China News Service, Beijing, November 14 (Reporter Men Rui) In recent years, the situation of overseas Chinese has changed significantly. While paying attention to the structural changes in the overseas Chinese community, the overseas Chinese academic community has actively explored discipline construction to assist the work of overseas Chinese affairs in the new era.
Zhang Chunwang, chief expert of the Institute of Overseas Chinese in Europe and International Communication at Wenzhou University, told a reporter from China News Service that with the changes of the times, the rise of digital platforms, and the widespread application of artificial intelligence technology, the social interaction space, identity, and transnational contact forms of the overseas Chinese community have changed or even been reconstructed. As the "three pillars" of overseas Chinese society, the functions of overseas Chinese groups, Chinese media, and Chinese schools are interpenetrating each other, and the boundaries are becoming blurred, showing a trend of transformation into a "network-based community." Based on this, overseas Chinese affairs work should follow the trend and grasp the relationship between tradition and innovation, digitalization and social relations, cultural connections and local integration.
Under the changing situation of overseas Chinese, the research boundaries of overseas Chinese studies continue to expand, which puts forward new requirements for the construction of the discipline of overseas Chinese studies. He Li, dean of the Overseas Chinese College of Wenzhou University, believes that Overseas Chinese studies should take overseas Chinese as the main body and focus on the cross-domain social relations formed and the mechanisms for their generation, maintenance, expansion, transformation and reproduction. Research on overseas Chinese studies cannot only be satisfied with accumulating existing materials and supplementing existing theories. It must also discover new issues, refine new concepts, and form new theories from the history of overseas Chinese, overseas Chinese hometowns, and contemporary overseas Chinese affairs practice.
At the third academic symposium on "Research on Overseas Chinese Studies" held earlier, the Overseas Chinese College of Wenzhou University and the China Overseas Chinese Publishing House completed a contract for the publication of a series of textbooks for graduate students in Overseas Chinese Studies. According to Baoli, this set of textbooks consists of an introduction to overseas Chinese studies, 4 compulsory textbooks, and 4 elective textbooks, covering the history of overseas Chinese, Chinese education research, Chinese business economic research, and overseas Chinese interest protection research, etc., and will provide theoretical support for teaching research in related disciplines.
Wang Hui, dean of the School of International Culture and Social Development at Zhejiang Normal University, said that the development of overseas Chinese studies textbooks is conducive to the construction of the subject knowledge system. In the process of compiling textbooks, previous research consensus should be incorporated while maintaining innovation, and the scientific nature and consistency of the textbooks should be paid attention to.
You Guolong, a professor at the School of International Relations at Huaqiao University, quoted American sociologist Immanuel Wallerstein's discussion of the division of social science disciplines in his book "Open Social Sciences: A Report on Reconstructing Social Sciences" and pointed out that the knowledge system formed by human subjects is different from the knowledge system formed by the current division of social science disciplines. Overseas Chinese Studies is facing the problem of re-dividing the knowledge system. It still needs to clarify the subject ontology and methodology to build the framework of the subject knowledge system, and then clarify the subject teaching objectives, teaching methods and teaching evaluation methods.
Gao Weinong, academic consultant of the China Association for Southeast Asian Studies, said that there are significant differences in overseas Chinese sentiments in various places overseas. The situation in each hometown of overseas Chinese in China is different, and the generational differences among overseas Chinese are also increasingly apparent. Overseas Chinese studies should focus on research objects such as overseas Chinese, overseas Chinese in China, and overseas Chinese affairs, and further improve the subject catalog system in academic practice.
