Trinity has announced plans for the expansion of its Chinese Studies programme at the Trinity Centre for Asian Studies. The expansion marks the arrival of the Year of the Pig and Chinese New Year on February 5.
The Trinity Centre for Asian Studies, opened in 2015, is a teaching and research centre focusing on contemporary East-Asian society and culture, language learning, diaspora studies, and comparative studies.
Owing to a recent donation by Dr Sam Lam, a Trinity medical graduate, the centre intends to recruit a new professor in Chinese Studies. The new professor is to be part of an existing team of professors specialising in Chinese political science, history and linguistics.
Lam has now contributed €1.4m to Trinity, which has enabled the expansion of Trinity’s Chinese Studies programme. The centre now boasts Ireland’s most extensive third-level Chinese Studies programme, including a taught master’s degree in Chinese Studies, elective Chinese language and culture modules for undergraduates and evening classes in Chinese language and culture for the general public.
Commenting on the announcement, Provost Patrick Prendergast said: “We could not have developed the field of Chinese Studies without the remarkable support of Dr Sam Lam, motivated both by his affection for Trinity and Ireland and his wish to do something substantive here, and his patriotism and wish to share the richness of Chinese language, history and culture with the world.”
Prendergast noted the “substantial research and education collaborations” that Trinity has with universities in China, including with Peking, Tsinghua, Beihang, Fudan, and Tongji Universities. He outlined that “investment in Chinese Studies here on campus can only enhance and expand these collaborations”.
The Director of the Trinity Centre for Asian Studies, Professor Lorna Carson expressed her delight “at this important expansion of our Chinese Studies programme”.
“It is an endorsement for our mission to promote the understanding of China in Ireland, and underpins the ambition we have to become a leading international centre of scholarship,” said Carson. “We really look forward to welcoming a new leading researcher to join our vibrant community of scholars dedicated to the study of modern China.”
In conjunction with the Dublin Chinese New Year festival, which runs from February 1 until February 17, Trinity’s front façade was lit up red over the weekend. A full programme of events, organised by Trinity Centre for Asian Studies, will take place to mark the Year of the Pig.
