Chinese Studies Program

For full details on the Chinese Studies program in the Chinese language please see the CSP website at http://www.regentcsp.org

VISION, GOALS AND POSITION

In the past two decades, Vancouver has become an attractive destination for a large number of overseas Chinese intellectuals pursuing scholarly research, as well as many Chinese immigrants from the Pacific Rim seeking to settle in Canada. In Vancouver, students and immigrants from the Pacific Rim have the opportunity to explore the cultures of the West, including Christianity, in an open and free environment. With a vibrant Chinese community settled in this most livable and multi-cultural city, Regent College‘s Chinese Studies Program (CSP) has become an ideal meetingplace for Chinese scholars and Western academics to engage in a cross-cultural dialogue between Christianity and Chinese culture.

Joint Education Project with Universities in Mainland China

The CSP recruits promising doctoral students from leading Chinese universities to do part of their doctoral programs at Regent College. The “Program for the Joint-Training of Mainland Chinese PhD Students in Christian/Religious Studies” (JTPHDS) was established in 1996, and as of 2007 we have agreements with ten Chinese universities to jointly train PhD students with special interests in Christian studies. Over 100 doctoral students have participated in the program. In 2007, one of our Chinese scholars was awarded a scholarship under the State Scholarship Fund of China to pursue her studies in Canada. In 2008, a second student was awarded such a scholarship; her husband was a former student in the JTPHDS program.

In 2004, five Regent College faculty members joined Dr. Edwin Hui, Dean of the CSP, on a tour of China. They were warmly received and honored by many of the top universities. Representatives of these universities confirmed that in the field of Christian Studies, Regent College is the best-known and most widely respected western institution in China, and has done much to explain Christianity’s significance as a living cultural and religious movement in the West.

PUBLICATIONS

Since 1993 the CSP has published the Regent Chinese Journal, an academic journal devoted exclusively to the dialogue between Christian faith and Chinese culture. Many Chinese scholars publish their research results or join in academic discussion in this journal, which is read broadly in Chinese academic circles. In order to increase the influence of the journal, the publication was moved to China and renamed the Regent Review of Christian Thoughts (RRCT) in 2005, published biannually by Shanghai People’s Publishers. The CSP also publishes a Chinese-language newsletter two times a year. As part of the CSP’s effort to promote Christianity in a Chinese context, the CSP has published two monograph series and is planning a third. As of 2007, a total of twelve volumes have been published.

Annual National Conference for Chinese Scholars Interested in Christianity

Since 1997 the CSP, in collaboration with the Institute of World Religions of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, has held a national conference for Chinese scholars. This symposium, initially organized to provide a forum for Regent’s CSP alumni, has evolved to become an annual nationwide event for Chinese academics involved in Christian Studies. This symposium usually lasts four days and is held in Beijing in December of each year. The 2007 symposium was attended by over 160 scholars.

CSP Website

Since 2001 the CSP has maintained a website <www.regentcsp.org> that seeks to make available the resources of the program to Chinese scholars in Mainland China. The Regent Chinese Journal and various articles, many of them written by Regent alumni in China, are made available in this format.