Program Introduction
Recent years the international academia has seen increasing discussions about Asian and in particular East Asian cultures. Many distinguished institutions are diminishing the boundaries among area studies of China, Korea, Japan, India and Iran etc., but favor a cross-cultural or integrated approach whereby “East Asian” or “Asian” studies have become the norm. In this context of fading lines among disciplines and broadening vision of the traditional Chinese studies, we launched the Graduate Program in “Asian Religion, Art and History” in the National Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies, Fudan University. The Ph.D. Students Enrollment starts from 2011 while the Master Students Enrollment begins in 2013.
Inaugurated on March, 2007, the Institute (IAHS) is a center for original and innovative work supported by the China Ministry of Education. It is committed to interdisciplinary communication in order to promote the study of Chinese culture with a global perspective. The focused research fields include: (1) viewing China from the periphery, (2) understanding and critiquing international perspectives in Sinology, (3) interweaving cultural history, (4) visual materials about China stored abroad, and (5) synthetic research on the history of Chinese religion, thought and art.
Admission/Courses
This is a four-year program (three years for masters) which begins in each September. The application deadline is December 31 of the preceding academic year. It is open to applicants both in China and abroad (overseas applicants need to pass the Chinese Proficiency Test).
The program aims to provide scholarly training in Asian history and culture to students who would embark on a career of comprehensive Asian studies, and to develop a broad vision in research, the capability in language and literature, and the awareness of issues as well as expertise in Asian especially Chinese religion, art and history.
Besides language courses, other basic courses in the program include: “Methodologies of Asian History”, “Asian History of Material Culture and Art”, “Primary Sources on Asian Art, Religions and History”, “Studies on Western Regions and Cultural Interactions between East and West in Pre-Modern Ages” etc. The program also incorporates a set of optional courses.
Excellent graduate students in the program will be provided the opportunity to study as exchange students in the East Asian Studies Department and Program, Princeton University, and the Institute of Oriental Culture, University of Tokyo.
Faculty
The Institute has a group of faculty members who can offer classes in both Chinese and English, with their fields of study spanning from India to Japan and covering various disciplines from history, religion to art. At the same time, some courses are to be taught by faculty from the East Asian Studies Department and Program, Princeton University, and the Institute of Oriental Culture, University of Tokyo.
Ⅰ Doctoral Supervisors
Ge Zhao-guang Professor, Graduated from Peking University, previously professor of history in Tsinghua University, now special term professor of Fudan University, professor of the National Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies and Department of History, Fudan University. His research focuses on the history of China and East Asian religions, culture and literature. Publications include Chan Buddhism and Chinese Culture, Taoism and Chinese Culture, Intellectual History of Chinese Chan Buddhism: 6-9 Centuries and Chinese Intellectual History (2 vols), among which some have English, Japanese or Korean translations. Besides receiving several prestigious book awards in China, he has been visiting professor at universities in Japan, Belgium, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and was appointed the Princeton Global Scholar in 2009.
Yang Zhi-gang Professor, Director. BA, MA and PhD, Department of History, Fudan University, currently Professor and Director of the National Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies, Curator of Shanghai Museum. Research areas include: history of Chinese thought and culture, Chinese ritual and the history of ritual system, cultural heritage and museum culture, etc. Monographs include: Study on Chinese Ritual System, and A Critical Review of “Reading in Dongshu”. Presently engaged in the research project on “History and Heritage of Confucius Temples” and is concurrently a member of the Executive Committee of Chinese Association of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences, and a research fellow at Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology at Fudan University. Elected as one of the “Popular Teachers” by undergraduate students, and “Outstanding Supervisor” by the University.
Li Xing-ming Professor. Ph.D., Southeast University, Nanjing; M.A., Xi’an Academy of Fine Arts; B.A., Shanxi Normal University, Xi’an; Completed post-doctoral programs in the School of Archeology and Museology at Peking University, currently professor of the National Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies of Fudan University. Teaching and research interests are Han and Tang art history and archaeology. Publications include: A Study of Tang Tomb Murals, Corpora of Chinese Tomb Sculpture, Vol. 4, the Western and Eastern Jin, and Southern and Northern Dynasties (Co-editor), Corpora of Chinese Tomb Sculpture, Vol.1, Prehistorical Period to Qin Dynasty (Co-editor) and is currently compiling Corpora of Chinese Tome Sculpture (8 volumes)
Dong Shao-xin Professor, Vice-Director. His research focuses on the interaction between medieval China and foreign regions, history of religions in China, and history of Central Asia. Publications include: A Comparative Study on the Symbols of China and the West, A History of Cultural Interactions between China and Central Asia, Study on Ancient Turkic Inscriptions and Study on Manicheism in the East. Translated works include The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life (Emile Durkheim) and History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Vol.I (ed. UNESCO).
Ⅱ Master's Supervisors
Liu Zhen Professor, Studied Indology in the Institute for Indilogy and Tibetology at University Munich in Germany from 2001 to 2008. In 2005 the M. A. degree was awarded for the thesis, The Maitreyavyākaraṇa - A Comparision of the Different Versions with a Translation of the Sanskrit Text. In 2008 the Ph. D. degree was awarded for the dissertation, Meditation and Asceticism - A New Sanskrit Source to the Buddha Legend. Now professor in the National Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies, and director of the Center for Gandian and Indian Studies, Fudan University. Research areas are: Indian Mahā- and Hīna-yāna Buddhism, comparison of Indian, Tibetan and Chinese Buddhist documents, Sanskrit manuscripts, Veda and Vedic religion. He published more than 20 papers and two monographs, the Chinese version of his Ph. D. Thesis (2010) and The Dharmadhātustava (2015).
Xu Quan-sheng Associate Professor, PhD. of Chinese Ancient Literature, Institute for Ancient Books Studies, East China Normal University. Master of Chinese Archaeology, Department of Archaeology, Peking University. Bachelor of History, Department of History, Literature College, Shanghai University. Research interests are academic history and cultural history of China, especially Chinese historical documents such as rare books, manuscripts, rubbings, bamboo strips, etc. Executive member of China Association of Sino-foreign Relations History. Book Authored: Chronological Biography of Shen Zengzhi (沈曾植，1850-1922), Collations & Comments on Hei-Ta Shi-Lüeh (黑鞑事略): Chinese Diplomatic Envoy’s Report on the Early State of Mongolia in 1233-1237; Books Edited: Collected Poems and Writings of Chen Bao-chen (1848-1935), the Adviser of the Last Emperor of China; Selections of Rare Rubbings Collected in Shanghai Library; Letters Written by Celebrities of Ming Dynasty Collected in Shanghai Library.
Sun Ying-gang Associate Professor, BA and MA, Peking University; MA and PhD, Princeton University, now associate professor at Fudan University. Winner of the National Prominent Young Historian Prize, visiting scholar to National Tsinghua University in Taiwan, Princeton University, Tokyo University and Yale University. Research interest spans across the Chenwei prophecy texts, astrology and calendar in medieval China, history of Buddhism, urban history of Chang’an, as well as history of Sinology. He published more than 60 papers and a monograph The Weft Prophecy Texts and Political Legitimation in Medieval China, another book The Impact of Buddhism on Chinese Monarchship will come out later this year.
Zhu Yi Associate Professor, B.A., M.A., Department of History, Peking University; PhD, Department of Chinese Studies, National University of Singapore. Research areas are: the history of medieval and early modern China; state rituals and ritual concepts in traditional China; and the Tang-Song transformation. Publications include: Offering Sacrifices to the Deities of State: The Propitious Rituals in Tang and Northern Song China,“The Conferment of Noble Titles on Mountains, Rivers, Lakes and Seas and Their Official Cults in the Tang Dynasty”, “The System of the Major, Medium and Minor Sacrifices between the Tang and Northern Song Dynasties”, and “The Ritual Debates and the Changes of the Main Deities of the Suburban Sacrifices between the Tang and Northern Song Dynasties”, “The Grand Imperial Ancestral Sacrifices between the Tang and Northern Song Dynasties”, etc.
Deng Fei Associate Professor, B.A. History, Peking University, Ph.D. Chinese Studies, Oxford University; now associate professor in the National Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies, Fudan University. Major research areas include funerary and sacred art of the Song, Jin and Yuan periods, and visual culture of the mid-imperial China. Specific topics of concern include representation, materiality, cultural interaction, and revival of the past. Publications include: “A Ritualized Space: Rethinking Major Pictorial Subjects in Decorated Tombs of the Song, Jin and Yuan Periods”, “Images and Ceremonies: Pictorial Themes in Tombs of the Song and Jin Periods”, “Reading Scenes of Filial Piety Stories in the Burial Context: A Study of Song Decorated Tomb in Henan”, “From Virtuous Paragons to Efficacious Image: Painting of Filial Sons in Song Tombs” , etc.
Rostislav Berezkin Associate Professor, Born in Saint-Petersburg (formerly Leningrad), Russia. Obtained BA (2004), MA (2006) and candidate of sciences degree (2009) from the Faculty of Oriental Studies of Saint-Petersburg State University, Russia (concentration — Chinese philology); obtained PhD degree from the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations of University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA (2010). Publications include: A Dictionary of Radicals of the Ancient Chinese Script Xiao Zhuan; and Precious Scrolls (Baojuan) Functioning in the Culture of China, with Baojuan about Three Rebirths of Mulian as an Example, “The Earliest Known Edition of the Precious Scroll of the Incense Mountain”, “The Connection Between the Cults of local Deities and Baojuan in Changshu”, etc.
Zhu Li-li Associate Professor, B.A., M.A., PhD, School of History and Culture, Shandong University, now associate professor in the National Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies, Fudan University. Research interests are: political and cultural communication between China and Japan in the ancient times; Japanese perception of China before modern times; diaries concerning Ming and Qing Dynasty China by foreign envoys. Publications include: China Image: Ming Society as Viewed by Japanese Ambassadors, “A study of Gozan monks’ view of China in Muromachi Period: Focus on the Evidence from Diplomatic Correspondence Indexed in Zenrinkokuhoki” and “The Difference in Early Modern Diplomatic Ideas between China and Japan as Reflected in the Ryukyu Sovereignty Case”, “Information about China Recorded in the Diaries of Japanese Monks in Muromachi Period: Monks, Merchants, and Exchange of Information in East Asia” etc.
Zhang Jia Associate Professor, B.A., Department of Chinese Language and Literature, Peking University (2004); M.A., Department of History, Tsinghua University (2007); PhD, Department of History, Fudan University (2011); now associate professor in the National Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies. Major research area is social and cultural history of Ming Dynasty, and currently focuses on the Yuan-Ming transformation and the cultural interaction between China and Korea during the early Ming Period. Publications include: Restoring Chinese Culture: Reforms to Social Customs during the Early Ming Era, “Rebuilding Chinese Ethic: the Reform of Marriage and Funeral Custom during the Hongwu Reign”, “Regulating Everyday Life: the Ritual Reform in Early Ming China”, “A Study and Commentary on a Nestorian Family in Jining Circuit in the Yuan Dynasty”, etc.
Ⅲ Other faculty members
Wang Xin-lei (PhD. Fudan University; China-Korean cultural exchanges in Modern history) and Duan Zhiqiang(PhD. Fudan University; Intellectual and cultural history of pre-modern and modern China).