Source: Office of International Cooperation & Exchange
Written by: Office of International Cooperation & Exchange
Translated by: LIANG Wenjie

The opening ceremony of the 8th Chinese Asia Research Center Directors’ Workshop was held in SYSU in the morning on November 23, 2012. The workshop was hosted together by The Korea Foundation for Advanced Studies (KFAS), Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU) and Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU). More than 50 delegates from 13 colleges, universities and institutions in China and KFAS were in the attendance of this workshop.
JIN Li, Vice President of BFSU, presided over the opening ceremony of the workshop; WEI Minghai, Vice President of SYSU; YANG Xueyi, Council Chair of the Information Center for Worldwide Asia Research at BFSU; PARK In-kook, President of KFAS; addressed the workshop respectively. In his address, Vice President WEI Minghai extended a warm welcome to all guests, and introduced SYSU's internationalization of school-running, the exchange history between SYSU and the Republic of Korea, and Asian Studies at SYSU. At the same time, he expressed his strong hope that SYSU can continue and strengthen cooperation with KFAS.

After the ceremony, President XU Ningsheng and Vice President Wei Minghai hosted a meeting with KFAS President PARK In-kook and his entourage. President XU Ningsheng extended welcome to President PARK and his entourage on behalf of SYSU, and gave a brief introduction to the University and its Asian Studies. He proposed to establish an Asia Research Center in SYSU and host a "Guangzhou-Asia Forum” in Guangzhou. President PARK In-kook completely agreed with President XU Ningsheng’s proposal and promised to fully support SYSU in establishing the Asia Research Center and the "Guangzhou-Asia Forum”. Professor Takeshi HAMASHITA, Dean of the School of Asian-Pacific Studies, Professor YUAN Ding, Professor WEI Zhijiang, Director LING Wenhua and Deputy Director HAO Yajuan of the Office of International Cooperation & Exchange, attended the meeting.

The project of Asia Research Center is funded by KFAS, with the aim of revitalizing academic research of Asian scholars and enhancing academic cooperation between research institutions. By now, there are 17 Asia research Centers funded by KFAS around the world, 11 of which are located in China. “Asia Research Center Directors’ Workshop” was held annually since year 2006, aiming at strengthening cooperation and exchange between the Asia Research Centers in China. Attendees of this year's workshop include organizations such as KFAS, Beijing Forum, Shanghai Forum and Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and Universities such as Peking University, Tsinghua University, Renmin University of China, Fudan University, Zhejiang University, Nankai University, Beijing Foreign Studies University, Communication University of China, Liaoning University, and Yanbian University.