大学沙龙204期:王寅丽 —— 阿伦特和波考克关于美国革命的共和主义论述

主讲人:王寅丽。复旦大学哲学博士,曾任教于华东师范大学哲学系多年,现为上海科技大学人文科学研究院常任副教授,研究员。主要从事西方政治哲学和伦理学研究,尤为关注阿伦特研究、共和主义、基督教与现代政治思想等。出版专著《汉娜•阿伦特:在哲学与政治之间》《汉娜•阿伦特:爱、思考和行动》《世俗时代的政治哲学:共和主义的一项研究》。译著有《当代法国哲学》《人的境况》《过去与未来之间》《爱与圣奥古斯丁》。曾在《世界哲学》《学术月刊》《哲学与文化》《道风:基督教文化评论》《基督宗教研究》,RELIGIONS等海内外刊物上发表论文三十多篇。 评议人:崇明。北京大学历史学系长聘副教授,北京大学历史学系博士。研究领域涉及近现代法国史、西方政治思想史,著有《创造自由:托克维尔的民主思考》《启蒙、革命、自由:法国近代政治与思想论集》,编有《托克维尔文集》。 主持人:高全喜。上海交通大学凯原法学院讲席教授。曾任北京航空航天大学人文与社会科学高等研究院院长、法学院教授。研究领域为宪法学、政治哲学、法理学与中西宪法史。近著有《苏格兰道德哲学十讲》《西方近现代政治思想》等。

April 20, 2024 at 12:30 PM UTC

在阿伦特和波考克对美国革命“共和主义叙事”中,共和国被视为希腊和罗马古典共和精神的延续,共和主义在此典型地体现了现代关于“人类自足性”的文化意识,和对人类创建政治国家以实现世俗不朽的渴求。在阿伦特那里,美国革命的核心问题是立国的问题,在波考克那里是共和国的持存问题。 本讲座分析阿伦特和波考克都致力于探讨的美国革命问题,说明他们的共和主义一方面类似于一种世俗化的“政治神学”,另一方面凸显了当代共和主义力图复兴的古典共和理想与基督教之间的复杂张力关系。搜索“大学沙龙”YouTube频道收看讲座。

ONLINE SEMINAR SERIES | CHINA IN INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT: INSTRUMENTS, FINANCE, AND INFRASTRUCTURES

MIN YE XIAOYANG TANG JENNIFER BOUEY COURTNEY FUNG AMMAR MALIK MUSTAFA SAYED YAN WANG WENDY LEUTERT AUSTIN STRANGE OSCAR OTELE ANDREA POLLIO ISAAC KARDON

April 21, 2024 at 1:00 PM UTC

China’s global engagement with countries in the developing world is rapidly evolving in an era where traditional aid discourses and the practices of emerging powers in international development are undergoing significant changes. As the largest South-South cooperation provider and the world’s second-largest economy, China’s development activities overseas have sparked debates regarding its role as a rising power in international development and its implications for the post-liberal global order. Over the past few decades, China has substantially diversified its instruments and infrastructure in development practices. While some view China as a catalyst for new models of development and growth, others accuse China of being responsible for the debt crises faced by many recipient economies. China’s involvement in international development has led to wide-ranging impacts. This seminar series invites experts from five continents to engage in a three-part discussion on the instruments, finance, and infrastructures of China’s international development. In the first part, we explore the evolution and diversification of instruments in China’s international development practices, including its deployment of foreign aid and development finance, as well as its evolving role in international security arrangements and global economic governance institutions. In part two, we delve into the composition of Chinese development finance, comparing it to the World Bank, and examine how the Global South perceives its local impact. In part three, we take China’s global infrastructure engagement as an example to illustrate the different actors and approaches involved in China’s international development practices, as well as the role of state-led development. Using the three panel discussions, we illustrate the wide-ranging impacts of Chinese international development engagement at the local, national, and global levels.

LOCALITY GOD VS. LOCALS: RITUAL WORSHIP AS RISK MANAGEMENT IN A SINO-MONGOLIAN MINING ENCOUNTER BY RUIYI ZHU

DR. RUIYI ZHU (NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SHANGHAI)

April 23, 2024 at 7:00 AM UTC

This paper is concerned with the significance of rituals in transnational extractive operations, drawing on an ethnographic account of a privately-owned Chinese mining company in post-socialist Mongolia. I argue that Chinese miners adopt ritual worship of Tudi Ye (Locality God) as a strategy for managing the risks associated with extractive labor in a foreign territory. The paper further explores the contrasting perceptions of risk between the Chinese miners and the Mongolian residents and administrators, who view the mining industry as a source of danger and seek appeasement through propitiating the local land master. The parallel rituals performed by both groups shed light on the underlying political contention inherent in the mining industry. By interweaving ethnographic theories of risk with analyses of ritual politics in Chinese and Mongolian Studies, this paper provides a nuanced contextualization of transnational extractive labor and offers insight into the mobility of territorial spirits.

WEDNESDAY SEMINAR | GENDER ISSUES AND FEMINISM IN ECONOMICALLY ADVANCED SOUTH KOREA | 24 APRIL 2024 @ 4:30 PM IST | ZOOM WEBINAR

ABOUT THE SPEAKER HAWON JUNGIS A JOURNALIST AND AUTHOR OFFLOWERS OF FIRE: THE INSIDE STORY OF SOUTH KOREA’S FEMINIST MOVEMENT AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR WOMEN’S RIGHTS WORLDWIDE, CHOSEN AS ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF 2023 BYTHE ECONOMISTMAGAZINE. HER COVERAGE OF SOUTH KOREA’S #METOO MOVEMENT WAS SHORTLISTED IN THE AWARDS FOR EDITORIAL EXCELLENCE BY THE SOCIETY OF PUBLISHERS IN ASIA. HER WRITINGS AND COMMENTARY HAVE BEEN FEATURED IN THENEW YORK TIMES, AL JAZEERA, FOREIGN POLICY, AND THE BBC. SHE WAS CHOSEN IN 2024 AS ONE OF 30 INDIVIDUALS CHAMPIONING RIGHTS FOR WOMEN AND SEXUAL MINORITIES AROUND THE WORLD IN THE CNN SERIES ‘AS EQUALS’. ABOUT THE CHAIR SANDIP KUMAR MISHRAIS PROFESSOR IN KOREAN STUDIES AT THE CENTRE FOR EAST ASIAN STUDIES, SCHOOL OF INTERNATIONAL STUDIES, JAWAHARLAL NEHRU UNIVERSITY, NEW DELHI, INDIA. HE IS ALSO AN HONORARY FELLOW AT THE INSTITUTE OF CHINESE STUDIES (ICS), NEW DELHI AND A DISTINGUISHED FELLOW AT THE INSTITUTE OF PEACE AND CONFLICT STUDIES (IPCS), NEW DELHI. HE OBTAINED HIS DOCTORAL DEGREE IN KOREAN STUDIES AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS FROM THE JAWAHARLAL NEHRU UNIVERSITY, NEW DELHI. HE STUDIED KOREAN LANGUAGE AT YONSEI UNIVERSITY AND SOGANG UNIVERSITY. HE HAS PUBLISHED SEVERAL RESEARCH ARTICLES AND BOOK CHAPTERS, AND FEATURES IN NEWSPAPERS SUCH ASKOREA TIMES, TIMES OF INDIA, INDIAN EXPRESS, FINANCIAL EXPRESS, PIONEER, TRIBUNE,ANDSTATESMAN.

April 24, 2024 at 11:00 AM UTC

South Korea is the world’s 13th largest economy, a tech powerhouse that is home to many technological innovations and is globally recognized as a cultural juggernaut churning out K-pop stars, K- dramas and cinemas. But the country also ranks 105th in a global gender equality survey, has had the largest gender pay gap in the OECD for decades, and is ranked as the worst place for a working woman in the industrialized world. However, Korean women are increasingly trying to change that, by building a robust #MeToo campaign, ushering in a powerful wave of feminist movement through the late 2010s and early 2020s. Hawon Jung, a former Seoul correspondent for AFP, has extensively covered the issues of sexual discrimination and violence, and her book,Flowers of Fire, chronicles the recent women’s rights activism that has ushered in many social, political, cultural changes in the country for the past decade. The seminar will examine and elucidate all these issues and the challenges faced by women in South Korea.

BOOK TALK: ISLAND X WITH WENDY CHENG

WENDY CHENG

April 24, 2024 at 10:30 PM UTC

On Wednesday, April 24 from 3:30 to 5pm in THO 317 and online, the UW Taiwan Studies Program will welcome Professor Wendy Cheng to discuss her newest book entitledIsland X:Taiwanese Student Migrants, Campus Spies, and Cold War Activism.Wendy delves into the compelling political lives of Taiwanese migrants who came to the United States as students from the 1960s through the 1980s. Often depicted as compliant model minorities, many were in fact deeply political, shaped by Taiwan’s colonial history and influenced by the global social movements of their time. Drawing on interviews with student activists and extensive archival research, Wendy Cheng documents how Taiwanese Americans developed tight-knit social networks as infrastructures for identity formation, consciousness development, and anticolonial activism. Raising questions about historical memory and Cold War circuits of power, Island X is a testament to the lives and advocacy of a generation of Taiwanese American activists. Wendy Chengis a Professor of American Studies at Scripps College. She received her A.B. from Harvard University in English and American Language and Literature, her M.A. in Geography from UC Berkeley, and her Ph.D. in American Studies and Ethnicity from the University of Southern California. She is the author of The Changs Next Door to the Díazes: Remapping Race in Suburban California (University of Minnesota Press, 2013), which won the 2014 Book Award from the American Sociological Association’s Section on Asia and Asian America, and coauthor of A People’s Guide to Los Angeles (University of California Press, 2012), which won the Association of American Geographers’ Globe Book Award for Public Understanding of Geography and the SCIBA Nonfiction Award. This event was made possible by the generous support of the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange.

TALES FROM A SMALL NORTH CHINA COMMERCIAL TOWN

PROFESSOR LINDA GROVE (SOPHIA UNIVERSITY)

April 26, 2024 at 1:00 AM UTC

In the early 1930s Gaoyang (in Hebei province) was the center of one of China’s best known rural industrial districts, producing cotton and rayon textiles that were sold through a nation-wide marketing network. My own earlier work on Gaoyang,A Chinese Economic Revolution: Rural Entrepreneurship in the Twentieth Century, traced the prewar development of the industrial district and charted its fate during the socialist era and following the rebirth of private industry from the 1980s to 2000. The talk I am going to give returns to Gaoyang of the 1930s, making use of a rich set of “lost” materials to chart the impact of rural industrialization on local society. The materials are the original fieldwork notes of a two-year long sociological study of Gaoyang directed by the sociologist Chen Xujing of the Nankai Economic Research Institute and funded by the Rockefeller Foundation from 1935-37. My presentation will introduce the materials, briefly describe what they tell us about the “boom” town of Gaoyang in the early 1930s and discuss several “tales” as an indication of the kind of research that can be done with the new materials. One of the “tales” examines the local government’s use of lotteries to finance essential tasks when it had insufficient revenue, and the second takes up the question of smuggling and the clash between the patriotic sentiments of the business community and their economic interests.

THE POPULATION HISTORY OF CHINA (1368–1953)

SHUJI CAO 曹樹基教授 (HONORARY PROFESSOR, HK INSTITUTE FOR THE HUMANITIES & SOCIAL SCIENCES)

April 26, 2024 at 8:30 AM UTC

Join us for the highly anticipated book launch event celebrating the release of "The Population History of China (1368–1953)" by our Honorary Professor Shuji Cao. His newly released work offers a comprehensive exploration of China's population figures, density, and changes from the Ming to the Qing Dynasty. As we celebrate the newly released book, Professor Cao will take this opportunity to announce his newly constructed 'Database of County-level Population, Land Area, Land Tax, and Corvée Labour in China (Shandong) from 1368 to 1953' during his presentation. Don't miss the chance to be part of this intellectual engagement and insightful discussions on this significant contribution to the study of Chinese economic history. 誠摯歡迎您參加我們期待已久的新書發表會,一同慶祝我們的榮譽教授曹樹基所推出的The Population History of China (1368–1953)《中國人口史(1368-1953)》。這本新書徹底探索了中國的人口數據、密度以及從明朝到清朝的變遷。在我們一同慶祝這本新書出版的同時,曹教授也將在這個場合發布他新建立的《1368-1953年中國(山東)分縣人口、田畝、田賦、徭役數據庫》。絕對不能錯過這個難得的機會,一同參與這場智識交流和深入討論,一同探索對中國經濟史研究的重要貢獻。

QUANTITATIVE HISTORY BOOK LAUNCH SERIES | THE POPULATION HISTORY OF CHINA (1368–1953)

PROFESSOR SHUJI CAO 曹樹基教授 (HONORARY PROFESSOR, HONG KONG INSTITUTE FOR HUMANITIES & SOCIAL SCIENCES, THE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG)

April 26, 2024 at 8:30 AM UTC

Join us for the highly anticipated book launch event celebrating the release of "The Population History of China (1368–1953)" by our Honorary Professor Shuji Cao. His newly released work offers a comprehensive exploration of China's population figures, density, and changes from the Ming to the Qing Dynasty. As we celebrate the newly released book, Professor Cao will take this opportunity to announce his newly constructed 'Database of County-level Population, Land Area, Land Tax, and Corvée Labour in China (Shandong) from 1368 to 1953' during his presentation. Don't miss the chance to be part of this intellectual engagement and insightful discussions on this significant contribution to the study of Chinese economic history. 誠摯歡迎您參加我們期待已久的新書發表會,一同慶祝我們的榮譽教授曹樹基所推出的The Population History of China (1368–1953)《中國人口史(1368-1953)》。這本新書徹底探索了中國的人口數據、密度以及從明朝到清朝的變遷。在我們一同慶祝這本新書出版的同時,曹教授也將在這個場合發布他新建立的《1368-1953年中國(山東)分縣人口、田畝、田賦、徭役數據庫》。絕對不能錯過這個難得的機會,一同參與這場智識交流和深入討論,一同探索對中國經濟史研究的重要貢獻。 PROGRAM RUNDOWN 16:00 Networking 16:30 Welcome Remarks by Institute Director Professor Zhiwu Chen 16:35 Presentation by Professor Shuji Cao 17:30 Panel Discussion with Professor William Guanglin Liu 17:50 Q&A Session 18:00 Closing

PERSPECTIVES ON THE MATERIALITY OF CITY WALLS IN CHINESE AND EUROPEAN HISTORY

LAURA MCATACKNEY YUE ZHANG EVA ŽILE JIAYAO JIANG HANNIBAL CALEB TAUBES LIANYU JIN IVA STOJEVIĆ OLIVER CREIGHTON ZHAOXIANG MU YUANLIN HAO CAI YUQING DING YU JIE LIU MINGSHUAI LI TAYLOR ZANERI

April 26, 2024 at 11:00 AM UTC

The ERC project Regionalizing Infrastructures in Chinese History (RegInfra) is organizing a workshop titled Perspectives on the Materiality of City Walls in Chinese and European History on April 26-27. The aim of this workshop is to bring together researchers working in different archaeological contexts to share best practices in the analysis of archaeological knowledge production, to identify key issues within existing practices, and to explore approaches to materiality in archaeology by examining case studies from various geographical areas and historical eras. Programme: https://www.infrastructurelives.eu/content/files/2024/03/WORKSHOP-PROGRAMME.pdf Link to the event page: https://www.infrastructurelives.eu/events/perspectives-on-the-materiality-of-city-walls-in-china-and-europe/ The workshop will be a hybrid event. Link to the Teams meeting: Click here to join the meeting You can also scan the QR code on the poster to join the meeting.

HALAL OR QINGZHEN?: A QUESTION OF SINICIZATION OF ISLAM IN CHINA

PROFESSOR JAMES FRANKEL (DEPARTMENT OF CULTURAL AND RELIGIOUS STUDIES, THE CHINESE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG)

April 30, 2024 at 4:30 AM UTC

Islam arrived in China during the 7th century as a foreign religion. Yet, once the first Muslims settled permanently there, Islamic religious and cultural traditions were gradually influenced by the norms of Chinese culture and society. This process of naturalization and localization, sometimes referred to as “Sinicization”, continued apace for nearly a millennium before historical circumstances accelerated it during the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. The vicissitudes of modern Chinese history have led to varying official governmental and societal attitudes towards Islam and Muslims and concomitant adaptations of identity and expressions of religiosity by Chinese Muslims. Most recently, the government of the People’s Republic of China is pursuing its own policies of decreasing foreign religious influences in the country in the name of combatting “extremism and separatism.” These have included official regulations aimed at “sinicizing” Islam in China, leading Muslims into a new wave of adaptation for their survival.

EUTOPIA ARTHOUSE FILM FESTIVAL CULTURAL BRIDGE SPECIAL SECTION SCREENING

SPEAKER: DR. LIANG WANG LEADER OF THE TANDEM LANGUAGE EXCHANGE PROGRAMME AND THE CHINESE CULTURE PROGRAMME AT QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY BELFAST LANGUAGE SUPPORT OFFICER OF QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY BELFAST WEJDAN ALAWAD EVENTS MANAGER OF THE EUTOPIA ARTHOUSE FILM FESTIVAL LECTURER IN IMAM MOHAMMAD IBN SAUD ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY PHD CANDIDATE IN TRANSLATION STUDIES AT QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY BELFAST FILM DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT AND Q&A FILM DIRECTOR: CHUNJING WANG, MEI DUAN, BOYAN GUO, KUNYU CAI, MENGYUANSU, YIJING WANG HOST: TIANPENG YAO FOUNDER OF THE EUTOPIA ARTHOUSE FILM FESTIVAL PHD CANDIDATE IN FILM STUDIES AT QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY BELFAST PANELISTS: SIYANG GU MARKETING MANAGER&PROGRAMMER OF THE EUTOPIA ARTHOUSE FILM FESTIVAL PHD CANDIDATE IN HISTORY AT QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY BELFAST LAUREN MCSHANE PROGRAMMER OF THE EUTOPIA ARTHOUSE FILM FESTIVAL PHD CANDIDATE IN FRENCH STUDIES AT QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY BELFAST COURSE REPRESENTATIVE FOR MODERN LANGUAGES POSTGRADUATE RESEARCH STUDENTS AT QUEEN’S XIAOXIANG MA TECHNICAL DIRECTOR OF THE EUTOPIA ARTHOUSE FILM FESTIVAL PHD STUDENT IN FILM STUDIES AT QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY BELFAST YANG NI MEDIA PRODUCER OF THE EUTOPIA ARTHOUSE FILM FESTIVAL PHD STUDENT IN HISTORY AT QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY BELFAST XUN HU PROGRAMMER OF THE EUTOPIA ARTHOUSE FILM FESTIVAL POSTGRADUATE STUDENT AT UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON

May 1, 2024 at 3:30 PM UTC

The Eutopia Arthouse Film Festival (EAFF) is a non-profit international film exhibition focused on fostering artistic exchange and development among new filmmakers. Organized by Queen’s University Belfast and funded by the Queen’s Annual Fund, EAFF serves as a platform for emerging talents to showcase their work. This year, EAFF introduces the 'Cultural Bridge' special section, aiming to enhance cultural exchange between East Asia and Western Countries. This section features films that depict the cultural, artistic, and societal aspects of East Asia, fostering dialogue, exchange, and integration between Eastern and Western artistic cultures. Six films reflecting East Asian culture have been selected for screening at the festival: The Death of Emilia, Echo from Deep Valley, Kunqu opera ‘Peony Pavilion’, Rest in Peace, A Fantastic Yang Opera, and Wanning Mountain and Water. These films delve into the cultural richness of East Asia, exploring its intangible heritage, social customs, human geography, and more. Additionally, Dr. Liang Wang from Queen’s language centre will join the round-table discussion on East Asian film and culture topic with the EAFF team members and the film directors.

BOOK LAUNCH/INTERDISCIPLINARY & INTERREGIONAL - STATES OF DISCONNECT: THE CHINA-INDIA LITERARY RELATION IN THE 20TH CENTURY

ADHIRA MANGALAGIRI

May 2, 2024 at 1:00 AM UTC

In an interconnected world, literature moves through transnational networks, crosses borders, and bridges diverse cultures. In these ways, literature can bring people closer together. Today, as hopes for globalization wane and exclusionary nationalism is on the march, can literature still offer new ways of relating with others? Comparative literature has long been under the spell of circulation, contact, connectivity, and mobility—what if it instead sought out their antitheses? States of Disconnect examines the breakdown of transnationalism through readings of literary texts that express aversion to pairing ideas of China and India. Focusing on practices of comparison, Adhira Mangalagiri considers how these texts articulate the undesirability or impossibility of relating with national others, tracing portrayals of violence, silence, and distance. She proposes the concept of “disconnect”: a crisis of transnationalism perceptible in moments when a connection is severed, interrupted, or disavowed. Despite their apparent insularity, texts of disconnect offer possibilities for relating ethically across national borders while resisting both narrow nationalisms and globalized habits of thought. Reading a variety of largely untranslated twentieth-century Chinese and Hindi short stories, novels, and poems, Mangalagiri charts a path for cultivating with literary texts a critical sensibility for making sense of a world rife with division. Speaker Bio: Adhira Mangalagiri is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Comparative Literature at New York University. She is the author of States of Disconnect: The China-India Literary Relation in the Twentieth Century (Columbia, 2023). Her research has appeared in Comparative Literature Studies, the Journal of World Literature, China and Asia, The Yearbook of Comparative Literature, among others. She has (co)edited special issues on China-India studies for the International Journal of Asian Studies (2022) and Crossroads (2022). She is a member of the British Academy-funded “Chinese Global Orders” research project. She currently serves as a general editor for Comparative Critical Studies, the house journal of the British Comparative Literature Association. Moderator: Anna Stirr, Director, Center for South Asian Studies (CSAS), UHM. Discussants: Nandini Chandra, Associate Professor, English Department, UHM; Krista Van Fleit, Associate Professor of Chinese Literature and Language, University of South Carolina. Co-sponsors: UHM English Department, East Asian Languages and Literatures Dept and CSAS.

THE POLITICAL ECOLOGY OF SETTLEMENT GEOGRAPHY ON THE ORDOS PLATEAU: AN ENVIRONMENTAL AND SPATIAL HISTORY OF BORDERLAND INFRASTRUCTURE IN IMPERIAL CHINA

PROF. RUTH MOSTERN (UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH)

May 14, 2024 at 12:00 PM UTC

The Ordos Plateau, the semiarid loess-soil region of northern Shaanxi at the periphery of the East Asian summer monsoon, is a historically multiethnic domain that is sensitive to small shifts in climate. During imperial times, Ordos residents generally subsisted as herders, farmers, and salt miners. The Ordos was also a strategic zone of transit, transition and contention between the steppes and the imperial core. For that reason, it was often heavily fortified despite its unpredictable climate, its highly erodible soil, and its delicate ethnic geography. This talk presents research based on the spatial analysis of 564 data points representing the locations of cities and forts from pre-imperial times through the Qing dynasty, proxies for the intensiveness of human activity in any time and place, as recorded inTheAtlas of Chinese Material Culture(Zhongguo Wenwu dituji中国文物地图集). Each of those sites was also associated with land degradation, which in turn shaped subsequent possibilities in the region. Adopting the time scale of the entire imperial era, this research traces changes to imperial boundaries, political ecology, and state power in the context of both geopolitical and environmental histories. It also tracks the long history of conflict, coexistence, and settler colonialism in an originally multiethnic region. The paper narrates the southerly retreat of the state after the Han era as the region became more arid; the emergence of what eventually became the great wall line starting in the Tang; the militarization of that line in the Song followed by the formation of ethnically Han space along it during the in Ming; and the emergence of an even more southerly commercial and ethnically Chinese space in the Qing. Ruth Mosternis Professor of History and Director of the World History Center at the University of Pittsburgh and Vice President of the World History Association. She is the author of two single-authored books:Dividing the Realm in Order to Govern: The Spatial Organization of the Song State, 960-1276 CE(Harvard Asia Center, 2011), andThe Yellow River: A Natural and Unnatural History(Yale University Press, 2021), winner of the Joseph Levenson Prize from the Association for Asian Studies in 2022. She is also co-editor ofPlacing Names: Enriching and Integrating Gazetteers(Indiana University Press, 2016), and of a special issue ofOpen Rivers Journal(2017). She is the author or co-author of over thirty articles published in books and peer reviewed journals. Ruth is Principal Investigator and Project Director of the World Historical Gazetteer, a prize-winning digital infrastructure platform for integrating databases of historical place name information. Her research has been funded by entities that include the US National Endowment for the Humanities, the US National Science Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, and others.

BOOK TALK: RENEGADE RHYMES WITH MEREDITH SCHWEIG

MEREDITH SCHWEIG, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF ETHNOMUSICOLOGY AT EMORY UNIVERSITY

May 16, 2024 at 10:30 PM UTC

The UW Taiwan Studies Program will welcome associate professor of ethnomusicology at Emory University, Meredith Schweig, to discuss her bookRenegade Rhymes: Rap Music, Narrative, and Knowledge in Taiwan(University of Chicago Press, 2022). Online participants can join the book talk via Zoom here:https://washington.zoom.us/j/99721107676 Renegade Rhymesinvites readers into Taiwan’s vibrant underground hip-hop scene to explore the social, cultural, and political dynamics of life in a post-authoritarian democracy. Beginning in the immediate aftermath of martial law (1949-1987), the book follows Taiwan’s earliest rappers and DJs as they critiqued the island’s political system, spun tales from their perspectives as members of marginalized ethnic communities, and reimagined previously suppressed local musical forms. A series of ethnographic and historical chapters trace an arc between these earliest interventions and the innovations of present-day musicians, who grapple with ongoing existential uncertainty imposed by the island’s ambiguous geopolitical status and accelerating neoliberalization. The book argues that rap artists past and present configure post-authoritarianism as a creative political intervention, whose ultimate objective is the reordering of epistemic hierarchies, power structures, and gender relations. Meredith Schweig completed her MA and PhD in ethnomusicology at Harvard University, where she also received her BA in Music and East Asian Studies. Schweig is the recipient of a 2023-2024 Scholar Grant from the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange. Previously, she was a Fulbright Senior Scholar in Taiwan (2020-2021), and a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in the Humanities and Hyperstudio Fellow at MIT (2013-2015). Her 2016 article “‘Young Soldiers, One Day We Will Change Taiwan’: Masculinity Politics in the Taiwan Rap Scene” was awarded both the Marcia Herndon Prize and the Jaap Kunst Prize from the Society for Ethnomusicology. Her 2014 article "Hoklo Hip-Hop: Re-signifying Rap as Local Narrative Tradition in Taiwan” was awarded the Rulan Chao Pian Publication Prize from the Association for Chinese Music Research. This event was made possible by the generous support of the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange.

BOOK TALK: INTERCONNECTED WORLDS WITH HENRY YEUNG

HENRY YEUNG

May 23, 2024 at 10:30 PM UTC

On Thursday, May 23 from 3:30 to 5pm in THO 317 and online,the UW Taiwan Studies Program will welcome Henry Yeung (National University of Singapore) to discuss his book Interconnected Worlds: Global Electronics and Production Networks in East Asia. His book offers key empirical observations on the highly contested and politicized nature of semiconductor global production networks since the US-China trade war and the COVID-19 pandemic. In this capital-intensive manufacturing industry, governance and power dynamics are manifested differently from many other industries due to highly complex technology regimes, production network ecosystems, and, more recently, geopolitical imperatives. While some of these critical dynamics had been in play ahead of the 2020s in China, Taiwan, and South Korea, their intensity and significance became more apparent by the early 2020s. The book also examines the need for strategic partnerships with technology leaders toward building national and regional resilience in the US, Western Europe, and East Asia. ProfessorHenry Yeunghas been a Distinguished Professor at the Department of Geography, National University of Singapore, since 2018, and Professor of Economic Geography since 2005. As a leading academic expert in global production networks and the global economy, his research interests cover broadly theories and the geography of transnational corporations, East Asian firms, and developmental states. He is the first geographer based in Asia to receive both the 2018 American Association of Geographers Distinguished Scholarship Honors (“in recognition of his extraordinary scholarship and leadership in the discipline”) and the UK’s Royal Geographical Society Murchison Award 2017 (for “pioneering publications in the field of globalisation”). In November 2022, he was conferred the 2022 Sir Peter Hall Award for Lifetime Contribution to the Field by the Regional Studies Association in London: “acknowledging and celebrating excellence in the field of regional studies”. This event was made possible by the generous support of the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange.

RITUALIZED HOMELAND OR DANGEROUS FRONTIER? A STUDY OF NALAN XINGDE’S POEMS WRITTEN IN MANCHURIA

ANNIE LUMAN REN

May 30, 2024 at 6:00 AM UTC

Nalan Xingde or Nara Singde 納蘭性德 (1655-1685) is regarded as one of the greatest lyric (ci詞) poets of the Manchu Qing dynasty (1644-1912). In 1682, Xingde embarked on two separate journeys to Manchuria, first accompanying the Kangxi Emperor to make sacrifices at the tombs of the dynasty’s founding fathers; then, on a secret cartographic mission to survey Russian strategic points and roads leading to the city of Nerchinsk. The focus of this presentation is on the poems Xingde wrote during his two trips to Manchuria with a particular emphasis on the concept of the “frontier”. As a member of the first generation of Manchus raised in Beijing, Manchuria is on the one hand, the land of Xingde’s ancestors, a region anointed by the Kangxi Emperor as the “mnemonic site of Manchu identity”. On the other hand, it is a vast and distant land with borders that Xingde was tasked with mapping. This paper investigates the depiction of Manchuria in Xingde’s poetry. It looks at how the poet draws from the well-established tradition of “frontier poetry” 塞外詩 while infusing his unique identity as a Manchu as well as his poetic sensibility into these poems written in Manchuria, and how this in turn, enriches our understanding of the “frontier”. About the Speaker Annie Luman Ren is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Australian Centre on China in the World and a co-editor of The China Story. Having previously written her PhD thesis on the poetics of China’s most celebrated novel Hongloumeng 紅樓夢 (The Story of the Stone), Annie’s latest research project is on the life and writings of the Manchu poet Nalan Xingde. Annie is also a literary translator. The ANU China Seminar Series is supported by the Australian Centre on China in the World at ANU College of Asia and the Pacific.

CHINA’S VIRAL VILLAGES: DIGITAL NATIONALISM IN TIMES OF CRISIS

FLORIAN SCHNEIDER

June 14, 2024 at 6:00 AM UTC

Crisis moments like the 2019 Hong Kong protests or the COVID-19 pandemic have shone a spotlight on how divided political opinions are across the Chinese-speaking world, often along fault lines created by tribalist and nationalist attitudes. These attitudes are shaped by official propaganda, but they also interact in complicated ways with the widespread adoption of internet technologies, and especially of mobile and interactive ‘web 2.0’ technologies since the start of the 21st century. Advances in ICT have augmented and accelerated human interactions, included group sentiments, ideologies, and political programmes. Community attachment is today adopted, filtered, transformed, enhanced, and accelerated through digital networks, whether in seemingly banal cases such as fandom practices or in more overtly political contexts such as nationalist agitation. As such processes unfold, the state’s techno-nationalist politics, the commercial rationale of platform providers, and the technical affordances of specific digital designs all conspire to drive viral interactions on China’s internet, be it on social media apps like Sina Weibo or video-sharing platforms like Bilibili. Based on observations about recent developments in the Chinese-speaking world, Florian Schneider relates his earlier analyses of Chinese online nationalism vis-à-vis Japan to the post-pandemic era, asking: what happens to nationalism when it goes digital? About the Speaker Florian Schneider, PhD, Sheffield University, is Chair Professor of Modern China at the Leiden University Institute for Area Studies. He is managing editor ofAsiascape: Digital Asia, director of the Leiden Asia Centre, and the author of three books:Staging China: the Politics of Mass Spectacle(Leiden University Press, 2019, recipient of the ICAS Book Prize 2021 Accolades),China’s Digital Nationalism(Oxford University Press, 2018), andVisual Political Communication in Popular Chinese Television Series(Brill, 2013, recipient of the 2014 EastAsiaNet book prize). In 2017, he was awarded the Leiden University teaching prize for his innovative work as an educator. His research interests include questions of governance, political communication, and digital media in China, as well as international relations in the East-Asian region. The ANU China Seminar Series is supported by the Australian Centre on China in the World at ANU College of Asia and the Pacific.

NEW HORIZONS: NAVIGATING THE FUTURE OF US-CHINA EDUCATIONAL EXCHANGES

SHEN XUESONG (MINISTER COUNSELOR OF EDUCATION FOR THE EMBASSY OF THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA) PEGGY BLUMENTHAL (SENIOR COUNSELOR TO THE CEO OF THE INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION) DR. JAMES SMITH (PRESIDENT, EASTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY) DR. HEATHER BURNS PAGE (PRINCIPAL, THE BACCALAUREATE SCHOOL FOR GLOBAL EDUCATION, NEW YORK CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS) DR. ALPHA XINYING EDENS (PROFESSOR AT UNIVERSITY OF TULSA & 2023 HEARTLAND CHINESE TEACHER AWARD RECIPIENT) MIN FAN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE US HEARTLAND CHINA ASSOCIATION)

November 5, 2024 at 2:00 AM UTC

Since the normalization of US-China bilateral relationship 45 years ago, educational exchanges have brought many benefits to both countries. Even though the pandemic and geopolitical tensions have significantly hindered two-way exchanges during the last three years, the overall environment is improving. Last November, leaders of both countries reaffirmed their commitment to continue supporting people-to-people exchange at their meeting in San Francisco, where Chinese President Xi Jinping boldly announced the goal of welcoming 50,000 American students to visit China in the next 5 years. This announcement has created much excitement among educators and community leaders. Please join us in this special online event that brings together leaders dedicated to expanding US-China educational exchanges for a timely discussion on the new opportunities and challenges ahead. This program is a collaboration between theUS Heartland China AssociationandChina Institute in America.

GREEN ALLIANCES: CULTIVATING US AND CHINESE CLIMATE LEADERSHIP ON FOOD AND AGRICULTURE

MIN FAN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, US HEARTLAND CHINA ASSOCIATION) KAREN MANCL (PROFESSOR EMERITA, THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY & WILSON CENTER FELLOW) JENNIFER TURNER (DIRECTOR, CHINA ENVIRONMENT FORUM OF THE WILSON CENTER)

November 17, 2024 at 2:00 AM UTC

The U.S. China Agriculture Roundtable has grown to be the most broad-based bilateral dialogue platform around agriculture, drawing leaders spanning government, trade, business, education, and think tanks from both countries. The upcoming 4th annual Roundtable will further strengthen bilateral collaboration and people-to-people friendships around agriculture. We are excited that two leading experts, Dr. Jennifer Turner and Dr. Karen Mancl of the Wilson Center will be joining us for our 2024 Think Tank Dialogue in Beijing on June 12th. The Wilson Center and the Ohio State University recently published a report to illustrate the complex climate footprint of U.S. and Chinese agriculture and highlight opportunities for bilateral cooperation on policies, projects, and strategies to reduce agriculture’s climate footprint. At this talk, Dr. Turner and Dr. Mancl will discuss possible paths forward for climate and food collaboration between the United States and China. We will also hear from leading professionals in agrifood sciences and agricultural studies.