hanghai International Studies University (SISU) established a new Center for Ukrainian Studies on October 15th to boost area studies of Eastern Europe. Mr. Igor Vodoraroski, Ukraine's consul general in Shanghai, attended the inaugural ceremony.

Professor Zhang Feng, Vice President of SISU, gave a welcome address to all the participating researchers and students.

“SISU started the Ukraine language program in 2007, which is one of the only two in China,” Zhang said, “With the founding of the new Center, SISU will advance teaching and research strengths in Eastern European studies in response to the country’s ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative.”

 “The Ukraine issue is one of the most complex problems of today’s international relations. The Center will encourage scholars to share views and achievements in Ukrainian studies,” Zhang added.

Igor Vodoraroski expressed his congratulation to the establishment of the Center. He thanked the faculty and students of SISU for their dedication to the Sino-Ukrainian cultural relations. He wished that SISU will cultivate more excellent students of Ukrainian studies.

In the following seminar, Ukrainian scholars from the Lviv University and the Ukrainian Academy of Arts give vivid presentations on the history, current trends and prospects of Ukrainian literature and culture.

Professor Yao Yi’en, a retired professor of Russian in SISU and researcher at the Shanghai Research Institute of Culture and History , looked back on his academic life in his speech, in which he spent almost of his time in translating the works of Sholem Aleichem.

He said that a research group of Sholem Aleichem will be established under SISU’s Center for Ukraine Studies, focusing on the literary studies of this leading 19th-century Yiddish writer who was honored as “Judaic Mark Twain”.

Professor Zhang Zili, Dean of SISU’s School of Russian and Eurasian Studies (SRES) hosted the ceremony. About 60 SISU faculty members and students attended.