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川大符号学派

In 2006, Prof. Henry (Yiheng) Zhao left University of London and resettled at the Sichuan University, which marked the beginning of a fast-developing period for semiotics. He founded China’s first postgraduate program on semiotics and established ISMS.

In 2009, the first website devoted to semiotics in China kicked off(www.semiotics.net.cn), with Rao Guangxiang as its webmaster, followed by the publication of the half-yearly journal Signs & Media. A series of translation projects “Library of Semiotics Today”also started running, with 12 most interesting books by western contemporary semioticians already published, and 20 more coming soon.  

In 2011, Prof. Zhao published his major work Semiotics: Principles and Problems, which, a prize-winner, ran three prints in 2 years. The first reference book for semiotics A Dictionary of Semiotic & Media Studies was published in 2012. With the enthusiastic response shown by students around the country, ISMS has been winning greater influence.

ISMS’ research has acquired a few characteristics of its own:

I.         The research territory of ISMS is wider than usual. Much work, for instance, has been done on video games, brand, fashion, tourism, gift, popular culture, etc. ISMS now has developed an special branch Semiotics on Commondities and Cultural Industry. Besides those scholars mentioned above, the study of Rao Guangxiang on semiotics of advertising inherited and promoted the tradition of advertising semiotics in Sichuan University; and the industrial semiotics by Prof.Hu Yirong, the semiotic studies of martial arts novels by Prof.Sun Jinyan, semiotics of Fantasy by Fangfang and so on all achieved a zero breakthrough in the academic circle of China. Integrating the semiotics with Marxism, psychoanalysis, gender studies phenomenology, existentialism and hermeneutics, and post-structuralism. interdisciplinary research has been an ISMS focus

II.         ISMS encourages an innovative reinterpretation of Chinese traditional semiotic heritage.. The studies of Prof.Zhu Dong and Zhang Jinsong were especially representative, which interpreted the semiotics of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoist classics, and summarized key semiotic ethics, etiquette semiotic and general semiotic principles such as geomancy semiotic system in The Book of Changes, Mingism and Mohism, the congruity of Pierce’s thought with the semiotic and discourse system of Carving a Dragon at the Core of Literature. Their semiotic interpretations of Chinese classics are highly original and innovative.

III.       Literary semiotics has been one of the greatest academic strength of ISMS. Several key scholars of Sichuan academic group once majored in “Comparative Literature”, this was not by accident. As pointed out by Prof. Chiang Hanliang, “Comparative Literature” is a discipline dealing with literary relations, while “Semiotics” is a discipline establishing relations, so the two were inherently interactive. As it were, the Literary Semiotics, the first monograph of Zhao Yiheng on semiotics published in 1990, indicated the tight bond between semiotic scholars of Sichuan University and “Comparative Literature”. The “semiotic poetics” system put forward by Prof. Tang Xiaolin also marched from the semiotic theory of the comparative study field to the construction of cultural semiotic poetics. Both the poetry semiotics by Prof. Qiao Qi and the study by Prof. Wen Yiming on the semiotics of the Dream in Red Mansions went deep into Chinese literature from the point of view of semiotics, which enriched the theory of literary semiotics.  

IV.       ISMS is particularly interested in semiotics and art. Both the study by Prof. Lu Zhenglan on semiotics of popular music and the study by Prof. Wang Lixin on film and television semiotics were based on detailed and insightful observations of Chinese art, which put forward a relatively independent theoretical system of art semiotics, with attentions especially paid to the semiotic rhetorics of art.

 

 四川大学文学与新闻学院于200812月批准成立“符号学-传媒学研究心”。

符号学-传媒学是近半个世纪发展最迅速的人文学科:符号学研究人类非人类的一切表意行为,尤其注意文化表意行为,传媒学研究人类如何运用符号进行社会信息交流, 注重传媒过程的发生、发展的规律以及传媒与人和社会的关系。这两门学科在理论和实践上互相紧密关联。

中国是符号学全世界最早发源地:先秦名学(墨子名辩论,道家意言说,儒家正名说,名家学说)已经深入研究符号学诸课题,佛教哲学也对符号研究作出巨大贡献。在现代当代社会,传媒的发展,对符号学提出新的要求。

传媒研究在当代全球文化中地位越来越重要,而作为传媒研究各分科理论基础的符号学,已经成为一门日益复杂的学科,越来越多的哲学家,文艺学家,文化学者,影视学家,传媒学家,新闻学研究者,媒介学研究者,市场与广告研究者参与到这个方向的研究中来。

因为各种原因,“传媒学研究中心”在全国高校普遍建立,符号学在中国高校却没有成为正式学科。而目前全世界各大学有几十个个符号学研究中心,有四十多份刊物/网刊。中国在符号学研究上,落后于传统文化大国,也落后于瑞典,芬兰,丹麦,意大利,西班牙,日本,印度等重视学术的欧亚国家。无论为传统继承,或是开发学术资源,中国没有理由落后。

四川大学“符号学-传媒学研究所”将设在文新学院内,因为符号学(包括其分支叙述学)与传媒学,研究对象涵盖整个文新学院教学科研范围:文艺学,文学理论,比较文学,语言学,人类学,传播理论,广告理论,影视理论,文化理论等。

l符号学-传媒学的理论涵盖面,超出文新学院之外。在四川大学各学院的系科中,外国文学,艺术学,美学,哲学,信息论,认知科学,教育学,社会学,心理学,文化研究,商品经济研究,市场研究,城市规划,设计研究,计算机研究,游戏机设计,生态学,旅游研究,动漫研究等等系科,均有学生对符号学-传媒学感兴趣,也有学者会对符号学-传媒学作出贡献。本符号学-传媒学研究中心将全力争取四川大学各方面的支持,本中心的刊物,出版物,及网站将支持全校有关的科研,支持跨学科的交流。