In 1982 the Centre for Chinese Studies was established by Wolfson College and St Antony's College. Both colleges had for some time been the principal centres of Chinese studies at Oxford outside of the Oriental Institute. Between them they organised lectures and seminars, and had the largest number of fellows, University lecturers, researchers and students engaged in Chinese studies at the University. They had been cooperating informally for some time and decided to establish a more institutional framework through the creation of a joint Centre for Chinese Studies. The aim of the Centre was to promote research and academic exchanges in the field of Chinese studies. Sir John Addis, the former British Ambassador in Peking, was instrumental in setting up the Centre. In 1974 he had been approached by Wolfson College and offered a post. He contributed to the fundraising efforts to establish the Centre, but died in 1983.

In 1987 the Centre for Chinese Studies merged with the Contemporary China Centre at Queen Elizabeth House to form the Centre for Modern Chinese Studies. The objectives of the new Centre were to promote research and teaching in the Social Sciences of China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and overseas Chinese communities in the modern era. It also aimed to foster academic links between scholars. This merger was made possible by the fact that in 1986 Queen Elizabeth House had been brought within the administrative structure of the University, as part of the Social Studies Faculty, whereas previously it had simply been affiliated to the University and had not relied on it for funding. By 1990 the Centre was able to centralise its various activities in new premises at Belsyre Court, which included a new documentation room.

Plans for an Institute of Chinese Studies date from around the same time as the establishment of the Centre for Modern Chinese Studies. In 1986 there was a proposal to build an Institute, to be called the Sun Yat-sen Institute of Chinese Studies, at Wolfson College. It was to have a Bodleian dependent library which would incorporate Chinese books previously held at the Bodleian and Oriental Institute. Once the Institute was established at Wolfson it would no longer be financed by the Colleges as before, but from what could be raised by appeal.

Although in the end the Sun Yat-sen Institute was not built, the idea persisted. In 1990 plans were drawn up for the Run Run Shaw Institute of Chinese Studies, again to be sited at Wolfson College. The centre was to be built using funds from a benefaction from Sir Run Run Shaw, which was also to be used to create several new posts. In 1992 it was suggested that in order to keep costs to a minimum the Institute could be accommodated in the Clarendon Institute on Walton Street. These premises were to be vacated by the Oxford University Press in January 1993 and made over to the University for academic use.

As well as funding the creation of the Institute the benefaction was used to refinance the Professorship of Chinese, renamed the Shaw Professorship of Chinese in 1993.

The heads of St Antony's College, Wolfson College and Queen Elizabeth House, who were still responsible for the Centre for Modern Chinese Studies, gave their blessing for the Centre to be integrated with a new Institute for Chinese Studies. The Inter-Faculty Committee for Chinese Studies was to supersede the existing Centre for Modern Chinese Studies Management Committee. The decree of Hebdomadal Council that an Institute for Chinese Studies be established was published in the Oxford University Gazette no 4326, vol 124, on 12 May 1994. The decree stipulated that 'the Institute for Chinese Studies shall provide a focus for teaching about and research on the Chinese world, particularly for those which are based upon primary materials. It shall also act as a centre both for the Oxford scholarly community working in the field and for scholars from the Chinese world.' The Curators of the Oriental Institute were to be responsible for providing and maintaining the lighting, heating and water supply to the building. The Institute also housed a Bodleian dependent library.

The Centre for Modern Chinese Studies was to become an integral part of the Institute. The Programme Director of the Centre, Cyril Lin, and his colleagues were to work on a basis comparable to that of a scientist bringing a research group with him into a new department. In 1998 it was reported in the Inter-Faculty Committee minutes that this arrangement was still working well and that there was no reason to change the situation. The facilities provided by the Institute were available to members of the Centre, and seminars and talks provided by the Centre were well attended by members of the Institute.

The Oxford University Calendar records that in 1994-1995 there were nine permanent teaching posts at the Institute, three of them endowed by the Run Run Shaw Foundation. By 2000-2001 that number had increased to eleven, and by 2002-2003 there was a staff of thirteen teaching posts, two endowed by the Leverhulme Trust in addition to those funded by the Run Run Shaw Foundation.

In 2001 the Inter-Faculty Committee was dissolved and reconstituted in line with the new structures that now existed within the University following divisionalisation. It was acknowledged that the interest in Chinese studies across the University was fairly broad and included the physical sciences. As such there was a desire to be as inclusive as possible. This placed the Institute for Chinese Studies administratively within the Oriental Studies Faculty. The responsibilities of the Inter-Faculty Committee now fell on the Humanities Division Chinese Studies Finance Committee.

The history of the Institute for Chinese Studies Library goes back to a grant made to the University in 1948 following the recommendations of the Scarborough Interdepartmental Commission of Enquiry on Oriental, Slavonic, East European and African Studies. These funds helped establish a basic lending library, known as the Chinese Faculty Library, which included significant holdings of Chinese collectanea (congshu). The library was housed first at 7 Merton Street and then in Beaumont Street, before becoming part of the Oriental Institute in 1961. It moved to its current premises in the basement of the Institute for Chinese Studies in 1994. It comprises western works on most aspects of China except art and archaeology; a selection of texts in Chinese relevant to the courses offered; and a reference section of works (in all languages) concerned with China and the Chinese diaspora.

Directors of the Institute for Chinese Studies: