Research Units
D.C. Lau Research Centre for Chinese Ancient Texts
The forerunner of the D. C. Lau Research Centre for Chinese Ancient Texts was the Chinese Ancient Texts (CHANT) Project which was set up in 1988 as an integral part of the Institute of Chinese Studies. Its goals are to build up an electronic database of the entire corpus of traditional and excavated ancient Chinese texts, to conduct relevant researches, and to publish the findings via different media. To continue and develop the success of the Project, the Research Centre for Chinese Ancient Texts under the ICS was established in 2005. On 29 November 2011, in order to recognize the distinguished contributions of the late Professor D. C. Lau, the Centre was renamed as the D. C. Lau Research Centre for Chinese Ancient Texts.
T.T. Ng Chinese Language Research Centre
The history of the T.T. Ng Chinese Language Research Centre (CLRC) can be traced back to the founding of the “Chinese Linguistics Research Centre” in 1966. The Centre was renamed the “Chinese Language Research Centre” in 1978. In 1980, the Centre received generous support from Mr. Tor-tai Ng, and consequently changed its name to the “T.T. Ng Chinese Language Research Centre”. Since its founding, the Centre has emphasized both traditional and modern aspects of Chinese linguistics, combined theory with practice, and contributed to the study of the Chinese language.
Research Centre for Contemporary Chinese Culture
The Research Centre for Contemporary Chinese Culture was founded in 1993 to promote research on modern Chinese thought and culture. Over the years, the Centre has carried out a number of research projects, organized several international academic conferences as well as a good many of academic talks. The Centre also published the journal The Twenty-First Century Bimonthly and a series of books on the study of the history of Chinese thoughts and modern Chinese history.
Research Programme for Lingnan Culture
The Research Programme for Lingnan Culture (RPLC) was established in 2019, which is a timely response to the growing scholarly interest in studying the local and inter-regional cultures of the “Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau-Greater Bay Area” of China. It provides intellectual exchanges in Lingnan culture within the campus of CUHK, Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area. The RPLC has organized several public lectures, workshops, music concerts, as well as international conference and exhibition of Lingnan culture.
Lingnan Culture and the World: Construction and Change in the Cultural Landscape of Cantonese Literati from the late Qing to the Republican era in China (1821–1949)
Gathering scholars from across the humanities disciplines, this project examines the construction and evolution of the Lingnan culture as seen in the lives and experiences of 150 key personalities among the Cantonese literati and merchant-gentry of the late Qing and Republican era (1821–1949)—an age of great change in the history of modern China. This project will underline Lingnan’s unique role in the local and global history of culture and knowledge, situating it in the intersections of the Chinese heritage and the incoming cultures from the West and other culturally active parts of the world.
CCKF Asia-Pacific Centre for Chinese Studies
The Chinese University of Hong Kong—Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation Asia-Pacific Centre for Chinese Studies (APC) was established in January 2006. APC is funded by a generous donation from the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange and a grant from the University.
APC is the third overseas Chinese Studies centre of the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange, and also its first centre in the Asia-Pacific region. It is established to promote Chinese Studies in Hong Kong, Mainland China, Taiwan, as well as within and beyond the Asia-Pacific region.
The French School of Asian Studies (École Française d'Extrême-Orient)
The French School of Asian Studies (École Française d'Extrême-Orient), founded in 1898, operates today under the aegis of the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research. Its mission is the study of the classical civilizations and contemporary societies of Asia through the humanities and social sciences. A network of eighteen research centres in twelve Asian countries allows its 42 senior scholars (anthropologists, archaeologists, linguists, historians and others) and several hundred staff and associates to engage in extended periods of fieldwork and conservations projects in collaboration with local specialists and Asianists from around the world.
In 2007, the EFEO took the initiative in founding the European Consortium for Asian Field Study (ECAF). Coordinated by the EFEO, ECAF brings together more than 40 leading academic institutions in the EU, Russia, and Asia. Its principal aims are to provide field access and study facilities to European scholars through the sharing of a network of 22 research facilities in Asia and to encourage joint interdisciplinary programmes in the field of Asian studies. In 2012-2013 ECAF is acquiring an autonomous legal status as a Public Interest Group dedicated to resource pooling in Asian field research.
After many years of individual collaborations between the EFEO and the sinological community in Hong Kong, a permanent EFEO Centre was established in 1994. It is hosted by the Institute for Chinese Studies of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), a co-founder of ECAF. The Centre’s traditional cooperation with the ICS and the CUHK Department of Religious Studies also extends to other units of the University as well as other institutions in Hong Kong, mainland China, and Taiwan. In collaboration with its partners, the centre organizes various academic activities and promotes scholarly exchanges between Hong Kong and Europe.
