Andrey Karneev

At the end of May, HSE University hosted the traditional Oriental Crazy Day. This year the holiday was held for the tenth time. For students, this is an opportunity to show their talents on stage, take part in fortune-telling with the Book of Changes, and learn more about the diversity of Asian cultures as well as the bachelor’s programme ‘Asian and African Studies.’

On the day of the second new moon after the winter solstice, the HSE Cultural Centre welcomed admirers of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese cultures. HSE students, teachers, and guests celebrated the Lunar New Year with South Korean hit songs and popular anime openings. They attended calligraphy and origami classes, tried regional sweets, and had Far Eastern teas. The festival ended with a big concert.

On February 10, 2024, HSE Cultural Center hosted a large-scale celebration of the Eastern New Year, organized by professors of the School of Asian Studies and students of the Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs.

The section “North-East Asia (China, North and South Korea, Japan, Mongolia): Regional Asymmetries, Challenges and Security Resources” was moderated by Prof. S.G. Luzyanin (HSE University) and took place within the framework of the study of Russia's East Asian pivot, the specifics of China's rise in the region and the world, and Korean, Japanese, and Mongolian regional issues. Twelve speakers, representing HSE University, MGIMO University of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, the Institute of China and Contemporary Asia of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, focused on the key issues of the conference agenda – the reaction of the World's majority in new realities. The section's task was to shed light on the specifics of country and regional processes, large infrastructure projects (the “One Belt, One Road” initiative, Tumangan, etc.) in Northeast Asia, using examples from China, Japan, South Korea, and Mongolia.

The section was held on November 30, 2023. It focused on building a conceptual framework for regional studies as a separate scientific direction.

This New Year, according to the Asian calendar, arrived on January 22nd. On this day, HSE Cultural Centre brought together Chinese, Korean, and Japanese cultures. To the sounds of Asian songs and Korean drums, the guests tried their hand at calligraphy, studied jianzhi and origami, played Ttakji and Go, ate traditional cookies and expelled evil spirits. The Lunar New Year at the university was organized by the School of Asian Studies and the HSE Chinese Club.

On December 1, 2022, School of Regional Studies Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs, HSE University held the session "China in the Age of Xi Jinping" within the framework of the 4th International Conference “The world majority in the contemporary international realities: from fragmentation to new institutionalization”.

The round table, which held as a part of the 4th International Conference “The world majority in the contemporary international realities: from fragmentation to new institutionalization”, its discussion and outcomes, can be rightfully regarded as a major breakthrough in conceptualizing the substance and tasks of contemporary Regional Studies.

On April 5, 2022, a session entitled “The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on China's Foreign Policy Positions and International Image” was held as part of the XXIII Yasin (April) International Academic Conference on Economic and Social Development.

The Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs, in cooperation with the HSE Center for Cooperation with Regions, conducts a series of lectures “Civilizations and the Map of the World”. The first lecture “China: the path of the dragon 3,000 years long” was held on April 4.

On December 16-17, 2020, experts, diplomats, regional and oriental scholars from 36 countries and six regions of Russia met on the virtual platform of the Higher School of Economics to discuss new trends of regionalization and de-globalization in the world development. These trends were vividly manifested in Asia during the last year - the period of extraordinary upheaval caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

A round table in memory of a famous scientist, economist, orientalist Leonid Fridman “Developed and developing countries in the world economic space” was held on February 7.

HSE has been offering courses in Asian Studies for 10 years now with numerous departments and programmes producing research in the field and offering in-depth courses. In December 2019, the HSE Academic Council approved the opening of a Joint Department with the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IOS RAS). How will the IOS RAS transfer its vast experience and resource to its new home at HSE? And what traditions in the study and teaching of Asian studies already exist at HSE?