College of Liberal Arts

Ⅰ. History

Founded in 1929, the College of Liberal Arts was one of the five principal colleges of JinanUniversity after the nation-wide readjustment of colleges and universities in 1949 with four departments: Department of the Chinese Language and Literature, Department of Foreign Languages and Literature, Department of Political Economics and Department of History and Sociology.

In 1946, it was joined by the Department of Information Science.

From 1958 to 1970, the College of Liberal Arts consisted of three departments: Department of the Chinese Language and Literature, Department of History, Department of Foreign Languages and Literature.

In 1978, the College of Liberal Arts restored the department of Information Science.

After its readjustment in 1985, the College of Liberal Arts set up the Department of Theories of Social Science.

In the following three years, it was successively joined by the Department of Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language, the ForeignLanguagesTeachingCenter and the TeachingCenter of the Chinese Language and Culture.

In July 1995, the Department of Theories of Social Science and the Department of Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language were separated from the College of Liberal Arts.

In March 1996, the Center of Chinese Art and Culture joined the College of Liberal Arts.

In 1997, it was participated by the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, the Institute of Overseas and Ethnic Chinese and the Institute of Studies of Chinese Ancient Books.

In March 2000, the Institute of Overseas and Ethnic Chinese and the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies were separated from the College of Liberal Arts to join the establishment of the Academy of Overseas and Ethnic Chinese. (The Academy of Overseas and Ethnic Chinese was later removed and the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies returned to the College of Liberal Arts.)

With the readjustment of recent years, the College of Journalism and Communication and the College of Foreign Studies were established and became independent from the College of Liberal Arts. Consequently, the Department of International relations, which was set up under the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, left to join the law School.

In December 2003, the TeachingCenter of the Chinese Language and Culture joined the Department of the Chinese Language and Literature.

Ⅱ. Prestigious Academic Figures:

Before the founding of the P. R. China, the College of Liberal Arts was successively headed by such well known figures as Mr. Chen Zhongfan, Mr. Zheng Zhenduo, Mr. Xu Jie, Mr. liu dajie, and Mr. Wu Wenqi, etc.

A large number of first-class scholars, such as Mr. Xia Mianzun, Mr. Xu Deheng, Mr. Zhou Gucheng, Mr. Liang Shiqiu, Mr. Shen Congwen, Mr. Li Jianwu, Mr. Qian Zhongshu, Mr. Xu Guozhang, Mr. Long Muxun, Mr. Fang Guangshou, Mr. Ye Gongchao, Mr. Hong Shen, Mr. Guo Shaoyu, Mr. Wang Tongzhao, Mr. Fu Donghua, Mr. Zhang Tianyi, Mr. Lu kanru, Mr. Feng Yuanjun, Mr. Zhou Shuliang, etc. used to gather here, engaged in teaching and research, leaving their foot-prints on the campus, making their brilliant contributions to the booming academic prosperity of the College of Liberal Arts.

Ⅲ. Current Status Quo:

After the founding of the P. R. China and particularly after the implementation of the open door policy, the College of Liberal Arts has for several decades witnessed a continuous strengthening of academic construction and reforming of knowledge structure with a continuous improvement of comprehensive capacity.

The College of Liberal Arts has 4 teaching and research departments: Dept. of the Chinese Language and Literature, Dept. of History, Center of Chinese Art and Culture, Institute of Chinese Culture and Historical Records. Moreover, there such research institutes as: Institute of the Chinese Language and Culture, Institute of History, Center of History and Culture of Hong Kong and Macao, Research Office of Overseas Chinese Literature and Literature of Tang & Song Dynasties.

The College of Liberal Arts has currently 5 doctorate programs, 11 master programs, 1 National Training Center of Talents of Fundamental Humanity Disciplines, 1 post-doctoral station, 3 province-level key disciplines and 3 ministry-level key disciplines, and is undertaking 2 research items of “211 project”.

The College of Liberal Arts possesses 109 faculty members including 75 professors or associate professors, among whom there are 26 Ph. D coaches and 33 master coaches.

There are 383 undergraduate students and 466 graduate students currently studying in the College.