The National Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies at Fudan University (hereafter the Institute) was inaugurated on March the 10th, 2007. In the last three years, the Institute has firmly established itself as a strong research hub with high national and international visibility and reputation. From the very beginning, the Institute is set up to integrate different disciplines in the humanities and transcend the usual boundaries of specialties so that scholars with different expertise can work together with mutual benefit and achieve research outcomes that go beyond the narrowly defined fields of study.

One prominent feature of the Institute is its internationalization as it has included distinguished scholars from outside China in its Academic Board and its International Panel for Review and Evaluation, while promoting humanistic studies that put China in the larger context of the Asian Pacific region and the world at large. The Academic Board and the International Panel for Review and Evaluation have served well in making substantial suggestions and recommendations to the Institute with regard to the review of research projects, directions of strategic development, and particularly network connections with international scholarly communities. The Institute has signed agreements and memorandums with a number of universities and research institutions overseas as well as in Hong Kong and Taiwan, including, among others, such prestigious institutions as Tokyo University, Kyoto University, the National University of Singapore, Harvard University, Princeton University, Leiden University, the National Taiwan University, etc.

The internationality also manifests itself in the research orientations determined by the Institute, which put emphasis on the study of China as it has been perceived by its East Asian neighbors and more extensively by the rest of the world, while at the same time promote the critical study of Sinology or China studies from the stance and perspectives of native Chinese scholars. Other innovative research projects include the study of images and visual culture and a synthetic approach to the history of ideas, art history, and religious studies. International conference is another indicator of the close relations the Institute has established with international scholarly communities. The launching of the Institute in March 2007 was simultaneously an international conference with presentations made by several scholars who serve as members of the Academic Board and the International Panel of Review and Evaluation. Since then, the Institute has organized or co-sponsored a number of important international conferences and symposia on specific research areas, which have created a dynamic and stimulating atmosphere for research and have been widely appreciated by scholarly communities both in China and abroad.

The Institute provides an open forum for promoting humanistic scholarship as it sponsors projects not only of scholars at Fudan University but also those from other universities in China. In the short period of three years, projects sponsored by the Institute have already produced remarkable results, and more substantial research output can be reasonably expected to appear in the next few years. In collaboration with such prestigious publishers as Shanghai guji, Zhonghua shuju, and Fudan University Press, the Institute has launched several books by fellows as well as collections of Institute-hosted lectures. Most recently, a book series of Introduction to Research specifically written for graduate students was launched in June 2009 with the support of the School of Graduate Studies at Fudan and published by Fudan University Press. These books are important indications of the Institute’s active role in laying a good foundation for research in higher education and they will certainly exert a remarkable influence on the training of graduate students in China. Many of the lectures and presentations delivered at the Institute have been published in such well-known scholarly venues as Journal of Fudan University and Zhonghua Studies in Letters and History, and many more publications will appear in due time.

In the short period of three years, the Institute has set up a sizeable collection of books and research materials almost from the scratch. It has so far recruited ten research fellows through a rigorous process of selection, and will continue its effort at recruitment. Together with senior fellows selected from Fudan’s own faculty, the Institute has built up a strong team of researchers and will certainly bring the humanistic research at Fudan University to a new and higher level. From the perspective of the International Panel of Review and Evaluation, we believe that the Institute at Fudan has indeed established itself as a research institution truly well-known nationally and internationally, that it has initiated a number of innovative projects and scholarly activities, and that it has demonstrated its strength with concrete research output and publications. It is our hope that in the next few years, in keeping with its decided research directions and through a process of rigorous evaluation, the Institute will recruit more research fellows with demonstrated abilities in excellent publications or with clear potentials for outstanding research so that it may form a team of research fellows who can be highly competitive in any intellectual environment, be it national or international. In its further development in the years ahead, the Institute should try to consolidate its distinct character and clear image on the basis of what it has so far achieved, and it should make sure that all research projects and all recruited and appointed research fellows are closely aligned with the recognized research orientations of the Institute, particularly the two areas of “China as perceived by its neighbors” and “critical evaluation of Sinology or China studies” so that the Institute will play the important role in bridging over traditional Chinese scholarship and China studies abroad, and thereby laying a firm ground for dialogue and exchange with international scholarly communities (and not just Sinology).

As China is playing an increasingly important role in the arena of international economy and politics, the international society also shows an increasingly intense interest in learning about and understanding China, its history and cultural tradition. Fudan University is well positioned to make contributions in this regard as it has always had a very good foundation among Chinese institutions of higher learning, and particularly strong in the humanities. We sincerely hope that the Institute will continue to have the strongest support from the senior leadership of Fudan University in its further development so that it will become, in several years’ time, the most influential research base in humanistic studies in all the universities in China. Given the accomplishments the Institute has achieved so far, we consider this a perfectly realistic and realizable goal, which will definitely enhance the position and reputation of Fudan University in China and abroad. As members of the International Panel of Review and Evaluation, we shall try our best to work in close collaboration to help reach that goal.

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