On March 22, 2026, the proposal defense meeting for the 2025 National Social Science Fund Chinese Academic Translation Project Japanese translation of An Outline of Modern Chinese Character Studies (3rd Edition) was held online. The project was jointly applied for by Associate Professor Wang Canjuan from the Department of Japanese at the School of Foreign Studies (SFS), Nankai University in Tianjin, and The Commercial Press. Associate Professor Wang served as the project host and principal translator.
The first half of the meeting was presided over by Professor Li Min, Associate Dean of SFS. Professor He Ziwen, Deputy Director of the Division of Humanities and Social Sciences Research at Nankai University, attended the meeting and delivered remarks. The defense committee consisted of Professor Shi Jianjun from the Institute of Language Sciences at Shanghai International Studies University and research fellow at the Research Center for Foreign Language Strategies, Professor Wang Ding, Chair of the Department of Japanese at the School of Foreign Languages, Soochow University, and Associate Professor Machida Shigeru (Chinese name:町田茂) from the University of Yamanashi, Japan. Professor Shi Jianjun acted as the convenor of the defense. Project host Wang Canjuan and members of the project team attended the meeting.
Professor Li Min fully affirmed the academic value and influence of the original work Modern Chinese character studies: A Primer (3rd Edition). He emphasized the significance of this project as the only Chinese Academic Translation Project in linguistics approved at Nankai University in recent years. He stated that SFS would work with the Division of Humanities and Social Sciences Research to actively provide project services, offer various conveniences, and ensure the smooth implementation of the project.
The defense session was presided over by Professor Shi Jianjun. Project host Wang Canjuan gave a detailed report from six aspects: background and significance of the topic, profiles of Chinese and foreign publishers, team members and division of labor, translation and editorial organization plan, publicity and promotion plan, and project implementation schedule. The defense committee experts fully affirmed the project report. They believed that translating this classic work by a renowned scholar to Japan, a country already deeply influenced by Chinese character culture, would greatly promote the dissemination and popularization of modern Chinese character studies in Japan, and further deepen Sino-Japanese academic exchange and mutual learning among civilizations. In addition, the experts gave specific suggestions on translation difficulties, glossary compilation, and review. Project team members discussed high-quality international communication channels and other topics with the experts.
Finally, after deliberation, the defense committee concluded that the project had great significance, an outstanding team with strong disciplinary capabilities and a solid command of the language, a reasonable organizational structure, clear division of labor, orderly planning, and thorough and comprehensive plans. The committee unanimously approved the proposal defense of the project. Wang Canjuan expressed her gratitude to all parties and stated that she would further optimize the work arrangements based on the valuable suggestions of the expert panel to ensure the successful completion of the project.
