The history department is one of the centers of history teaching and research in China, and enjoys a high reputation at home and abroad with its strong faculty and high research level. The history major of this department is the first-class discipline doctoral degree awarding point, with postdoctoral mobile stations. At present, there are 9 doctoral and master programs: historical theory and history, historical philology, ancient history of China, modern history of China, world history, specialized history, historical sociology, international cold war history, and overseas China studies. In addition, there is a master's program in subject teaching theory. The undergraduate major of history is "the national base for talent training and scientific research of basic disciplines of liberal arts". In the national first-class discipline evaluation in 2004, the history discipline of East China Normal University entered the top ten.

The history department has a strong faculty, with 48 professional teachers, including 27 professors and 0/5 associate professors/kloc. After long-term efforts and continuous accumulation, it has formed a discipline system and a new research focus that integrates Chinese and Western, integrates ancient and modern, highlights, faces reality and faces the future. In pre-Qin history, Ming and Qing history, Jiangnan history, China modern social metabolism, Westernization movement history, Republic of China history, Shanghai history, French history, World War II history, Asian-African history, 20th century world history, urban history, western ideological history, American history, Cold War history, overseas China history, historical theory and history, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai rural studies, intellectuals and social changes, women and gender studies, and so on, all disciplines are compared with domestic and foreign ones. In recent years, many teachers have been sent to universities and research institutions in the United States, Japan, France, South Korea, Australia, Israel and Hong Kong and Taiwan for academic exchanges and cooperative research.

Over the years, the history department has been committed to creating good learning conditions for students and creating a rich academic atmosphere. The Youth History Society was established in September 1980. It is a student academic group of the history department. He was awarded the honorary title of "Five Major Associations" for many years in succession, the title of "Shanghai Star Association" in 2000, and entered the ranks of "National Excellent Student Associations in Colleges and Universities" in 2006. Two publications, Youth History and Youth History Newsletter, founded by the Historical Society, are the carriers for the exchange and display of students' academic works. The History of Youth has been published for more than 60 issues, and it is a student publication continuously collected by Shanghai Library and National Library. In order to encourage students to become talents, students in the base class can not only enjoy various scholarships from the school, but also enjoy other benefits provided by the history department, including scholarships in the base class.

History major (normal and non-normal basic classes)

History major aims at cultivating high-quality talents in education and other fields that meet the needs of social development in the 2 1 century, and starts from cultivating students' foundation, quality and ability, and constructs a new curriculum system with different levels and different disciplines intertwined. Students majoring in this major have a wide range of employment and are suitable for working in various educational institutions, cultural institutions, government agencies and other related positions. The employment rate of graduates has always remained above 98%. At the same time, the students in this department have excellent conditions for further study, and can complete the complete academic education from undergraduate to master and doctor in this department. Every year, a group of outstanding students go directly to graduate school, and the admission rate of graduate students in basic classes exceeds 80%.

Specialized courses include: General History of China, General History of the World, Theory and Method of Historiography, Institutional History of China, Historical Geography of China, Archaeology and Culture, World Cultural History, Original Reading of Literature and History, Basic Courses of Chinese and Foreign Economic History, Ideological History and Social History. At the same time, it also offers elective courses such as China's traditional social structure, Confucian classics, history of Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, gentry and society in Han and Tang Dynasties, China's modern social changes, diplomatic history in the late Qing Dynasty, China's cultural history, China's religious system history, China's women's history, Sino-foreign relations history, Taiwan Province issue, Hong Kong and Macao, an introduction to China studies in the United States, modernization studies of major western countries, special studies on Western European culture, American history, contemporary international issues, world religions, world