Introduction to the Academic Master's Programs in Chinese Language and Literature

The Chinese Language and Literature discipline at Jiangnan University originated from the Department of Literature established by Mr. Qian Mu in 1947. In 2006, the discipline was approved to offer master's degrees in Chinese Ancient Literature, Comparative Literature, and World Literature. In 2009, it gained the right to evaluate professorship titles, and in 2011, it was granted the authority to confer master's degrees in the first-level discipline.

The discipline has been recognized as a national first-class undergraduate program and a brand specialty in Jiangsu Province. It boasts a highly skilled and distinctive faculty team that is capable and dedicated. Currently, there are 38 full-time teachers, including 8 professors and 27 associate professors. 74% of the faculty members hold doctoral degrees. The discipline has formed a well-structured, distinctive, and sustainable team in terms of age, education background, and professional titles. The discipline has a national base for cultivating students' humanistic qualities and important research platforms such as the "Jiangnan Culture Research Center," "Wuyue Culture Research Center," and "Wuxi Jiangnan Culture and Film Research Center" through deep cooperation with local governments.

Under the inspiration and support of the university's "Advancement Plan," the faculty members have achieved significant academic research results. They have undertaken over 50 projects funded by the National Social Science Foundation and provincial-level or higher-level authorities and have won more than 30 awards for social science achievements at provincial, ministerial, and municipal levels. In recent years, they have published over 60 monographs and textbooks and published over 1,000 papers in prestigious domestic journals, including more than 300 high-level papers indexed by CSSCI. The discipline's experts and scholars have delivered over a hundred lectures on CCTV's "Lectures from a Hundred Schools" and at domestic and international academic conferences.

The discipline adheres to the integration of Chinese language and literature with philosophy, history, religion, sociology, and other humanities disciplines. It emphasizes the inheritance and modern transformation of excellent traditional Chinese culture. It has developed specialties in Chinese studies, ancient book compilation and chronicle editing, poetics and aesthetics research, comparative literature and literary studies, new media literary criticism, dialect research, and ancient script interpretation and compilation. Additionally, relying on the regional humanistic advantages of southern Jiangsu, it has made fruitful achievements in research on "academic and cultural studies of southern Jiangsu," "studies of historical and cultural figures in southern Jiangsu," and "research on Wuxi regional culture." Graduates not only pursue doctoral degrees but also excel in teaching and research positions at higher education institutions or secondary schools, as well as in cultural promotion, news publishing, administrative management, and other positions in enterprises, institutions, and government departments. They have received widespread recognition in talent cultivation, scientific research, social services, cultural heritage, and innovation.

The Objectives of the Academic Master's Programs in Chinese Language and Literature

Guided by Xi Jinping's thought on socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era and fully implementing the Party's education policy, we adhere to and strengthen the Party's overall leadership, focus on the quality of talent cultivation, prioritize moral education, highlight the core of talent cultivation, firmly establish the correct political direction and ideals and beliefs, and fully leverage the role of ideological and political education as the main channel and main position. We aim to cultivate students who love their country, have a sense of social responsibility, abide by the law, possess good morals, are rigorous in their studies, and have strong career aspirations; possess the spirit of hard work, practical innovation, and academic integrity; have a certain breadth and depth of professional knowledge and consciously comply with academic norms; have strong research ability and high level of academic writing skills, master good research methods, and have preliminary abilities in problem awareness, methodology awareness, independent analysis and problem-solving. Graduates are able to engage in teaching and research related to Chinese language and literature and related disciplines, as well as cultural, propaganda, news, publishing, management, and other fields.

The Research Directions of the Academic Master's Programs in Chinese Language and Literature

1. Literary Studies

2. Linguistics and Applied Linguistics

3. Chinese Ancient Literature

4. Chinese Modern and Contemporary Literature

5. Comparative Literature and World Literature