Bulletin Spring‧Summer 2001

Despite that, accolades have come to h i m f r om the highest levels: i n 1992 he was made a Chevalier de l ' Or d re des Arts et des Lettres de la France. Since the awa rd of the Nobel Prize, honours have come f r o m more authorities. President Jacques Chirac o f the French Republic, i n s how i ng his respect and appreciation, personally nominated Mr. Ga o for the awa rd of the French Legion d'Honneur in December 2000. He wa s made an honorary citizen of many French cities includin g Marseilles, and the Beaumarchais Aw a r d was bestowed on h i m by the Beaumarchais D r ama Foundation. Invitations to give lecture s have come i n i n great numbers from European and American institutions. The name of Gao Xingjian is n ow k n o wn throughout the wo r l d, but that has not distracted the author f r om hi s writing , and painting projects up to the year 2004 have n ow been scheduled. M r . Gao began his c ommun i c a t i on w i t h the literary an d educational c ommu n i ty i n H o n g Ko n g i n the m i d 1980s. H i s wo r ks Chezhan (Bus Stop) and Yeran (Wilderness Man) were staged here f r om 1987 to 1990. I n 1995, he was i n H o n g K o n g again to direct a production of Bi'an (The Other Shore). More recently he has published a number of important wo r ks t h r o u gh H o n g K o n g p u b l i s h i ng houses, i n c l u d i ng Meiyou Zhiiyi (Without Isms), Shanhaijing zhuan (Story of the Classics of Mountains and Seas) b y Cosmos Books and Zhoumo Sichongzou (Weekend Quartet) b y N ew Era Press. I n addition, M i n g Pao Publications Ltd . has published A Collection of Contemporary Chinese Literature: Gao Xingjian, A Collection of Plays by Gao Xingjian and Reasons for Literature, as we ll as A Discussion on the State of Gao Xingjian by L i u Zaifu. His paintings were exhibited i n H o ng Ko ng a number of times and very we ll received b y both art lovers and the general public. The Chinese Universit y of H o n g Ko ng has h ad a l ong connection w i t h Mr. Gao, w h o has greatly supported th e University's research effort s i n literature and fine arts. I n Octobe r 1993, Mr. Gao gav e the first Sin Wa i K i n Lecture on Co n t emp o r a ry Chinese Cultur e at the i n v i t a t i on of the Institute of Chinese Studies , and his articles appeared frequently in its b i mo n t h ly j ou r nal Twenty-First Century. I n December of the same year Mr. Gao was on campus again to speak at the International Sympo s i u m on Contemporary Play-writing i n the Chinese Language organized b y Sir Run Run Shaw Hall, a t wh i ch he explore d the international p u r v i ew of Chinese d r ama and the extensio n of c u l t u r al scopes. I n 2000, the Chinese Un i v e r s i ty Press pub l i s he d The Other Shore, a collection of plays translate d into English by Professor Gilbert Fong, that being the firs t English translation of Gao's w o r k i n to b o ok f o rm. I n 2001 Soul of Chaos — Critical Perspectives on Gao Xingjian, a collection of critical essays on Mr. Gao's wo r ks edited b y Professor John K. K. Tam of the Department of English, was pub l i s he d b y The Chinese Un i v e r s i ty Press. The book has been ha i l ed as a l a n dma rk reference w o r k for Gao X i n g j i an studies b y the r e n own ed sinologist Professor Go r an Ma l mq v i s t. I n Januar y 2001 Mr. Gao visited the Un i v e r s i ty for the t h i rd time and gave a publi c lecture o n the language of literature. This wa s i n the wake of the No b e l Prize announcemen t and attracted tremendous attention among the people of H o n g Kong. Mr. Gao Xingjian is a novelist, p l a yw r i g h t, director, painter and literary theorist. H is talents are universally acknowledged and his outstanding achievements are there for all in the w o r l d to see. H i s literary o u t p ut has been translated into over a dozen languages, i n c l ud i ng English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Swedish , Danish, No r we g i a n, Greek, Du t c h, Polish, Hu n g a r i a n, Japanese, Korean, Thai and others, thereby ushering Chinese language literature into the international hall of fame. Mr. Vice-Chancellor, i n consideration of his tremendous contribution to literature an d the arts, may I present Mr. Gao Xingjian for the award o f the degree of Docto r of Literature, honoris causa. 43