This University of Oxford China Centre is an exciting new building owned by St Hugh’s College. The total cost of the building is £21M, of which almost £20M was raised from some extremely generous donations from benefactors. Most notable amongst these is the Hong Kong philanthropist, Dickson Poon CBE, who kindly donated a massive £10M towards the cost of the building.
The building brings together academics drawn from across a range of disciplines, who share research and teaching interests related to China. The building also provides 63 ensuite student bedrooms, a 100-seat lecture theatre, a 200-seat dining area, and a range of conference and seminar facilities. It also contains a dedicated library with study carrels and a reading room, which provides a permanent home for books from the Bodleian Library’s China Collection.
The University of Oxford China Centre was launched in May 2008. It joins together academics from across the whole university, coordinating activities in all areas of study of China.
Its objective is to ensure that the university’s commitment to the study of China is continually developed and expanded as the rising power of China sets new challenges and requires new areas of research. The centre is directly supported by both the humanities and social sciences divisions.
The University of Oxford China Centre plays a key role in the university’s strategy to strengthen its relationship with China and other centres of scholarship in Chinese studies worldwide. The centre advances the expertise of the university’s outstanding academics by encouraging original research, publication, joint projects, and collaboration with scholars and institutions in China, the UK and elsewhere.
Rana Mitter, professor of the History & Politics of Modern China at the Institute of Chinese Studies, will take up the post of Director of the new University of Oxford China Centre. The centre brings together the university’s sinologists in the building. “Oxford has the largest single grouping of people working on China anywhere in Europe”, says Professor Mitter, “and one of three or four anywhere in the western world. We would like to think of ourselves at the very top along with Havard and Berkeley but until now that hasn’t been perceived. We are hoping the new building will crystallize that fact.”