PROFESSOR YUJU LIN (ACADEMIA SINICA)

May 3, 2024 at 1:00 AM UTC

Trade has historically driven Taiwan’s economic growth, with cane sugar dominating exports from the 1620s to the 1960s. Despite this, the strategic evolution of sugar traders has been overlooked. This article explores how Takow (Kaohsiung) merchants navigated international trade, particularly after the 1870s, adapting to the interplay of tradition and modernity. Focusing on Wang Xuenong, a prominent sugar merchant during the Meiji period (1868–1912), it examines how merchants like him incorporated East Asian and Western elements into their trading company systems. The article also investigates their expansion into rice milling and steamship transport, illuminating Taiwan’s commercial transformation from the late Qing dynasty to Japanese rule. Through a lens of cross-cultural knowledge transfer and human resource strategies, it highlights the historical significance of these changes in Taiwan’s journey towards industrialization and modernization.

PROFESSOR LIU SHI-YUNG(DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY, SHANGHAI JIAO TONG UNIVERSITY)

May 9, 2024 at 2:30 AM UTC

Abstract: The late 19th and early 20th century influx of Western influence in East Asia spurred a dual challenge for China and Japan. They faced pressure to implement Westernization reforms to confront Western encroachment, while simultaneously seeking explanations for perceived physical frailties of their populaces, especially regarding disease. In this context, certain afflictions gained profound symbolic importance as ‘national sicknesses’ - beriberi in early Meiji Japan, and tuberculosis in Republican China. This discourse examines the intertwined cultural and political attitudes surrounding these sicknesses, tracing how the ‘national sickness’ concept evolved across Chinese and Japanese contexts, analyzing its modern characteristics. It explores the progression of pathological explanations for beriberi and tuberculosis in East Asia and the West. It highlights the dynamic relationship between Chinese and Western medicine in Japan as Western practices were adopted. Furthermore, it delineates tuberculosis' transition in China from a ‘consumptive illness’ under traditional medicine to the Western-defined fatal disease‘tuberculosis’ of Western medicine. By investigating these ‘national sickness’ phenomena, the speaker aims to shed light on defining traits of modern East Asian science in the early 20th century. Elucidating the interplay of evolving medical epistemologies, cultural forces, and nationalism contributes nuanced understanding of East-West exchanges during this era of globalizing modernity. In-person Venue: Jao Tsung-I Academy of Sinology, Level 7, Shaw Tower, Shaw Campus, Hong Kong Baptist University Registration:https://forms.office.com/r/EJE81j0TTE Online: Zoom:https://hkbu.zoom.us/j/91432126649?pwd=ZTF0L0hsNEIyMjhMNWFnWGM0bGU5UT09 Meeting ID: 914 3212 6649 Password: 878288

KEYNOTE: DR PI KUO-LI (GRADUATE INSTITUTE OF HISTORY, NATIONAL CENTRAL UNIVERSITY) DISCUSSANTS: PROFESSOR WONG MAN KONG (DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY, HONG KONG BAPTIST UNIVERSITY) DR LAW YUEN HAN (DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY, HONG KONG BAPTIST UNIVERSITY) MODERATOR: DR DONG XIANLIANG (JAO TSUNG-I ACADEMY OF SINOLOGY, HONG KONG BAPTIST UNIVERSITY)

May 9, 2024 at 6:30 AM UTC

Between 1918 and 2023, spanning over a century, humanity has faced and conquered numerous infectious diseases. Among these, the three major global infectious diseases that stand out for their unique characteristics and lasting impact are the influenza pandemic, SARS, and COVID-19. The speaker will delve into these diseases from the perspective of Chinese medicine, a viewpoint often neglected by previous researchers, examining how traditional medicine defines and treats these ailments. COVID-19 has arguably made the most profound impact on the general public, and the speaker will highlight key publications that resonate with the pandemic’s history. Furthermore, in discussion with medical historians, the speaker will reassess the state of research and education in Chinese medical history pre- and post-pandemic. Emphasizing public history, a conversation will be initiated on educational practices and public discourse regarding the history of diseases. By simultaneously focusing on research and the dissemination of scientific knowledge, the aim is to enhance the understanding and impact of disease within the history of science. Registration:https://forms.office.com/r/c8RhtpYVPX In-person Venue: Level 7, Shaw Tower, Shaw Campus, HKBU Online：ZOOM:https://hkbu.zoom.us/j/92227978675?pwd=ZzBzenlFek9vbE5LdXRmQ20vT3hpUT09 Meeting ID: 922 2797 8675 Password: 659232

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.

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.

BAOHUI ZHANGIS PROFESSOR OF GOVERNMENT AND INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS AT LINGNAN UNIVERSITY, HONG KONG. HE WAS ALSO DIRECTOR OF CENTRE FOR ASIAN PACIFIC STUDIES FROM 2010 TO 2020. HIS RESEARCH INTERESTS INCLUDE GREAT POWER POLITICS, SINO-US RELATIONS, AND CHINESE FOREIGN POLICY. HIS RECENT PUBLICATIONS INCLUDE “HOPING FOR THE BEST, PREPARING FOR THE WORST: CHINA’S VARIED RESPONSES TO US STRATEGIC COMPETITION,”JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY CHINA, VOL. 33, NO. 146 (2024), PP. 352-371; “POLARITY AND STRATEGIC COMPETITION: A STRUCTURAL EXPLANATION OF RENEWED GREAT POWER RIVALRY,”THE CHINESE JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL POLITICS, VOL. 16, ISSUE 4 (WINTER 2023), PP. 383-405; “FROM DEFENSIVE TOWARD OFFENSIVE REALISM: STRATEGIC COMPETITION AND CONTINUITIES IN THE UNITED STATES CHINA POLICY,”JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY CHINA, VOL. 31, ISSUE 137 (2022), PP. 793-809; “WHEN CIVILIZATIONAL CLASHES MEET POWER SHIFTS: RETHINKING GLOBAL DISORDER,”CHINESE JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL POLITICS, VOL. 15, NO. 4 (WINTER 2022), PP. 352-373; “CHINA’S RISE AND THE NEW WORLD ORDER,” IN B.J.C. MCKERCHER, ED.,ROUTLEDGE HANDBOOK OF DIPLOMACY AND STATECRAFT(NEW YORK: ROUTLEDGE 2022), PP. 46-59. DAVID SMITH (MODERATOR)IS ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF AMERICAN POLITICS AND FOREIGN POLICY, JOINTLY APPOINTED BETWEEN THE US STUDIES CENTRE AND THE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL AND POLITICAL SCIENCES. HE IS A REGULAR COMMENTATOR ON AMERICAN POLITICS IN THE AUSTRALIAN MEDIA.

May 23, 2024 at 6:00 AM UTC

What defines the polarity of the current international system? Unipolarity, bipolarity, or multipolarity? This talk examines the theoretical and real-world challenges of deciphering the polarity of the international system. It argues that the root cause of the challenges lies with the fuzzy nature of power, which makes precise measurement of state power and comparisons of state power difficult at best. This is especially the case during a power transition, which creates fluid and unpredictable power trends. For example, whether a rising China has “peaked” or a relatively declining United States has successfully retrenched have implications for forecasting the emerging polarity. This talk examines the current debate over polarity and how it affects our understanding of US-China relations. It is premised on structural realism’s insight on the centrality of polarity in explaining great power behaviors and international outcomes.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.