DR YING XIN SHOW

October 9, 2025 at 5:00 AM UTC

In the mid-20th century, Nanyang University (Nantah) in Singapore became a powerful symbol of Chinese-language education outside China. Founded through grassroots support, it quickly grew into a vibrant hub of student activism, where young people imagined new futures for Malaya through literature, politics, and academic debates. This talk explores how students at Nantah used language as a tool for activism - writing, translating, and publishing in Chinese, Malay, and English. Their multilingual student periodicals not only circulated on campus but reached wider audiences, reflecting bold visions of decolonisation and cultural belonging in a newly emerging nation. Despite facing censorship, arrests, and bans, these students engaged in what this talk calls the ‘labour of languaging’ - a creative and political effort to shape identity and community across linguistic boundaries. Their work offers rich insights into how Chinese communities in Southeast Asia navigated questions of language, nationhood, and cultural citizenship in the context of decolonisation, while also revealing the limits of multilingual imagination that continue to shape Malaysia today. About the Speaker Dr Ying Xin SHOWis SeniorLecturer in the School of Culture, History and Language, College of Asia and the Pacific at the Australian National Universityand Deputy Director of the ANU Malaysia Institute. Her works explore the history and culture of migration, decolonisation and the impact of the Cold War on Asian societies through literature and arts. She co-edited (with NgoiGuatPeng)Revisiting Malaya: Uncovering Historical and Political Thoughts in Nusantaraand authored the Chinese translation ofAlfianSa’at’sshort story collectionMalay Sketches.She currently holds an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA). The ANU China Seminar Series is supported by the Australian Centre on China in the World at ANU College of Asia and the Pacific.

JULIAN KU

October 9, 2025 at 4:00 PM UTC

The United States and other countries that engage in friendly but unofficial relations with Taiwan generally maintain “strategic ambiguity” on the question of whether they would help Taiwan defend itself against a possible armed attack by China. Their decision would undoubtedly be affected by many factors, including how the world would regard third-party intervention (especially military intervention) in a China-Taiwan conflict. Would the United Nations, and international law more generally, view third-party military intervention in a cross-Strait conflict as an illegal use of force? In this installment of our occasional speaker series, “Taiwan Legal,” Professor Julian Ku of Hofstra University School of Law will explain what international law says about the use of force for self-defense and collective self-defense. For earlier talks in this series, see Richard Bush on “What does US law say about Taiwan?” (recording here and written excerpts here); Peter Dutton on “What does international law say about Taiwan?” (recording here and written excerpts here); Jacques deLisle on “What does the United Nations say about Taiwan?” (recording here and written excerpts here); Yu-Jie Chen on “What does ROC law say about Taiwan?” (recording here and written excerpts here); and Bing Ling on “What does PRC law say about Taiwan?” (recording here and written excerpts here).

LUCY REED

October 14, 2025 at 6:00 PM UTC

About the event: Singapore now ranks with Paris and London among the top three venues for international arbitration, despite being much newer on the scene. Lucy Reed, president of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre Court (SIAC), a prominent arbitrator and international lawyer, will explore the reasons, which include government commitment, supportive legislation, first-rate courts, Maxwell Chambers, SIAC, and a truly international outlook. About the speaker: Lucy Reed, the president of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre Court and the immediate past president of the International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA), is an independent arbitrator with Arbitration Chambers in New York. Lucy specializes in investor-state and complex international commercial disputes, recognized in Tier One of Chambers & Partners Most In Demand Arbitrators – Global Wide 2025. She is on the board of the Register of Damages Caused by the Aggression of the Russian Federation Against Ukraine. Before retiring in 2016, Lucy led the Freshfields global international arbitration group and then took on the role of director of the Centre for International Law at the National University of Singapore. Among other positions, Lucy has served as co-director of the Claims Resolution Tribunal for Dormant Accounts in Switzerland; general counsel of the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization, in which capacity she led negotiations with North Korea; and the U.S. Government’s agent to the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal. José Enrique Alvarez will be the moderator.

LEV NACHMAN IS AN ASSISTANT PROFESSOR IN THE GRADUATE INSTITUTE OF NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AT NATIONAL TAIWAN UNIVERSITY. HE RECEIVED HIS PH.D. IN POLITICAL SCIENCE FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, IRVINE IN 2021, AND WAS PREVIOUSLY THE HOU FAMILY POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH FELLOW AT THE HARVARD FAIRBANK CENTER. HIS WORK FOCUSES ON POLITICAL PARTICIPATION IN TAIWAN AND HONG KONG AND US-TAIWAN RELATIONS. HIS PUBLICATIONS SPAN BOTH DISCIPLINARY AND REGIONAL ACADEMIC JOURNALS, INCLUDING ASIAN SURVEY AND POLITICAL RESEARCH QUARTERLY. HE IS ALSO A NON-RESIDENT FELLOW AT THE ATLANTIC COUNCIL GLOBAL CHINA HUB AND THE NATIONAL BUREAU OF ASIAN RESEARCH AND REGULARLY COMMENTS ON CONTEMPORARY TAIWANESE POLITICS. HIS WORK HAS BEEN FEATURED IN VARIOUS MEDIA OUTLETS INCLUDING THE NEW YORK TIMES, CNN, AND FOREIGN AFFAIRS.

October 16, 2025 at 10:30 PM UTC

Despite maintaining de facto sovereignty, states like Taiwan find themselves unrecognized in today’s international system because another power claims the state as part of their territory. This fraught status, in turn, significantly affects the domestic politics of these places. Contested Taiwanexplores Taiwan’s political landscape after the 2014 Sunflower Movement and brings a fresh perspective to understanding social movement mobilization and political party formation in “contested states.” In these states, political cleavages are defined not by traditional left-right issues but by questions of identity, territory, and what to do about the country that claims them. Drawing from 150 interviews with Taiwanese activists and politicians, as well as a comparative analysis of Ukraine, I reveal that traditional political science theories fall short when explaining the formation of movement parties in such contexts. Instead, I argue that looming existential threats and strained relationships between activists and established pro-independence parties drive social movements into formal political arenas.

SPEAKER:T.V. PAUL, DISTINGUISHED JAMES MCGILL PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, MCGILL UNIVERSITY, MONTREAL, CANADA MODERATOR:QIN GAO, MAURICE V. RUSSELL PROFESSOR OF SOCIAL POLICY AND SOCIAL WORK PRACTICE, ASSOCIATE DEAN FOR DOCTORAL EDUCATION, DIRECTOR OF CHINA CENTER FOR SOCIAL POLICY, COLUMBIA SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORK

October 17, 2025 at 4:00 PM UTC

The violent conflict in Ukraine triggered by Russia, China’s drift away from a “peaceful rise” strategy, and America’s near abandonment of liberal leadership have created deep uncertainty. This book project asks: Under what conditions do great powers abandon or significantly alter relatively peaceful grand strategies for reasons of status? It examines how strategic interaction between great powers—and the pivotal role of domestic coalitions—shapes expectations of status reciprocity and recognition leading to great power conflicts. Speaker's Bio: T.V. Paul is Distinguished James McGill Professor in the Department of Political Science at McGill University, Canada and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. A former President of International Studies Association, he is also the Founding Director of the Global Research Network on Peaceful Change (GRENPEC). Paul is the author or editor of 24 books and over 90 scholarly articles/book chapters in International Relations. The Unfinished Quest: India’s Search for Major Power Status from Nehru to Modi (Oxford University Press and Westland-Context, 2024) is his latest book. For more, see: www.tvpaul.com. This event is hosted by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute and co-sponsored by the Columbia China Center for Social Policy and the China and the World Program.

赵家琦,伦敦大学亚非学院硕士、台湾清华大学博士,现为台湾中兴大学中国文学系副教授。研究领域包括近现代上海文学及张爱玲1950年以后的 创作。相关论文发表于《汉学研究》、《清华学报》与《人文中国学报》等期刊,以及《翻译史研究》等论文集。 CHIA-CHI CHAOHOLDS AN M.A. FROM THE SCHOOL OF ORIENTAL AND AFRICAN STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON, AND A PH.D. FROM NATIONAL TSING HUA UNIVERSITY, TAIWAN. SHE IS CURRENTLY AN ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR IN THE DEPARTMENT OF CHINESE LITERATURE AT NATIONAL CHUNG HSING UNIVERSITY, TAIWAN. HER RESEARCH INTERESTS INCLUDE MODERN SHANGHAI FICTION AND THE POST-1950S LITERATURE OF EILEEN CHANG. SHE HAS PUBLISHED A NUMBER OF ARTICLES ON CHANG’S WORKS IN JOURNALS SUCH AS CHINESE STUDIES, TSING HUA JOURNAL OF CHINESE STUDIES, AND JOURNAL OF CHINESE HUMANITIES, AS WELL AS IN EDITED VOLUMES IN BOTH CHINESE AND ENGLISH. 黄淑嫻,香港嶺南大學中文系副教授。她的研究興趣主要集中在香港文學与文化、文學与電影的比較研究,以及旅行文學。她著有《書寫书写:电 影、文學与日常生活》与《香港影像書寫:作家、文學與電影》。主要编辑作品包括「一九五O年代香港文學與文化叢書」(六冊)、《香港.一九六 O年代》及《也斯的六O年代》。此外,她也发表随笔、小說与詩歌。她还是紀錄片《1918:刘以鬯》与《東西:也斯》的聯合監製。 DR. MARY SHUK-HAN WONG, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR AT THE CHINESE DEPARTMENT, HONG KONG LINGNAN UNIVERSITY. HER RESEARCH INTEREST FOCUSES ON HONG KONG LITERATURE AND CULTURE, THE COMPARATIVE STUDY OF LITERATURE AND CINEMA, AND TRAVEL LITERATURE. SHE IS THE AUTHOR OF FEMININE WRITING: CINEMA, LITERATURE AND EVERYDAY LIVE AND HONG KONG CINEMA: WRITER, LITERATURE AND CINEMA. MAJOR EDITED WORKS ARE ‘HONG KONG LITERATURE AND CULTURE OF THE 1950S SERIES’ (6 VOLUMES), HONG KONG :1960S AND THE 1960S OF LEUNG PING KWAN. SHE ALSO PUBLISHES ESSAYS, STORIES AND POEMS. SHE IS THE CO-PRODUCER OF THE DOCUMENTARIES 1918: LIU YICHANG AND BOUNDARY: LEUNG PING KWAN. MODERATOR: 彭芸,夏威夷大学马诺阿分校东亚语言与文学系副教授,同时兼任该校中文旗舰项目的合作教师。她在明尼苏达大学获得比较文学博士学位。她 的研究兴趣包括中国现代文学、中国电影、文学批评与电影理论。目前,她的研究工作主要聚焦于当代中国独立纪录片。 YUN PENG, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR AT THE DEPARTMENT OF EAST ASIAN LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES AND AFFILIATED FACULTY OF CHINESE FLAGSHIP AT UNIVERSITY OF HAWAI'I AT MĀNOA. SHE RECEIVED A PH.D. IN COMPARATIVE LITERATURE FROM UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA. HER RESEARCH INTERESTS INCLUDE MODERN CHINESE LITERATURE, CHINESE CINEMA, LITERARY CRITICISM, AND FILM THEORY. HER CURRENT WORKFOCUSES ON CONTEMPORARY CHINESE INDEPENDENT DOCUMENTARIES.

October 22, 2025 at 10:00 PM UTC

本次研讨会以张爱玲剧作改编电影《太太万岁》为切入点,探赜该片聚焦家庭主妇的伦理叙事,及其与张早期影评的思想连系;并以香港电懋/国泰影业的同名电影为对照,论 析该片就「太太」故事的跨时代新诠与跨地域改造。藉由对读两部文本在角色设计与叙事经营上的异同,本讲座将管窥沪、港影艺发展的迁衍轨迹。 This talk examines the film Long Live the Missus! (1947), based on a screenplay by Eileen Chang for the Shanghai Wenhua Film Company. It explores the film’s domestic narrative, with a particular focus on the role of the “housewife” and the ethical concerns echoed in Chang’s early film criticism. The discussion then shifts to Darling, Stay at Home (1968), a reinvention produced by Hong Kong’s Cathay Organisation under the same Chinese title. It foregrounds the heroine’s dual roles as housewife and career woman, emphasizing costuming and disguise as dramatic devices, while female solidarity emerges as a social force reframing the marital dynamics in the 1947 film. By tracing the cinematic evolution of these two films, this talk demonstrates how changes in character portrayal and narrative strategies reflect the transformation of bourgeois cinema from Shanghai to Hong Kong across different eras.