Chinese Studies Center
The Chinese Studies Center at California State University, Los Angeles (CSLA) was established in 1980 for the purpose of preserving and strengthening Chinese culture and history while facilitating enculturation of new Chinese immigrants into mainstream American life.
Objectives
The Center strives to accomplish the following objectives:
1. To work with the Chinese Program in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures in maintaining and strengthening the Chinese major program.
2. To support credit for courses on Chinese culture, as well as courses on Chinese Americans, in various appropriate academic departments on the CSLA campus.
3. To develop and offer curricular materials on Chinese American and Chinese cultures and traditions for use in courses in the Humanities and General Education at CSLA or at other higher education institutions.
4. To promote and conduct research related to the Center's objectives, and to function as a repository for monographs, periodicals, and archives related to these objectives.
5. To organize and host seminars, symposia, conferences, workshops, and exhibits on Chinese culture and on the role of the Chinese people in America.
6. To function as a liaison between the University and the Chinese community. The Center acts as a cultural resource for the CSLA campus and for the Chinese community.
7. To work with representatives from the Chinese community to seek funding to support the Center's activities.
8. To assist in extracurricular activities of ethnic Chinese students at CSLA that further the objectives of the Center.
9. To award scholarships for students with demonstrated interests in Chinese studies such as those majoring in Chinese and those with high GPAs in Chinese courses.
10. To work with other CSLA’s presidentially chartered bureaus, centers, and institutes in advancing the University’s overall mission.
Organization
Director:
Dr. Kylie Hsu, Professor of Chinese and Linguistics
Department of Modern Languages and Literatures
Advisory Committee:
A. Community Leaders
Betty Cheung, Director of the North America Chinese Writers’ Association
Major Tsai, Chairman of the American Chinese Culture and Education Foundation
Chien Hsiung Wu, Advisor to the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission
Monique Wu, President of the Association for Chinese Culture and Ethical Education in America
Wen-hsiung Yen, President of the Chinese American Musicians Association
Doris Yu, Director (former President) of the North America Chinese Writers’ Association
B. CSLA Faculty
Jun Liu, Department of English
Stephen Ma, Department of Political Science
ChorSwang Ngin, Department of Anthropology
Hong-Lie Qiu, Department of Geography and Urban Analysis
Ping Yao, Department of History
Qingyun Wu, Department of Modern Languages and Literatures
Activities
The strength and vitality of the Chinese Studies Center are manifested in the number and variety of activities that the Center sponsors. The year 2012 marked the twentieth anniversary of our Chinese poetry recitation contest, which was held on May 14, 2012. This event was organized by the Center in collaboration with the Chinese Culture Club, which is a student organization whose faculty advisor is the Director of the Chinese Studies Center. Contestants consisted of students from Southern California universities and colleges.
Additionally, the Center regularly collaborates with the Chinese Program, the Chinese Culture Club, and the Asian and Asian American Studies Program in organizing a variety of guest lectures and film screenings. Examples of recent events included the following:
- Shuanghuai Wang, “The Everlasting Love of Emperor Tang Xuanzong and Consort Yang,” May 23, 2012.
- Shuanghuai Wang, “The Life and Achievements of Empress Wu,” November 2, 2011.
- Film Screening of “An Eternal Lamb” as part of the Chinese American Film Festival, November 2, 2011.
- Film Screening of “Autumn Gem: A Documentary on Modern China’s First Feminist” produced by Rae Chang, April 21, 2011.
- Colin Legerton, “Ethnicity and Baseball along China’s Margins,” April 22, 2010.
- Limin Liu, “The Art of Chinese Straw Patchwork,” April 8, 2009.
- Guiting Yuan, “Chinese Writing as Visual and Performing Arts,” November 20, 2008.
- Ted Crovello, “Environmental and Ethnic Diversity in Northwest China’s Xinjiang Region,” November 13, 2007.
- Hongyin Tao, “Discourse and Corpus Approaches to Chinese Language Study and Teaching,” April 12, 2007.
- San-pao Li, “Chinese Calligraphy: A Microcosm of Culture and an Art Form Par Excellence,” November 21, 2006.
- Zheng-sheng Zhang, “The Myth of Chinese Characters,” May 23, 2005.
- Hu Ying, “Sword or Brush: Three Women’s Lives at a Tumultuous Moment in Chinese History,” May 12, 2005.
- Tianwei Xie, “Internet Resources for Learning Chinese,” May 6, 2004.
- Wen-hsiung Yen, “Symbolic Sounds: Chinese Musical Instruments,” April 15, 2004.
- Dominic Cheung, “Chinese Bronze Mirrors in the Warring States,” November 6, 2003.
- Keqiang Dai, “New Literary and Cultural Trends in China Today,” November 9, 2000.
- Timothy Kao, “Yung Wing (1828-1912) and 120 Young Chinese Students in America (1872-1881),” February 21, 2000.