With its official inauguration held on 17 March 2016, JRCCLAL is one of the Key Research Base in Humanities and Social Sciences recognized by the State Ministry of Education of People’s Republic of China.

The Center is aimed at promoting cooperation and communication in linguistic research between institutions in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan, Mainland China, and other regions in Asia. Up to now, the Center has established academic links with several prestigious institutions of linguistic research, including Center for Studies of Chinese as a Second Language-Beijing Language and Culture University, Research Center for Linguistic Sciences-Tianjin University, Center for Studies of History of Chinese Language-Zhejiang University, Beijing Normal University, Capital Normal University, University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University, Peking University, Princeton University, Stanford University, The Chinese University of Hong Kong- Shenzhen, University of California (Davis), University of Notre Dame, etc.

As a joint research institution co-founded by two of the top universities in Chinese linguistics, JRCCLAL specializes in many areas such as prosodic grammar, diglossia grammar, formal syntax, diachronic syntax, exegesis and pedagogical grammar, etc. The Center has obtained substantial progress in all its research areas, with several books and many articles published.

Since its foundation, the Center has organized several international conferences and symposiums on Chinese linguistics, including The Second International Conference on Chinese Prosodic Grammar (November 6-8, 2015), The International Symposium on Chinese and the World (March 17-18, 2016), Roundtable on Current Issues in Light Verb Syntax in Chinese (May 28, 2016), etc.

Currently, the Center also undertakes several key research funds/projects in areas such as diachronic syntax, diglossia grammar and Qian-Jia scholarship in exegesis, among which there are Ancient Chinese Grammar Study- the Archaic Syntax – the Historical Grammar of Zhou Dynasties (2015 Annual National Social Science Foundation Major Grant-Subproject) , Qian-Jia Scholars Duan Yucai “Shuowenjiezi” and Wang Niansun “Guangyashuzheng Scientific Research Methods and Concepts (2015 Annual National Social Science Foundation Major Grant), Identification of Chinese as a Foreign Language Style of Register: Identify, Classification and Distribution (2014 Ministry of Education Humanities and Social Science Research Base of Major Project), Joint Project on “Linguistic Diversity in China”（the Penn-China Research and Engagement Fund and Faculty of Arts at CUHK), etc.

To increase academic visibility, the Center has established its official website (https://www.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/~jclal/), on which visitors can have access to academic resources and latest academic news. Its journal, Prosodic Studies, is also published on a regular basis, which focuses on (but is not confined to) the Chinese languages and covers various subareas such as prosodic phonology, prosodic morphology, prosodic syntax, prosodic literature, etc.

The above academic activities have exerted considerable academic influence and earned widespread acclaim for JRCCLAL’s consistent efforts to promote Chinese linguistic studies. The Center will, as always, be open to scholars of Chinese linguistics worldwide, and contribute to the development of Chinese linguistics.