An Introduction to the School of Literature
Established in 2004, The School of Literature of Jiujiang University (JJU) is a key liberal art faculty with distinct discipline characteristics and steady improvement in talent training quality dedicated to training Chinese teachers and related professionals. Its origin goes back to the merger of the Chinese Department of Jiujiang Normal College (founded in 1977), the Chinese Department of Jiujiang College of Education (founded in 1985), and the Culture and Communication Department of Jiujiang College of Finance and Economics (founded in 2001). The School of Literature at JJU is striving to become a high-level applied faculty with distinctive regional features and local significance.
Notable scholars such as Bayan ZHAN, Zuoyi LING, Biao LI, Zhenxiong YANG, Zhong CHEN, Longyan LUO and Jundao MEI have taught here. The School of Literature currently has 92 faculty members, including 5 professors, 31 associate professors and 40 lecturers. Among them, 26 have doctoral degrees and 11 are studying for doctoral degrees. In addition, there are 1 first prize and 2 third prizes of the Tsang Hin-chi Education Foundation Higher Normal Universities Award for excellent teachers, 1 winner of the National “May 1st” Labour Medal, 1 recipient of the Special government allowances of the State Council, 1 candidate of the first and second level of Jiangxi New Century Talents Project, and 3 young and middle-aged key teachers at the provincial level.
The well-diversified and highly qualified faculty group in the School of Literature is dedicated to nurturing students to prepare them for success in their chosen fields of study. The School of Literature has 1 state-level first-class undergraduate course and 2 provincial excellent courses. “Ancient Chinese Literature” is a key construction subject in Jiangxi Province during the 11th Five-Year Plan period, and “Chinese Language and Literature” is the first-class subject of the university. TCSOL is one of the first batches of featured advantage majors.
Each teaching and research department of the School of Literature is set up according to the corresponding disciplinary characteristics, such as Chinese language and literature, TCSOL, Network and New Media, and Chinese and teaching methods, etc, and undertakes the teaching of College Chinese, Writing and other public courses. The School of Literature currently offers undergraduate degrees in three majors, namely, Chinese language and literature, TCSOL, and Network and New Media, covering two first-level disciplines of literature-Chinese language and literature, and journalism and communication.
The School of Literature attaches great importance to discipline construction, academic research and regional integration. It has established one key research base of Humanities and Social Science in Jiangxi Province (The Research Centre of Lushan Mountain Culture ), one social science popularization base in Jiangxi Province (Communication and Application Research Center of Shuyuan Culture），one Key research base of Philosophy and Social Science in Jiangxi Province (The Centre for Cognitive Science and Interdisciplinary Research), and Research Centre for Jiujiang Culture and Ecological Protection in the Yangtze River Basin, Research Centre for Applied Language, and Research Centre for Integrated Media.
The School of Literature has accumulated precious academic experiences and made plentiful achievements in the fields of Lushan culture, Tao Yuanming research, the Shuyuan Academy education, intangible cultural heritage and so on. In the past five years, it has hosted or co-organized 18 academic conferences, planned and carried out multiple cultural projects and compiled a number of large-scale literature, and formed its unique characteristics and advantages in regional culture, especially in Tao Yuanming research.
In recent years, the School of Literature has made remarkable achievements in academic research, including 14 projects funded by the National Social Science Foundation of China, 4 projects funded by the Ministry of Education, and more than 50 provincial projects. Faculty members of the school have published 55 papers in CSSCI journals and more than 70 papers in PKU Chinese core journals, 25 monographs, 6 textbooks, and 9 provincial Humanities and Social Science Awards.
Upon the recognition of JJU being one of the first Chinese language education bases of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council in 2000, the School of Literature continues to actively promote international cooperation and exchange in Chinese education. Relying on the major of TCSOL and two Confucius Institutes (the Confucius Institute of Royal Academy of Cambodia and the Confucius Institute at Savannah State University, established in 2009 and 2014 respectively), the School of Literature has developed its own significance in overseas Chinese language education and professional cultivation.
In line with the mission of the university, the School of Literature continues to enrich the connotation of teaching and improve the quality of talent training and has emerged a large number of outstanding alumni such as Zhongqiu WANG, Luo MO, and Ronghua HUANG. In recent years, more than 200 graduates of the School of Literature have been admitted to the postgraduate examination.
To engage students in educational, academic and practical experiences, the School of Literature actively seeks and creates opportunities for students to apply knowledge in a multilingual and multicultural environment. Students benefit from the expertise of teachers, diversified facilities and a friendly environment. Student associations such as Langjing Literary Club, Lianxi Drama Club, Diehu Poetry Club, Campus Video Studio, Student Press Corps, Student Choir, Self-study Club, etc provide platforms for student growth and life success. A wide range of activities such as T-shirt design competitions, various writing contests, speech contests, ancient poetry reciting contests, debating contests, dubbing competitions, interviews and chat shows with teachers and students are carried out regularly, which not only extend students' professional knowledge and practical abilities, enhance communicative competence, cultivate their interests and enrich their extracurricular life but also greatly improve students' enthusiasm for learning and their awareness of caring and serving the society. Our students receive more than 200 national and provincial awards in various competitions every year. In the 7th Jiangxi Province “Internet+” College Students Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition held in 2021, both our teachers and students were empowered to reach their full potential and won one silver award, achieving a breakthrough in this competition.
The School of Literature believes that student thriving, faculty inspiration, and academic innovation are essential to ensure the university’s impact, and therefore devoted to harnessing its own disciplines' characteristics and regional background to cultivate comprehensive talents with mixed competitive competence of global awareness, digital fluency, and intercultural sensitivity.
