On the afternoon of April 16, the literary dialogue event “Homeland and Away: Cultural Blending and Identity in Chinese and Latin American Literature” was successfully held at Shenzhen University. Jointly organized by the Foreign Liaison Department of the China Writers Association, China Intercontinental Press, and Shenzhen University, the event brought together Professor Tang Qiyun from the School of Humanities at Shenzhen University and two renowned Colombian writers—Hugo Chaparro Valderrama and Sandro Romero Rey—for an in-depth conversation with faculty and students on identity construction and literary expression in the context of migration.
In his opening remarks, Zheng Lei, Deputy Director of the Foreign Liaison Department of the China Writers Association, highlighted the profound heritage of Latin American literature. He noted that Colombia, as a literary powerhouse of the region, has produced countless world-renowned classics, while Shenzhen—a city shaped by migration—shares with Colombia a multicultural fabric that naturally connects writers from both countries on themes of “homeland and away.” Ma Zili, Dean of the School of Humanities at Shenzhen University, emphasized that literature serves as a path to finding one’s spiritual home, and expressed the School’s commitment to sustaining such cross-cultural dialogues. He described the event not only as an intellectual exchange between Chinese and Colombian writers, but also as a “literary journey bridging homeland and away.”
A book presentation ceremony followed, with the School of Humanities gifting the Colombian writers poetry collections by Professor Guo Jie and recent scholarly works by Professor Tang Qiyun.
During the dialogue session, moderated by Professor Tang Qiyun, discussions began with Shenzhen’s identity as a migrant city—a place “without roots, yet full of roots”—where individual identity is often fluid and collage-like. Both Colombian writers agreed that while identity is constantly reshaped in motion, literature remains a spiritual refuge for wandering souls. Sandro Romero Rey shared his creative shift from “writing about homeland” to “embracing a global vision,” citing the example of the “global citizen” theater director Seki Sano, who was born in Tianjin, raised in Japan, and educated in the Soviet Union. Hugo Chaparro Valderrama, reflecting on his own work, analyzed the evolution of Latin American literature from “magical realism” to what he termed “tragic realism.” He explained that while writers of Gabriel García Márquez’s generation used magical elements to redeem violence, contemporary society faces crueler forms of brutality, demanding that writers confront tragic realities directly. Using his representative work The Barefoot Ox as an example, he interpreted its core imagery: the “ox” is barefoot because it is a giant who cannot find shoes that fit, and its enormous body symbolizes grief too vast to bear. Hugo emphasized that literature is a way to converse with the dead—much like the mothers in his book who search for their missing children, believing that “as long as one is remembered, one never truly leaves.”
As a key segment of the series “Looking Back with Ai Qing and Neruda: Latin American Writers in the Chinese Literary Scene,” this event continued the tradition of Sino–Latin American literary exchange while offering a distinctive perspective on cultural integration and identity in a globalized world. Moving forward, the School of Humanities plans to deepen collaboration and host more diverse literary exchanges, contributing to the rich coexistence of world literatures.
