Since its establishment, the Centre for Chinese History and Culture (CCHC) of the University of Macau has made significant academic achievements. Xu Qingsen, Director of the Department of Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education of PRC, announced that the Centre for Chinese History and Culture has been established as a national key base for humanities and history. This is the first major research base of humanities and social sciences in general higher education institutions in Macao, and the first major research base that implements a high standard of cooperation between Macao universities and mainland universities.
The Centre for Chinese History and Culture of the University of Macau, a key research base for humanities and social sciences in higher education institutions of the Ministry of Education, recently held a research conference and the first academic committee meeting at the University of Macau through a combination of online and offline methods. The meeting invited Xu Qingsen, Director of the Department of Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education, Shi Shuzheng, Vice Minister of the Department of Education and Youth Work of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Macao Special Administrative Region, Dr. Wu Zhiliang, President of the Committee of Administration of the Macao Foundation, as well as leaders of Tsinghua University, East China Normal University, the University of Macao and members of the Academic Committee of the Centre for Chinese History and Culture of the University of Macau to attend in both online and offline ways. The committee listened to the work report by Director Zhu Shoutong of CCHC, deliberated on the structure of the Academic Committee and academic research projects, and provided suggestions and recommendations for the future academic development of the Center.
Director Xu Qingsen delivered a speech at the meeting, fully affirming the achievements of CCHC. He quoted President Xi Jinping’s viewpoint that “historical research is the foundation of all cultures” and said that “the establishment of the base at the Center is of great significance”. At the same time, he also gave an outlook on the future direction of the Center, hoping that the Center will continue to strengthen the study of Chinese history and culture, promote the dissemination of Chinese history and culture in Portuguese-speaking countries, enhance the sense of national cultural identity of the new generation of youth, and inspire their patriotism and love for Macao and the country.
Vice Minister Shi Shuzheng expressed his appreciation for the achievements of CCHC, such as the Chinese Culture Forum, the Chinese Cultural Research Series, the Macao Teenager’s Newspaper, the Chinese History and Culture Comic Book Series, and the Famous Teachers and Famous Schools Project, acknowledged the development of the Center in the past five years, and thanked the care of Ministry of Education as well as the support of other partners of the base. In addition, Vice Minister Shi also said that the Liaison Office will continue to fully support the work of the Center in the future.
Dr. Wu Zhiliang said that the Macao Foundation would continue to provide support and assistance to the activities organized by CCHC, and hoped that the Center would train more students from Macao in the future, and continue to export and disseminate Chinese history and culture belonging to Macao. Prof. Wu Qiantao, senior professor of liberal arts at Tsinghua University, and Prof. Yang Guorong, director of the Institute of Modern Chinese Thought and Culture at East China Normal University, also delivered speeches, expressing their commitment to maintain academic exchanges and cooperation with the Center in the future, and the willing to support each other, make progress together.
In the next five years, the Center plans to cooperate with Professor Wu Qiantao’s team at Tsinghua University, Professor Yang Guorong’s team at East China Normal University, and the academic backbone of Macao’s literature and history, to continue to work on the history of early human civilization, the history of Chinese culture (Macao), and the forum of Chinese culture (Macao), to expand the chronicle of Macao literature, to publish the “Chinese Cultural Research Series”, and to create a series of Macao brands on Chinese history and culture research.
Mr. Jiang Ye, Deputy Secretary General of the China Foundation for the Development of Social Culture, Prof. Zhu Andong of Tsinghua University, Prof. Chen Yun of East China Normal University, Prof. Zhang Hongming of the Macau University of Science and Technology, Prof. Lin Wei of Nanjing University, Prof. Yuan Yulin of the Chinese Department of the University of Macau, Dr. Ye Zhuti, Editor-in-Chief of the Exploration and Free Views, and other scholars have discussed the characteristics of Macau culture, the advantages of the “One Country, Two Systems” policy and the inter-university cooperation. The CCHC also responded promptly to these issues, integrating and adopting the good suggestions of all parties, and comprehensively examining the effectiveness of its current work, in order to strive for excellence in the direction of education, research and dissemination of Chinese history and culture.
The Academic Committee of the CCHC is composed according to the specifications of a national academic platform, with Dr. Wu Zhiliang as the director, Prof. Wu Qiantao, Prof. Yang Guorong and Prof. Zhu Shoutong as the deputy directors, senior literature and history experts from Tsinghua University, East China Normal University and the University of Macau, as well as Prof. Liu Jun, Rector of the City University of Macau, Prof. Zhang Shuguang, Vice Rector of the University of Saint Joseph in Macao, Prof. Chen Wei Ming, President of Macau Millennium College, Prof. Zhang Hongming, Dean of the University International College of the Macau University of Science and Technology, and Prof. Lam Fat Iam, Dean of Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of Macao Polytechnic University, participating in the related work.
Professor Xu Jie, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Macau, concluded the meeting by expressing his heartfelt gratitude to the Ministry of Education, the Liaison Office and the higher education institutions for their support, and hoped that CCHC and other institutions would complement each other’s strengths and create a future together.
