French Language and Literature was founded in 1993 according to the cultural cooperation agreement signed between Normandy Regional Government and Zhejiang Provincial Government in 1992. It is one of the fruits of long-term cooperation between China and France. The program has enrolled graduate students since 2006. It is currently the only teaching and research unit in Zhejiang Province that recruits graduate students in French studies. Prof. XU Wei, the academic leader of the program, is a Senior Professor of Arts at Zhejiang University, a doctoral supervisor, a scholar of the Changjiang Scholars Program set up by the Ministry of Education, a famous translator, a convener of the National Foreign Literature Discipline Review Group, a vice director of the National Translation Master’s Degree Education Steering Committee, Vice Deputy President of the China Translation Association, and editor of META, BABEL, Foreign Language Teaching and Research, Chinese Translation, Foreign Language, Foreign Literature and other domestic and foreign academic journals. Associate Professor ZHAO Jia is both a Qiushi Young Scholar and a Zhongying Young Scholar at Zhejiang University. All teachers in the program have overseas doctorates. In addition, two foreign teachers with doctoral degrees and a number of short-term foreign experts are employed for teaching and research.
The program operates in a wide range of professional fields, including Translation and Literary Studies led by Prof. XU Wei; in addition, ZHAO Jia, FAN Yanmei and SHI Yuting have formed a study group on Modern and Contemporary French Literature; MO Chunyan and ZHANG Fang are the main scholars in French Linguistics and Pedagogy Studies. All teachers in this discipline have studying or working experience in France or French-speaking countries. They have rich teaching experience and have significant research results. Program members have published several monographs and translation works, and published papers in core journals such as Foreign Literature Studies, Foreign Literature, Literary Studies, Journal of Zhejiang University, Foreign Literature, and Contemporary Foreign Literature. A number of national and provincial projects have been undertaken.
Based on teaching and studying French language and literature, the program extends the scope of teaching and research to the political, economic and cultural aspects of French or French-speaking countries and regions. It is also committed to establishing links with universities in France or French-speaking countries and with domestic faculties with French majors, and to promote and strengthen international and domestic academic cooperation and exchanges. It has established long-term international academic exchanges with many universities in France and French-speaking countries, and actively invites well-known scholars from home and abroad to come for lectures and exchanges. In recent years, almost all students on the program have had the opportunity for exchange and study in other institutions of higher education, including Paris Institute of Political Studies and Jean Moulin University Lyon 3.
