On the weekend of Friday 28th of March 2014, crowds of Irish Studies scholars converged on Beijing Foreign Studies University for the International Conference on Literature, Culture and Nation-Building in Twentieth-Century Ireland , drawing participants from both China, Ireland and further afield.

The conference organised by the Irish Studies Centre of BFSU was officially opened on the morning of the 28th with welcoming speeches from leaders of the University, H.E. Paul Kavanagh the Irish Ambassador to China and Dr Seán Crossan President of the European Federation of Associations and Centres of Irish Studies. Following the opening speeches, the leader of Beijing Foreign Studies University and Ambassador Paul Kavanagh jointly launched the Irish Studies Network in China; an ambitious project aimed at developing the connections between scholars in the area.

The first day of the conference continued with speeches on the titular subject including a concise overview of the making of the Irish State by Professor Dermot Keogh of University College Cork, a retrospect of Irish literature in China by Professor Chen Shu, a discussion on the work of James Joyce by Professor Li Weiping Professor of Shanghai International Studies University, Professor Jerusha McCormack and Professor Dai Congrong of Fudan University, the question of Irish identity with Professor Vincent Comerford of NUI Maynooth, the translation of theatre as an anthropological tool by Dr Sarah Jane Scaife of TCD and a brief history on the position of film in the context of nation building in Ireland by Dr Seán Crossan of NUI Galway.

Following an incredibly productive first day of the conference, the second day saw a change in layout as the papers were separated into three parallel sessions covering topics as diverse as Literature and the Spread of Irish Culture to innovation in many aspects of Irish Studies. Each of the sessions also contained a period of discussion in which various points were raised about the exciting developments in Irish Studies in China.