The China Foreign Language Strategy Research Center (NRC LPP) is the first research base officially established by the National Language Commission. It is an institution primarily engaged in domestic and international language policy research. Its objectives are to become one of the core think tanks for national language policy decision-making, to serve as a premier research and teaching platform for language policy and language education, and to act as a bridge and link connecting language professionals both in China and abroad.

 Milestones of the Center

 December 24, 2007: Officially established as a university-level research institution at Shanghai International Studies University.

 In April 2009, the Center launched *Language Strategy Bulletin*, an internal reference journal.

 On November 11, 2011, it became the first research base officially established by the National Language Commission. Li Weihong, Vice Minister of Education and then-Director of the National Language Commission, and Xue Mingyang, Director of the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission, personally attended the unveiling ceremony at SISU.

 February 2012: Began publishing the “Foreign Language Strategy Research Series” (Peking University Press).

 In June 2012, the sub-discipline of “Language Strategy and Language Policy Studies” was formally established under the primary discipline of “Foreign Languages and Literatures.”

 In September 2014, the “Language and the Future” WeChat public account was launched.

 In August 2015, the “Language Education Strategy Research Series” (Fudan University Press) was launched.

 In June 2015, the academic journal *Language Policy and Language Education* was founded.

 On December 16, 2015, the center became one of the first three pilot units of the National Language and Script Think Tank.

 In March 2016, the center received an excellent rating in the first phase of its construction evaluation.

 In August 2016, the Center signed the second-phase development agreement with the Department of Language and Script Information Management of the Ministry of Education.

 In January 2017, it was included in the *China Think Tank Index* (CTTI), jointly released by the China Think Tank Research and Evaluation Center at Nanjing University and the Think Tank Research and Release Center of the *Guangming Daily*.

 In May 2018, the first *Report on the State of World Language Life* was officially published, marking the start of an annual publication cycle.

 In December 2018, the “World Language Policy” graduate program was selected as one of the sub-projects under the Shanghai First-Class Graduate Education Leadership Program.

 In January 2019, the discipline of “Language Strategy and Language Policy Studies” was officially renamed “Language Policy and Language Education.”

 In December 2019, the discipline of “Language Policy and Language Education Research” was selected as an Innovation and Intelligence Introduction Base under the national “111” Project.

 Management and Operations

 The Center adopts a “five-in-one” operational model (i.e., full-time research, part-time research, research by visiting scholars from within and outside the university, multi-level talent cultivation, and journal editing), conducting research primarily through project management. Its administrative operations are supported by the Institute of Linguistics at Shanghai International Studies University, and it shares office space with the School’s Administrative Office.

 Discipline Development

 The Center is responsible for the discipline development of “Language Policy and Language Education,” an independently established secondary discipline outside the standard catalog under the primary discipline of “Foreign Languages and Literatures.” Established in 2012, this discipline focuses on interdisciplinary, macro- and meso-level applied linguistics research addressing social realities. It is China’s first independent secondary discipline centered on sociolinguistics. The discipline holds the authority to confer doctoral and master’s degrees and accepts postdoctoral researchers and visiting scholars.The Center also participates in the development of the “Foreign Linguistics and Applied Linguistics” discipline. In 2019, the “Research on Language Policy and Language Education” Discipline Innovation and Talent Introduction Base was selected for the national “111” Project. Collaborating with world-class scholars to advance high-quality discipline development is the Center’s current priority in this area.

 Scope of Work

 The Center’s primary responsibilities include: (1) conducting surveys and research on foreign language applications, demand, education, and public opinion to provide advisory services for the formulation of national foreign language development strategies and related policies; (2) monitoring and researching world languages, foreign language and script policies, and linguistic practices to offer consultation and reference for China’s language-related decision-making and research; (3) cultivating high-level talent required for national language and script initiatives.

 The Center’s full-time and part-time researchers have undertaken more than 40 projects, including those funded by the National Social Science Fund, the Ministry of Education’s Humanities and Social Sciences Program, and the National Language Commission’s research initiatives. Among these, they have led two major research projects under the Ministry of Education’s Philosophy and Social Sciences Research Program.The Center regularly organizes academic lectures and workshops in various formats and has hosted numerous large-scale academic conferences and forums, including the China Foreign Language Strategy Forum (2010), the National Language Commission Research Work Conference (2011), the International Symposium on Language Education Policy (2013), the Third China Symposium on Language Policy and Language Planning (2017),the First International High-Level Forum on Sociolinguistics (2019), and the China-Russia Language Policy Forum (2019).

 To advance the informatization of research and ensure long-term development, the Center launched the “China Foreign Language Strategy Research Network” in 2010 and developed five major digital resource databases: the “China Foreign Language Resource Monitoring Database,” the “National Survey Database on Foreign Language Usage,” the “National Database of Foreign Language Regulations,” the “Language Strategy Dynamic Monitoring Database,” and the “Comprehensive International Language Policy Resource Database.”

 Talent Development

 The Center adheres to a multi-level, multi-channel, and open training model, fostering the cultivation of innovative talent and nurturing professional researchers.Leveraging multilingual and multidisciplinary expertise from both domestic and international sources, the Center has undertaken bold explorations in the training of master’s and doctoral students. It has designed the nation’s first comprehensive curriculum system for language policy research, developed nearly 20 graduate-level courses, and implemented multi-level, multidimensional teaching through academic conferences, workshops, summer schools, training camps, research project tenders, and training programs. The Center has also actively participated in national and local training programs for language and script officials.The “World Language Policy” graduate program, established in 2018, was jointly developed by nine disciplines at SISU. It was approved as a university-level project for reforming graduate talent cultivation models and was selected for the Shanghai First-Class Graduate Education Leadership Program.

 The “Language and the Future” Volunteer Practice Team for Promoting Standard Mandarin and Alleviating Poverty, composed of students and guided by faculty members from the Center, was approved by the Communist Youth League of China and the Ministry of Education as part of the “Special Summer ‘Three-in-One’ Rural Language Poverty Alleviation Activity for College Students.” The team successfully completed its volunteer teaching and poverty alleviation mission at Jiangyong No. 1 Primary School and Big Windmill Kindergarten in Xiaopu Town, Jiangyong County, Hunan Province.

 Academic Exchange

 The Center actively engages in cooperative exchanges with domestic and international universities and research institutions. It has established partnerships with Harvard University (USA), the National Center for Foreign Languages (USA), the Center for Applied Linguistics (USA), the University of Maryland (USA), the University of Washington (USA),the University of Wisconsin–Madison (USA), Iowa State University (USA), the University of London (UK), the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London (UK), Tokyo University of Foreign Studies (Japan), Seikei University (Japan),University of Limerick (Ireland), KU Leuven (Belgium), Humboldt University (Germany), Freie Universität Berlin (Germany), University of Bergen (Norway), The University of Hong Kong, Academia Sinica (Taiwan), and others.The Center also maintains extensive cooperative relationships with numerous domestic universities and research institutions, and several of its members have been appointed to academic positions at Nanjing University, Wuhan University, Zhejiang University, and other institutions.

 Serving as a bridge between Chinese and foreign linguists and language policymakers, experts from the Center have represented China at the China-EU Language Forum (Beijing, China, 2009, 2013), the Asia-Europe Forum on Linguistic Diversity (Jakarta, Indonesia, 2012), the China-France Language Policy Forum (Beijing, China, 2012; Paris, France, 2014;Beijing, China, 2016), the East Asia Summit Seminar on Bilingual Education Policy and Practice (Singapore, 2013), the Sino-German High-Level Forum on Language and Cultural Policy (Beijing, China, 2013), the Sino-Portuguese High-Level Forum on Language (Shanghai, China, 2014), the Sino-French Language Forum (Beijing, China, 2016;Paris, France, 2018), the China-Russia Language Policy Forum (St. Petersburg, Russia, 2019; Shanghai, China, 2020), and others, have allowed the world to understand the achievements of China’s language initiatives and expanded China’s international influence in the fields of language policy and language education research.

 Social Services

 Adhering to the research philosophy of “applied research serving the nation and society,” the Center actively engages in various forms of social service.In serving the government, the Center actively functions as a think tank, providing relevant language policy information and expert recommendations to the National Language Commission. It has submitted over 50 expert consultation reports to the Department of Language Information and the Department of Language Application of the Ministry of Education, as well as the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission. The Center has repeatedly provided information services and research recommendations for international visits by leaders of the Ministry of Education and the National Language Commission, and has offered expert advice on emergency situations to institutions such as the General Office of the State Council, as well as expert consultation recommendations to the Shanghai Municipal Language Commission.Experts from the Center have also directly participated in the formulation of key plans for the National Language Commission, including work plans, research plans, and internationalization plans. They have repeatedly participated in the formulation and revision of national and local language policies and language standards, served as principal investigators or core experts for the Ministry of Education’s foreign language curriculum standards, participated in the review of national and local textbooks, and frequently served as lecturers for training programs for language and script officials. The Center is also responsible for providing pre-departure training for participants in the National Language and Script Program for Mid-Career and Young Scholars.

Since 2009, the Center has published the internal reference journal *Foreign Language Strategy Bulletin* (quarterly), which was relaunched in 2014 as *Language Strategy Bulletin* (bimonthly). The journal provides information services to language policymakers and leading researchers, has promoted the advancement of related research, and has received numerous positive responses and evaluations.Since 2011, the Center has maintained the “Trends in Foreign Language Life” column in the *China Social Sciences News*, providing timely reports on language trends in various countries and fulfilling the role of a research institution in advising policymakers and serving the public. In 2015, the Center began publishing the academic journal *Language Policy and Language Education*.

 Media outlets such as *Guangming Daily*, *China Social Sciences News*, *China Education Daily*, *Wen Wei Po*, *Jiefang Daily*, *Social Sciences News*, Shanghai People’s Radio, Shanghai Television, Guangming Online, China Social Sciences Network, Sohu, Sina, the Guangming Micro Education WeChat public account, and the iResearch Foreign Language Teaching and Research WeChat public account have all reported on the Center’s achievements or activities, or published the work of its scholars.