The Center of Traditional Chinese Cultural Studies, Wuhan University

Introduction

The Center of Traditional Chinese Cultural Studies of Wuhan University was founded in 2000 with permission from the State Ministry of Education to reorganize the former Chinese Cultural Studies Institute, which was established in 1996 (Prof. Feng Tianyu as the Dean), and serve as ME’s Strategic Research Base for Humanities and Social Sciences.

The center has gathered the faculty strengths in liberal arts, history and philosophy of the university to carry out multidisciplinary studies. The center includes a general office for traditional Chinese studies, an office for traditional Chinese studies and modern studies, an office for Jing-Chu Cultural studies, and an editorial office for “Humanities Review.” Professor Xiao Jiefu, a famous scholar of Chinese philosophic history, is the director of the academic committee and the consultant of the center; Professor Feng Tianyu as the director of the center; Guo Qiyong, Chen Feng and Chen Wenxin as deputy directors. The center has a faculty of 16 persons, including 12 professors, 3 associate professors and a lecturer, as well as 5 guest professors from the university, among which, 16 obtained their Ph Ds from Britain, Germany and famous Chinese universities. It is a young faculty, devoted, and full of pioneering spirits. It is their strength to carry out comprehensive and innovative research projects on the academic frontiers. The center has also invited famous foreign and domestic scholars to give lectures or provide consultations for the center.

Since 1996, the center has undertaken 64 projects on the national and ministerial level, including international joint research projects and privately funded ones; sixty-eight academic works have been published, 328 papers have been published on academic periodicals both home and abroad. There are 17 research projects awarded with provincial and ministerial prizes. Its academic achievements have won national and international recognition. The “Humanities Review” has published five issues and is recognized as a quality publication in the field. The center focuses mainly on research, but also offers graduate and Ph D programs and advanced training programs for Chinese students and international students. It is well on its way to develop into an important national base for cultivating talents in Chinese cultural studies and for scholars in the academic community to share ideas and learn from each other. The center is actively involved in academic exchange with scholars and research institutions in USA, Germany, Australia, Japan and Hong Kong and Macao.

The research of the Center focuses on the Chinese cultural history and the theory and methodology of cultural studies. Research from Pre-Qing Dynasty period to Han Dynasties is intended to explore the origin of Chinese culture, while studies on Ming and Qing Dynasties focus on the transition process of Chinese culture towards modernity. The area of studies concentrates on the middle reaches of Yangtze River, for instance, the excavated bamboo slips and silk are used to investigate into the Chu Culture evolved in Pre-Qing Dynasty period in the region; folklore documents are employed to study the local Confucianism and literature. In general, the Center carries out studies on elite culture as well as folklore culture, Confucianism as well as Buddhism and Taoism in history.