Exit Babel: Conflict in Fusion: Conflict in Fusion

Author: Pan Yaochang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-09-01
Features: On a plain in Shinar, the immigrants decided to build a city named Babel and planned to construct a tower that reached the heavens, challenging the heavens. Jealous and fearful of the all-powerful abilities of humans speaking the same language, God, in order to limit them, confused their languages, making them unable to communicate and cooperate, thus destroying the tower-building project. Therefore, the word Babel carries the meaning of linguistic confusion. To step out of Babel, or to cross Babel, signifies overcoming linguistic barriers and achieving mutual understanding between people of different cultures. Pan Yaochang is a professor and doctoral supervisor at the School of Fine Arts, Shanghai University, and previously served as a professor at the China Academy of Art. At the end of 1996, he was approved by the Ministry of Culture to become a doctoral supervisor. His main research focuses on modern and contemporary art, with nearly 30 published papers and publications such as A History of Modern and Contemporary Art Education in China and A History of Modern and Contemporary Art in China. He has also served as the editor-in-chief of 20th Century Chinese Art Education and A Treasury of Masterpieces of Chinese Art, and has translated nearly 10 works, including Theories of Art Style.