On June 27, sponsored by China Pragmatics Association and hosted by our College of Foreign Languages, the Forum on the Development of Foreign Language Disciplines in the New Era and the Standing Council of National Pragmatics Association was successfully held in our college.

At the opening ceremony, Professor Li Jinshan, Vice President of Hebei University, delivered a speech to briefly introduce the general situation of the university and expressed warm congratulations to the Forum on behalf of the university. Professor Chen Xinren, chairman of China Pragmatics Association and Professor Ye Huijun, dean of our college, also delivered welcome speeches respectively. After the opening ceremony, there were six keynote reports. Professor Gu Yueguo, chief expert of the Key Laboratory on Artificial Intelligence and Human Languages of Beijing Foreign Studies University, gave the lecture on “Assertion, the Heart-Mind Reading and the Chinese Rhetoric of Oneness-Integrity ”; Professor Li Zuowen of Beijing Foreign Studies University gave the lecture on “Units of Discourse Computing and Automatic Recognition of Text Topics”; Professor Ma Xiao, Dean of the School of Foreign Languages and Literature of Wuhan University, gave the lecture on “Reflections on the Construction of Foreign Language Disciplines and Talent Cultivation”; Professor Wu Yaxin of Ocean University of China gave the lecture on “Three Perspectives of Conversation Analysis Research”; Professor Zhang Keding of Henan University gave the lecture on “Key Factors in the Construction of Foreign Language Disciplines”; and Professor Zhang Shaojie from Northeast Normal University gave the lecture on “A New Path for the Study of Grammar-Pragmatics Interface: The Case of Voice Structure”. Professor Xiong Xueliang of Fudan University, Professor Yuan Zhoumin of Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Professor Liu Fengguang of Dalian University of Foreign Languages, Associate Professor Hou Xiaozhou from our college, Professor Zhang Juwen of Zhengzhou University and Professor Mao Yansheng of Harbin Engineering University presided over the six reports respectively.

The closing ceremony of the forum was hosted by Professor Ren Wei of Beihang University, and Professor He Gang of East China Normal University delivered a concluding speech. He pointed out that the forum was pragmatic and compact in arrangement, rich in conference content, warm in atmosphere and enthusiastic in participation, which greatly promoted the frontier achievements of pragmatics studies in China. Meanwhile, he expressed his heartfelt thanks to Hebei University for its strong support and spoke highly of the hosting work of our college. After the forum, the standing council of the National Pragmatics Association was held in the meeting room on the second floor of the college.

This forum is a grand gathering for foreign language disciplines in China, offering a good communicative and interactive platform for experts in this field, and bringing fresh vitality to the new-era development of foreign language disciplines. The success of this meeting played a positive and important role in expanding the impact of our university in the foreign language disciplines, enhancing the mutual understanding with colleagues of other universities, and promoting the construction and development of our discipline.

The forum was conducted simultaneously offline and live online, with more than 40,000 online audiences. Mr. Zhang Wanxing, Party Secretary of our college, hosted the opening ceremony of the forum, and more than 120 people attended the offline meeting, including representatives of teachers from some universities in Baoding, teachers and students from our college and the Department of Foreign Language Teaching.