2007年3月23日，英国谢菲尔德大学蒂姆·赖特（Tim Wright）教授与贝夫·霍伯尔（Bev Hooper）做主题为《Chinese Studies in Australia and the UK :A Comparison》的学术前沿系列讲座 。
Chinese Studies in Australia and the UK
Prof Tim Wright
Prof Bev Hooper
University of Sheffield
Beverley Hooper was President of the Asian Studies Association of Australia, 1995-1996.
Tim Wright was President of the Chinese Studies Association of Australia, 1997-1999 and is now Vice-President of the European Association of Chinese Studies.
The talk will review the situation of Chinese Studies in the UK and Australia, especially in the light of recent developments. It will argue that Chinese Studies in the two countries exhibit a number of common features: peripherality vis-à-vis the United States; substantial, but not adequate, government support; increasing contacts with China; and uncertainties over how to respond to the growing numbers of native-Chinese-speaking students and scholars.
The speakers will then argue that, despite the similarities outlined above, there are many contrasts between Chinese Studies in Australia and the UK. Broadly, relative to the size of the overall sector, Chinese Studies in the UK is much smaller than it is in Australia; in the UK, it is more concentrated, while in Australia it is more dispersed round the country; in the UK, it remains more marginal to general academic concerns, while in Australia it has at least begun (through only begun) the move towards the centrality warranted by China’s importance; the focus in the UK tends to be more towards humanities, that in Australia towards social sciences; finally, the balance of Chinese Studies in the UK is oriented more to the study of traditional China, while Australia is more firmly contemporary. However, recent changes over the past three or four years in the UK have seen the British system move in the direction of the Australian system.
