member of LaPROF, M. A Angewandte Theaterwissenschaft in Gießen. Her working method incorporates documentary theatre play and site-specific dance performance, which often addresses social issues in contemporary China. She had movement training in Martial Arts, pop dance and contemporary dance.

A cooperation between the research project “Peripheral Futures—Reading History from the Margins” of the Thematic Research Network “Denk(t)räume–(Re)thinking and Building Futures” and the Confucius Institute at Heidelberg University.

 

 

 

Dialogues Across Time and Space – Contemporary Resonances of Kunqu Opera (古今对话： 昆曲的当代回响) – Workshop

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p style=”text-align: justify;”>For its two events in Heidelberg, the PKU Kunqu Center ensemble is delighted to present a celebrated selection of classic Kunqu excerpts. Organized in collaboration with the Confucius Institute at Heidelberg University, CATS, and Heidelberg University’s Collaborative Research Centre project series Home(s): Phenomena, Practices, Representations, the performances will be accompanied by a discussion exploring the concept of “home” in its many dimensions – from family and belonging to nation and cultural identity.

The workshop on 23 May, held from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm at the Auditorium of the Centre for Asian and Transultural Studies, will offer the audience a closer encounter with the art of Kunqu through additional performance excerpts and practical demonstrations. Focusing on acting techniques, musical accompaniment, and movement, the workshop will provide insight into the performative traditions of Kunqu opera.

  1. 清曲（Singing with Dizi）

《牧羊记 望乡》The Shepherd’s Tale – Gazing Toward Home

This soul-stirring dialogue is set in the desolate North. Li Ling 李陵, a Han general who defected to the Xiongnu, encounters his old friend Su Wu苏武, a loyal Han envoy held captive as a shepherd. Together they stand on a ridge, gazing toward their distant homeland in grief.

《浣纱记 寄子》The Hall of Washing Silks-Entrusting the Son

The story is set during the Spring and Autumn era. Foreseeing the imminent downfall of the Kingdom of Wu, the senior minister Wu Zixu伍子胥flees his homeland with his son. In a heartbreaking act of sacrifice to preserve his lineage, he entrusts his child to a dear friend in the Kingdom of Qi.

《浣纱记 打围 【醉太平】》The Hall of Washing Silks- The Royal Hunt [Zui Tai Ping]

This is a song for Kunqu beginners. We encourage all participants to join into the singing.

  1. 身段（body movement）

A showcase of different role-types’ body movement led by actors of old-male role, young male-scholar role, refined maiden role, and young maiden role. We encourage participants to follow and learn.

Ensemble introduction:

Founded in 2013, the Peking University Kunqu Heritage and Communication Center is  dedicated to preserving, studying, and promoting the art of Kunqu opera. Led by Professor Chen Jun from Peking University’s School of Arts, the Center brings together research, education, and performance to introduce Kunqu to new audiences in China and around the world.

Over the years, the Center has organized courses such as The Art of Kunqu, produced performances like The Peony Pavilion, and organized workshops and cultural events in Spain, Switzerland, the UK, Vietnam, and beyond.

Both events take place in cooperation with the Peking University Kunqu Heritage and Communication Center, the Center for Asian and Transcultural Studies (CATS) at Heidelberg University, and Heidelberg University’s Collaborative Research Centre project series Home(s): Phenomena, Practices, Representations.

Dialogues Across Time and Space – Contemporary Resonances of Kunqu Opera (古今对话： 昆曲的当代回响) – Performance and Discussion

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For its two events in Heidelberg, the PKU Kunqu Center ensemble is delighted to present a celebrated selection of classic Kunqu excerpts. Organized in collaboration with the Confucius Institute at Heidelberg University, CATS, and Heidelberg University’s Collaborative Research Centre project series Home(s): Phenomena, Practices, Representations, the performances will be accompanied by a discussion exploring the concept of “home” in its many dimensions – from family and belonging to nation and cultural identity.

Taking place at 6:00 pm on 22 May at the Völkerkundemuseum Heidelberg, the evening performance will feature the scenes from the renowned Kunqu plays The Massacre of a Thousand Loyalists, The Palace of Eternal Life, and The Peony Pavillion. The event will also include an academic conversation between Chen Jun, Professor at Peking University, and Barbara Mittler, Professor at Heidelberg University.

  1. 《千忠戮 惨睹》The Massacre of a Thousand Loyalists — A Tragic Sight    [performance time:20min]

Following a bloody coup, the dethroned Emperor Jianwen (Ming Dynasty) wanders the outskirts of his former kingdom in the guise of a monk. As he flees, he witnesses the horrific execution of his most loyal officials and their families.

  1. 《长生殿弹词》The Palace of Eternal Youth–The Ballad [performance time: 20min]
Set after the An-Shi Rebellion, the displaced court musician Li Guinian flees to the Jiangnan region, where he now makes a meagre living playing the pipa and singing in the streets. Now a wandering artist, he performs the once-glorious tales of the palace for commoners.
  1. 《牡丹亭惊梦》The Peony Pavilion-Interrupted Dream [performance time: 25min]

The “Peony Pavilion” is a signature masterpiece of Kunqu and the most frequently performed piece overseas. The dream encounter between Du Liniang and Liu Mengmei celebrates a love that transcends both life and death.

Ensemble introduction:

Founded in 2013, the Peking University Kunqu Heritage and Communication Center is  dedicated to preserving, studying, and promoting the art of Kunqu opera. Led by Professor Chen Jun from Peking University’s School of Arts, the Center brings together research, education, and performance to introduce Kunqu to new audiences in China and around the world.

Over the years, the Center has organized courses such as The Art of Kunqu, produced performances like The Peony Pavilion, and organized workshops and cultural events in Spain, Switzerland, the UK, Vietnam, and beyond.

Both events take place in cooperation with the Peking University Kunqu Heritage and Communication Center, the Center for Asian and Transcultural Studies (CATS) at Heidelberg University, and Heidelberg University’s Collaborative Research Centre project series Home(s): Phenomena, Practices, Representations.

Sinophone Filmmaking: 飲食男女 (Eat, Drink, Man, Woman, 1994) , 123 mins.

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Screening and discussion of “飲食男女 (Eat, Drink, Man, Woman, 1994)”​. Eat, Drink, Man, Woman is a comedy-drama directed by Ang Lee 李安. The film uses food as a metaphor for family, tradition, and change, capturing unspoken tensions between generations.

Lifeworlds on two sides of the Taiwan Straits—Cinematic narratives 

In a cooperation between the Taiwan Studies Program, the Worldmaking Project and the Center for Asian and Transcultural Studies (CATS), we are offering a series of films this semester from Taiwan, and the People’s Republic of China, depicting complex and conflicted sinophone realities and illustrating different ways of worldmaking, as

—prescribed in the form of “main melodies” by the powers that be, on one side of the Taiwan Straits: we unravel grandiose political narratives of revolution and revival, between dystopia and utopia.  

—described as reflections of the everyday, on the other side of the Taiwan Straits: we are given glimpses of “cotidian lives” among the petty, the poor, the marginalized, uncovering their function as heterotopia.  

As these films depict multiple “worlds within worlds”, from the point of view of those above, those below and those in between—from gangster boss, to ardent believer, from the young boy playing truant, to an old housewife, dressed to kill, they draw our attention to different types of subjectivities, vulnerabilities, desires and aspirations as effects of  everchanging biopolitics in the sinophone world. 

Film Schedule

Venue: CATS Auditorium

Eat, Drink, Man, Woman is a comedy-drama directed by Ang Lee 李安. The film uses food as a metaphor for family, tradition, and change, capturing unspoken tensions between generations.

Venue: CATS Auditorium

Directed by  Huang Jianxin et. al., this film shows how China, marked by political disunity embarks on a new rode lead by a handful of individuals, including Mao Zedong, Li Dazhao and Zhou Enlai, who, following the 1911 Revolution, envision a unified nation, and found a Party.

Venue: CATS Auditorium

Directed by Hsiao Ya-Chuan蕭雅全 and produced by  Hou Hsiao-hsien侯孝賢, this award-winning film is a family drama about an 11-year-old boy who befriends his landlord and learns from him how to survive in a rapidly changing world (and many things his own poor father would never be able to teach him).

Venue: CATS Auditorium 

Another retelling of founding a party, directed by Huang Jianxin whose aim it is here, to depict the spiritual world of Chinese Communists in the founding days of the party, their aspirations and their passions.

Venue: CATS Auditorium 

Cape No. 7  is a romantic comedy-drama directed by Wei Te-Sheng  魏德聖 and explores cross-cultural connections and life in a small town. Upon its 2008 release, the film became a cultural phenomenon, breaking domestic box-office records and sparking renewed interest in local cinema. 

Venue: CATS Auditorium 

Directed by Hsu Hsiao-ming 徐小明 and produced by Hou Hsiao-hsien 侯孝賢 the film is a landmark Taiwanese gangster film, it captures the restlessness of youth against the backdrop of Taiwan’s rapid modernization and the growing divide between rural and urban life.

Venue: CATS Auditorium 

Chairman Buddha is a documentary directed by Tang Louyi. It follows those who believe that Mao Zedong has been reincarnated as a Buddha.

Venue: CATS Auditorium

Mao Zedong died in 1976, but his impersonators are alive and well. This film documents the lives of two people who resemble Mao and assume Mao roles. Peng Tian is a villager from Mao’s home province of Hunan who walks into the Beijing Film Academy one day in full Mao dress to study film acting. Chen Yan is a housewife from Sichuan province, whose mother realized she looked like Mao. The documentary was directed by Zhang Bingjian.

Chinese Science Fiction between Urban Futures and Speculative Realities: New Stories by Hugo Award Nominee Gu Shi

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Wie sieht eine Zukunft aus, in der Städte auf dem Ozean wurzeln, Kryonik den Tod überlistet, eine künstliche Intelligenz Blockbuster dreht und das Leben jederzeit gespeichert, zurückgespult und neu gestartet werden kann?
Zusammen mit dem Kapsel-Magazin und dem Maro-Verlag lud das Konfuzius-Institut herzlich ein zu einem Gespräch mit der chinesischen Science-Fiction-Autorin Gu Shi – einer der spannendsten Stimmen der gegenwärtigen chinesischen Gegenwartsliteratur. Anlässlich einer neuen, von den Kapsel-Herausgebern Felix Meyer zu Venne und Lukas Dubro herausgegebenen Anthologie, bot die Veranstaltung einen Einblick in das Werk einer Autorin, die wie kaum eine andere Zukunftsvisionen mit sozialen und emotionalen Fragen verbindet.
Gu Shi ist nicht nur Schriftstellerin, sondern auch ausgebildete Stadtplanerin – und diese doppelte Perspektive prägt ihre Geschichten: Ihre Figuren bewegen sich in Szenarien, in denen technologische Durchbrüche Verluste markieren – an Fantasie, an Autonomie, an Menschlichkeit – aber auch vielfältige Möglichkeiten versprechen.
Vier ihrer Erzählungen – darunter die für den Hugo Award nominierte Kurzgeschichte »Overtüre 2181« – erschienen nun erstmals in deutscher Übersetzung. Mit der neu erschienenen Anthologie »Im Ozean ein Mutterschiff« eröffnete sich ein neues Kapitel chinesischer Kurzprosa im deutschsprachigen Raum. Gemeinsam mit den Herausgebern sprach Petra Thiel über das Schreiben zwischen Planung und Fiktion, über urbane Imagination, digitale Unsterblichkeit und darüber, wie Science-Fiction uns hilft, das Undenkbare zu denken.
Die Veranstaltung fand auf Englisch statt.

Eine Veranstaltung in Kooperation mit dem Maro-Verlag.

Einen Video-Ausschnitt vom Gespräch finden Sie hier.

ZHANG Yueran – Schwanentage: Gespräch und Lesung mit der Autorin und ihrer Übersetzerin Karin Betz

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Klicken zum Vergrößern

»Zhang Yuerans Szenen und Bilder haben einen weltentrückten Glanz, der sowohl von hart gewonnener Einsicht als auch von zeitloser Wahrheit geprägt ist.« – Ian McEwan

Das Kindermädchen Yu Ling arbeitet für eine chinesische Elitefamilie, die ein Leben in Luxus und scheinbar grenzenloser Macht führt. Sie kümmert sich bereits seit vielen Jahren fürsorglich um den siebenjährigen Kuan Kuan. Yu kennt die Geheimnisse der Familie, doch ihre Arbeitgeber ahnen nicht, dass auch sie etwas verbirgt. In der Hoffnung, ein hohes Lösegeld für ihn einfordern zu können, plant Yu, Kuan Kuan zu entführen. Doch die Dinge nehmen eine Wendung, als das Kindermädchen während der Entführung aus dem Radio erfährt, dass der angesehene Patriarch der Familie wegen Korruption verhaftet wurde.

Im unberechenbaren politischen Umfeld Chinas kann sich selbst das Schicksal der mächtigsten Familien über Nacht umkehren. Der Vater des Jungen wird verhaftet und seine Mutter ist auf der Flucht. Yu Ling bleibt mit dem Kind allein zurück und muss eine Reihe von Entscheidungen treffen, die ihr Leben verändern werden.

Die Autorin

© Foto: LI Jinpeng

ZHANG Yueran, geboren 1982, begann schon mit 14 Jahren zu schreiben, ist heute eine der einflussreichsten Autorinnen Chinas und eine der wichtigsten Stimmen junger, urbaner Literatur. Schon 2012 zählte sie das taiwanische Unitas-Magazin zu den 20 wichtigsten Autoren unter 40. Ihre Romane und Erzählungen haben sich hunderttausendfach verkauft und wurden in zahlreiche europäische und asiatische Sprachen übersetzt. Ihr Roman »Cocoon« wurde von der New York Times zu den besten Büchern 2022 gewählt und gewann in Frankreich den Prix Transfuge 2019 für den besten asiatischen Roman. Zhang lebt in Peking und lehrt Literatur und kreatives Schreiben an der Renmin-Universität. Mit Schwanentage (engl. Woman seated) erscheint erstmalig ein Roman von ihr in deutscher Sprache.

 

 

Die Übersetzerin

Karin Betz übersetzt chinesische und englische Literatur, ist Kulturvermittlerin, Dozentin für literarisches Übersetzen, Moderatorin, Rezensentin und DJ. Zu den von ihr übersetzten Autoren gehören u.a. Literaturnobelpreisträger Mo Yan, Liao Yiwu, Cixin Liu, Xi Xi, Jin Yong und Can Xue. Für ihre Arbeit wurde sie mehrfach ausgezeichnet, u.a. mit der August-Wilhelm-von-Schlegel Gastprofessur für die Poetik der Übersetzung an der FU Berlin 2021, und zuletzt mit dem Helmut-M.-Braem-Übersetzerpreis 2024 und dem Special Book Award of China.