German Language and Literature was founded in 1969. With a number of eminent scholars such as GU Zhengxiang, the laureate of the German Cross of Iron Prize, it has a strong academic foundation. The discipline began to enroll graduate students in 2001 and doctoral students in 2012. Taking humanity, ideology, the application of knowledge, and research-oriented learning as its aims, characterized by internationalization, the discipline is dedicated to cultivating foreign language students with academic breadth, depth, and strong communicative abilities. The Department has developed a German study and teaching team with Prof. FAN Jieping as the academic leader. Prof. FAN Jieping, Prof. Wagner and Associate Prof. LIU Yongqiang work in the fields of Foreign Literary Theory, Swiss Contemporary Literature, Austrian Contemporary Literature, and Cultural Studies ; Prof. LI Yuan and Associate Prof. LIU Yue work on the fields of Applied Linguistics and Intercultural Studies ; and Prof. SHEN Guoqin’s research on German Thought History and Political Philosophy enjoy a good reputation in domestic German language academia. In addition, Associate Professor LIU Yue's research on Overseas Immigrant Cultural Identity, early-career academic Dr. Chloe's German Literature, and Dr. GUO Yi's International Politics have also been well-received.
German Language and Literature has over 20 projects in the fields of German Modern Literature, Chinese Overseas Immigration, German Political Philosophy, Intercultural Studies and German Language Teaching, including major, sub-, general, and youth projects for the National Social Science Foundation, projects in humanities and social sciences for the Ministry of Education, as well as Provincial Social Science Foundation projects and other scientific research projects; team members have published more than 200 papers in SSCI, A&HCI, ISTP, CSSCI and other important academic journals in Germany and China; the team has published over 20 academic monographs, and over 40 academic translations and literary translations. Prof. FAN Jieping, the academic leader of this discipline, has won the Silver Medal of the Technical University of Berlin (TUB), the first, second and third Prizes for Excellent Achievements in Philosophy and Social Sciences of Zhejiang Province, the second prize for Teaching Achievements of Zhejiang Province, the first Tang Lixin Teaching Award of Zhejiang University and the 2015 Yongping Teaching Contribution Nomination Award. In 2015, the team led by Prof. Fan was named Top Ten Teaching Team of Zhejiang University.
The Program cooperates with the famous German universities such as the Technical University of Berlin (TUB), the University of Munich (LMU), the Free University of Berlin (FUB), the University of Würzburg, and Kiel University. Each year, undergraduates and master’s students are sent to study and on exchanges in Germany. Since 2016, the discipline has been funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), enabling students from Chinese Studies in FUB to enter the German major in Zhejiang University, enabling master’s students from ZJU to study German at FUB, and establishing a Sino-German university integration class. Excellent master’s students in this program have the opportunity to pursue a master’s degree in Communication and Language at the TUB and to receive double master’s degrees from China and Germany.
