Overview
Purpose of the Department
In 1987, the Department of Sinographic Literatures was created with the purpose of promoting a methodical understanding of Literary Sinitic texts and cultivating a general awareness of East Asia studies encompassing literature, history, and philosophy. Until the beginning of the twentieth century, the bulk of intellectual and cultural accomplishments of Sinographic sphere including Korea, China, Japan, and Vietnam, had been written in Literary Sinitic. Arranging, translating and researching them is a significant task in order to preserve and restore them in the present day, as well as to supply the results of such preservation and renewal to assorted divisions of society and academia. The Department is dedicated to meeting both social and scholarly needs by educating professionals able to carry out this task in numerous social and academic areas.
What is Sinographic Literatures?
Investigating Sinographic Literature involves studying all writings in Literary Sinitic and its scope encompasses the accomplishments of the humanities and natural sciences in the East Asia’s Sinographic sphere from antiquity to the present. It has a much wider purview than other fields of study that concentrate on a particular subject. Inquiring into Sinographic Literatures not only provides an opportunity to explore the extensive academic accomplishments of the Sinographic sphere, including literature, history, philosophy, and the natural sciences, but also to delve into the vast intellectual and cultural inheritance of East Asia, which has been accumulated since antiquity up to the present, from both contemporary and modern perspective. Furthermore, the humanistic liberal arts education attained from learning East Asian Classics will be a great beneficial asset to you both intellectually and emotionally when you join the work world and become involved in various areas of society after your graduation.
Vision of the Department
The East Asia’s Sinographic sphere is an unparalleled cultural region in the history of the world, which has historically existed more than two millennia as a community of shared written script. A hundred years ago, literati in the Sinographic sphere including Korea employed Literary Sinitic to produce literary works that expressed their feelings, to encapsulate the essence of scholarly reflections, to communicate heartfelt letters, and to draft official and diplomatic documents. The primary vision of the Department is to unearth, recreate, and share the forgotten values of the traditional era by educating professionals in Literary Sinitic serving as bridges between the traditional and the modern era.
Another vision of the Department is the globalization of Sinographic Literatures. Comprehending Sinographic Literature is a vital task to grasp the achievements of cultural heritage of East Asia's Sinographic sphere. Over the past millennia, many countries in the Sinographic sphere have shared the common script of Literary Sinitic, unifying in diversity, and its intellectual and cultural heritage has become a world heritage extending beyond East Asia. Nowadays, Sinographic Literatures are being explored from the global humanities perspective across the globe, and the Department is reinforcing academic collaboration with foremost overseas research institutes and researchers.
Academic Exchanges
The Department promotes various scholarly exchanges with eminent universities and institutes around the world, including MIT, Harvard University in the US, University of British Columbia in Canada, University of Copenhagen in Denmark, Ruhr University Bochum in Germany, University of London SOAS in England, Waseda University, Ritsumeikan University, Meiji University in Japan, Peking University, Nanjing University, Hong Kong Baptist University in China, by hosting conferences and conducting collaborative researches etc. Furthermore, we provide other educational exchange programs such as global classroom programs and overseas study programs.
Career Paths
-Academia: university professors, professionals in Literary Sinitic, translator of Literary Sinitic texts, etc.
-Education: middle and high school teachers, university staffs, etc.
-Government, Business, Media: employees at governmental organizations and public administrations, major companies and financial institutions, medias, etc.
-Others: librarians, translators for works on East Asian studies, rewriters of East Asia’s Classics, doctors of Korean medicine, museum curators