On July 27, the Fourth Joint Conference on the Construction of Ethnic History Discipline of the Chinese Association for Nationality History and the academic seminar on “Constructing the historical material system, discourse system and theoretical system of the Chinese National Community with Chinese characteristics independently” were grandly held in the academic conference center of Saihan Campus of IMU. This conference is jointly sponsored by the Chinese Association for Nationality History and IMU, and jointly undertaken by the Ethnic History Research Office of the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the College of History and Tourism Culture of IMU.

At the opening ceremony, Dahubaiyila, VicePresident of IMU, extended a warm welcome to the participating experts and scholars, expressed his gratitude to the Chinese Association for Nationality History for its long-term support to IMU over the years, introduced a series of achievements made by IMU in the construction of “Double First-Class Initiatives” and in fully implementing the important instructions given by General Secretary Xi Jinping during his inspection of IMU. He hoped that the participating experts would continue to pay attention to and guide the construction of IMU’s ethnic history discipline, promoting the continuous deepening and development of ethnic history and cultural research in Inner Mongolia, and accelerating the construction of historical material system,discourse system and theoretical system of the Chinese National Community with Chinese characteristics independently.

Zhao Tianxiao, President of Chinese Association for Nationality History and Secretary of the Party Committee of the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, shared three points of insight in his address regarding the the construction of historical material system,discourse system and theoretical system of the Chinese National Community with Chinese characteristics independently. He proposed optimizing the discipline structure, promoting disciplinary adjustments, and accelerating the construction of the study of Chinese National Community, always take forging a strong sense of community of the Chinese nation as the main line to carry out discipline construction and academic research, strengthen the research and interpretation of major fundamental and theoretical issues in the formation and development history of the Chinese National Community, and provide historical and theoretical logic for the formation and development of the Chinese National Community.

During the conference, over 20 scholars participated in the discussions that from ethnic history and related disciplines of various universities and research institutes across the country, including the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Minzu University of China, Jilin University, Beijing Normal University, Shaanxi Normal University, Ningxia University, Jilin Normal University, Southwest Minzu University, Yuxi Normal University, Huaihua University, Inner Mongolia Academy of Social Sciences, Inner Mongolia Normal University, and Inner Mongolia University.

The conference sessions were divided into four parts, chaired respectively by Prof. Zhang Jiuhe, Vice President of the Chinese Association for Nationality History and Dean of the College of History and Tourism Culture at IMU; Prof. Du Jianlu, Vice President of the Chinese Association for Nationality History and Dean of the School of Ethnology and Historiography at Ningxia University; Prof. Wang Xin, Vice President of the Chinese Association for Nationality History and Dean of Institute for Western Frontier Region of China at Shaanxi Normal University; Prof. Yang Jun, Vice President of the Chinese Association for Nationality History, Dean of the Institute of History of Jilin University and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal “Collected Papers of History Studies”.

The participating experts, combining their respective research fields and the construction situation of ethnic history discipline of various units, launched a heated discussion on issues such as the construction of ethnic history discipline in the new era, the historical material system of exchanges, interactions and integration among the Chinese nation, the independent knowledge system of Chinese nation history, the discourse and theoretical system of ancient Chinese nation history, the curriculum setting for forging a strong sense of community of the Chinese nation, the characteristics of Chinese civilization, the history of the northern border region, and documents of the northern ethnic groups, they provided valuable suggestions for the development of ethnic history discipline construction in the new era.

The participating experts believe that it is essential to learn and implement the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's remarks at the ninth collective study session of the Political Bureau, accelerating the construction of the study of Chinese National Community, and constructing the historical material system,discourse system and theoretical system of the Chinese National Community with Chinese characteristics independently

The closing ceremony was hosted by Na Ren, the Secretary of the Party Committee of the College of History and Tourism Culture at IMU. Prof. Li Defeng, Dean of the College of History and Tourism Culture, expressed gratitude to the Chinese Association for Nationality History and all participating experts for their guidance. He said that he would earnestly listen to the opinions and suggestions of all experts and continue to promote the construction of ethnic history discipline and further improve the research level of the history of the northern border region and the history of various ethnic groups in northern border region of IMU.

Researcher Fellow Peng Fengwen, Vice President and Secretary-General of the Chinese Association for Nationality History and director of Ethnic History Research Office of the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences pointed out that this conference was not only an academic discussion but also an exchange of experiences in teaching and scientific research practices within the field of ethnic history. He believed that the conference would provide practical guidance and inspiration for the next step of the construction of the ethnic history discipline. In the course of more than a hundred years of discipline formation and development, ethnic history discipline has always kept pace with the era and shared the same fate with the country and the nation, which is the basis and driving force for the development of the discipline, and also the significance of the existence of ethnic history discipline. At the same time, ethnic history discipline must keep pace with the era, respond to the needs of the era, and achieve inheritance, development and transformation.