Recently, the National Office for Philosophy and Social Sciences announced the list of 2024 National Library of Philosophy and Social Science, and Prof. Liu Jianjun's book Byzantium: A Literary History of the Eastern Roman Empire was added to the library. This work is one of the core achievements of the major projects of the National Social Science Fund, showing its ground-breaking value and far-reaching influence in academic research.

For the first time, the book systematically analyzes the development of Byzantine literature for more than a thousand years from around 325 to the fall of the empire in 1453 from the standpoint of Chinese scholars, applying the viewpoints of dialectical materialism and historical materialism. The book consists of ten parts. The introduction answers some basic questions concerning Byzantine literature. The next seven chapters deal with the emergence of Byzantine literature, the age of Justinian, the period of the destruction of the iconoclastic movement, the revitalization period, the Renaissance, the Nicene period, and the development of literature in the last two centuries. The appendix describes the influence of Byzantine literature on the literature of Western Europe, Arabia, and Russia. A number of important authors and major texts are highlighted in the context of literary development and flux, answering questions about the main nature of Byzantine literature, its developmental dynamics, literary characteristics, and artistic achievements. Particularly, the book points out the value of Byzantine literature in the cultural exchange between East and West. This is the conclusion result of a major project of the National Social Science Fund of China, and a history of Byzantine literature written by Chinese scholars with distinctive characteristics of Chinese discourse.

The National Library of Philosophy and Social Science was established by the National Office for Philosophy and Social Sciences, aiming to focus on the release of landmark academic masterpieces reflecting the achievements of practical and theoretical innovations of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era, embodying the frontiers of current research in China's philosophy and social sciences, and representing the highest level of the relevant disciplinary fields. The National Library of Philosophy and Social Science was formerly known as the “National Library of Philosophy and Social Science Achievements” established in 2005, and was expanded into the current Library in 2010. Since 2019, the selection will take place in every two years in principle, with 1-2 works for each discipline, and the total number limited to 60. 

The successful selection of Prof. Liu Jianjun's book into the National Library of Philosophy and Social Science represents a new breakthrough in this field for the discipline of foreign language and literature in Shanghai Jiao Tong University.