China in Europe, Europe in China. Past and Present
Germany and China have had close relations since the beginning of the 19th century. Travelers, merchants, diplomats, students, mariners, soldiers, and missionaries have left their marks in each other’s countries while spreading knowledge of Germany or China back home. Numerous sources—travel logs, documents from foreign offices, or the business archives like those maintained by Siemens or Krupp—have yet to be analyzed for a more precise portrait of German-Chinese relations in the 19th and 20th centuries. During the doctoral program, you will examine various aspects to gain new insight into the social, economic, and political processes of transfer between the two countries.
The program seeks to sharpen research focus on the broad spectrum of German-Chinese relations since intensification of contact around 1830. We also aim to overcome language barriers by giving doctoral candidates in all humanities disciplines an opportunity to learn Chinese and allowing them to include Chinese-language sources in their research.
The China in Europe, Europe in China doctoral program in the Faculty of Humanities at Universität Hamburg was initiated by the partner universities Fudan University and Universität Hamburg as part of the sister city program between Shanghai and Hamburg. The Department of History and the Asien-Afrika-Institut are organizing the program for Universität Hamburg. An integral part of this 3-year program is a 1-year research stay in Shanghai.
Part of the cooperation agreement with Fudan University foresees supervision of Chinese doctoral candidates from Shanghai at Universität Hamburg. Plans are also being made for establishment of a joint degree.