“In the last 100 years, many Chinese historians have emphasized that we must forecast the main streams of world culture, or in other words to learn from the international academic world and thus enrich and develop the science of history in China," said Wang Xuedian, SDU professor and chief editor of "Literature, History and Philosophy" before the opening of the 22nd International Congress of Historical Sciences.

Since the conference opened, when asked his feeling of attending the meeting, Prof. Wang spoke frankly about it, telling us that he was very excited on the opening ceremony and had learned a lot.

"The current International Congress of Historical Sciences was of great significance towards the development of historical research; it would move a forward step towards stimulating readers to read books and records of history," he said.

"Now some new readers of history have appeared, and their appearance cannot have been accidental. It agrees with the trend of the academic humanities in China overall: the trend is that the whole academic humanities are now developing more locally. The appearance of readers of history is one of the most important orientations and goals of this trend called localization. Seen from this perspective, academic humanities are now rising sharply and showing their new face to us.” Wang added, “The appearance of readers is an important standard showing that academic humanities are entering into the mainstream because history is the core foundations of the academic humanities.”



On Prof. Wang's view, the School of History and Culture at SDU will be promoted by the International Congress of Historical Sciences held in Jinan, China.

"We hadn't worked so closely with mainstream historians in the world before. So many historians from around the world gathering in the land of Shandong Province—it will be the first time in the last hundred years," Wang said cheerfully

"Reviewing the past, SDU once guided the fashion and the trend of the times through 'literature, history and philosophy,' and its humanities should grow and develop through the opportunities of the 22nd International Congress of Historical Sciences." He thus expressed his hope at the end of the interview.