Recently, the “Research Project on the Continuity of Hunan Bamboo Slips, Silk Books, and Cliff Carvings”, led by Associate Professor Ao Lian from the Zhou Dunyi Research Institute at Xiangnan University, has been approved for the 2025 National Social Science Fund’s Special Project for the Study of Rare and Unique Learning. This is the second time that the school has received national level special support in this category since 2023.

The National Social Science Fund's Rare and Unique Learning Research Project aims to focus on supporting disciplines that are of great significance or fill gaps in national development, civilization inheritance, and cultural security.

Ao Lian introduced that the research team plans to break through the previous academic models of studying Hunan’s bamboo slips, silk books, and cliff carvings separately, and attempt to systematically explore their unique values in the inheritance of Hunan culture and Chinese civilization from the perspectives of correlation and continuity.

This research is based on long-term solid academic accumulation. The research team led by Professor Zhang Jinghua, dean of Zhou Dunyi Research Institute, has been deeply engaged in this field for more than 10 years.

They have published more than 10 works such as “Research on Hunan Local Literature and Cliff Carvings”, promoted related theme exhibitions to enter the National Museum of China, and hosted three national cliff carving academic seminars.

This series of preliminary achievements has laid a solid foundation for the project's advancement.

In recent years, Xiangnan University has focused on combining regional cultural resources and providing long-term cultivation and stable support for characteristic research directions, providing a favorable development environment for related research.

The approval is a phased achievement of the school's continuous investment in this field, further consolidating its academic characteristics in the research of local cultural heritage.

Chinese source: hunantoday