The Humboldt Center for Transdisciplinary Studies (HCTS) at Hunan Normal University has been created to introduce and promote the study on the life and works of the German naturalist, travel writer and philosopher Alexander von Humboldt (1769 - 1859) in China, with a particular focus on his relationship with China and Central Asia.

With its headquarters at Hunan Normal University, the Center seeks to offer services to broaden the scientific networks and intensify scholarly exchanges between China and Europe. It hosts scholars not only from Hunan Normal University but also from national as well as international background. It helps faculties and students from China in their research on modern German and European social sciences by encouraging researches in disciplinary and transdisciplinary fields and encouraging Ph.D. as well as Post-doc research projects.

As a platform of knowledge, the Center is transdisciplinary in its presence as well as its intention. It coordinates and organizes workshops and conferences dedicated to the importance of China for Humboldt’s transdisciplinary research to promote cross-disciplinary research between literature and society, culture and geography, history and languages, and to strengthen relationship between China and Germany / Europe on a general level.