The 16th CJK Joint Conference on Geography Held in Hunchun, China

The 16th China-Japan-Korea Joint Conference on Geography held in Hunchun, China

The 16th China-Japan-Korea Joint Conference on Geography was successfully held from Oct. 11-14, 2024, in Hunchun, China. The conference was jointly sponsored by Geographical Society of China (GSC), Association of Japanese Geographers (AJG) and Korean Geographical Society (KGS), organized by Yanbian University (YBU) and co-organized by Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IGA, CAS). With the theme "Regional Cooperation and Sustainable Development in Northeast Asia", the Conference featured a rich program of 8 scientific sessions, presenting over 200 papers. It brough together 220 scholars and students from over 40 universities and research institutions of the three countries.

Held on the morning of Oct. 12 at conference hall of Hungju Mansion, Hunchun, the opening ceremony began with a welcome address by Prof. Weihong Zhu, YBU Vice President on behalf of the host university. Prof. Guoyou Zhang, GSC Vice President and Secretary General, Prof. Takashi Oguchi, AJG Past President, Prof. Sung-Hoon Jung, KGS President and Prof. Ming Jiang, Director General of IGA, CAS delivered speeches respectively. Subsequently, keynote lectures were given by three speakers from China, Japan and Korea, including Ecosystem Evolution and Regional Sustainable Development in the Transnational Area in Northeast Asia by Prof. Weihong Zhu, YBU, Early History of the Association of Japanese Geographers and Geomorphology in Japan by Prof. Takashi Oguchi, University of Tokyo, and Urban Spatial Empathy: A Geographical Explorative Inquiry by Prof. Kee-bom Nahm, University of Seoul. The opening ceremony and keynote lectures were chaired by Prof. Zhen Xu, Dean of College of Geography and Ocean Sciences, YBU.

Opening Ceremony

During two-day conference, 8 oral sessions were organized to facilitate discussions between presenters and discussants, covering a wide range of topics and research fields including cultural geography, urban geography, economic geography, natural resources and ecology in Northeast Asia, GIS and remote sensing, cooperation and development in border areas, rural development practice and theory, human geography development in Asia, with a total of 126 oral presentations made and 71 posters presented.

In order to enrich the program, the Conference featured a special session comprising a series of invited lectures. The lecture themed The Blooming Development of Geography in China was given by Prof. Juhua Xiong, National Natural Science Foundation of China, The Behavioral Turn in Chinese Human Geography, by Prof. Yanwei Chai, Peking University, A Brief History of our Conference: 2024 Revised Version of Sapporo Keynote by Prof. Hitoshi Araki, Ritsumeikan University and The Legacy of CJK Geography Conferences and the Future of Trilateral Academic Collaborations by Prof. Kee-bom Nahm, University of Seoul. This special event was chaired by Prof. Erfu Dai, Chair of GSC Working Committee for Young Geographers.

The closing ceremony was held on the afternoon of October 13 at Zhixin Building, Hunchun Campus, YBU, chaired by Dr. Da Zhang, Deputy Dean of Dean of College of Geography and Ocean Sciences, YBU. Prof. Ying Nan made a brief report on the outcomes of the Conference on behalf of the organizing committee. At the awarding ceremony, 4 students received Excellent Paper Awards and 6 were presented Best Presentation Awards. Dr. Kenta Onishi, University of Tokyo, and Dr. Kazuki Honda, Rissho University announced the dates and the location of the 17th Japan-Korea-China Joint Conference on Geography, inviting all the participants to meet again on November 12-14, 2025, in Kyoto, Japan, marking the conclusion of this successful event.

In addition to scientific program, the international organizing committee of the CJK Conference on Geography convened a business meeting in the noon time of Oct. 13, attended by 11 representatives from the three parties. Two optional post-conference field excursions were organized on Oct. 14th. The participants visited Changbai Mountain and border area China-Russia-DPRK along Tumen River.

Group Photo

(Provided by Xuanzi Zhang, Geographical Society of China)