The Digital Society research cluster of CityU’s College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (CLASS) and the Department of Chinese and History (CAH) co-organised a seminar titled “How has Digital Humanities developed from the study of classical literature in both China and the West? Challenges for cooperation, collaboration, and engagement” on 21 November 2023. The speaker was Professor Simon MAHONY, Professor of Beijing Normal University at Zhuhai and Emeritus Professor at University College London. Professor TSUI Lik-hang, the Digital Society research cluster convenor and Assistant Professor of CAH, chaired the seminar. This seminar garnered significant attention with an attendance of over a hundred participants and showcased the growing influence of digital humanities.

During the seminar, Prof Mahony delved into how the digital humanities developed from studying classical literature. He also discussed the challenges for cooperation in this field. At the beginning of the conference, Prof Mahony introduced his academic background in classical studies, setting the stage for an engaging exploration of the intersection between digital methods and the study of the humanities. To illustrate the practical application of digital methods, Prof Mahony offered a concise example of how digital tools and techniques can enhance the accessibility, preservation, and analysis of historical texts. He provided an example of the digitisation of a manuscript. He demonstrated to the audience how a simple RTV image, enhanced with false colours to accentuate features, can examine palimpsests and reveal underlying text layers. It was shown that digital methods like adding false colour to images can effectively bring out the intricate details of manuscripts that might otherwise go unnoticed.

Expanding on the topic, Prof Mahony delved into a review of some of the current impactful initiatives in the field of digital humanities. He presented several innovative projects in the digital humanities field, including the Archimedes Palimpsest, the Great Parchment Book, and other initiatives focused on ancient manuscripts. These projects demonstrate the cutting-edge research and methodologies revolutionising how scholars engage with classical literature and medieval studies.

Throughout the seminar, Prof Mahony showcased various digital humanities initiatives in China. One notable example he discussed was the digitisation and analysis of “Dream of the Red Chamber,” a project renowned for its exploration of the authorship and writing history of this literary masterpiece. Additionally, noteworthy mentions included the Chinese Biographical Database (CBDB) and the digitisation projects focused on the Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes. He also introduced the recent Lotus Sutra project at the British Library, which aims to preserve and digitise these documents, enabling efficient browsing and retrieval. He highlighted the unique challenges posed by the Chinese language in contrast to alphabetic systems in the process of digitisation. These differences significantly impact the approach and execution of Chinese digital humanities projects.

Prof Mahony’s remarks underscored the facilitative role of digital humanities in interdisciplinary research. Reflecting on his training, he emphasised, “In Classics, we were trained to look at literary texts, art, artefacts, and evidence from various sources, not just the literary text. The other thing is combining skills through interdisciplinary and collaborative work. No single person has all the necessary skills. So, within Classics and Medieval Studies, we have a foundation for working together.” Digital humanities, with their methods and tools, enable scholars to access, analyse, and interact with diverse data sources, transcending traditional disciplinary boundaries and fostering fruitful collaboration. However, he drew attention to issues such as the lack of open access when articles are digitised and the language barriers faced during the publication process. 

Following Prof Mahony’s talk, the Q&A session delved into the specific challenges within Chinese studies of digital humanities, including the development of digital editions and text encoding standards and the broader issue of recognition and representation of innovative scholarly work in metrics-driven institutions. One of the questions raised pertained to emerging scholars’ practical challenges in seeking recognition for their work. Drawing from his background and expertise, Prof Mahony shared insights and perspectives on how these scholars can effectively represent their research’s value, quality, and innovativeness to overcome the hurdles they often encounter in such institutional settings.