Global Semiotics: A Bridge linking Different Civilizations

Foreword

The World Congress of Semiotics, in its more than 40 years’ history, will be first time held in China, East Asia, in 2012. This IASS congress to be held in Nanjing a historic city symbolizes that the global semiotics begins to play a role of bridge linking (in the broadest sense) the eastern and western historical civilizations. Contemporary semiotics, as a general scholarship for promoting the semantically valid communications among different disciplines and cultures, has been deeply and widely engaged in all practices of social and human sciences yet. Over the past hundreds of years, scientific knowledge of mankind has made amazing progress owing to rational operations following ever-deepened academic compartmentalization. In the 21st century, however, social and human sciences are faced with an urgent requirement for horizontal and synthetic communications between various disciplines and cultural traditions. Accordingly, semiotics today indicates its serious significance in promoting the further development of social and human sciences along the interdisciplinary orientation.

The World Congress of Semiotics in Nanjing will do its best to present the recent important achievements of international semiotic scholarship, paying equal attention to different main theoretical sources of Europe and America. It will provide international participants, particularly those lacking chances to attend the earlier IASS activities, with convenience to join this great IASS forum. The Nanjing Congress will also be an ideal place for international scholars to have a better understanding of the realities and potentials of Asian and Chinese semiotics. We are warmly looking forward to seeing you all in Nanjing in 2012.