Founded in 2001, the Department of Culture Relics and Museology was based on the former Section of Museology Which had been established in 1980 and was the first one among those in higher education organization at home and was first headed by Professor Wang Yuzhe, a well-known expert of pre-Qin History. Famous experts of culture relics and museology such as Fu Zhenlun, Shi Shuqing, Sun Ji, Li Xueqin, Yu Weichao, Li Huibing, Xu Pingfang have been engaged as part-time professor. There are 3 doctors Supervisors, 3 Professors, 6 associate professors and 2 lecturers in the department. The supervisors are Professor Fan Zeng, a well-known artist of painting and calligraphy and historian of culture and arts. Professor Zhu Fenghan, the First Vice-Director of National Museum, and Researcher Xu Pingfang, a well-known archaeologist at the Institute of Archaeology, Academy of Social Sciences. Professor Liu Yi is the Chair recently.
There are three teaching and research sections:
Section of Museology, Section of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, and Section and Art History, and the Center for Chinese Museology Studies, a showroom for cultural relics, a laboratory for cultural relics and museology.
New version:
In 1950s, Prof. Zheng Zhenduo, Shen Congwen once proposed to Prof. Zheng Tianting, the prominent scholar and the then chairman of History Department of Nankai University, to establish the major of Museology. With the coordination of Prof. Zheng Tianting and the then director of the State Bureau of Culture Relics (SBCR), “Museum Specialization” was set up under Department of History, Nankai University, and started to admit students in 1959. A few years later, the admission had to be called to a stop due to nationwide economic difficulties. In September 1979, the major of “Museology” was reestablished, which was affiliated to Department of History of Nankai University. Being the earliest one having museology major in the whole country, Museology at Nankai started its nationwide enrollment of undergraduate students since the fall of 1980, and admitted graduate students since 1984. In 1985, Nankai offered specialized training courses on relics and museology under the commission of the SBCR, it offered graduate level courses in 1987 also under the trust of SBCR, and started to receive PhD. Students ever since 1999. The major of museology was reorganized and renamed as “Department of Relics and Museology” in 2001 affiliating to College of History, Nankai University. In 2012, the department changed its name into “Department of Archeology and Museology” under which two teaching and research offices were set up: Archeology, and Museology and Culture Legacy, which are co-managing and co-constructing the Experimental Center for the Teaching of Relics, Museology and Archeology of Nankai University with the Museum of Nankai University.
When the major of museology was first established, the faculty members partially came from the teachers of the History Department of Nankai University and partly from the mainstays of a few relics and museology institutions. Faculties like Prof. Wang Yuzhe, Fu Tongqin, Zhang Xiying, Ma Zizhuang, Fu Mei, Zhu Fenghan, Liang Jisheng, Liu Dailiang, and Feng Chengbo endured great hardships in pioneer works, and gradually improved and completed the course system of the major, advanced the academic research on museology, and trained many young faculty members of brilliance. The prominent historian, expert on relics and museology Prof. Wang Yuzhe was the first director for museology major, followed by professor Fu Tongqin, Zhu Fenghan, Fu Mei, and Liu Yi successively. Many other distinguished scholars from the Institute of Archeology and History Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, School of Archeology and Museology of Peking University, Palace Museum, and National Museum of China were employed consecutively as part-time professors of our department, and helped fostered many bright Ph.D. and M.A. graduates.
Presently, the department has 9 faculty members, including 3 professors, 4 associate professors, and 2 instructors. Among the faculty, 6 have Ph.D. degrees, with one chief expert of the “Marxist Project”, and one winner of the Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University supported by the Ministry of Education.
Archeology and Museology at Nankai University has four second grade disciplines, they are: Specialized Archeology and Relics Study, Chinese Archeology and Ancient Material Culture, the Studies and Conservation of Historical Culture Heritage, and Theories and Practices of Museology, which offer over 20 required and selective courses for undergraduates, and some 30 courses for M.A. and Ph.D. candidates. The faculty members of our department have published a number of monographs, hundreds of their articles together with fieldwork reports or archeological excavation briefs appeared on national level journals like Archeology, Museology and other related ones. Our faculties also have been granted with many research funds from National Social Science Foundation and other national and provincial level funds from the Ministry of Education and the State Administration of Culture Heritage, and have won many national and provincial level awards. In 2013, Museology at Nankai University was honored as the Quaternary Key Cultivated Discipline of Higher Education Institutions in Tianjin.
In the past three decades, the major of Museology of Nankai has awarded over 1000 degrees to graduate students, undergraduates, junior college students majored in Relics and museology, and advanced students of different professional and technical level. Many of our graduates have pursued brilliant careers as administrators of relic management, scholars and teachers of museology and archeology, and have made their contributions to the development of archeology and museology in China.
1.Section of Museology
2.Section of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
3.Section of Art History
