On June 30, 2016, shortly after the opening ceremony was over, the School of Liberal Arts sponsored and held the first Academic Salon at the Meeting Center of Jiangsu University. Professor Cheng Aimin, a PhD supervisor with and Dean of the Overseas Education College, Nanjing University and Liu Hong, Dean of the School of Liberal Arts, Yangzhou University were invited to attend the salon. The two celebrated professors and faculties of the School of Liberal Arts together explored the approach to discipline construction and means of further promoting the teaching and research work of the School faculties.

The salon presided over by Deputy Dean Qiao Fang then started, who introduced the faculty composition, educational background, discipline construction and the teaching and work of the School of Liberal Arts, politely asking the two invited professors to offer advice on the discipline construction and the teaching and research work of the School of Liberal Arts. Professor Cheng Aimin offered a detailed evaluation on the dynamic situation of the TCSOL program in the globalized context, exemplifying his idea by citing the specific strategies adopted for the specialty construction and research development by the TCSOL Program of Nanjing University. Professor Chen spoke highly of the innovative strategy adopted by Jiangsu University of putting the School of Liberal Arts and the Language and Culture Center under the common leadership. He suggested that in the future the School of Liberal Arts should take the good opportunity derived from the internationalization initiative of Jiangsu University and the favorable policies offered for the international promotion of Chinese to blaze a new path of development by integrating the strengths of many disciplines. By resorting to his own practical experience in taking charge of the discipline construction of the School of Literal Arts, Yangzhou University, Professor Liu Hong voiced his own opinions on discipline construction and the teaching and research work. He noted the distinctive features of the School of Liberal Arts, Jiangsu University, who had already housed the Master Program in TCSOL, pointing out that in the near future the School of Liberal Arts should seize the opportunity of the international promotion of Chinese Language to accumulate related teaching and research achievements; in the long run, the School of Liberal Arts should work out concrete plans on recruiting discipline leaders based on the primary discipline of Chinese Language and Literature, on establishing research groups with their own academic characteristics and creating a favorable academic atmosphere for the faculties and researchers of ours. In the end, Dean Ren Xiaofei and Deputy Dean Wu Xiaofeng both made a speech concerning the construction, responsibility, mission, innovation etc of the School of Liberal Arts.

At this salon, the two guest professors offered quite a few earnest and practical proposals on the construction of the School of Arts ’construction and the development of the teaching and research work. Faculties present at the salon were greatly inspired and encouraged by these effective and constructive suggestions. The first Academic Salon reiterated the great significance of literary discipline construction and literary research to the realization of the objective of building Jiangsu University into a top-notch featured international research-oriented university. The speeches of the two professors injected new energy into the spirit of the leaders and faculties of the School of Liberal Arts and spurred on them to work harder for a better future of the school.