First encounters between distant cultures

Throughout history, there were exciting first encounters: We know that the Neanderthals and the homo sapiens sapiens have met, likewise there are many first encounters of a culture with another culture. With today's travel freedom and mobility, the globalized work environment and the multicultural Internet, there are still many first encounters, albeit partly on the micro-level. The first encounter with an artificial intelligence or an alien life form has captured the imagination of people since the science fiction novels of Jules Verne and up to today's Hollywood productions. Just as Columbus described the first ‘savages’ in his log, the first Chinese in Europe were passed around on coffee parties. Today’s marriage market value of Western men is high in China. The charm and the fascination by others and exoticism also could be felt even before these encounters through the exchange of cultural goods (eg through the Silk Road) and of translated literature. This seminar explores the question of why the first literary translations from European languages into Chinese and the first from the Chinese into European languages centered around the theme of "Love Marriage vs. Forced marriage". Participants deal with texts, put them into their historical contexts and deal with fundamental issues, like which origin similarities and differences ave, how interependent cultures have arisen and whether the general trend is that cultures come together or that they separate and differentiate further.