On June 17 the discussion about the need for Chinese language translators were held initiated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania (URM). During the meeting director Ina Marčiulionytė emphasized the recent growth of interest about Lithuania in China. URM receives delegations from China every month and not all guests are able to speak English, the need for professional Chinese language translators is rapidly growing. Since the number of visits from China is only getting bigger, the government should start worrying about how to prepare more professionals who can translate verbally.

Also, the shortage of guides for Chinese tourists was expressed by representative of Tourism Department Akvilė Vanagaitė. Right now there are only 5 Chinese speaking guides, but the tourist traffic from China is becoming bigger and Lithuania must prepare for a new wave from China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Not to mention that by not having enough qualified negotiators and translators who can communicate with Chinese business institutions Lithuania could loose compared with other European countries as was pointed out by Lithuania-China Business council chairman Osvaldas Čiukšys. (more…)

From May 25 Solveiga Žibaitė, who has recently finished her studies in Social Anthropology at the University of Edinburgh, is doing an internship at the Centre for Asian Studies. She will stay here a month and a half.

Solveiga, who has spent a year in China, will help the staff of the Centre to organise a summer school and to carry out media monitoring – she will identify and review articles in Chinese about VMU events, students, and Lithuanian science and arts in general. (more…)

On June 11-12 CAS junior researcher Daiva Repečkaitė will attend Riga International Roundtable “Financing for Development: Role of EU Member States”. Riga international Roundtable is organized to find answers to those questions at national and international level through bringing together policy makers, media representatives, civil society and private sector activists, academics and educators from Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Finland and the UK. Daiva has previously received a Minority Rights Group scholarship to do research on development issues in Southeast Asia.

CAS invites all to the first summer school for Chinese, Japanese and Korean language learners. The school will focus on lectures about translation practice, work of a translator, the most common mistakes that translators make etc. Of coure there will be an interactive part as well: participants will be able to try out their skills in translation tasks, learn useful tips for a more efficient translating.

Summer school will be held on June 16- 17. (more…)

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The Centre of Asian Studies invites students both from Lithuania and other countries to apply for Master degree study program East Asia Region Studies (EARS). Applications are accepted until July 10. All necessary application and admission procedures are explained in detail on university’s website. International students are also encouraged to use the opportunity of receiving a scholarship offered by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Lithuania.

EARS was launched at 2007 by the Regional Studies Department (Faculty of Political Science and Diplomacy). It is the first and the only one graduate program in Lithuania and Baltic States that offers English courses in the field of East Asian contemporary politics and society. Research paper and master’s thesis are also written in English. (more…)

This week, Chiune Sugihara Reading Room got a present from Rikkyo University (Tokyo, Japan) – Professor Kumiko Yamada donated 110 books (33 of them in English) from her personal collection. This donation consists of various publications on literature, art, history, religion and other topics. Centre for Asian Studies is grateful for Japanese Embassy in the Republic of Lithuania for all the help during the book acquiring process.
Ch. Sugihara Reading room is an integral part of Centre for Asian Studies, responsible for collecting material related to the scientific and research activities of CAS. The funds of the Reading room are constantly growing, and donations from individual donors consist a large part of it.

In early December, a new issue of volume 10 of the International Journal of Area Studies was published by De Gruyter. It consists of five articles and is concentrating on such topics as the translator of the first Catholic Bible in Chinese, Zainichi Koreans in Japanese media, Nishitani’s interpretation of Buddhist concept of sūnyatā, influence of Japonisme on art of M.K Čiurlionis, etc.

We invite to read the open access articles online.

The Journal, published semiannually in March and October, is devoted to area studies from the humanities and social sciences perspectives (including but not limited to research on history, religion, philosophy, politics, and social processes in the regions of the world). We are interested in receiving article proposals related to different facets of the aforementioned scientific fields. (more…)

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The Centre of Asian Studies is among the winners of a national grant to implement a project administered by the ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania. Two members of ASC staff – Aurelijus Zykas and Linas Didvalis – together with four experts from other institutions, will conduct a research on the most perspective areas for Lithuania to participate in the EU-ASEAN dialogue.

The project is financed by the European Social Fund.

We are happy to announce a call for papers for the 5th annual international students’ conference on Asia. The conference will take place on April 9 at Vytautas Magnus University (V. Putvinskio 23, Kaunas).

If you are interested in East Asian cultures, languages, arts, economics or other areas, this event is just for you. The conference, organized by VMU East Asian Languages ​​and Cultures students, together with the Centre for Asian Studies and the Department of Cultural Studies, is a great opportunity to share your accumulated knowledge, work or research with colleagues in this field and not only, to gain experience and improve your public speaking skills, or even get some inspirations. (more…)

We are sharing the invitation to submit abstracts for the 4th annual Student academic Conference, focusing on Asia. The conference will be held on April 24, 11:00-14:00, V. Putvinskio 23-310 in Kaunas, Lithuania.

This event, which has become an integral part of VMU Asian Week, is organized by VMU Regional Studies Asian specialization students and VMU Center for Asian Studies together with the Department of Cultural Studies. As every year, students from various fields whose work and research touch on the topic of Asia are welcome, both from the humanities, social sciences, arts and other disciplines. (more…)

The National Taiwan Library announced “Guidelines to the National Taiwan Library Fellowship for International Visiting Scholars and Students”.
The library provides Fellowship for experts and scholars to pursue their academic goals in Taiwan studies or Southeast Asia studies. Please click here to read more.

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It is time for all who are interested in East Asian cultures, languages, economics, politics and more to come together for what has become an annual student research conference, organised by the VMU East Asia Cultures and Languages students.
This conference is a great opportunity to share your knowledge, work and research with colleagues in the field, to try and improve your public speaking skills, to gain experience and to listen to presentations by like-minded people. (more…)

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Are you interested in politics of Japan? Maybe you are interested in economy of China? Maybe you are fascinated in Korean art and traditions? It does not matter in which field you are interested in, as long as it is related to East Asia we have a very interesting proposition to you. (more…)

VMU Department of International Relations informs about ongoing studies exchange and internship contests as well as “Erasmus Days’21” which are going to take place on February 17th, 18th, and 19th, during which students will be able to learn more about exchange opportunities. (more…)

Beijing Normal University entrusts the European Federation of Overseas Chinese and Chinese Associations to recruit 100 candidates for MBA and MPA studies (conducted fully in English) from all over the world. Appropriate students are welcome to sign up. (more…)

Applications for scholarships for studies in China in 2021-2022 are open. Persons who are nationals of Lithuania, EU or persons from the third countries having the right to live in Lithuania are welcome to apply.

Applications may be submitted by representatives of various fields of Lithuanian science and studies institutions/ representatives of science fields – Bachelor, Masters and PhD students. (more…)