On the morning of May 18, 2025, Lecture 279 of the Foreign Languages and Culture Forum and Lecture 19 of the Series on Area and Regional Studies were successfully held at SFS. The forum, themed "Research Planning and Expansion of Foreign Language Disciplines from the Perspective of Area and Regional Studies", with Prof. Chen Liang, Vice Dean of the College of Foreign Languages and Literature at Fudan University, as the speaker. Chaired by Zhang Chang’an, Secretary of the SFS Party Committee, the forum attracted active participation from faculty and students.
The forum adopted a format combining keynote lectures and a Q&A session. In the lecture, Prof. Chen systematically expounded on the interdisciplinary nature of area and regional studies, emphasizing that such research should be oriented toward serving the country's foreign strategic needs. He proposed constructing a "mutually referential" research mindset, integrating theories and methods from politics, economics, history, sociology, and other disciplines to deeply explore target countries' cultural traditions, institutional characteristics, and diplomatic interactions with China. Focusing on the frontiers of foreign language discipline development, Prof. Chen outlined research paths for area and regional studies in three fields: foreign languages and literatures, linguistics, and translation. Using specific case studies, he demonstrated interdisciplinary research paradigms. From the perspective of disciplinary construction, he proposed three development dimensions for area and regional studies: constructing a disciplinary theory system with Chinese characteristics at the theoretical level, advocating integrated innovation of multidisciplinary perspectives at the methodological level, and exploring new models for cultivating well-rounded talents at the teaching practice level.
During the interaction, faculty and students engaged in in-depth discussions with Prof. Chen on methodologies for area and regional studies and interdisciplinary collaboration models. His detailed responses left attendees feeling highly inspired.
