I. Historical Evolution

By the meandering Wei River and beneath the majestic Qinling Mountains, the School of Humanities at Xidian University is nestled in Xi’an, a city renowned for its profound historical and cultural heritage. Originating from the early Teaching and Research Section of the Social Sciences Division, the school has evolved through the years into a comprehensive institution integrating literature, history, philosophy, and arts, emphasizing both teaching and research through interdisciplinary collaboration.

The school traces its roots to the Department of Social Sciences, established in 1985. In 1999, the School of Humanities was founded on the basis of the Department of Social Sciences and the Department of Foreign Languages. In 2006, the Sound Recording Arts program was incorporated into the school. In 2012, the university restructured the school according to disciplinary categories, transferring economics and management programs to the School of Economics and Management and establishing the School of Foreign Languages. In 2014, the school successfully launched undergraduate programs in Philosophy and Chinese Language and Literature, as well as self-designed master’s and doctoral programs in Educational Philosophy and Management Philosophy. The same year, the Zhongnan Cultural Academy was established under the school. In 2016, faculty responsible for ideological and political education were transferred to the newly founded School of Marxism, while the School of Humanities retained three undergraduate programs—Philosophy, Chinese Language and Literature, and Sound Recording Arts—and two master’s programs in Aesthetics and Religious Studies. In 2018, a first-level master’s program in Philosophy was established through dynamic adjustment.

II. Current Overview

The school comprises four departments: Philosophy, Chinese Language and Literature, Arts, and History. It offers three undergraduate programs: Philosophy (recognized as a first-class discipline in Shaanxi Province), Chinese Language and Literature, and Sound Recording Arts. The school also hosts a first-level master’s program in Philosophy with five research specializations: Marxist Philosophy, Chinese Philosophy, Western Philosophy, and Philosophy of Science and Technology，Aesthetics.

The school operates one national-level base—the National Base for Cultural Quality Education of College Students—and two provincial-level bases: the Shaanxi Research Center for Smart Society Development Strategies and the Shaanxi Base for Chinese Classics Education. It also oversees four university-level research institutions, including the Research Center for Traditional Philosophy and Chinese Modernization. Additionally, the General Education Center and the Aesthetic Education Office of Xidian University are affiliated with the school. Under the leadership of the Undergraduate College, these units coordinate university-wide general education and aesthetic education initiatives, striving to build a distinctive Xidian-style general education system integrating courses, lectures, and practical activities.

As of September 2025, the school has 69 in-service faculty and staff members, including 55 full-time teachers, among whom are 6 professors and 22 associate professors. Additionally, there is 1 specially appointed "Huashan Scholar" distinguished professor. The school also engages professors such as Han Yunbo, Chen Daming, Xin Xuefeng, and Lou Wei as adjunct professors.

III. Teaching and Research

The School of Humanities inherits the university’s "red gene," serves its talent development strategy, and fully implements the fundamental task of fostering virtue and nurturing talent. It plays a significant role in professional humanities education, university-wide general education, and campus culture building. The school regularly hosts academic events such as the "Zhongnan Cross-Cultural Forum," "Beilei Philosophy Lecture Series," "Luming Cultural Lectures," "Zhongnan Echoes Academic Salon," and "Zhongnan History Forum." Through the Zhongnan Cultural Academy, it organizes activities like the "Reverence for Chinese Excellent Traditional Culture" series, featuring performances of Chinese humanistic and artistic classics, and the "Zhongnan Cup" Campus Poetry Contest. Events such as the "Think & Share Symposium" and the "Zhongnan Cup" Undergraduate Academic Paper Competition enhance the academic atmosphere and cultivate scholarly capabilities. The school’s art troupe has frequently represented the university in international cultural exchanges and won accolades in national and provincial competitions. Talent cultivation has yielded remarkable outcomes, with students receiving honors such as the Presidential Scholarship, "Graduate Star," and "Youth Model." Teaching achievements include 1 national-level elite course, 5 provincial-level elite courses, 4 university-level elite courses, 2 "National Smart Education Platform Application Innovation Cases," 2 university-level excellent course cases, 3 ministerial/provincial teaching reform projects, 19 university-level teaching reform projects, 3 provincial teaching awards, and 3 university-level teaching awards.

The school adheres to a distinctive and differentiated disciplinary development path, emphasizing interdisciplinary integration and strongly supporting the "New Liberal Arts" initiative. In recent years, it has undertaken over 40 philosophical and social science research projects at the national, ministerial, and provincial levels, including the Ministry of Education’s Major Project "Translation and Research of Chinese Philosophical Texts in Overseas Sinology" and the National Social Science Foundation’s Key Later-stage Funding Project "Research on Ancient Chinese Poetry Collection." The school has repeatedly won provincial and municipal outstanding achievement awards in philosophy and social sciences, achieving multiple breakthroughs in humanities and social science research at the university. It hosts the Xidian "Intelligence and Wisdom" Forum to break down knowledge barriers and disciplinary boundaries, promoting the integration of philosophy with emerging fields like artificial intelligence. The school’s provincial research platform, the Shaanxi Research Center for Smart Society Development Strategies—among the first think tanks selected for the "Qinchuangyuan" initiative—plays a vital role as a think tank in areas such as smart society construction and information society governance.

IV. Cooperation and Exchange

The school proactively plans and promotes domestic and international cooperation and exchanges. Domestically, it has established internship bases with organizations such as Shaanxi Radio and Television Media Group Co., Ltd., Xi’an Performing Arts Group Theater Operation Management Co., Ltd., Xi’an Yuntu Information Technology Co., Ltd., and Ruiming Acousto-Optical Technology Co., Ltd. Internationally, the school maintains stable academic collaborations with institutions like the Technical University of Berlin, the University of Cologne, and the University of York. It has established stable ties with the Faculty of Humanities and the Confucius Institute at the University of Paderborn in Germany. Faculty and student delegations visited the university for academic exchanges and cultural performances in 2019 and 2023. The school also organizes summer study programs for students at renowned institutions such as Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and Waseda University in Japan. Through the International Innovation and Entrepreneurship Week, the school invites renowned overseas scholars to teach cutting-edge courses in English.

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