Worldmaking lecture “What Is In A Name” by Heidelberg fellow Chan Koonchung

On July 15, 2025, the Heidelberg Worldmaking subproject “Epochal Life Worlds” was happy to host a lecture by Chan Koonchung, renowned and award-winning writer of many novels (including, among many others, Shengshi 盛世 [The Fat Years], Luoming 裸命 [The Unbearable Dreamworld of Champa the Driver], and Jianfeng ernian 建丰二年 [The Second Year of Jianfeng]) and non-fiction books. Building on his personal experience, Chan used his lecture to critique a simplistic usage of “Chinese” for the written script, the different ethnic groups, and the diverse oral languages of the Hua-Han civilization in both public discourse and (mainly Western) academia.

 

Embarking on a historical tour de force, Chan used a broad array of academic sources to emphasize the complex history and heterogenous nature of the different ethnic groups that collectively comprise the Hua-Han civilization. These ethnic groups claimed distinct identities of their own that cannot be adequately captured by modern designations such as Chinese or Zhongguoren 中國人 nor do they have a shared language that matches the term Sinophone that has been introduced in recent years to include literature both inside and outside the Chinese mainland. Yet, replacing Chinese or Sinophone by more localized designations such as Hong Kongese or Taiwanese ignores the powerful influence of the written language that has shaped Hua-Han civilization over several millennia and which has never been really challenged by alternative writing systems. Reflecting on his own experience as a writer from Hong Kong, Chan therefore argued to be more specific and proposed to use Sinoscript (Huawen 華文) and Sinoscript literature studies as more accurate terms to reflect the script-centric nature of Hua-Han civilization and to come to terms with the work of diverse writers who share the legacy of this written language.