On 21 October 2022, the Institute of Discourse Pragmatics (IDP) was officially launched at Zhejiang International Studies University (ZISU), which also marked the opening ceremony of the First International Conference on Discourse Pragmatics (ICDP-1), held from October 21 to October 23, 2022, at ZISU, Hangzhou, China. Distinguished professors or editors, both overseas and domestic, were invited as guest speakers for the ceremony, including Professor Sun Youzhong, Vice President of Beijing Foreign Studies University and President of China Association for Intercultural Communication Studies, Professor Jef Verschueren, Secretary General of International Pragmatics Association, Professor Istvan Kecskes, President of American Pragmatics Association and founding Editor of Intercultural Pragmatics, Professor Chen Xinren, President of China Pragmatics Association, Professor Jürgen Spitzmüller, Deputy Head of Department of Linguistics at the University of Vienna, and Aldeena Raju, editor at Springer.

ICDP-1 was hosted by ZISU, organized by the School of English Studies, ZISU, and co-organized by IDP, Journal of ZISU, John Benjamins and Springer.

Professor Zhang Huanzhou, Vice President of ZISU, chaired the opening ceremony and Professor Hong Gang, President of ZISU, delivered a welcome speech.

In his welcome speech, President Hong pointed out that the launch of IDP marked a historical moment in the development of ZISU, and that IDP is one of the kind in Chinese academia that seeks to embrace both a global vision and an integrated perspective in its endeavor to deliver innovation and to bring momentum to the studies of discourse and pragmatics. President Hong also added that “IDP has signed a cooperative agreement with the Department of Linguistics, University of Vienna, and has been working to facilitate cooperation with overseas universities and institutions such as Bar-Ilan University and the University of Helsinki.” At the end of his speech, President Hong wished a bright future for IDP.

Professor Hong Gang, President of ZISU Photo: ZISU

Professor Zhang Huanzhou, Professor Zhou Lie, Professor Zhao Fa and Professor Sun Miantao attended the Unveiling Ceremony of the Institute of Discourse Pragmatics, and Professor Xie Chaoqun was appointed as the Director of IDP.

Unveiling of IDP Photo: ZISU

Professor Xie Chaoqun, supported by the Program for New Century Excellent Talents from Chinese Ministry of Education, remarked that the primary objective of IDP is to bring together scholars and researchers from around the world to join forces in stimulating interaction and collaboration and in advancing studies in Discourse Pragmatics which, as an alternative approach to the studies of discourse and pragmatics, has the potential to exert great impact not only on nations, societies and cultures, but on each individual existence in various contexts and genres and that the gravitational pull between discourse and pragmatics can inspire, invigorate and ultimately shape the landscape of this promising field called Discourse Pragmatics. Currently the Institute publishes the journal Internet Pragmatics and the book series Advances in (Im)politeness Studies, with John Benjamins and Springer respectively.

Keynote speakers Photo: ZISU

ICDP-1, focused on “Discourse Pragmatics and Communication,” has gathered hundreds of scholars and researchers at 56 universities or institutions from 15 countries around the world for three days of discussions on topics touching upon multimodal interaction, internet interaction, (im)politeness, intercultural communication, online medical discourse and business interaction, language teaching/learning, and literature, to list just a few, all related to Discourse Pragmatics in one way or another. The conference features 12 keynote speeches and 23 panel discussions, with nearly 1,000 on/offline attendees. Noticeably, the 12 keynote speakers are distinguished scholars in the field who have drawn extensive attention to their topics and they are Professor Istvan Kecskes (The role of context in intercultural discourse) from the State University of New York at Albany, Professor Chen Xinren (“Let’s...together”: Rapport management in Chinese directive public signs) from Nanjing University, Professor Michael Haugh (Theorising discourse pragmatics) from the University of Queensland, Professor Helmut Gruber (What is discourse pragmatics? – Towards a linguistics of the utterance) from the University of Vienna, Professor Huang Guowen (Ecological analysis of discourse and harmonious discourse analysis) from South China Agricultural University, Professor Feng Zongxin (Paradoxes of (im)politeness in and of literary discourse) from Tsinghua University, Professor Elda Weizman (Conceptual and methodological crossroads in pragmatic research: The case of irony) from Bar-Ilan University, Professor Xia Dengshan (A diachronic analysis of persuasion in Chinese political discourse between the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period) from Beijing Foreign Studies University, Professor Pilar Garcés-Conejos Blitvich (A discursive-pragmatic approach to Cancel Culture – Intergroup communication and the on/offline nexus) from the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, Professor Miao Xingwei (Stereotyping in the discursive construction of gender identity) from Beijing Normal University, Professor Xie Chaoqun (Doing (im)politeness with and beyond discourse pragmatics) from ZISU, and Professor Jef Verschueren (The pragmatics of fragmented continuity in public discourse) from the University of Antwerp. Particularly, Eugenia Diegoli from the University of Bologna was the recipient of ICDP-1 Best Paper Award for Doctoral Students.

Chairs of keynote speeches Photo: ZISU

At the closing ceremony of the Conference, Vice President Chai Gaiying, delivered a speech, stressing that the launch of IDP is not only a landmark initiative that seeks to integrate the studies of Discourse and Pragmatics and to explore more potentials and possibilities in the field, but marks a significant milestone in the long-term development of ZISU and that she has every confidence to believe that the newly established Institute will make a difference in this promising field and will be thriving and contributing in no small measure to the rapid development of discourse pragmatics, both nationally and internationally. Professor Xie Chaoqun concluded the ceremony with the announcement that the Second International Conference on Discourse Pragmatics (ICDP-2) will be held from 20 October – 22 October 2023 at ZISU.