*By registering for the event, you are deemed to consent to all conditions and terms of the Consent Note for Personal Information Processing, including the cross-border transfer of your personal information as described in Article II.3 of the consent note. If you do not agree to all the conditions and terms hereof, please do not click.
The Critical Chinese Humanities Initiative at Columbia University, the Columbia Global Center in Beijing, and the China Blue Sustainability Institute jointly present Deep Blue Dialogue: From Ocean Ecology to Environmental Humanities, a two-day conference to be held on June 6–7, 2026, dedicated to reexamining the relationship between people and the vitality of ocean ecologies, both within China and globally.
In an era of climate change and ecological crisis, how might we, by reflecting on and reconfiguring existing modes of knowledge production, cultivate a humanistic care for the ocean? From care to action, how might we work together to sustain this blue expanse? Timed to coincide with the United Nations World Oceans Day 2026, the conference brings together a diverse group of marine scientists, writers, filmmakers, humanities scholars, and activists to address the future of our seas. Through cross-disciplinary dialogue, it seeks to deepen our understanding of the ocean as a shared life community in which human livelihoods are meaningfully embedded.
The conference features keynote addresses by Larry Crowder, the Edward F. Ricketts Provostial Professor of Marine Ecology and Conservation at Stanford University, and Han Shaogong, a prominent contemporary Chinese novelist, essayist, and cultural critic.
The main program, taking place on June 7, centers on two panel discussions. The first panel, “From Knowing to Caring,” invites Zhou Meng, Chair Professor and Dean of the School of Oceanography at Shanghai Jiao Tong University; Zhang Fan, an internationally renowned blackwater photographer; Wang Jiuliang, an award-winning independent documentary filmmaker; and Bao Kun, a leading critic, photographer, and curator, to explore how scientific research, visual practice, and cultural narratives shape public understandings of the ocean and the environment in general. The second panel, “From Caring to Action,” features Han Han, founder and president of the China Blue Sustainability Institute; Zheng Ruiqiang, photographer and researcher of Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins; Wang Libing, marine anthropologist and associate professor at Xiamen University; and Lin Ming, a young representative of the Beigang Island fishing community, focusing on how care can serve as a point of departure for ecological conservation and social action. The evening concludes with a screening of Ocean with David Attenborough (2025), followed by a post-screening roundtable discussion among conference participants, faculty and students of Columbia University.
In addition to the public program on June 7, the conference also includes a closed-door environmental humanities workshop on June 6, bringing together graduate students, doctoral candidates, and postdoctoral fellows from the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at Columbia University and the Institute for Advanced Study in Humanities and Social Sciences at Tsinghua University to share and discuss their research.
Conference Program
Saturday, June 6
13:00-14:00 | Check-in
14:00-17:00 | Environmental Humanities Workshop
Moderator: Qian Ying
Presenters: Cai Xuexin, Ha Jaeyoung, Liu Wanpanxin, Sha Yizhou, Yang Danhe
17:00-18:00 | Dinner
Sunday, June 7
09:00-10:00 | Check-in
10:00-10:15 | Opening Remarks: Lydia H. Liu
10:15-12:00 | Panel #1: From “Knowing” to “Caring”
Moderator: Qian Ying
Panelists: Bao Kun, Wang Jiuliang, Zhang Fan, Zhou Meng
12:00-13:00 | Lunch
13:00-14:00 | Keynote Address #1
Moderator: Han Han
Speaker: Larry Crowder
14:00-14:15 | Break
14:15-16:00 | Panel #2: From “Caring” to “Action”
Moderator: Han Han
Panelists: Han Han, Lin Ming, Wang Libing, Zheng Ruiqiang
16:00-17:00 | Keynote Address #2
Moderator: Lydia H. Liu
Speaker: Han Shaogong
17:00-18:00 | Dinner
18:00-19:30 | Film Screening: Ocean with David Attenborough (2025)
19:30-20:10 | Post-Screening Roundtable
Moderator: Qian Ying
Speakers: Bao Kun, Elliot Gong, Li Tuo, Lydia H. Liu