Two major research projects were approved recently by the National Social Science Fund of China in the School of Chinese Classics, RUC. One is “The Study on Western Region’s Multilingual Texts and Domestic Ethnic Exchange History in Ming Dynasty” and the other is “The Study on the history of a hundred years’ Xiqu (Chinese Traditional Drama) performance and its Peak”.

“The Study on Western Region’s Multilingual Texts and Domestic Ethnic Exchange History in Ming Dynasty” is a special academic team project led by Prof. Borjigidai Oyunbilig, Executive Dean of the School of Chinese Classics and distinguished professor of Chang Jiang Scholars Program.

By collecting and sorting out the multilingual literature of the Western Regions in Ming Dynasty, this project reveals the history of communication and blending among various ethnic groups in China. There are many multilingual documents with rich connotations and high academic value in the Western Region of Ming Dynasty. The representative ones are Arban Buyaantu nom-on Cagan Teuhe Orosibai (in Mongolian) and the Pictures and Texts on King Andahan Paying Tribute to Ming Emperor (in both Chinese and Mongolian). This project intends to conduct a multi-disciplinary and multi-angle comprehensive research on the history, language, art and culture of the above representative documents, which will not only vigorously promote the development of research fields such as Ming history and documents of Ming Dynasty, but also further reveal the community consciousness of the Chinese nation reflected in historical documents.

“The Study on the history of a hundred years’ Xiqu (Traditional Chinese Drama) performance and its Peak” is a major art project and the chief expert is Prof. Gu Shuguang of the School of Chinese Classics.

This project focuses on the history of Xiqu performance. Based on the diverse and vivid “Liyuan Wenxian”（materials on Chinese traditional drama）such as texts, sounds, images, archives, etc., the project is of great significance to strengthen the study of the history of Xiqu performance and opens up a new path for the study of Xiqu. The three key words of “a hundred years”, “history of performance” and “peak” fully show the innovation of the project and the fact that the team truly pays close attention to the ecology and vitality of Xiqu. During the research, the project takes the non-textual “Liyuan Wenxian” into consideration, and makes an in-depth study of the history of a hundred years’ Xiqu performances from the perspectives of drama types, theatres, troupes, actors and audiences. With the research ideas of combining dots, lines, films and faces, the project outlines the three-dimensional picture of Xiqu performances, and summarizes the peak performances of one hundred years’ Xiqu at the theoretical level, aiming at providing historical reference and experience for the development of contemporary drama.