On April 9th, Professor Yan Guodong, Dean of College of Foreign Languages in Nankai University and Director of the Center of International and Regional Studies was invited by University for Foreigners of Siena to deliver a lecture entitled “The History and Characteristics of Sinology in Russia” to teachers and students in this university. Associate Professor Anna di Toro, a Sinologist in University for Foreigners of Siena hosted this lecture.
Professor Yan Guodong looked back to the history of development of Russian Sinology in detail, summarized important achievements of Russian Sinologists and revealed the marked characteristics of Russian Sinology according to the comparison among Sinology in different Western countries. Professor Yan Guodong pointed out that China and Russia shared a long border and had close and frequent official and non-governmental exchanges in history. Russian Sinology began in the 18th century and has a history of about 300 years. With numerous scholars and master pieces, the Russian Sinology formed a magnificent international map of Sinology together with Sinology of the character cultural circle in East Asia and European and American Sinology. The development of Russian Sinology went through three historical stages, namely, Tsarist Russia, Soviet Union and Modern Russia. During the first two stages, Russian Sinology not only had distinctive characteristics and remarkable achievements which greatly contributed to the development of studies on China and orientalism but also received recognition from the international field of Sinology. But since the disintegration of the Soviet Union, although the Chinese learning in Russia has been of prosperity, the Sinology Studies has encountered certain difficulties.
In the Q&A session, Professor Yan Guodong had academic discussions with teachers and students online, for instance, they discussed whether Russian culture belongs to the category of European culture or Asian culture. The Italian scholars who attended the seminar felt that they have learned different research methods through the lectures and were very inspired.
Finally, Associate Professor Di Haibing summarized the lecture, and Professor Yan Guodong expressed his gratitude to Siena College for Foreigners for its support to the construction of the Italian depatment of Nankai University. The lecture ended with the wishes of teachers and students.
