The Center for Modernist Studies (CMS) at Zhejiang University is an interdisciplinary academic research institution. It will maintain close relations with the Chinese and international higher education community. It aims to encourage and stimulate conversations about modernism and East Asian studies across disciplines.

The Orient's impact on modernism has attracted much attention in the

world today. In 1996 the Beinecke Library of Yale University convened an international symposium to address the interconnection between modernism and the Orient. This was followed by a second symposium on the topic held at King's College, Cambridge University, in 2004. These and other conferences have helped open a new direction in modernist studies. The Center for Modernist Studies is established for the purpose of fulfilling the historic mission of the University. It is

devoted to the teaching and study of Euro-American modernism with special attention to its relation with East Asian culture.

Modernism and the Orient is the Center's central research project. New courses in this rapidly changing field will be designed and offered. Specific topics will be pursued, papers will be given at colloquiums, and international scholars of modernism will be invited to lecture and engage in collaborative projects. In 2010 the Center will host a third international symposium on Modernism and the Orient. Original papers will be collected for publication.

Linked to the School of International Studies, the Center operates directly under Zhejiang University. Y. C. Tang Chair Professor Zhaoming Qian will serve as the Director of the Center and Professor Fen Gao will serve as the Executive Director.

The Center has an Advisory Committee with internationally renowned scholars of modernism. Among them are Marjorie Perloff (Stanford University, US), Ronald Bush (Oxford University, UK), Daniel Albright (Harvard University, US), Ira Nadel (University of British Columbia, Canada), and Christine Froula (Northwestern University, US). It has an Academic Committee, with specialists from Zhejiang University as well as other institutions. It has a research group with members from English and American studies, German studies, Russian studies, French studies, Japanese studies, philosophy, anthropology, fine arts, and other disciplines.