Research Center of Art Anthropology，Chinese Academy of Art
The Research Center of Art Anthropology was established in Feb. 2004. Director of the Center, Prof. Fang Lili is researcher of the Chinese Academy of Art, president of China Society for Anthropologies of Art, and tutor of student for doctor’s degree. The aim of the Center is to integrate the academic resources and research method of Kunstwissenschaft and anthropology, to grasp promptly the leading academic tendency of international anthropologies of art on the basis of our effort to promote art anthropological research and academic research, to lay emphasis on the combination of field investigation and theory, to focus on folk art and phenomenon of contemporary art, to do further research and discussion on the theoretical method and practice of anthropologies of art, to try our best to complete gradually the subject system of art anthropology in China, to take active part in works relating to state project of cultural heritage preservation, to provide reliable materials and necessary theoretical support for the state project of cultural heritage preservation with our superiority the field working method of art anthropology.
The Center has undertaken many large-scale state key research projects since its establishment, for instance Preservation, Exploitation and Usage of Humanity Resources of Western China, Basic Database of Humanity Environmental Resources of Northwestern China, Social Transition of Contemporary China & Preservation and Development of Traditional Handicraft. We have also undertaken Inheritance and Social Development of Ceramic Handicraft in Jingdezhen City, which isa branch project of the large-scale international cooperative research projection.
Among all these projects, Preservation, Exploitation and Usage of Humanity Resources of Western China, Basic Database of Humanity Environmental Resources of Northwestern China, are both interdisciplinary and large-scale state key research projects. Besides scholars of Chinese Academy of Art, more than 100 scholars of over-40 academic units of Tsinghua University, Peking University, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences as well as universities and institutes of Western China take part in these two projects. So far, after 6-year hard working, the research group have fulfilled 73 pieces of reports on investigation edited into 5 collections according to their contents. We have fulfilled the 4-million-word General Report----From Cultural Heritage to Humanity Resources----Report of Research on Humanity Resources of Western China. According to experts, ‘It’s the first time ever since the founding of P. R. of China to do such investigation, classification, description, and summary on cultural resources of Western China. All the contemporary cultural resources and materials collected are invaluable. It’s of great significance, for the project have provided important reference to subject construction of cultural study in China, to the investigation and grasping of the cultural condition in China by relating governmental units, as well as to the state strategy of Great Development of Western China. At present, Basic Database of Humanity Environmental Resources of Northwestern China has also been fulfilled, containing 10-million-word written materials, 100-hour video and audio materials, as well as 20-thousand pieces of pictures.
Furthermore, the Secretariat of China Society for Anthropologies of Art----a state 1st-level society under the control of the Ministry of Culture, is also set in our Center. Because of this, the Center also undertakes a lot of administrative organizing works of the Society. In general, the Center is an important academic research unit promoting the development of anthropologies of art in China.