The Department of Chinese Literature of National Chung Hsin University was established by Professor Lee Tik-Sang in 1965. We established the Bachelor Program and had 40 students in our department at that time. Also, we were the fifth national university that established the Department of Chinese Literature in Taiwan.
We added Evening School in 1968 for people who had to work at day. Also, we established Master Program in 1992 and added In-Service Master Program in 1999 for teachers and people who had to work at day to pursue higher education. Finally, we established PhD Program in 2001. Now, we have five programs for students including Bachelor Program, Extension Education Program, Master Program, In-Service Program and PhD Program. There are about 225 students enrolling in our department every year with about 1,000 students attending now.
At the beginning, due to limited space, we taught our students in the cabins of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. It was not until 1976 that the Department of Chinese Literature, Department of History and Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures were moved to Hong Dao Building after it was finished. However, with the number of programs and students increased, there was not enough space for students and teachers. As a result, the three departments were moved to the Multi-Purpose Classroom Building after it was finished in 1994. Afterwards, our department took the 8th floor of the Multi-Purpose Classroom Building as our offices for administration, research and teaching purposes.
Though we have complete sets of equipment and all kinds of electronic devices, there are still two things that we hope to achieve to provide a better learning environment for our students. First, we hope to move our classical collections to the main library to clear more space in our department. Second, we hope there could be a Humanity Building that could provide more space for our department.
National Chung Hsin University was established in 1919. Our school motto is Honesty, Simplicity, Advancement, and Diligence. Our department has 44 years of history. We focus on developing Chinese heritage and fostering talents that appreciate Chinese culture. And until 2006, there were already about 2,100 students graduated from our department. With some of them continued to pursue higher education and a career path in Chinese culture research, most of them worked in elementary school and middle school, and became the core of our society.
We have distinguished professors such as Wang Li-Qing, Ming Yungchung, Gong Yingde, Chen Dingshan, Wang Huai, Chen Kueimiao, Yang Zhongzhen, Hu Chushen, Huang Yongwu, Shen Qian, and Du Songbo. We also have outstanding scholars such as Kong Decheng, Lee Bingnan, Wang Mengou, Sun Kekuan, Yang Nienci, Pan Qijung, Chour Fagao, Long Yuchun, Gong Pencheng, Wu Hongyi and Lou Zongtao in our department. Many of the students taught by these professors became and served at schools of all levels after they graduated from National Chung Hsin University.Now, under the lead of Professor Lin Shuchen, our department inherited the culture of simplicity and honesty and continued to better the learning environment for our students.