The "Language and Culture" Summer School, jointly organized by Tongji University and Lingnan University, was successfully held from July 17 to 21 in Hong Kong, China. Eight undergraduate students from the English Department, accompanied by two faculty members — Dr. Wan Xiaomeng and Dr. Gao Weiquan — participated in this four-day academic and cultural exchange program.

On July 17, Professor Julia Chan, representing the English Department of Lingnan University, extended a warm welcome to the visiting faculty and students. She noted that Tongji University and Lingnan University have long maintained good cooperative relations, and that the English departments of both universities share broad prospects for collaboration, particularly in areas such as digital humanities reform. She expressed hope for more diverse and enriched exchange activities in the future to further deepen the friendship and academic ties between the two institutions.

During the program, Lingnan University organized a series of insightful academic lectures. Dr. Jason Hung delivered a lecture titled "Conceptual Metaphor and Metonymy in Cognitive Semantics," which revealed to the students the embodied nature of human language — that is, the close relationship between language, thought, and human physical experience and physiological perception. Professor Julia Chan gave a lecture titled "Reading English Love Poetry, or, How [& How Not] to Say I Love You with Metaphor and Metonymy," in which she compared different conceptions of love in early modern poetry and modernist poetry, focusing on Shakespeare's Sonnet 130 and T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock." The lectures were followed by lively discussions among lecturers and students.

Faculty members and students from both departments visited the Hong Kong Museum of Art to view the ongoing exhibition "Xu Bing in Hong Kong: Square Word Calligraphy." During the visit, the participants had the opportunity to preview portions of the draft of the forthcoming monographScripting China: Technologies of Writing in the Digital Age(Harvard University Press), written by Professor Zhou Feifei of the English Department of Lingnan University, which focuses on Xu Bing's artistic works.

This study tour not only broadened the students' academic horizons and cultural understanding but also provided valuable inspiration for their future academic and career planning. Both the faculty and students benefited greatly from the exchanges and visits.