【53rd Talk】Dr. Lijing Peng: Research on Pilgrimage in Derge County and Surrounding Areas of Garze Prefecture in Sichuan
Upcoming Event
| Introduction | The 53rd session of the “Tan Lark Sye Lecture Series,” organized by the Institute of International Education and the Tan Lark Sye Institute at New Era University College, is now open to all participants. Featuring Guest Speaker Dr. Lijing Peng, lecturer in the Centre for Asian Studies, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. This lecture focuses on pilgrimage in and around Derge town, in Sichuan’s Garzê Prefecture. The special features of this pilgrimage destination and pilgrimage network nearby are on Derge’s special intellectual status and geopolitical histories. This lecture will introduce Derge and the pilgrimage network and pilgrimage movements. Derge Parkhang (the Derge Sutra Printing House), founded in 1729 in Kham Tibet houses over 300,000 woodblocks, representing nearly 70% of the Tibetan literary heritage, earning it the prestigious designation of a UNESCO Memory of the World entry. Kham region was not a static frontier but a dynamic, permeable, and shifting space — an 'inner frontier' of China according to a long scholarship of Kham Tibet studies. Deger kingdom was a significant political and cultural power in the Kham region of Tibet. The printing press used at the Derge Sutra Printing House is an example of a sacred tradition, and it is one of the places where Tibetan scripture is preserved. These include a large number of works on various disciplines of Tibetan culture and science. Since the 18th century, Derge County has become the intellectual and cultural centres in Kham Tibet, even over the entire Tibet. This lecture features the first research account specifically on pilgrimage in this region. |
| Speaker | Dr. Lijing Peng (Centre for Asian Studies, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland) Dr. Peng did her undergraduate study in Beijing University (2003 - 2007) and received her PhD in anthropology from National University of Ireland in 2015. Dr. Peng’s research interests lie in linguistic anthropology and semiotic anthropology. Her published works include studies in literature, mythology, semiotic landscapes, language ideologies and epic performances. She has conducted ethnographic fieldwork in autonomous prefectures of China’s minority nationalities within the West Hunan, Sichuan and Gansu provinces in the People's Republic of China. Her recent anthropological research on pilgrimage and cultural institutions is carried out in Derge town, which is part of the Kham Tibetan region in Sichuan’s Garzê Prefecture. She helped establish the European Linguistic Anthropology Network, and is currently serving in the editorial board of the journal Semiotic Review.Since 2017, Dr. Peng has worked as an assistant lecturer in Trinity College Dublin’s Centre for Literary and Cultural Translations. In the year 2024 Lijing started to work for Trinity Centre for Asian Studies, which is part of the School of Linguistics, as a lecturer. Her teaching focuses on comparative language philosophy, Chinese mythology and regional cultures in China. |
| Moderator | Assoc. Prof. Dr. Lew Siew Boon (Institute of International Education, NEUC) Dr. Lew received her PhD from the National University of Singapore and is currently the Assistant Dean at the Institute of International Education, New Era University College. Her main research interests include folklore and folk culture, and the history of Chinese communities in Singapore and Malaysia. She has published several works, including Discovering the Goddess of Mercy in Swee Nyet Temple of Pulai, Kelantan and Hakka in China and Southeast Asia: Cross-Regional Field Work and Essays (co-authored). |
| Information | Date: 30 September 2026 (Wednesday) Time: 7:30 PM – 9:00 PM ZOOM ID: 8266571752 Password: 018871 |
No content.