The unveiling ceremony for the Mo Yan and International Literature and Art Research Center of Shandong University was held on Dec 8 at the university's Qingdao campus.

The center is an important part of Shandong University's efforts to improve its Chinese education, said a top-level administrator from the university.

Zhang Shuai, Party secretary of the university's School of Literature, said that Mo, China's first winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, is a major subject of research in modern and contemporary Chinese literature.

Zhang said that the long tradition of literary and historical research at Shandong University and the rich cultural deposits of the School of Literature have provided a good foundation for relevant research.

Zhang noted that since the mid-1980s, Shandong University has been a world leader in researching Mo's works. A large number of works written by Mo in his youth about his hometown - Gaomi, a county-level city in Shandong province - were published in a journal sponsored by Shandong University

Zhang added that Shandong University is also the first university in China to employ Mo as an adjunct professor and postgraduate tutor.

"For decades, Mo has maintained close and friendly exchanges with teachers and students at Shandong University."

Zhang expressed hope that the center will boost the Chinese studies program at Shandong University and become a world-class academic innovation platform with international influence.

Mo, born 17 February 1955, is a Chinese novelist and short story writer. Before 2012, he was mostly known for the two of his novels that formed the basis of the film Red Sorghum, directed by award-winning Chinese director Zhang Yimou. Mo is currently the only Chinese author who has won the Nobel Prize in Literature.