CCS aims to explore diverse perspectives on Chinese culture in contemporary circumstances and to integrate the research of our various specialists to develop a sense of what the essentials of being “Chinese” and being a “human being” in global contexts are . CCS has four main research groups as below.
Research Group A – Modalities of Chinese Thinking
Research Group A is designed to explore the inseparable relationship between thinking and language with special attention to the characteristics of the Chinese language and script in the context of linguistics, philosophy, and history. Owing to the fact that the Chinese language and script serve as the most important medium for representing the essentials of Chinese culture, we expect to redevelop its subjectivity and its community by focusing on various perspectives on interpreting Chinese culture since the May Fourth New Cultural Movement.
Research group A has four sub-groups as following:
- A1 – Studies of Chinese Language and Script
- A2 – Trans-cultural Studies of East & West: Comparative Philosophy
- A3 – Aesthetic Studies in Chinese Literature
- A4 – Studies of Chinese Historical Consciousness
Research Group B – Studies of Chinese Religions
In facing the phenomena of conflicts and crises caused by the rise of religious fundamentalism certain issues concerning how religions are drawn into the public realm must be examined. Research group B is designed to reconsider the implications of belief and concern for worldly conditions in Chinese Religions as well as the phenomena concerning the reception of foreign religions in Chinese communities. It is designed to investigate the way Chinese religions operate with respect to their belief systems by doing textual analysis, field studies, and adopting new digital technologies. Through these methods and those of comparative religious studies we hope to help establish dialogue among different religious communities.
Research group B has three sub-groups as following:
- B1 – Studies of Post-Secular Society
- B2 – Comparative Studies of Religion
- B3 – Field Studies of Contemporary Chinese Religions
Research Group C – Chinese Ethical Practice
Research Group C is designed to reconsider the basis of Daoist philosophy for offering new perspectives for sustaining natural ecosystems. It will also provide philosophical and Buddhist viewpoints on therapeutics such as issues concerning hospice care, an aging society, etc. It will also trace the implications of Confucian ethics for contemporary civil society.
Research group C has two sub-groups as follows:
- C1 – Studies of Chinese Applied Ethics
- C2 – Studies of Logostherapy in Chinese Communities
Research Group D – Chinese Digital Humanities
Research group D is designed to develop interdisciplinary research and its applications by applying digital technologies and the methods of humanities. Text-analyzing and data-mining will be used to study important Chinese conceptions in different spatio-temporal phases. It will also work with the aid of a geographic information systems and data-visualization so that new horizons and approaches to humanities and interdisciplinary research are revealed.
Research group D has three sub-groups as follows:
- D1 – Digital Platform and Archive Science
- D2 – Social Networks and Culture-Mapping in Chinese Communities
- D3 – Image/Text-Mining Concerning Chinese Conceptions