Young Sinologists participating in the 2016 Visiting Program discuss  contemporary topics.

 

“There is a big difference between the real China and China’s image reported by Western media because the latter is inclined to politicize most issues, so the way to understand the real China relies on your personal experience,” said Ertuğrul Ceylan.

A research assistant in the Sinology Department at Ankara University, Ertuğrul is participating in the 2016 Visiting Program for Young Sinologists launched on July 6 in Beijing. The three-week training program, hosted by the Chinese Ministry of Culture and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, invites 31 young Sinologists from 26 countries.
 

Another participant, Nasiru Aliyu, a senior lecturer from Bayero University Kano, Nigeria, who obtained his doctorate degree in Law at Wuhan University in 2010, said China looks like a “gold mine” to be discovered. This training program helps me to clearly understand the Chinese issues, especially the system of local government and policy implementation in China, contrasting with my obscure understanding of China before, he said.

Grete Schönebeck, a lecturer from the Department of Sinology at Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany, pointed out that she was also surprised at the big changes, especially access to convenient transportation and a wide array of electronic products. She found that the Chinese social media platform WeChat offers more comprehensive functionality than WhatsApp, which is widely used by Europeans.
 

“People are more interested in China and more scholars are willing to conduct China studies, while Mandarin tops the list of the most popular world languages,” Patricia Yu said. She is now pursuing her doctorate degree in the Department of Art History at the University of California, Berkeley, and specializing in the reproduction of artifacts damaged in the destruction of the Old Summer Palace. She said that this program granted her precious access to research materials on the Old Summer Palace, which are hard to obtain in the United States.
 

Ertuğrul faces similar challenges when conducting research on China in Turkey as well. “The interactions between China and Turkey may date back to Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC) and the detailed history of Turkey had been well written in Chinese ancient records, so Sinology research is crucial for our own history,” he said. “But it’s difficult for us to check and obtain ancient Chinese literature in Turkey.”
 

But this barrier does not affect Ertuğrul’s passion nor that of his colleagues in Ankara University. When the university established the country’s first Sinology department in 1935, it only had one teacher, but it has 15 full-time faculty today. In 2010, the Turkish Ministry of National Education called for Sinology departments in 10 universities to train specialists in the field, and so far, seven or eight universities have done so.
 

China is a hot topic for ordinary Turkish people as well. For example, a painting contest among Turkish high schools attracting nearly 300 students, titled “My Imaginary China” was hosted by Turkey’s Ministry of National Education together with the Chinese embassy this May, Ertuğrul said. “This competition is welcomed by the Turkish people, so more people-to-people exchanges should be arranged by the Chinese government to help its history and culture go out.” 
 

Nasiru also emphasized the importance of interpersonal communication to further boost the overseas China studies because the discipline is confronted with several challenges such as insufficient mutual understanding, language barriers, cultural differences and the dominant position of Western media. Therefore, more non-governmental exchanges like this 2016 visiting program should be encouraged, he said.

 

Li Yujie is a reporter at the Chinese Social Sciences Today.