In the afternoon of April 19, Department of Publicity of Shandong Provincial Party Committee and Shandong University held a joint meeting to launch the Global Integration of Chinese Ancient Book program. Sun Shougang, Head of the Publicity Department of the Shandong Provincial Party Committee, and Zhang Rong, President of SDU, attended the meeting and delivered speeches.

Sun Shougang underlined that since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the central government had attached great importance to preserving and development the excellent traditional Chinese culture. This messages was clearly delivered in the speech made by President Xi Jinping during his visit to Qufu. During this visit, President Xi also made instructions on how to preserve and carry forward of various forms of traditional Chinese culture. This guideline was echoed and reinforced by the Global Integration of Ancient Chinese Books Program, as Sun affirmed. Sun also marked that this program indicates China’s soft power and prosperous culture, and revealed the ambition that Shandong province had in carrying forward the traditional culture ahead of other provinces. Sun also offered some suggestions for carrying out the project. First of all it was essential to take a stand. This means that it is important to negotiate between Marxism and Confucianism, between conservativeness and creation, and between Chinese and foreign. Second, leadership should be enforced and responsibility clarified. The project should be carried out by a well-organized team with a well-designed timetable and reasonably allocated the assignments to its executives. The consultant team was expected to provide intellectual support. Third, innovative thinking and improved mechanism were welcomed. That means those who participate in this program would work in an efficient manner, apply new techniques, and improve employment mechanism to enlarge the cooperation space. Fourth, participants should work together. As this program has been listed as a key part ofShandong Province’s Work Plan onImplementation of the Inheritance and Development of Chinese Excellent Traditional Culture, relevant departments at provincial level should communicate and coordinate in an effective manner, so that they can make best use of financial support. They also should make use of the policy and stipulate accessory measures to establish a long-term mechanism so that the project could be completed smoothly.

In his speech, President Zhang mentioned that Shandong University is one of the leading universities in China that enjoy the rich humanistic foundation and academic excellence in classical literature and history studies. In 2010, Shandong University started project of ‘The Revision and Research of Zihai’, which was supported by Shandong Provincial Party Committee and the Shandong government. This project, sponsored by the National Social Science Fund, had achieved tremendous academic excellence. Under this background, SDU initiated the Global Integration of Chinese Ancient Books program, which considerably expand the scope of researches on the ancient books. The project also includes a wider range of publishers from those previously based in cross-Straits to Asia-Pacific, European, and American areas. In addition, SDU had signed agreements with many foreign libraries and research institutes, with a number of cooperation intentions reached with sinology research institutes of top-class universities. As part of the program, a symposium on the project Global Integration of Chinese Ancient Book was held recently. Besides, the research and collation of ancient Chinese books form Russia was approved as a key project by the National Social Science Fund. To guarantee the progress of the program, SDU would attempt to establish a research institute, teamed with excellent academic talents. A performance assessment system had also been formulated. Present Zhang firmly believed that the project would enjoy a smooth running with the joint effort by the provincial party committee and government and SDU, which will eventually lead to substantial success. This program will surely contribute not only to the establishment of a great cultural province but also promoting the excellent traditional culture of China.

In the meeting, Liu Zhifu, Deputy Minister of Publicity Department of the Provincial Party Committee, stated that the department should be aware of responsibilities and coordinate involved parties and arrangements. They were ready to supervise and instruct the overall development with proactive measures of publicity and promotion for a sound running of the project. Zhang Zhihua, Chairman of the Board of Shandong Press Group, and Du fu, Director of Management Office of Shandong Provincial Social Science Planning, respectively explained measures to support this program. This is followed by a brief introduction of the program itself, given by Professor Zheng Jiewen, Chief expert of the project. He introduced the aims, objectives, the rationale, the budget, and prospects of the project. The meeting was chaired by Hu Jinyan, the Vice President of Shandong University.

The meeting was productive: several issues were discussed and reached agreement, including how to carry out the project, the list of its commission members, the development plan, the five year’s work plan, the budget, the publishing plan for its achievements, and safeguards for publication. It also included the discussion of applying for entering the Project Framework of Inheritance and Development of National Brilliant Traditional Culture and of setting up a liaison group for the global project. Relevant principals from literary arts section of Publicity Department of Shandong Provincial Party Committee, Shandong People Press Group, departments and schools of SDU, and scholars who participated in the project attended this meeting.

Translated by Li Wenwen

Edited by Xiao Di, Zhao Yan

Source: http://www.view.sdu.edu.cn/new/2017/0421/89941.html