The 2019 Executive Council Meeting of the World Conference on Sinology and the Confucius China Studies Program Doctoral Forum has been successfully held at Dusseldorf Germany

From November 2-3, 2019 the Executive Council Meeting of the World Conference on Sinology and the “Confucius China Studies Program” (CCSP) was held in Dusseldorf, Germany. The conference was jointly sponsored by the Confucius Institute Headquarters, the Confucius Institute in Dusseldorf, and Renmin University of China.

At the Opening Ceremony on the morning of November 2, Deputy Mayor Wolfgang Scheffler and Vice President of Heinrich Heine University of Dusseldorf Prof. Stefan Marschall delivered speeches and welcomed council representatives from all over the world. The vice-president of Renmin University of China Prof. Du Peng and the Chairperson of the Executive Council Prof. Yang Huilin also delivered speeches and expressed their gratitude to the local hosts. The opening ceremony was presided over by Prof. Cord Eberspächer, Director of the Confucius Institute in Dusseldorf as well as the members of the Executive Council of the World Conference on Sinology.

Members of the Executive Council attended this meeting included Roger Ames of Peking University/University of Hawaii; Robert Chard of the University of Oxford; Cord Eberspächer of the Confucius Institute in Dusseldorf (Germany); Barthelemy Jobert of Sorbonne University (Paris); Colin Mackerras of Griffith University (Australia); Bülent Okay from the University of Ankara (Turkey); Aleksei Rodionov from the University of St. Petersburg (Russia); Nicolas Standaert from University of Leuven (Belgium); Carsten Thogersen from the Copenhagen Business School (Denmark); Richard Trappl from University of Vienna (Austria); Ralph Weber from the University of Basel (Switzerland);  Professor Sun Xiangchen of Fudan University; Professor Huang Youyi of the China Translators Association, etc. and representatives from Confucius Institute Headquarters and Renmin University of China also attended the meeting.

At the Council’s business meeting, EC members discussed the theme, time, and place of the 2020 World Conference on Sinology and amendments of Charter as well as the replacement of members of the Council etc. After that, EC members participated in the “Confucius China Studies Program” Ph.D. Forum as mentors to comment on the academic achievements of these young overseas sinologists. This Ph.D. Forum is mainly set up for students of "Confucius China Studies Program" in Europe. Seventeen doctoral students from ten countries presented their research results.

"Confucius China Studies Program" is a high-end cultural exchange program launched by the Confucius Institute Headquarters in 2013, aiming to provide resources for research in China for outstanding overseas students and young scholars from all walks of life. So far, it has trained more than 500 overseas PhDs engaged in research fields related to China. This forum is mainly held for students from Europe. It not only enables well-known scholars to see the research interests and develop the potential of these future sinologists, but also enables young scholars from different countries and fields to establish an exchange platform for mutual learning and common benefits. Renmin University of China has hosted the World Conference on Sinology six times, and since 2014 it has been the Secretariat of the Executive Council of World Conference on Sinology as well the Secretariat of the Advisory Committee of the “Confucius China Study Program”. Each year Renmin University of China organizes the Executive Council Meeting as well as the CCSP Ph.D. Forum. This is the first time that the meeting and forums have been co-hosted abroad.