Motivation to learn Chinese changes from novelty to practicality globally

    On March 26th morning, the 2007 World Conference on Sinology began in Renmin University of China. State Councilor, Chen Zhili, President of Renmin University of China, Ji Baocheng, and the French ambassador, Mr. Hervé Ladsous attended the opening ceremony and delivered speeches. Education Minister Zhou Ji unveiled the plaque for “the Sinology Research Centre of Renmin University of China”.

    This conference was co-organized by Hanban and Renmin University of China, with the aim to promote exchanges and co-operations in spreading the study of Sinology internationallythrough in-depth dialogues and discussions between major scholars in the world of Sinology and probe into the value of Chinese traditions and culture in the building of a harmonious world.

Almost all the top experts in the world of Sinology attended the conference

    The conference is the first high standard, world class conference on Sinology in mainland China since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China. There were over 70 scholars from Germany, Russia, USA, England, Italy, Vietnam, Romania, Austria, Sweden, Canada, New Zealand, Slovak, Belgium, Serbian, Spain, Japan and Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau.

    Almost all the top experts and scholars in the world of Sinology attended this conference, including Prof. Helwig Schmidt-Glintzer from Muenchen and Gottingen Universities, Sinology Professor John Witekthe Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures of Georgetown University, America，Prof. Kubin Wolfgang from the Department of Chinese of University of Bonn, Gálik Marián from the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Academician Alexey Maslov from the Russia Academy of Sciences, Prof. Joel Bel-lassen, Inspecteur general de chinois, from the Institut National Des Langues Et Civilisation Orientales, Torbjorn Loden, Dean of the Department of Chinese of Stockholm University, Sweden, and Prof. Mitsuyuki Kagami from Aichi University, Japan.

    Besides, more than 140 famous experts and scholars such as Feng Qiyong, Dai Yi, Tang Yijie, Pang Pu, Liu Mengxi, and Yue Daiyun from top universities and institutions including the China Society and Science Institute, Peking University, Tsinghua University, Renmin University of China, and Fudan University also attended.

Papers presented represents the highest standard in today’s study of Sinology

    Sinology is an ancient field of study rooted in China but developed overseas. Researches in Sinology changes along with the development of China, but it has consistently undertake an important cultural function and is exerting increasingly deeper influence in the world.

    The theme of this conference is “Dialogue of Civilizations and a Harmonious World: the 2007 World Conference on Sinology”. The sub-topics of the conference include: “Sinology Study as a Dialogue of Civilizations”, “Changes of the ‘Chinese Image’ in the study of Sinology”, “Traditional Chinese culture: Interpretation and influence”, “Sinologists and the History of Sinology” and “International promotion of the Chinese language and cross-cultural communication”. Apart from the formal conference, three round table conferences were organized and the topics were “Chinese Literature in the 20th  Century: Focus of Sinology”, “Sino-Nestorian Documentations and New Archeological Discovery”and “The Self-definition of Sinology”.

    The conference received over 100 papers covering many topics, with researches on Chinese classics such as The Discovery and Research of Wen Zi in the West presented by Fech Andrej from University of  Tubingen, Germany, to researches on contemporary Chinese literature;  researches on early missionaries in China such as Reflections on the  Publications of Dai Suiliang’ by professor John Witek from Georgetown University,USA, to researches on foreign exchange students during the  Ming and Qing dynasties;  researches on the influence of Chinese ancient cultures and values present-day society, such as  Self-Cultivation and Leadership Skills in Analects of Confucius and Mencius by Michael Lafargue to researches on Chinese sociology …… The scope and professionalism of the papers were surprising, representing the best in the current study of Sinology.

Motivation to learn Chinese changes from novelty to practicality globally

    One of the topics which aroused the interest of many experts and scholars at the conference was discussing the various aspects of teaching Chinese as a foreign language as a foreign language,.

    Prof. Joel Bel-lassen, Inspecteur general de chinois of France, said that in the past French people learned Chinese out of interest because they felt that traditional culture is ancient, long and elegant. But now, many students study Chinese for their future career. Within 6 years, there are more French middle school students who have registered to study Chinese compared to the other four foreign languages offered in schools.

    Prof. Zhou Zhiping from Princeton University, USA, said that the number of students who choose to learn Chinese increased by 50% from 2005 to 2006, ranking as the second foreign language after Spanish. He believed that students’ motivation to learn Chinese changed from academic and  novelty to practicality because of changes in Chinese national power.

    Fung Thi Tue from Executive Vice-President of the Research institute of China, Academy of Social Science of Vietnam integrated Vietnam’s situation and said: “Vietnam is heavily influenced by Chinese culture. Most Vietnam classics and manuscripts were recorded in Chinese and 60 % of Vietnamese language borrowed from Chinese characters. To understand Vietnam’s history, one must learn Chinese. Besides, Vietnamese and Chinese shared many similarities, making it easier for Vietnamese to learn Chinese. Apart from that, if Vietnamese want to learn from China’s success in the reforms and open policy, they will also need to learn Chinese.