Keke Wang is a PhD student at the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM) and has been a visiting researcher at Núcleo Milenio ICLAC since March 2024. We spoke with her to learn more about her research and her stay in Chile, and this is what she shared:
1. Name and Occupation…
Keke Wang. PhD student in Hispanic Studies Doctorate (Language, Literature, History, and Thought) at the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM).
2. What is your doctoral thesis about?
China's image in the works of Chilean poets who visited the People's Republic of China (PRC) between 1951 and 1973. The poets are Pablo Neruda, Gonzalo Rojas, Pablo de Rokha, Ángel Cruchaga, Efraín Barquero and Nicanor Parra.
3. If you had to summarize your research in one sentence (or question)…
How is China's image portrayed in the works of Chilean poets who visited China, and why is it portrayed that way?
4. What do you hope to gain from your visit to Chile?
For my thesis, I wanted to find materials (magazines, letters, poetry collections, diaries, etc.) of the poets that are only available in Chile; and consult the press from the 1950s and 70s to understand the perception of China in Chile at that time; and deepen my research with the guidance of Professor María Montt.
A new idea just came to me: interviewing contemporary Chilean poets to explore the connections between China and Chilean poets in the 21st century.
I’m eager to return to my port (Valparaíso, where I had the best time in 2018, especially at the poetry workshop at La Sebastiana, the Pablo Neruda Foundation), reconnect with friends, take a trip south, and visit the places where the poets that I’m researching for my thesis were born and lived.
5. If you had to summarize China's impact on Latin America, what would you say…
I believe the impact is reflected in many factors.
For example, in literature, when I first arrived in Chile in 2017, I was surprised to find Mo Yan’s novels translated into Spanish in a bookstore in Viña del Mar. Gradually, I began to make poet friends and noticed that they had read poems by Li Bai, Du Fu, and Bai Juyi, as well as more modern poets like Bei Dao and Ai Qing… Of course, the most widely read book is the Tao Te King.
Additionally, the Confucius Institute occasionally organizes literary events, and invites Chinese writers to Chile, and vice versa. Nobel laureate Mo Yan visited Chile in 2019. The hall where he gave speeches was always full of readers. I regret not being in Chile at that time.
This exchange was interrupted by the pandemic but is gradually recovering. I hope more Chinese writers will come to Latin America and vice versa. I must confess that the readers of Chinese literature I know are a minority among the general population. I wish more people could engage with Chinese literature and appreciate its beauty.
6. Favorite place in Chile so far…
Valparaíso (my love)… One must feel both its beauty and its pain.
7. What book are you reading now?
The Wind of the Kingdoms, a poetry collection written by Efraín Barquero after his stay in China.
8. What are your dates of visit to Chile – ICLAC?
At ICLAC from March to May 2024.