ABOUT US

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Mission

The Center for Chinese Studies at the University of Michigan was founded in 1961 and has maintained its leading position among centers nationwide for nearly 50 years. The Center's thirty-plus faculty forms an intellectual community fostering collaboration among humanists, professionals, and social scientists, in an environment appreciative of the interdependency of past and present. Situated within the International Institute, the mission of the Center is to provide students, specialists and the public at large with expert resources and a deeper understanding of issues ranging from today's headlines to time-honored questions of value and meaning. CCS collaborative projects, outreach initiatives, and the M.A. Program all make full use of the multiple disciplines and analytical perspectives promoted by the Center.

History

Chinese Studies at the University of Michigan began formally with the establishment of an Oriental Civilizations Program in 1930, at which time the University of Michigan also boasted the largest numbers of enrolled Asian students in the country. The Center for Chinese Studies was founded in 1961, and since then has become one of the country's most prominent Centers devoted to a deeper understanding of China, past and present.

Since its inception, the Center for Chinese Studies has served a wide range of constituencies. Primary among these are students and faculty at the University of Michigan, but many faculty associates have engaged in public service, appearing as commentators on China in the national media or providing expert testimony at Congressional hearings. Others have assumed leadership roles in scholarly and exchange organizations at the national level or have served, inter alia, as consultants to the State of Michigan, U.S. Department of State, World Bank, and even the White House. The Center thus serves as a major intellectual hub for understanding China, serving both the University community and the public at large.

The Center brings together over thirty active faculty associates who take the study of China as the major focus of their work. Our associates represent the full range of humanities and social science disciplines, from anthropology and art history to political science and psychology. This disciplinary range enables the Center to offer a unique, interdisciplinary M.A. degree in Chinese Studies which provides specialist training while preparing students to to make effective use of both social science and humanistic methodologies. It offers as well a joint M.A./M.B.A. degree with the School of Business Administration, and accommodates student-initiated dual degree programs with other schools and departments on campus.

Over the years the Center has benefited from strong university-level support so that Michigan can boast one of the finest arrays of China-related resources in the nation. The University of Michigan's Asia Library houses the largest collection of materials in Chinese between the coasts. A complete photographic collection of the major works held in the National Palace Museum in Taiwan is available for study through the Asian Art Archives in the University's History of Art Department, and the University of Michigan Museum of Art houses a range of masterpieces dating from neolithic times to the present. In addition, the Center operates its own scholarly publications unit, with more than 50 books currently in print, along with educational CD's and other public-service products.