In a CSSC Encounters interview aired by Community TV in Amherst, Massachusetts, USA, Professor Lee Chin-Chuan emphasizes the centrality of cultural knowledge in reflecting on the local “lived and living experiences” to develop a broader and cosmopolitan perspective of how communication works in the world. To this end, he urges to reject both the imperialism of the universal and the parochialism of the particular,” with the ultimate goal to foster a better dialogue and mutual understanding between East and West.

The interview, available for public viewing (http://blip.tv/amherst-media/encounters-professor-chin-chuan-lee-5506311), lasted for half an hour and was hosted by Professor Jan Servaes, Director of the Center for Communication for Sustainable Social Change at the University of Massachusetts.

Professor Lee attended the Conference on “The Future of U.S.-China Media Communication and Public Diplomacy in the Post-Crisis World,” held from 23-25 August 2011 and cosponsored by UMass, City University of Hong Kong, and Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Two major journals–Public Relations Reviews and Telematics and Informatics–have decided each to publish a special issue based on the papers presented at this conference.

Meanwhile, Professor Lee has been invited by the Editor of Journalism Studies to write a research review that showcases the work of the Center for Communication Research. The article, “Voices from Asia and Beyond: Center for Communication Research at the City University of Hong Kong,” was published online 8 May 2011 (doi: 10.1080/1461670X.2011.575692), with the print version forthcoming in the December 2011 issue of the journal. Professor Lee said that his colleagues have strong reasons to pride themselves in being bestowed this “tremendous international recognition,” thus sharing the limelight with such institutions as the Reuters Journalism Institute of Oxford University.

Professor Lee was recently elected a Fellow of the Hong Kong Institute of the Humanities, along with three other CityU colleagues: Professor Zhang Longxi (CTL), Professor Gregory Lee (AIS), and Professor Kingsley Bolton (EN).