The School of Literature of Shanxi University has been of great importance to Shanxi University's development, and a great number of well-known scholars have given lectures at the school, such as Huang Kan and Li Lianggong. Those two were under the tutorship of Mr. Zhang Binglin, guru of Chinese classics, which allowed the School of Literature’s education to be closely associated with Mr. Zhang.

The School of Literature has made huge progress in teaching and academic research after the founding of People's Republic of China, while the reform and opening up allowed it to experience another great-leap-forward development. Different undertakings of the school have achieved rapid development after entering the 21st century. Today, the school has become matured in teaching, scientific research, discipline construction and other aspects, and has developed an upright, profound, open and lively education style, which allowed it to become the benchmark among Chinese faculties of academies in Shanxi.

Yao Dianzhong, senior professor of the School of Literature

As of May 2011, the School of Literature has 63 full-time lecturers, including 14 professors, 13 associate professors and 31 lecturers with a doctorate. Six of the lecturers are doctoral advisors, while 32 of them are postgraduate advisors. The school boasts its strong teaching force, with its lecturers winning nine national awards and over 30 provincial and ministry level awards, and publishing over 459 academic papers as well as monographs over the past five years. A number of young lecturers have shown their talents in addition to old lecturers, which made the entire school full of vigor and vitality.

The School of Literature currently has 1,276 students, including 782 undergraduates and 494 Doctoral and Master's degree candidates, which makes it a first-class school with the largest number of students in Shanxi University. Since the beginning of this year, students from the school’s different majors have performed well in the scientific, recreational and sports activities at different levels. The school has, in total, published over 500 academic papers and received nine national awards, as well as 24 provincial and ministry level awards, and its graduates are well received by the country and society from the perspectives of morals, intelligence and physical fitness, which fully reflect the school’s achievements in talent development.

Great Lectures on Chinese Classics

The School of Literature has five faculties: Literature Faculty, Language Faculty, Drama and Movie Faculty, Advertising Faculty and Journalism and Communication Faculty. There are 12 disciplines entitled for conferring a Master’s degree at the moment: Ancient Chinese Literature, Chinese Philology, Modern and Contemporary Chinese Literature, Comparative Literature and World Literature, Theory of Literature and Art, Study of Chinese Classical Text, Folklore, Journalism, Communication, Radio and Television Art, Master of Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages as well as Master of Journalism and Communication. Among the disciplines entitled for conferring a Master’s degree, Chinese Language and Literature along with Journalism are primary disciplines.

The school has 2 disciplines entitled for conferring a Doctorate in ancient Chinese Literature and Chinese Philology, while the discipline of Ancient Chinese Literature is a key discipline of Shanxi province. Postgraduate education offered by the School of Literature of Shanxi University started in 1978, and it has developed a great number of high-level, quality talents for over 32 years, who have made great contributions to the different undertakings of the country and Shanxi province.

The School of Literature of Shanxi University has a secondary research center of Chinese Classics Research Center, which is a key research base for humanities and social sciences in Shanxi province. It also has a secondary research institute of Folklore and Folk Literature Research Institute. These two research institutions, along with six laboratories under the school, cover almost all of the research-type disciplines of the school, and serve as a link between its scientific research and teaching, as well as a fundamental mechanism for the overall development of scientific research.

The School of Literature launched its Great Lectures on Chinese Classics, on May 8, 2008, which were delivered by leading lecturers in the related disciplines of the school and opened to the public for free. It’s committed to propagating excellent traditional Chinese culture, inheriting the great spirit and virtues of Chinese people, and building a harmonious, profound and future-oriented human value orientation.

The school has a library and laboratories for teaching and scientific research, and the library has over 200,000 books, which are available for lecturers and students of the school. Laboratories include a speech laboratory, media laboratory, as well as a film and television gathering and editing room, which are well-equipped and used frequently.