Founded in 1926, the Department of Chinese Language and Literature prides itself on a long list of famous scholars as its faculty members—Professors Chen Yinque, Zhu Ziqing, Liu Wendian, Yu Pingbo, Pu Jiangqing, Wang Li, Yang Shuda, Chen Mengjia, Zhang Qingchang, Shen Congwen, Wang Yao, and so on. Professor Zhu Ziqing headed the Department for 16 years, under whose leadership the Department began to implement an education that adheres to the principle of “Be conversant with the ancient and modern, and versed in the Chinese and foreign.” In its research, the Department equally encourages the methodologies of the Beijing school and the Shanghai school, laying emphasis on the precision and exactitude of textual criticism without losing sight of broad issues. The Department discontinued in the nationwide restructuring of institutions of higher education in China in 1952.

　　Restored in 1985, the Department has inherited its liberal education tradition, which had elevated the reputation of the university to the national level. The Department offers 3 majors in its undergraduate program: 1. Chinese Linguistics and Literature (open to international students), characterized by offering an education in both the humanities and science with a focus on the humanities; 2. Chinese and Foreign Cultures, aiming to prepare students for careers in cultural exchanges between China and other countries, and for graduate school; 3. Dual bachelor’s degree in editorial technology, a combination of the humanities and science, which was awarded the first prize for curriculum reform by the Municipal Government of Beijing. The last major was changed to a Pilot Class in the humanities in 2005, whose enrollment has been entrusted to SHSS. Some of the students in the class choose to study in the Department, after they have finished the first three semesters and begin to select their majors at the beginning of their fourth semester.

　　The Department has a M.A. program in Ancient Chinese Literature, Modern and Contemporary Chinese Literature, Comparative Literature and World Literature, Literary Theories, Linguistics and Applied Linguistics, Chinese Philology and Linguistics, a Ph.D. program in Modern and Contemporary Chinese Literature, and a research unit for Computational Linguistics. The track of computational linguistics combines the strength of the humanities and science, and has grown into its maturity in the past ten years.

　　Currently, there are 16 full professors, 7 associate professors, 1 instructors and 1 engineer in the Department. The selective courses offered by the Department count more than 70 every semester. The Department is working on 6 projects funded by the National Funds of Social Sciences, 2 projects by the Ministry of Education Outstanding Young Teachers Program, 1 project by the National Funds of National Keynote Lab and 1 project by the Fund of Overseas Scientific Research. For the past 5 years, professors in the computational linguistics have published 16 SCI-indexed papers in English, and over 30 EI-indexed papers.

　　Currently, Professor Liu Shi is chair of the Department, and Professors Zhang Meilan, Associate Professor Liu Ying are vice chairs.

　　Address:
　　Department of Chinese Language and Literature
　　School of Humanities & Social Sciences
　　Tsinghua University
　　Beijing, P. R. China
　　Postal code: 100084
　　Tel: 86-10-6278 3158
　　Fax: 86-10-6278 5736
　　E-mail: zhongwx@tsinghua.edu.cn