On the evening of October 13, 2022, Professor Jiang Jingkui brought an online academic lecture entitled “Contents, Methods and Objectives of Regional and Country Studies” to the Region and Country Studies Center of Nankai University. Professor Jiang Jingkui is a doctoral supervisor of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature and the Institute for International and Area Studies of the School of Humanities of Tsinghua University, the Executive Vice President of the Institute for International and Area Studies, the Vice Chairman of the National Administry Committee on Teaching English Language to Majors in Higher Education of the Ministry of Education, and the Chairman of the Steering Committee for Non Common Language Sub branches. He is mainly engaged in the teaching and research of Indian literature and culture, Indian religion, and national issues in South Asia. This lecture was one of the academic activities of “Celebrating the 80th Anniversary of the Founding of Modern Foreign Language Non lingual Higher Education in China”. Nearly 200 students and teachers attended the lecture.
Professor Yan Guodong, Dean of the College of Foreign Languages of Nankai University and Director of the Regional and Country Studies Center of Nankai University, was the host of the lecture. Prof. Yan introduced Prof. Jiang Jingkui’s academic achievements, reviewed his lectures given to the College of Foreign Languages in the past, and expressed his gratitude.
Professor Jiang first explained the necessity of conducting regional and country studies in the New Era as a requirement of the time, that China, as an advocate of the consciousness of a community of shared future for mankind, needs to conduct regional country studies to contact the wider international community. Regional ethnology is related to many disciplines, but its emphasis could be different. Professor Jiang explained the “regional ethnology” from four aspects of discipline purpose, research content, research methods and research objectives, supplemented by the example of Indian research.
Professor Jiang believed that regional and country research is not equal to think tank research and emphasizes the importance of talent training. The aim of setting up regional national studies in colleges and universities should be the cultivation of talents majoring in regional national research with global vision, Chinese vision and perspectives from others. Professor Jiang cited examples such as the regional distribution of tea pronunciation, the circulation of cotton, the connection of sugar to the three civilizations, and the funeral customs in India to illustrate the visions and perspectives. “Global vision” refers to “a profound understanding and practice of the concept of the earth as a whole, and mankind as a community of shared destiny”. “China vision” means “having Chinese knowledge, and patriotic but not narrow-minded”. “Perspective from others” refers to “knowing the other side and understanding the other side, having a deep and comprehensive understanding of the target country or region, and being able to see the other side from their perspective, not condescending, not menial”.
In terms of research content, Professor Jiang believed that regional ethnology is a study of domain based on regions. Region refers to geography, location and space, while domain refers to disciplines, multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary and interdisciplinary. Professor Jiang pointed out that regional and country studies should be based on basic research and focus on problem research. Instead of focusing on problems under the spotlight, we should learn from the “dim light”. Professor Jiang took the lotus pond as a metaphor. Just as research on a lotus pond requires learning its most basic things, water and mud, not just flowers and leaves, so should regional and country studies.
In terms of research methods, Professor Jiang emphasized the importance of field research in the target country or region. “We should go to the lotus pond, go into water and mud”. Taking the training design of doctoral students in regional and country studies of Tsinghua University as an example, Professor Jiang pointed out that field study in the target country or region, systematic knowledge of main disciplines, proficiency in the target country’s language, and domestic and foreign tutors were indispensable.
In terms of research objectives, as far as research objects are concerned, Professor Jiang believed that developing countries and regions are important interests of China and should pay attention to research on developing countries. As far as the goal is concerned, regional country studies should strive to “know the enemy and act accordingly”. Scholars of regional country studies need to have regional research ability, that is, master the core knowledge of regional country studies, have the language ability of the target country or region, and be able to complete in-depth field practice in the target country or region.
Finally, Professor Jiang summarized the disciplinary construction of regional ethnology in China. On the one hand, it is necessary to innovate the concept, model and curriculum of regional country study, and construct a new theoretical system and practical model. On the other hand, it is indispensable to realize the internationalization of the discipline of regional country studies, conduct field research in the target countries or regions, learn the methods of regional country studies in developed countries, and exchange experiences with international peers. Professor Jiang also pointed out that China needs to establish its own databases of regional and national data. On the relationship between foreign languages and regional ethnology – the issue foreign language students are particularly concerned about – Professor Jiang believed that foreign languages, especially non lingua franca, are the threshold and important tools for regional country studies, which are necessary but not sufficient conditions. To engage in regional and country studies, foreign language ability is essential, but only understanding foreign languages is not enough.
Dean Prof Yan Guodong expressed his heartfelt thanks to Professor Jiang for his academic lectures, and summarized that Professor Jiang took Indian studies as an example to give everyone a deeper understanding of regional and country studies in terms of knowledge, concepts, methods, etc. Prof Yan agreed and appreciated that Professor Jiang talked about regional country studies from the perspective of national and academic needs and building a community with a shared future for mankind. Yan also introduced to Professor Jiang the exploration of the College of Foreign Languages of Nankai University in the construction of national and regional research disciplines and talent training. At the end of the lecture, Professor Jiang answered the questions raised by the teachers and students in detail.
