How WB Yeats led Chen Li to a passion for all things Irish
Prof Wang Zhanpeng (left) and Prof Chen Li (right), from Beijing Foreign Studies University, received 2022 Presidential Distinguished Service Award for their outstanding contribution to promoting Irish studies in China.
Elegant, serene, composed, Chen Li, Professor at the prestigious Irish Studies Centre in Beijing Foreign Studies University, laughs when I ask why Irish studies and Irish language, Irish literature called to her., what first sent her in that direction?
“This question has been put to me several times, since I am not of Irish descent. If I were, my interest in Irish Studies might be much easier to understand! Well, the reason is still very simple: When I was an MA student, the mainstream research field for the English language literature in China was still limited to British and American writing. I followed suit, and chose to write my MA thesis on the American writer Eudora Welty, with her short story collection The Gold Apples as a central text. Now you see the connection: the title is a quotation from W. B. Yeats’ poem, The Song of Wandering Aengus, in which he vows to 'pluck till time and times are done / The silver apples of the moon / The golden apples of the sun.’
