TEHRAN-On the occasion of Hafez Commemoration Day, October 12, a session will be held at the School of Foreign Languages, Peking University in China on Thursday.

The session will be held by the Persian language and literature unit of the university in collaboration with the cultural attaché of Iran in China, IRNA reported on Wednesday.

According to the program, speakers at the event include Iran ambassador to China Mohsen Bakhtiar, Iran’s cultural attaché in China Nematollah Iranzadeh, head of the Department of West Asian Languages and Cultures professor Chen Ming, and the Iranian visiting professor of Persian language and literature.

Professors of Persian language and literature Yidan Wang and Liu Yingjun at the Peking University will also speak at the session.

Hafez is a great Persian poet of the 14th century. He is one the most influential poets which had a great impact on the next generation of poets and Iranian literature. His poems, most of them being ghazals (sonnets), have been translated into European languages in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. As his name reached the literary circles of the Western world, it opened the doors of Persian literature to the world.

Ghazal is considered a form of Arabic poetry that originates back in the 7th century. Hafez’s poetry holds a combination of rich imagery and symbolism. He is also a master of using ambiguity in his works. His poems are mostly emotional which indicates his searching soul.

Hafez's famous book is Divan (a collection of poems). The Chinese translation of Divan of Hafez was published in China last year.

SS/SAB