Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU), an international university, is the mere one of its kind in China mainly responsible for the tasks of teaching the Chinese language and culture to both foreign students and Chinese students. The College of Humanities and Social Sciences & the College of Teachers’ Training plays a very important role in BLCU, due not only to the strong teaching force, mature and peculiar educational modes for undergraduates, postgraduates and other high-level talents, but to such majors as teaching Chinese as a second language that owns a leading position in China.
     The college comprises the following units: the Department of Teaching Chinese as a Second Language (TCSL), the Department of Chinese language and Literature, the Department of Art, the Department of Social Sciences, the editorial department of Chinese Culture Research, the Chinese Culture Research Institute, the Sinology Research Institute, the UN Research Center, the Qu Yuan Association, etc. Of the staff members, 89% have either full professorship or associate professorship, and 21 ones have doctoral degree. Working together with the full-time teaching staff are several retired professors. The research and publications of the staff have exerted much influence in the academic circles.
     Orientated around the established educational aim, the college has been upholding the strategy of refined cultivation, developing the features and advantages and practising the educational modes of interconnecting the varied majors and programs. It has fostered a large number of excellent professionals for both China and the world. In addition to strengthening the foundations of each major, the college has provided for students a vast platform to develop themselves fully. The students have their own literary societies, saloons and magazines such as Lai Yuan and Voice of Literature as well as newspapers such as Lai Yuan.
     The Department of TCSL offers the B.A. program of TCSL, which has become the feature and the strength of BLCU. With an outstanding level of teaching and research, it has won a pioneering position in China. Early in 1981, BLCU began the B.A. program of TCSL and enrolled the first group of college students. The program has now a history of over 20 years and is accepted as number one either in the scope of education or in the quality of cultivation. Since 2002, permitted by the Education Ministry of China, the department has become the first among those who are entitled to recommend and enroll the excellent graduates of their own in M.A. programs. There are three M.A. programs in the department of TCSL, namely, the M.A. program of linguistics and applied linguistics, the M.A. program of sinology and the M.A. program of curriculum and teaching methodology (also, TCSL).
     The Department of Chinese Language and Literature offers B.A. programs of Chinese language and literature. The major has two specialties: Chinese and journalism, aiming to foster professionals who have systematic accomplishment of both Chinese language and Chinese literature and meanwhile are qualified for Sino-world culture exchange, news services, etc. This program gives stress to coherence of the solid foundations of knowledge and the capacities of application. The curriculum is thus set up to ensure the systematic interconnection and the integrate structure of the given courses, meanwhile reinforcing the feature of foreign language teaching as well as the training in the such skills as computer use and writing. The department is also entitled to recommend and enroll directly excellent graduates of its own in the following M.A. programs: the M.A. program of the ancient Chinese literature, the M.A. program of world literature and comparative literature, the modern and contemporary Chinese literature, the study of literature and art, the study of Chinese classical documents, the history of a particular subject, and, the study of international politics. Furthermore, the department offers opportunities to teachers of Chinese and professionals of sinology for further studies in a particular subject.
     The Department of Art offers the B.A. program of Chinese painting and calligraphy, enrolling Chinese students (with certificate of high-school or similar level education and required foundation of art) and mainly overseas student. The department aims to foster high-level talents who have advanced qualities of art, systematic knowledge of traditional Chinese art and calligraphy as well as the strict training of Chinese art and calligraphy, capable of the teaching job and culture exchange work that helps to promote and spread Chinese culture and art. The program is supported by the strengths of BLCU and featured by the emphasis on the students’ capacities of trans-culture communication and the accomplishment of culture. The department owns very strong teaching force, well-equipped facilities and specialized exhibition halls.
     The College of Teachers’ Training was established in Nov, 1996 on the basis of the Center of Chinese Teachers’ Training. Permitted by the Education Committee of China, it’s the first national institution responsible for the task of training teachers of Chinese in China and abroad. Every year since 1987, it will provide training courses and learning programs of varied kinds for teachers of Chinese from both China and abroad. Up to now, there have conducted 140 classes of teachers’ training and learning of varied kinds. 3000 teachers from China and from more than 40 other countries of Asia, Africa, Europe, America and Oceania have participated in the training classes and programs. With the longest history of teachers’ training, the largest number of teachers trained and the greatest popularity in China and abroad, the college has become the most influential training center of teachers of Chinese. In recent years, new training contents have added to the original: the program of Chinese culture for the overseas teachers, the coach class for the qualification examinations for teachers of Chinese, and, the learning programs of Putonghua for Canton and Macau. Meanwhile, active efforts have been made to conduct the training programs in foreign countries.
     The Chinese Culture Research, conducted by BLCU under the leadership of the Education Ministry of China, is the national keynote journal of Chinese social sciences and of Chinese magzines. Since 1993 when it was initiated, it has been keeping strictly to the high academic standards, publishing high-level articles of varied disciplines and exerting vast influence in the fields of Chinese literature, history, philosophy, religion, folklore, art, culture transmission, culture exchange between China and the world, international sinology, etc. In 2002, the editing committee was established, with Professor Han Jintai as the editor-in-chief and Ren Jiyu, Ji Xianlin, Zhang Dainian, Tao Yijie, Li Xuexing, Fu Xuanzhong, Rao Zhongyi, Ye Jiaying, Wu Hongyi, and, Qu Deling as the specially-invited advisors of the magazine.