马可 MARCO MECCARELLI

　　职业履历：2003年-2015年 东亚考古学、艺术、哲学名誉研究员；2014年-2016年 中国文化与文学、东亚历史签约讲师。

　　学习经历：2001年 文学学士；2005年 罗马第一大学东方考古学院硕士学位；2010年 罗马第一大学东亚历史与文明博士学位。

　　研究领域及成果：东亚研究、东亚历史与文明、中国文化、文学；发表过11篇有关中国文化的文章。

　　My name is Marco Meccarelli, Chinese Art historian. First of all I would like to thank you for your generosity in allowing me to join the Visiting Program for Young Sinologists 2016 (“VPYS 2016”in Beijing). It is a truly enriching experience for me and I appreciated it greatly. I was born in a small town, Tolentino, in the heart of Italy (Europe), not far from the hometown of the first sinologist Matteo Ricci (Li Madou利玛窦). As a child I knew China through the stories of this famous Jesuit, which fascinated me so much. I remember when I was very young, I watched an American-Italian television miniseries, called “Marco Polo”, originally broadcast by NBC in the United States, by Antenne 2 in France and by RAI state television in Italy in 1982. After watching this movie I thought that I would like to visit China. All of the places looked interesting and I wanted to learn more about the culture. From an early age I had two passions – art and Chinese culture. They have always had a strong impact in my life choices. So in the 1994 I decided to enroll at The University of Rome and study Chinese art. My first experience in China was in the 2000, during a trip organized by Sapienza University, thanks to a scholarship. I visited some of the major cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Xi’an, Suzhou, Hong Kong), and spent most of the time in the major museums looking at seasonal or temporary exhibitions of art and viewing scrolls kept in storage. I learnt more about China and Chinese culture. My last experience in China was in the 2014. I conducted a research trip to Central China (Luoyang, Xi’an, Datong) to study archaeological excavation reports and related research materials from various libraries and institutions, and to visit and photograph artefacts in local museums and ancient sites in the Henan, Shaanxi and Shanxi provinces. This experience have been incorporated into a monograph on archaeological China (Antica Cina) published by Archeo magazine (September 2014).

　　I also had the chance to contribute to progress in my field of research through specialization school (2005) in Oriental Archaeology and phd (2010) in History and Civilization of the Oriental Asia (Sapienza University of Rome). In my field of research, considering different cultural and artistic characteristics of Chinese and Western art, my focus aims at the characteristics of several stages in Chinese art, and expounds the importance, consciousness and strategy of cross fertilization from the perspective of globalization. In 2011 I wrote the first monograph in Italian on the history of Chinese photography. A dense and ancient network of contacts and exchanges combined and joined China with the West – and photography too, since its inception, has contributed to the consolidation of the dialogue that was established.

　　Currently, I’m teaching Chinese culture at University of Catania, Faculty of Modern Languages and Literatures. My course aims to promote an awareness of the Chinese culture and link all students interested in China or a future career related to it. I always explore the differences and similarities between China and the West in terms of history. The course’s goal is to gather an array of international studies to identify the encounter between China and the West from both cultural and theoretical points of view.

　　All these experiences broadened my horizons and made me appreciate diversity and the uniqueness of the artistic cross fertilization between Chinese and Western art.