May 11, 1998 Contact Pauline Austin (541) 346-3129 http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~humanctr/ EUGENE--A University of Oregon symposium will explore similarities between the ancient civilizations which sprang up at roughly the same time in Greece and in China. The Oregon Humanities Center is sponsoring the May 28-30 free public conference, "Thinking Through Comparisons: Ancient Greece and China." "These two civilizations are still incredibly influential," says Steven Shankman, humanities center director. "The Confucian model of ancient China is still operative in how Asians do their business, and the philosophy and science of ancient Greece pervade Western culture today." The conference will open at 4:30 p.m., Thursday, May 28, with a keynote address by Wang Ching-Hsien, professor of comparative literature at the University of Washington and dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at the National Dong Hwa University, Taiwan. Wang's speech, "Alluding to the Text, or the Context," will be in the Alumni Lounge, Gerlinger Hall, 1468 University St. A reception follows at the UO Museum of Art, 1430 Johnson Lane. All other conference events will be in Gerlinger Hall. David Keightley, a MacArthur Fellow and professor of history at the University of California at Berkeley, will deliver a keynote speech following the Thursday reception. The talk, "Death and the Birth of Civilization: Ancient China and Ancient Greece," begins at 8 p.m. On Friday, May 29, University of Pennsylvania professor of history and sociology of sciences Nathan Sivin will speak at 8 p.m. on "Why Didn't the Chinese Have Bodies? Some Reflections on Comparison." On Saturday, May 30, Anthony C. Yu, the Carl Darling Buck Distinguished Professor in Humanities at the Divinity School, University of Chicago, will speak at 8 p.m. on "Cratylus and Xunzi on Names." Distinguished invited panelists, who will present pre-circulated papers during round table discussions, include: Wang Ching-Hsien; Roger Ames, professor of philosophy, University of Hawaii at Manoa; David Hall, professor of philosophy, University of Texas at El Paso; Michael Nylan, professor of history and political science, East Asian Studies Department, Bryn Mawr College; Andrew Plaks, professor of East Asian studies, Hebrew University; Lisa Raphals, professor of history, Bard College, Annandale, N.Y.; Jean-Paul Reding, professor of history, University of Zurich; Henry Rosemont, George B. and Wilma Reeves Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts, St. Mary's College of Maryland; David Schaberg, professor of East Asian languages and cultures, University of California at Los Angeles; Steven Shankman, director, Oregon Humanities Center and UO professor of classics and English; and Stephen Durrant, UO professor of East Asian languages and literatures. -30- #P-6098/Local,A&E