The first World Forum on China Studies will be held in the city in late August, amid increasing global attention on the nation as it is increasingly being recognized for the important role it plays in the international community. 

Through extensive academic exchange and multilateral dialogue between a number of world-famous scholars engaged in China studies, the event is expected to not only spark new ideas for the country's future development, but facilitate better understanding of China internationally, organizers said.

The event is the first of its kind worldwide and is being organized by the municipal government and hosted by the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences (SASS), the inaugural forum is themed "China in multiple perspectives."

Centered around the forum's theme, a string of topics will be discussed during the event, which is scheduled to run from August 19 to 22 at the Shanghai International Convention Center.

These issues include globalization and China's revitalization and economic development, as well as social development and transformation.

So far, more than 50 scholars from 23 countries and regions as well as two international organizations have confirmed their intentions to participate.

Organizers expect the event to draw over 150 top scholars from both home and abroad to take part in the forum.

"The fact that China studies are now a hot issue in the global academic community indicates that the world is showing more interest in not only Chinese traditional culture, but China's present and future as well," said Shanghai Vice Mayor Yang Xiaodu.

China studies, which originated from Sinology, used to focus more on research from the perspective of humanities, including Chinese languages, literature, history, philosophy and archaeology, experts said.

However, with China's rapid development in recent years, such studies have expanded to a larger scope, ranging from Chinese economics, politics and education to the country's social and military affairs and foreign policy.

Currently, major research institutes and academic organizations engaged in China studies can be found in North America, Europe, East Asia and Oceania.

A number of organizations and their specialists in China issues have become an important part in governments' think-tanks to assist other nations in working out policies related to China.

The United States, for example, has several thousand scholars currently engaged in China studies, and some 400 to 500 people there acquire doctorate degrees in the field every year, according to statistics provided by SASS.

Intellectuals from famed research organizations like the Association of Foreign Policy, Harvard-Yenching Institute and the Fairbanks Centre for East Asian Research have become key advisers for the foreign policy-making process of the US government.

(China Daily May 13, 2004)