Department of East Asian Studies

Founded in 1925, the Department of East Asian Studies in Göttingen is one of the oldest and most prestigious institutes for Chinese Studies in Germany. In 2008, the department was reorganized with a focus on Modern China. Research at the Department focuses on transformation processes in Modern China. Research fields include Chinese history, philosophy, religion, politics, law, society, economy of Modern China as well as didactics of the Chinese Language. Currently, there are three professors holding chairs at the Department:

Prof. Dr. Axel Schneider, who is also managing director of CeMEAS, has been lecturing at the Department since 2009 and has also supervised the Deparment’s successful resturcturing. His research interests focus especially on modern Chinese history, philosophy and religion.

Prof. Dr. Katja Triplett has been teaching in Göttingen since 2012. Her research is centered around religion in East Asia with a focus on Buddhism.

Prof Dr. Henning Klöter has recently been assigned for the chair for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language and will start teaching in Göttingen in April 2013.

There is another selection process for the chair of Society and Economics of modern China which will be filled soon.

Academic Programs of the Deparment

The BA and MA programs of the Department for East Asian Studies in Göttingen offer degrees from a well known university. The Georg-August-University and its various institutions regularly receive the highest university rankings at both the national and international level.

BA/MA Modern Sinology offers an advanced education in modern Chinese (Mandarin) and a basic education in classical Chinese. The students of that program will acquire many analytical tools and methodologies of social sciences and humanities. Due to an intensive training in Chinese history, philosophy, religion, politics, society, economy and law, they will also gain expertise in these research fields and can decide wich area they want to specialize in.

BA/MoE Chinese as a Foreign Language provides an advanced education in Modern Chinese (Mandarin), a basic education on modern China and teaching skills as well as didactics to prepare the students to get their teacher’s degree at the end of the Master program.

The BA Modern China consists of a basic education in Modern Chinese and offers its student training in Chinese history, philosophy, religion, politics, society, economy and law. Additional non-China related modules can be chosen form the University catalogue.

Career opportunities
The BA, MA or MoE Program offer various career opportunities for our future graduates:

research or teaching career

international organisations and foundations

international enterprises

foreign service

cultural exchange

journalism

translation