History of Sinology at the University of Würzburg

The Sinology department at the University of Würzburg was founded in 1965. The first occupant of the Chair of East Asian Philology was Prof. Dr. Hans Steiniger, who was followed in 1988 by Prof. Dr. Dieter Kuhn. In 1997, a second professorship was established under the tutelage of Prof. Dr. Raimand th. Kolb. Both. Professor Kuhn and Professor Kolb retired from their positions in 2009 and 2011 respectively and after three years in which Dr. Helga Stahl stood in as custodian of the Chair, Prof. Dr. Roland Altenburg became the successor to the now renamed 'Chair of East Asian Cultural History'.

In the summer semester of 2011, a new Chair was instated, 'China Business and Economics'; a professorship that was filled at the start of 2012 by Prof. Dr. Doris Fischer.

As such, the Sinology department at the University of Würzburg currently consists of three Chairs. Besides providing education on China's rich cultural and historical legacy, Würzburg is the only university with a Sinology department in Bavaria that offers modern socio-political and economic study programmes dedicated to China. The Sinology department is part of the 'Institute for East- and Southasian Cultural Studies' at the University of Würzburg.

On the 23rd of November 2015, the Sinology department in Würzburg celebrated its 50-year anniversary. More information on the event’s schedule and festivities can be found here.