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CUHK and Beijing Language and Culture University Establish Joint Research Centre for Chinese Linguistics and Applied Linguistics
The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) established the Joint Research Centre for Chinese Linguistics and Applied Linguistics with Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU) on March 17. The newly established centre will become a research extension unit at national level in humanities and social sciences in Hong Kong.
Officiating guests of the inauguration ceremony include Prof. Zhang Donggang, Director-General of the Department of Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China (MOE); Ms. Tian Lixin, Deputy Director-General of the Department of Language Information Management of MOE; Prof. Cui Xiliang, President of BLCU; Prof. Joseph Sung, Vice-Chancellor and President of CUHK; and Prof. Li Lu, Director of the Education, Science and Technology Department of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the HKSAR. Prof. Sung said in the ceremony that he hoped the Centre could serve as a bridge to enhance academic exchange and promote research development in the Chinese language in the Greater China region.
The Joint Research Centre aspires to share research resources, utilize the expertise of both institutions and provide an exchange platform for researchers to strengthen the development of linguistics and other related disciplines. It is located at the Faculty of Arts, CUHK. Prof. Feng Shengli, Department of Chinese Language and Literature, CUHK and Prof. Sun Dejin, Center for Studies of Chinese as a Second Language, BLCU, have been appointed co-directors of the Centre. The International Symposium on Chinese Language and the World, organized by the newly established Joint Research Centre, was held after the ceremony. It brought together scholars from the United States, Europe, South East Asia, Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau in the fields of linguistics to exchange research findings on Chinese linguistics, second language teaching, acquisition and bilingualism, and to promote research and teaching in the field.
Scholars from BLCU and CUHK have been collaborating closely over past years in promoting researches on Chinese linguistics and applied linguistics. The establishment of the Joint Research Centre will further enhance the partnership of the two universities in the areas of linguistics and to construct a more systemized and solid research base across the regions. Including the newly established Joint Research Centre, there are only two research extension units at national level in humanities and social sciences in Hong Kong. The first one, CUHK-Sun Yat-sen University Centre for Historical Anthropology, was also established in CUHK in collaboration with Sun Yat-sen University in 2010.
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CUHK-CAS Partnership Steering Committee Hold the 3rd Annual Meeting
The 3rd meeting of Partnership Steering Committee between CUHK and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) was held on 23 March in CUHK. The meeting was co-chaired by Prof. Fanny Cheung, Pro-Vice-Chancellor of CUHK and Prof. Tan Tieniu, Vice-President of CAS. More than 30 CUHK and CAS members from a variety of joint projects participated in the meeting and reported on their progress in the past year.
Fields of collaboration between CUHK and CAS include Synthetic Chemistry, Phytochemistry, Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine, Molecular Research of Common Diseases, Traditional Chinese Medicines, Multimedia Technology, Solar Energy, Big Data, Biomaterials, High Density Electronic Packaging Materials and Devices, Precision Engineering and Psychology. Representatives from the joint laboratories and projects reported the recent progress and reviewed the possibilities of expanding existing collaboration. Discussions were held on how to enhance the development of collaboration projects on innovation and entrepreneurship, in line with the recent National 13th Five-Year Plan. Individual meetings and visits were conducted afterwards for the collaborative teams.
CAS has been a close partner of CUHK. Since the establishment of partnership in 1986, CUHK and CAS have carried out a wide range of collaborative projects in academic exchange and research collaboration. CUHK has established two State Key Laboratories in collaboration with CAS and a number of joint laboratories in different research areas. The CUHK-IPCAS Joint Laboratory on Biosocial Psychology was a recent joint research laboratory established in December 2015. The University also organizes the annual CAS Academicians Visit Programme to strengthen the sustainable partnership with CAS.
