The Chinese Studies Program at the Faculty of Classical and Modern Philology (FCMP) of Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” organized a two-day international conference on 1 - 2 December 2017 on the topic “Current Issues in Contemporary Chinese and Oriental studies”, dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the Chinese Studies Program.
The purpose of the anniversary conference is to present the latest research and current issues in Chinese studies at both national and international levels, to provide a platform for scholarly discourse in various topics regarding Oriental studies, to unite different generations of Bulgarian and worldwide sinologists in orientalists, as well as to give young scholars in the field of Chinese and Oriental studies an opportunity to present their contributions.
The opening of the conference was attended by Prof. Anastas Gerdjikov, Rector of Sofia University, Prof. Reneta Bozhankova, Vice-Rector of Sofia University, Prof. Madlen Danova, Dean of the Faculty of Classical and Modern Philology, Prof. Alexander Fedotov, Principal of the Center for Eastern Languages and Cultures, Prof. Alexander Alexiev, Head of the Chinese Studies Program in Sofia University, Dr. Chen Ying, Head of the Education Department at the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Bulgaria, Prof. Ge Zhiqiang, Chinese director of the Confucius Institute in Sofia, as well as teachers, students and guests.
The academic forum was opened by Prof. Alexander Alexiev, who pointed out that the support of the rectors and deans is the main factor leading to the establishment of Bulgaria’s one and only academic program fully oriented on Chinese Studies in Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”. He added that the anniversary event is attended by many Bulgarian and Chinese colleagues, teachers, and several former graduates - people with great contribution to the Program, who helped it develop and led it to its anniversary today. In his speech, Prof. Alexiev pointed out the contribution of the Embassy of the People's Republic of China, which has always supported the specialty with books, teaching materials and equipment and thanked Dr. Chen Ying and Prof. Gе Zhiqiang for the sincere help and assistance over the years.
Prof. Anastas Gerdjikov congratulated the academia and students of the Chinese Studies Program on its 25th anniversary and wished them much success in their future endeavors. "I have no doubt about these successes, because the last 25 years have revealed exactly how well the Program is developing. This happened thanks to your efforts, the efforts of Prof. Fedotov, Prof. Ge, all colleagues in the Chinese Studies Program, as well as the support of all rectors and deans over the years. Of course, we also owe thanks to the colleagues from the Chinese Embassy and People’s Republic of China as a whole” – said the rector and also added that Sofia University has partnered with more than 300 universities, and over the last few years he became convinced that there were no stronger relations of Sofia University with foreign partners than those with China.
Prof. Gerdjikov wished success to the conference on "Current Issues in Contemporary Chinese and Oriental Studies" and many more years full of the successful development of Chinese language and culture education.
Prof. Dr. Madlen Danova, Dean of the Faculty of Classical and Modern Philology, expressed how grateful she was to be able to attend the event and reminded us that Chinese language teaching in Sofia University began in the 1950s and it was astonishing how quickly the Program has developed. According to her, the program of the conference shows how good this development is not only in terms of teaching both Chinese language, culture, history and politics and everything related to China, but also regarding the research activities related to this field of study.
Dr. Chen Ying, Head of the Education Department at the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Bulgaria, congratulated everyone present on behalf of the Embassy on the opening of the conference and the anniversary of the Chinese Studies Program. She stressed that Sofia University is the first higher educational institution in Bulgaria to start teaching Chinese, and over 30 years of experience has become a solid foundation for the subsequent establishment and development of today's Program in Chinese Studies. Dr. Chen Ying emphasized that thanks to the Program many Bulgarians have established themselves as experts in the field of Chinese studies. She also noted that Sofia University graduates participate in various professional areas - diplomacy, law, business, international relations, translation, journalism. All this could not be achieved without the hard work and contribution of generations of Chinese language teachers, said Dr. Chen Ying and expressed her deep respect for all of them.
She added that in the last few years, the Chinese initiatives "Belt and Road Initiative" and "16 + 1" are constantly expanding the cooperation between China and Bulgaria in various fields. Dr. Chen pointed out that Bulgaria has been a good friend of China for many years, and our nations have a deep-rooted friendship. Dr. Chen Ying expressed her conviction that the Chinese language teachers at Sofia University will continue to educate experts in the field of Sinology and will achieve new successes in their research work.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Irina Saraivanova, Head of the Department of Turkology and Altaic Studies, also congratulated everyone on the anniversary of the Chinese Studies Program. She noted that over the past 25 years of hard work, ambition and dedication, success in teaching and research activities have made the Program a significant sinological center. She expressed her conviction that their past experience will allow them to preserve the academic spirit of Sofia University in the conditions of modern challenges and will continue to implement new fruitful ideas and projects.
An accompanying event of the anniversary conference of the Chinese Studies Program was the thematic photography exhibition on "China - known and unknown", which was up until December 2, 2017, at the Central Lobby of the Rectorate.
