It was on 18 May that the China Center was officially opened at UiO after having been located at the University of Copenhagen for eight years. It was about six months after the University Board was able to present the plans at the last meeting before New Year 2021. After the center has moved to UiO, it has been named Fudan European Center for Chinese Studies (FECCS)

And now, a little over nine months later, daily camp and deputy director Chunrong Liu has come to his own office on the third floor of PA Munch’s house at the Faculty of Humanities. On the floor above held the host, nearest tenant and director Rune Svarverud to. He is also the director of the Department of Cultural Studies and Oriental Languages ​​(IKOS).

We both meet at the department and take the interview at Rune Svarverud’s office after seeing the sign Fudan-European Center for China Studies which has not yet appeared on the office door of Chunrong Liu.

– The move to UiO will give us a new dynamic

He expresses great joy at having come to the University of Oslo.

– Our main task is to put researchers who have the same professional interests in contact with each other. The move to the University of Oslo will give us a new dynamic with different partners with different focus. At the same time, there will be a lot of continuity and curious research on the green agenda, calculation and climate, topics such as Looking forward to facilitating researchers at the University of Oslo. There are many who have a common professional interest in their fields. The center also has a European profile, and which is also part of our framework, he says.

Professor Rune Svarverud is both an institutliar and a China expert.

– It is important to be able to build on the contacts you established after you came to Copenhagen, he says and turns directly to Chunrong Liu before he holds out.

– Here at the center, we come to help Norwegian researchers to get in touch with researchers from China. I have high expectations that I can help get help to get more collaboration and exchange with researchers at Fudan University, says Rune Svarverud.

Chunrong Liu is pleased with the reception he has received from colleagues and others at the Faculty of Humanities.

– They are very friendly. So far, the researchers I have linked together have done a lot of research on Nordic topics, since Fudan University also has a Scandinavian center. Now I have been well embraced by the University of Oslo, he thinks.

Rune Svarverud also points out that the practical collaboration is all underway.

– It is also important to get researchers at UiO and researchers at Fudan in contact with other quarters. This is how good it is that the center has come here. For now, they can expand their network.

– Has been well received

Chunrong Liu is grateful that the UiO Rectorate also provides the center with support in this work.

Rune Svarverud points out that Chunrong Liu has already started the works to center.

Yes

– How has interest in the center been so far?

– I feel that I have been well received, says Chunrong Liu. He can also have informal meetings and informal conversations with each other in both ways, he says.

And the center owner is happy to say that they have highlighted some areas that they would like to collaborate on.

– It is about climate, public health, literature studies and «governance». These themes all come under one umbrella. At the same time, I would like to draw attention to the fact that we are open to all kinds of interdisciplinary collaboration. We also hope that there will be our own initiatives from the researchers so that we get a bottom-up perspective on things, he says.

– As far as I can see, they at UiO have an important focus on climate and environment and the human dimension within this. I see this as a cross-border subject area. At the center, we are open to all slag in the past for cooperation, emphasizes Chunrong Liu.

– Is neither shy nor afraid to talk about it

The center leader is also aware of the criticism and debate that has come against UiO because the university has said it is willing to house this center. And he guarantees that it will be very possible to discuss gender issues such as China’s policy, and not least foreign policy at the center.

– We must be open to criticism. Criticism of China and Chinese politics can also be addressed at this center. I myself am a political scientist, and I am used to discussing both China’s and other countries’ policies. I have researched diplomacy, society and politics. Therefore, it is also possible to collaborate also in politics and statistics. I understand well that there is a lot of debate around this. It is the academics’ duty to engage in debates and dialogues. So I’m not shy or scared to talk about it. There are skilled researchers at UiO, but so far I have not met so many women in the social sciences, but it is on my plan, he reveals.

– We welcome welcome pictures discussions, just like we also made before, he adds.

Rune Svarverud agrees.

– Here at the center, we have full academic freedom. And I have no political agenda with this center. All kinds of subjects and all kinds of themes can be taken up at this center, Svarverud says.

– For example, is completely in agreement with Rune. I have no political agenda. Our job is to make it easier for researchers in Norway and Europe to collaborate with researchers in China. But sometimes it can be a little pushing between us, determined Chunrong Liu.

Have we met with UiO: Energy

Now, Chunrong Liu has started working on establishing new contacts at UiO.

– Last week I met with director Vebjørn Bakken at UiO: Energy to see how the center is organized and how it is possible to get a collaboration with that center as well. Vebjørn Bakken is also on our board, so I have discussed the theme of energy very thoroughly, he says.

Another topic Chunrong Liu has raised with researchers at UiO is also research collaboration after the pandemic.

– Joint event and joint financing of project will be current topics we will address. I can also use a star for younger researchers who can collaborate with colleagues at Fudan University, he says.

– Actually, I have a lot of informal conversations and conversations, and I like that very much, he smiles.

For Rune Svarverud and the Department of Cultural Studies and Oriental Languages ​​(IKOS), the establishment of the center is an academic strength.

– It is not a direct study of China, as we know it from the department. This is about establishing contacts and bringing researchers from close disciplines together across national borders. This is a center administered from our department, because UiO has decided that it will be a good match. We have many who work with China, so it will be nice for Chunrong Liu to be in such an academic environment. But we are very happy that the center was established with us, apparently Svarverud.

– Many common interests

Chunrong Liu is absolutely certain that the establishment of a center will create a collaboration between researchers from UiO and Fudan University.

– Yes, they have many common interests in health, climate and environment, he says.

Now he is looking forward to a big conference that the center is behind in October.

– It will be about science policy in China and in Europe. And I am glad that Rector Svein Stølen has agreed to participate in the Shanghai Forum, even if this will be a virtual conference.

– Did you get silver to go to China after the pandemic started?

– No, I have not achieved that. So I have been in Denmark and Norway until now.

Read more about China and UiO in Uniforum:

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