From November 22 to 24, 2025, the Forum on the Collation and Research of Intertextual Documents of Journey to the West, hosted by the School of Liberal Arts of Liaoning University (LNU), took place in Shenyang, Liaoning Province. Professor Yu Miaojie, President of Liaoning University attended the opening ceremony online and delivered a speech. Professor Huo Chunhui, Member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee and Vice President of Liaoning University, also attended the opening ceremony and gave an address.

At the opening ceremony, Yu Miaojie introduced the university’s basic profile, extended a warm welcome to the experts present, affirmed the work of the School of Liberal Arts in recent years, and expressed warm congratulations on the forum’s launch. He pointed out that the School of Liberal Arts of Liaoning University is one of the earliest-established colleges of the university with the deepest academic accumulation. It not only boasts a long-standing academic tradition but also demonstrates distinct research features. He hoped that participating experts would engage in in-depth academic exchanges, put forward valuable suggestions for the discipline development of the School of Liberal Arts, and promote the high-quality development of the Chinese language discipline at Liaoning University.

In his speech, Huo Chunhui warmly welcomed the attending experts and sincerely thanked them for their long-term support for the development of the Chinese language discipline at Liaoning University. He briefly outlined the reality of discipline development at Liaoning University, congratulated the School of Liberal Arts on its achievements in the research of classic masterpieces like Journey to the West, and expressed the hope that the School of Liberal Arts would take this forum as an opportunity to further advance the high-quality development of the discipline.

Zhan Furui, former Party Secretary and Curator of the National Library of China as well as former Party Secretary of Hebei University, delivered a speech at the opening ceremony. He recalled the profound friendship with scholars of all generations in the Chinese language discipline at Liaoning University, highly praised the university’s achievements in the research of classic masterpieces including Journey to the West, and placed high expectations on the academic team represented by Professor Hu Sheng. He hoped that the School of Liberal Arts would carry forward its fine traditions and make new accomplishments.

Du Guiping from Beijing Normal University delivered a speech at the closing ceremony. She highly recognized the achievements of the Chinese language discipline at Liaoning University and put forward constructive suggestions for its development. She hoped that the academic team led by Professor Hu Sheng of the university would carry on the discipline’s traditions, expand research platforms, and push the study of ancient Chinese literature in Northeast China to a new height.

Centered on the classic masterpiece Journey to the West, the forum not only conducted thematic discussions on relevant research issues but also extended to topics related to discipline development. Professor Chen Wenxin from Wuhan University and Professor Huang Shizhong from Sun Yat-sen University presided over the discussions respectively. Participating experts engaged in in-depth exchanges around the topics, conducting thorough discussions on issues related to Journey to the West, highly appraising the discipline construction of the School of Liberal Arts of Liaoning University, and putting forward a series of constructive suggestions.

Also present at the forum were experts and scholars from well-known universities including Peking University, Nanjing University, Nankai University, Jilin University, Hunan University, and Shanghai Normal University. Relevant officials from the School of Liberal Arts of Liaoning University also attended the event.