Lectures

Three Images of Civilization in Contemporary China

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Please find below the announcement for our third Stanford Global Studies Research Workshop on New Civilizationisms. The workshop series is part of a larger project on Civilizationisms at Stanford. You can learn more about the project here: https://thecivilizationismproject.sites.stanford.edu

Stanford Global Studies, the Stanford Program in International Relations, & the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures present

Three Images of “Civilization” in Contemporary China: Global Civilization Initiative, Ecological Civilization, and Science Fiction Struggles
Prof. William A. Callahan, Professor of Political Science (Singapore Management University)

When: February 27th, 2025 at 4pm PST
Where: International Relations Lounge, Encina Hall Central, Stanford University. The event is hybrid and will take place both in-person and on zoom.
Zoom link: https://stanford.zoom.us/j/99096635018?pwd=G1S9XPARKWGTC6HO6G9L9uFTtg5XpK.1
Please see complete details in the posters below. In case of any queries or difficulties, please contact me at shubhi@stanford.edu. Hope to see you there!

Regards,

Shubhangni Gupta (Workshop Coordinator)

Faculty Sponsors:

Haiyan Lee (Stanford EALC)
Thomas Blom Hansen (Stanford Anthropology)
Serkan Yolaçan (Stanford Anthropology)

An Afternoon with Howard Goldblatt

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Dear MCLC Community,

A few weeks ago, we held a wonderful event at San Francisco State to honor our alum, former faculty member, and pre-eminent translator of Chinese literature, Professor Howard Goldblatt. The event was entitled “Farewells and Homecomings: An Afternoon with Celebrated Translator Howard Goldblatt.” Professor Goldblatt shared stories about his time at SF State, his first trip to China in the 1980s, and his friendships with Chinese writers. The event culminated with Professor Goldblatt presenting SF State with a priceless gift. The recording of the event, along with a slideshow and more information, can now be found on our website. You can also view the recording and slideshow below.

https://mll.sfsu.edu/news/afternoon-celebrated-translator-howard-goldblatt

Happy Thanksgiving,

Frederik Green

Jiangmen Museum talk

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Dear colleagues,

The ‘Global Diasporic Chinese Museums Network Initiative Public Talk Series’ will host the 12th and the final talk on Tuesday 26 November 2024. Our speaker is Mr. Gao Donghui, Director of the Jiangmen Museum, Guangdong, China. He will give a talk on The Distinctive Development Path of Regional Overseas Chinese Museums: A Case Study of the Jiangmen Museum 区域华侨博物馆的特色发展路径：以江门市博物馆为例

Date: Tuesday 26 November 2024
Time: 11:00 am to 12:30 pm (GMT)
Venue: Online via Zoom
The event is free to attend and open to all.
Zoom ID: 896 9673 2914
Password: 12345
Zoom meeting link:
https://ntu-sg.zoom.us/j/89696732914?pwd=dn5XUF8tXT3HUckilc6P2KYrPFQQLi.1

The talk will be given in Mandarin Chinese. Simultaneous translation into English will be provided.

Chair: Yow Cheun Hoe, Director of the Chinese Heritage Centre, Singapore
Speaker: Gao Donghui, Director of Jiangmen Museum, China Continue reading Jiangmen Museum talk →

The Cultural Revolution Discourse in Ming Pao

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SOAS China Institute webinar
The Chinese Cultural Revolution Discourse in Ming Pao
Shuk Man Leung (University of Hong Kong)
Date: Monday, 18 November 2024
Time: 1pm to 2.30pm, GMT

This webinar will take place online via Zoom. All welcome, but registration is required here.

Abstract

Recent studies marked the 1967 riots as a watershed in Hong Kong’s subsequent identity formation, which was based on a dichotomy between a benevolent British colonial administration and a hostile socialist China.

However, this prevailing view overlooks the complexity of Chinese nationalism and the role of the Cultural Revolution (CR) in forming a local consciousness. In the process of structuring its local/national identity discourse, Ming Pao, a neutral newspaper, took a strategically ambiguous approach, rather than a definite political position involving factional leftism, Communist nationalism, Trotskyism, cultural nationalism, and pro-KMT ultra-rightism.

The aim of this investigation of Ming Pao’s CR discourse is to reveal how its intellectual tropes—“stability and prosperity,” “three-in-one combination” (i.e., socialist equality, capitalist economy’s freedom, and Confucian benevolence), and “the concepts of everyday and labor”—helped to cultivate a local identity for the Chinese during the CR.

Ming Pao’s nationalist discourse demonstrated an alternative way to understand the formation of the popular identity discourse of Hong Kong, which transcended the traditional Cold War dichotomy between communism and capitalism and the pro-colonial identity discourse. Continue reading The Cultural Revolution Discourse in Ming Pao →

Talk with Tongueless author and translator

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Book Talk (hybrid) with Hong Kong author Lau Yee-wa and translator Jennifer Feeley at the University of Denver

Time: Oct 23, 2024; 5-7 pm (MST)

Speakers:

Lau Yee-wa (author of Tougueless)
Jennifer Feeley (translator)

Moderator:

Wayne CF Yeung (University of Denver)

Sponsors:

University of Denver
Hong Kong Arts Development Council
Pennsylvania State University

Zoom link:

https://udenver.zoom.us/j/5350893952

(The moderator would like to thank Dr. Nicolai Volland and Dr. Shuang Shen (Pennsylvania State University) for their support with arranging Yee-wa’s visit.)

Laikwan Pang book talk

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One and All: The Logic of Chinese Sovereignty — An Online Book Talk with Laikwan Pang

Time: Oct. 24, 2024; 8-9:15pm (EDT)

Speaker:
Laikwan Pang (Chinese University of Hong Kong)

With:
Yurou Zhong (University of Toronto)
Hang Tu (National University of Singapore)

Moderator:
David Der-wei Wang (Harvard University)

Sponsors:
Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies
East Asian Languages and Civilizations, Harvard University
Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation

Zoom registration:
https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_jmaBY41-TSS6wjgs6fWQmQ

The Remarkable Life of Wong Chin Foo lecture

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USC EASC Guest Speaker Series: The First Chinese American: The Remarkable Life of Wong Chin Foo
Talk by Scott D. Seligman
Saturday, September 28, 2024 | 10:00AM-11:20AM | Zoom (meeting link will be emailed) | RSVP

EASC Guest Speaker Series: Talk by Scott D. Seligman with Faculty Moderator Li-Ping Chen (GESM 120: Moving Stories from China)

Chinese in America endured abuse and discrimination in the late nineteenth century, but they had a leader and a fighter in Wong Chin Foo (王清福, 1847–1898), whose story is a forgotten chapter in the struggle for equal rights in America. The first to use the term “Chinese American,” Wong defended his compatriots against malicious scapegoating and urged them to become Americanized to win their rights. A trailblazer and a born showman who proclaimed himself China’s first Confucian missionary to the United States, he founded America’s first association of Chinese voters and testified before Congress to get laws that denied them citizenship repealed. Wong challenged Americans to live up to the principles they freely espoused but failed to apply to the Chinese in their midst.

Posted by: Li-Ping Chen <lipingch@usc.edu>

He Xiangning Art Museum talk

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Dear colleagues,

The ‘Global Diasporic Chinese Museums Network Initiative Public Talk Series’ will host the 11th talk on Friday 20 September 2024. Our speaker is Prof. Cai Xianliang, Director of the He Xiangning Art Museum. He will give a talk on Art as a Bridge: The Role of the He Xiangning Art Museum in Enhancing China’s Relationship with the Overseas Chinese以艺为桥：何香凝美术馆在增进中国与海外华人联系中的作用

Date: Friday 20 September 2024
Time: 12:00 pm to 13:30 pm (BST)
Venue: Online via Zoom

The event is free to attend and open to all.

Zoom ID: 849 7996 8532
Password: 12345
Zoom meeting link:
https://ntu-sg.zoom.us/j/84979968532?pwd=LogccVmU7Yrra0mgiZvr3NfuVqa0Kq.1

The talk will be given in Mandarin Chinese. Simultaneous translation into English will be provided.

Chair: Yow Cheun Hoe, Director of the Chinese Heritage Centre, Singapore
Speaker: Cai Xianliang, Director of the He Xiangning Art Museum, China

Abstract

He Xiangning Art Museum is the first national art museum in China named after an individual and has the richest collection of He Xiangning’s works and historical documents in the world. It is the main collection organisation and research institution for He Xiangning’s art works and documents, and its daily work mainly focuses on research, exhibitions, publications, and public education activities. In her early years, He Xiangning had a long history of revolutionary activities overseas, and had extensive and deep connections with overseas countries, thus becoming an important bridge between overseas Chinese and China. In her later years, He Xiangning mainly focused on hosting national overseas Chinese affairs. He Xiangning Art Museum located in Shenzhen adheres to the spirit of He Xiangning and her deep affection for overseas Chinese, attaches great importance to the development of overseas Chinese art, planning a series of thematic exhibitions of overseas Chinese art, fine art exhibitions, and becomes an important platform for the exchange, introduction and promotion of contemporary Chinese art. It has become an important platform for the exchange, introduction and promotion of contemporary Chinese art.

The event is jointly hosted by HOMELandS (Hub On Migration, Exile, Languages and Spaces) at the University of Westminster and the Chinese Heritage Centre of Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. It is organised as part of the ‘Global Diasporic Chinese Museums Network Initiative’ project funded by AHRC.

It would be appreciated if you could share this event with your colleagues and your networks. Looking forward to seeing you there.

Cangbai Wang (he/him)
Professor of Migration, Heritage and Language
University of Westminster

An Afternoon with Howard Goldblatt

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The Chinese Program at San Francisco State University invites you to

Farewells and Homecomings: An Afternoon with Celebrated Translator Howard Goldblatt 迎朋送友：與著名翻譯家葛浩文相聚

Howard Goldblatt is the preeminent translator of Chinese Literature of our time. Among the more than 50 Chinese-language authors he has translated are Mo Yan 莫言, the 2012 winner of the Nobel Prize in literature, Huang Chunming 黃春明, one of Taiwan’s most acclaimed nativist writers, and Pai Hsien-yung 白先勇, author of one of the first gay novels in Chinese. He is also a 2009 Guggenheim Fellow and Professor Emeritus of the University of Notre Dame.

Goldblatt’s journey into the realm of Chinese literature began at SF State where he obtained an MA in Chinese in 1971 and where he taught from 1974 until 1988. During this homecoming, Goldblatt will talk about his career as a translator, his friendships with Chinese writers, his time at SF State, and a farewell poem that has seen him through life’s most poignant moments.

DATE/TIME: Saturday, Sept. 28, 2 – 4 p.m.

LOCATION: SF State Campus, Humanities 133 (a campus map and driving instructions will be sent upon registration)

Admission is free but registration is required by Sept. 14. Seating is limited.

Click here to register:

https://renxt.sfsu.edu/site/Calendar?id=101321&view=Detail

If you have any questions please contact the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at MLL@sfsu.edu.

SF State welcomes persons with disabilities and will provide reasonable accommodations upon request. If you would like reasonable accommodations for this event, please contact the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at MLL@sfsu.edu so your request may be reviewed.

San Francisco State University
1600 Holloway Avenue, ADM 153
San Francisco, CA 94132
(415) 338-2217

‘Queer Lit in the Sinosphere’ book talk

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Dear MCLC members,

You are warmly invited to attend the online launch of the book Queer Literature in the Sinosphere, edited by Hongwei Bao and Yahia Ma and to be published by Bloomsbury Academic in mid-November. The event, to be held on December 12, 2024, is organised by the University of Melbourne’s Asia Research Hub and chaired by Professor Fran Martin. It is a free event but registration via Eventbrite is required.

Book information:

Queer Literature in the Sinosphere is the most up-to-date English-language study of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) themed literature and culture in the Chinese-speaking world. From classical homoerotic texts to contemporary boys’ love fan fiction, this book showcases the richness and diversity of queer Chinese literature across the full spectrum of genres, styles, topics and cultural politics. The book features authors and literary works from mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and the global Chinese diaspora. Featuring chapters by leading scholars from around the world, this book This book charts a new queer literary history in non-Western, non-Anglophone and Global South contexts.

Dr Hongwei Bao <renebao@gmail.com>
The University of Nottingham, UK

Kobe Overseas Chinese History Museum talk

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Dear all,

The ‘Global Diasporic Chinese Museums Network Initiative Public Talk Series’ will host the 10th talk on Friday 30 August 2024. Our speaker is Dr. Jiang Haibo, Chief Researcher, Kobe Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall; Operating Committee Member, Kobe Overseas Chinese History Museum, Japan. He will give a talk on The 150-Year History of Kobe’s Chinese Communities and the Kobe Overseas Chinese History Museum 神户华侨150多年来的历史与华侨历史博物馆

Date: Friday 30 August 2024
Time: 12:00 pm to 13:30 pm (BST)
Venue: Online via Zoom

The event is free to attend and open to all.

Zoom ID: 849 7219 3901
Password: 12345
Zoom meeting link: https://ntu-sg.zoom.us/j/84972193901?pwd=Qkf1owW61P79CLzW9etEoKaTDhv1Re.1#success

The talk will be given in Mandarin Chinese. Simultaneous translation into English will be provided.

Chair: Cangbai Wang, University of Westminster.
Speaker: Jiang Haibo, Kobe Overseas Chinese History Museum, Japan.

Abstract

This talk will introduce the Kobe Overseas Chinese History Museum’s main exhibition that narrates the formation, expansion, development and transformation of the Kobe Chinese communities over the past 150 years. The exhibition includes topics such as the immigration of Chinese to Kobe, the role of Kobe’s Chinese communities in the cultural exchanges between China and Japan, their support of the 1911 Revolution, the establishment and development of various Chinese organisations, overseas Chinese and the War of Resistance against Japan, post-war reconstruction, and the changes in the new era. The exhibition also introduces the history and current state of Chinese schools, cemeteries, community halls, Chinatown, the Guan Di Temple and other facilities in Kobe. Continue reading Kobe Overseas Chinese History Museum talk →

Dong Xi in the UK

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For all UK-based colleagues, if you’re free on the following dates we’d love to have you!

Dong Xi 东西 (Pen name of Tian Dailin 田代琳) award-winning author (Mao Dun Prize, Lu Xun Prize) will be touring the UK for the upcoming launch of his newest book in translation Fate Rewritten (篡改的命) (Trans: John Balcom).

London – 26th July – Living A Stolen Life – Dong Xi in Conversation with Susan Trapp
Fri 26 Jul 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM at Charing Cross Library
https://buytickets.at/sinoistbooks/1287210

Edinburgh- 31st July – The Price of Tomorrow – Dong Xi in Conversation with Jenny Niven
Wed 31 Jul 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM at Abden House, University of Edinburgh
https://buytickets.at/sinoistbooks/1294053

ABOUT THE BOOK

Translated from Chinese and due to be published in English on 25th October 2024. It’s a Dickensian novel giving voice to China’s 300 million-strong migrant workforce, Telling a harrowing story about the conditions they live in, what drives them, and how it can go horribly wrong. Continue reading Dong Xi in the UK →

The Conformed Body book launch

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Book Launch: The Conformed Body: Contemporary Art in China

The book launch for Professor Jiang Jiehong’s The Conformed Body: Contemporary Art in China, published by Brill, will include a presentation by Professor Jiang Jiehong (Birmingham City University), remarks by Professor Chris Berry (King’s College London) and Dr Wenny Teo (The Courtauld Institute of Art), and a panel conversation moderated by Dr Panpan Yang (SOAS University of London).

Sample books will also be available.

The event is part of SOAS East Asian Research Seminar (EARS). It is free and open to all. But booking is essential. The event is in-person only.

Time
Monday, July 8, 5 – 6:40pm London Time

Location
The event will take place at Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre (BGLT) within the SOAS Brunei Gallery.
Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1B 5DQ

About the new book
Through the perspective of the ‘conformed body’, this groundbreaking book examines the role in art of everyday conformist practices in the People’s Republic of China, such as mass assemblies and bodily trainings and exercises, as well as their impact on people’s perceptions and collective memories. It identifies related artworks, reassesses artistic interpretations with critical reflections, and explores a key origin of artistic productions in post-Mao China. Featuring 200 colour illustrations, the book discusses works by more than 30 internationally acclaimed Chinese contemporary artists, including Ai Weiwei, Geng Jianyi, Song Dong, Xu Bing, Zhang Peili and Zhang Xiaogang.

Register/More info
https://bit.ly/3QZVxgW

We look forward to seeing you.

Panpan Yang <py6@soas.ac.uk>

Malaysian Chinese Museum lecture

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Dear all,

The ‘Global Diasporic Chinese Museums Network Initiative Public Talk Series’ will host the 9th talk on Thursday 27 June 2024. Our speaker is Lim Kah Koe, chief curator of the Malaysian Chinese Museum. He will give a talk on From Overseas Chinese to Malaysian Chinese: The Curatorial Concept & A Brief History of the Malaysian Chinese Museum 从落叶归根到落地生根——马来西亚华人博物馆策展思路与创馆历程

The talk will be given in Mandarin Chinese. Simultaneous translation into English will be provided.

Date: Thursday 27 June 2024
Time: 12:00 pm to 13:30 pm (BST)
Venue: Online via Zoom

The event is free to attend and open to all. Please register via Ticket Tailor here.

Chair: Huimei Zhang, Assistant Director, Chinese Heritage Centre, Nanyang Technological University

Speaker: Lim Kah Koe, chief curator of the Malaysian Chinese Museum.

Abstract

The Chinese diaspora in Malaysia has a long and rich history, with immigrants from different periods and backgrounds contributing to the diverse and complex Chinese society. As Malaysia’s first museum to comprehensively showcase the history and development of the Chinese diaspora, the Malaysian Chinese Museum extensively documents the history of immigrant pioneers and the contributions of the Chinese diaspora to the nation’s development. This talk will focus on the permanent exhibition content of the Museum, sharing its curatorial approach and the history of the birth of a privately-owned museum.

The event is jointly hosted by HOMELandS (Hub On Migration, Exile, Languages and Spaces) at the University of Westminster and the Chinese Heritage Centre of Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. It is organised as part of the ‘Global Diasporic Chinese Museums Network Initiative’ project funded by AHRC. Continue reading Malaysian Chinese Museum lecture →