Inaugural Session of “Chunhui Navigation • Mentorship Journey” Forum Series and the 21st Chunhui Lecture

In response to Tianjin University's call for thematic training activities focused on "building a healthy and harmonious new type of graduate students mentoring relationships," the School of Foreign Languages launched the "Chunhui Navigation • Mentorship Journey" forum series. For the opening event of the series, the School invited Professor Yang Cheng from Shanghai International Studies University to deliver the 21st Chunhui Lecture on the afternoon of November 7. Titled "Path Selection for Building an Independent Knowledge System in Country and Area Studies," the lecture systematically elaborated on how to construct an autonomous knowledge system in Country and Area Studies to serve China's strategic needs. The event was chaired by Vice Dean Liu Jiaji, attracting a full house of faculty and students.

At the beginning of the lecture, Professor Yang Cheng drew on his personal experience to highlight issues existing in current Country and Area Studies and emphasized the importance of clarifying the discipline's core connotations. He elaborated on two key characteristics of the field:involving mutiple fields and close ties to real-world issues. Professor Yang called for consensus on fundamental questions, stressing that all research should ultimately address practical challenges. He particularly emphasized the value of local knowledge and the essential role of primary sources such as field research.

Furthermore, Professor Yang stated that the motivation for establishing Country and Area Studies as a first-level discipline stems from China's strategic needs. He also pointed out that the current knowledge supply in this field falls short of strategic demands and fails to keep pace with global developments. Against the backdrop of China’s ongoing move toward the center of the global stage and an international order in transformation—which has a pressing demand for China's role—a robust foundation in Country and Area Studies is essential. Accordingly, the construction of an independent knowledge system for the discipline is an urgent imperative.

In his frank assessment of the current research landscape, Professor Yang Cheng identified several prominent problems: the quality of both theoretical and empirical research requires enhancement, scholarly progress is lagging behind practical demands, and two instances of alienation are simultaneously present. He stressed that Country and Area Studies cannot be simply equated with foreign policy studies focused on specific subjects or with China's foreign relations. Its application, he emphasized, should encompass five dimensions: policy consultation, commercial consultation, public enlightenment, talent cultivation, and academic understanding.

To advance the systematic development of Country and Area Studies, Professor Yang proposed a series of recommendations. First, the "centralization" and "absolutization" of international relations research should be avoided, with closer alignment with China's strategic needs serving as a fundamental principle. Second, the academic community must break the chain of bias favoring "disciplinary research over area studies" and "major-power studies over small-state studies" to create an ideal environment for discipline construction. Third, a critical task involves properly handling the "Ten Major Relationships" to address the core concerns in discipline construction. Fourth, resolving issues related to theoretical and methodological development, infrastructures resilience, and talent pool is essential for reshaping the discipline's strategic function.

Regarding the construction of an autonomous knowledge system, Professor Yang emphasized the need for comprehensive deployment across multiple dimensions, including guiding philosophy, research methods, knowledge structures, research interests, infrastructure, and types of outputs.

During the Q&A session, Professor Yang engaged in in-depth discussions with faculty and students on topics such as the design of talent training programs in Country and Area Studies and the implementation of field research methods.

The lecture was both visionary and profound, combining theoretical depth with practical relevance. It not only provided valuable insights for the School's discipline construction in Country and Area Studies but also, by fostering consensus on mentorship and strengthening the academic sense of mission, inspired faculty and students to take initiative and contribute actively to building an independent knowledge system in the field.