Event Tag Archives: Centre for Chinese Research

Zhang Yang and Sixth Generation Representations of Filiality in Chinese Cinema

About The Speaker: Dr. Christopher Lupke is the editor of The Magnitude of Ming: Command, Allotment and Fate in Chinese Culture (University of Hawai’i Press, 2005) and New Perspectives on Contemporary Chinese Poetry (Palgrave Macmillan, 2008). Lupke’s early work centered on the interrogation of the cohesive nation state in contemporary Chinese literature. He has recently […]

Xi Jinping’s ‘New Normal’ in China: Assessing the 4th Plenum of the CCP

A Roundtable Discussion on the Fourth Plenum The Communist Party of China’s fourth plenum sessions are traditionally opportunities for China’s leadership to discuss administrative and ideological strategies and engage in party-building measures. The fourth plenum of the 18th CCP Central Committee in October 2014 focused heavily on the “rule of law” in China. At the […]

Market-oriented urbanism and residential outcomes in urban China

ABSTRACT:  Three decades’ market reform has given rise to tremendous transformation in city space, urban governance and community activities in urban China. This talk will present my research concerning housing and community outcomes in urban China against the backdrop of market-oriented urbanism. On the one hand, China’s contemporary urbanism is associated with growing housing disparities […]

Dialogue: Identities – Traditional Festivals | 對話：對身份的探討──傳統節日

*確認出席請務必註冊。註冊截止於3月4日（週三）中午12點。 RSVP is required to attend before the noon of March 4th, 2015: http://goo.gl/forms/TAlMVGLRlA 藉此元宵佳節到來之際，誠邀兩岸四地及海外華人學生 聽懂別人，聽懂自己。 傾聽、尊重、分享 Listen, Respect and Share 第四次對話的主題：傳統節日 Theme of the fourth Dialogue event: Traditional Festivals 形式：破冰遊戲，學生主導小組＋大組討論－傳統節日如何影響我們對多元身份的探討 Format: Ice breaking game, Student-led small + big group discussion – How do traditional festivals shape our identities? 語言：你最為熟悉的語言（包含普通話/國語、粵語及英語） Use the language that you […]

Global Art, Global Mind

Speaker Bio Abby Aldrich Rockefeller professor of Asian art at Harvard University, Eugene Wang is widely recognized as one of the more dynamic scholars thinking about the history of Chinese art—from early Buddhist art to contemporary installations—in contemporary terms. He is best known for his award-winning book, Shaping the Lotus Sutra: Buddhist Visual Culture in […]

Fixing China’s “Airpocalypse”: Roundtable Discussion on Under The Dome

Made by former China Central Television newscaster Chai Jing, “Under the Dome”, the 104-minute, TED-style film drew more than 150 million viewers in the first days after Chai posted it online. In three weeks, Chai’s film has gone from Internet sensation, to being blocked by government censors, to being the subject of a question to […]

Lunchtime Discussion on Zhu Xiaoyang’s Video Documentary on China’s Collective Resistance to To-Down Urbanization

Professor Zhu Xiaoyang has carried out ethnographic work in Yunnan, China and published several books on developments in China’s villages as well as documentary films. Dr. David Kelly will discuss China’s housing crisis on some of Zhu’s work. About the speaker Concurrently a Visiting Professor at Peking University, Dr. David Kelly leads the governance and […]

China’s World: Chineseness and Civilization without Borders

China seeks to be a global power while preserving an essential Chineseness. Understandable in general terms, this stubborn national identity complex is mainly politically-driven. Outside actors need to understand the internal conversation that dominates and colours the formal positions over a range of national issues, most recently the college curriculum. The controversies need to be […]

Languages of Legitimacy in China: Roundtable Discussion with Researchers

Problems of legitimacy are volatile elements in China’s political system, as in few other regimes. Driven to monopolise all sources of legitimacy, the Marxist-Leninist Party system suffers from a legitimacy deficit. Mechanisms geared to compensate for this deficit are easy to spot: personality cults, hyper- nationalism, megaprojects, factional struggle numerous forms, e.g. anti-corruption drives. China’s […]

Communication, Authoritarian Resilience, and Democracy in China and Taiwan

In 2010-2011, the “Arab Spring” brought unexpected revolutions to many Middle Eastern and North African countries. Why did these seemingly invincible regimes fall, while China remained durably authoritarian? Many observers credited global media for the political transformations. While the hopes of Arab Spring democracy have proven to be fragile or short-lived, we can profitably explore […]

Dialogue Searching for Identity: Living in a Different Place

This 5th Dialogue hosted by UBC Dialogue hopes to exchange ideas and provide a greater flow of  communication between Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau by overseas students from those respective countries in regards to the change in terms of academic participation and freedom, and lifestyle that has come with living in and going […]

In Conversation: Frances Wood and Tim Brook

Republic of China Chair and China historian, Dr. Timothy Brook, will be interviewing Dr. Wood on their shared experience as students in China during the Cultural Revolution. About the Event Republic of China Chair and China historian, Dr. Timothy Brook, in an extended interview of Dr. Frances Wood on their shared experience as students in […]

The Rise of Xi Jinping and the Closing of the Chinese Mind

Renowned for his coverage of China’s elite politics and leadership transitions, sinologist and veteran China journalist Willy Wo-Lap Lam is the author of five books analyzing China’s political front figure since Zhao Ziyang. His most recent book, “The Rise of Xi Jinping and the Closing of the Chinese Mind”, explores how a relatively undistinguished regional […]

The Impact of China’s New Free Trade Zones on Chinese Reform Path and Financial Liberalization

China’s President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang have emphasized several times that the Shanghai free trade zone (FTZ) should accelerate reforms, especially financial reforms, and replicate them elsewhere in China as soon as possible. Thus, the undergoing reforms in Shanghai FTZ are indeed the future macroeconomic policies in China. As a senior government consultant, […]

China’s Road Towards Democratic Governance: Thoughts on Political Development Since the Reform

The speaker, Professor Yu Keping, will make a general observation of the dominant processes and breakthrough points of China’s political reforms towards democratic governance over the last 35 years since the Reform. His speech will summarize the major achievements and the ongoing challenges of China’s democratic governance. It will offer a brief analysis and reflection […]

The AIIB and the Future of the Global Economic Order: Myth and Reality

Sponsor: Centre for Chinese Research, the Institute of Asian Research Type: Seminar Dr. Sohn will argue that, to avoid overdependence on existing global institutions, East Asia has been pursuing a counterweight strategy by developing regional supplements without antagonizing key players outside the region. He will also identify key factors that may shape the future development […]

PRC Environmental Tradeoffs: Modern China’s Environment, Science(s) and Landscapes

The theme of this conference, “PRC Environmental Tradeoffs: Modern China’s Environment, Science, and Landscapes”, aims to create synergy among Pacific Northwest scholars engaged in environmental studies of China, to explore the relationship between China’s policies/politics, history, and physical environment, and to investigate issues of different effects (social-ecological) at different scales. Three panels will address issues […]

Social Media in China: What Canadians Need to Know

What are the three things that every Canadian should know about social media in China? Is state control of social media tightening as much as many commentators outside China are warning? In light of new legislation and regulations, what are the prospects for virtual civil society in the cyber domain? Please join us for a […]

China’s Civil War: A Social History, 1945-1949

Abstract China’s Civil War is a social history of the 1945-9 civil war that brought the Chinese Communist Party to power.  It integrates history and memory to help to understand a period of intense upheaval. Drawing from biographies, memoirs, illustrations and oral histories the book gives voice to those who experienced the war at first […]

China’s Age of Irreverence: Christopher Rea in Conversation with Timothy Brook

Abstract China’s entry in modernity was not just traumatic, but uproarious. As its last dynasty fell and was replaced by a republic, political and cultural discussion erupted into invective, with critics gleefully jeering and deriding rivals in public. Farceurs drew followings in the popular press, promoting a culture of practical joking and buffoonery. These various […]

The Inaugural Session of ‘Ming and More: Classical Chinese/Wenyan/Hanmun/Kanbun Reading Group’

You’re welcome to join us whatever your background or interest in Classical/Literary texts. We will be reading primary sources, generally connected to the participants’ research interests, with a center of gravity in the Ming but by no means exclusive to that period (hence the name). The goal is to work together on language skills, to […]

Historical Ownership and Territorial Indivisibility: Survey Evidence from China

Some of the most enduring and dangerous territorial disputes seem to display the characteristic of so-called issue indivisibility, with at least one side of a dispute taking a position of all-or-nothing. Moreover, historical ownership is frequently invoked in such disputes to justify uncompromising policy stances. We investigate these phenomena by developing a theoretical argument for […]

Andy Lau and the Popular Presentation of Cultural Identity

In this talk, Dr. Christensen will argue that the placement of celebrities within a nationalist discourse, whilst hardly a new phenomenon, is an approach deserving of re-evaluation in light of the recent recognition of transnational cultural flows within film theory as well as the particular complexities of Hong Kong’s historical position and the rising power […]

The Native Language of Space: The Spatial Connotations of Southern Fujian-Style He-Yuan Architecture 空間母語：閩南合院建築的空間意涵

Abstract In Taiwan or China, it is easily to notice that a large of common words or idioms can connect to the cultural connotations of He-Yuan合院architecture. For example, the idioms quoted from the classic stories of “Lun-Yu”論語 — “wàn-rèn-gōng-qiáng”萬仞宮牆（palace wall higher than ten thousand meters）, “fèn-tǔ-zhi-qiáng”糞土之牆（wall of dirty soil）, and “dēng-táng-rù-shì”登堂入室（pass through the hall into […]

馬習團: The Ma Ying-jeou – Xi Jinping Meeting: More than Just a Political Show?

A ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION About the Event On November 7, 2015, Ma Ying-jeou and Xi Jinping met in Singapore. The meeting was duly recognized as being historic: it was the first time that the political leaders of China and Taiwan had ever met. It was also acknowledged as an event of global importance: the world has […]

Tax Incentives & Credit Claiming in Single-Party Regimes: Vietnam, China & Russia

Tax Incentives & Credit Claiming in Single-Party Regimes: Vietnam, China & Russia By: Dr. Eddy Malesky, associate professor of political economy at Duke University. Sponsor: Centre for Southeast Asia Research, Centre for Chinese Research, Liu Institute for Global Issues About the Event Both countries and sub-national governments commonly engage in competition for mobile capital, offering […]

On the Selection of Leaders in a Political Meritocracy: The Case of China

Abstract: In his talk, drawing on his new book The China Model: Political Meritocracy and the Limits of Democracy (Princeton University Press), Daniel A. Bell will make the following assumptions: (1) it is good for a political community to be governed by high-quality leaders; (2) China’s one-party political system is not about to collapse; (3) […]

Chinese Models and Chinese Dreams: Myths and Realities of Political Governance in Contemporary China

“The China Dream” (Zhongguo meng), which Chinese President Xi Jinping invoked in a March 2013 speech, has since become the signature ideology of the Xi administration. China should be aspirational. Like Hu Jintao’s “Harmonious Society” (hexie shehui), the phrase has been actively promoted by the Chinese Party-state as a means to unify the populace with […]

Making and Defending Sacred Space: Parasols in Dunhuang Buddhist Rituals

About the Event The author investigated all manuscripts concerning parasols, mainly focusing on “Liturgies for Installing Parasols” 安傘文 from Dunhuang. He argues that parasols served as special ritual instruments for guarding the local community. The sacred power of parasols was based on the apotheosis of their practical function of shielding and protecting and was enhanced by the […]

Teaching the Asian Literary Classics: A Roundtable Discussion

The Tale of Genji, Dream of the Red Chamber, The Tales of Ise, The Three Kingdoms – these and other masterworks are required reading for students of Japanese and Chinese literature. But how did these works come to be regarded as “classics”? What makes them significant works of literature? And how can an instructor best […]

King of Beasts: White Tiger Lore in the Ritual Culture of South China

About: “Even though the archive and the repertoire exist in a constant state of interaction, the tendency has been to banish the repertoire to the past.” – Diana Taylor As the “king of beasts,” the white tiger is widely known across South China as a ferocious spirit to be ritually worshipped for its apotropaic powers […]

Mapping Modern Chinese Intellectual Life: A Roundtable Conversation with Tim Cheek

By: Dr. Timothy Cheek (UBC), Dr. Josephine Chiu-Duke (UBC), Dr. Timothy Brook (UBC), Dr. Jeremy Brown (SFU), Dr. Christopher Rea (Chair) Mapping Modern Chinese Intellectual Life: A Roundtable Conversation with Tim Cheek Book launch of The Intellectual in Modern Chinese History  About the Event This narrative history of Chinese intellectuals and public life provides a guide […]

Confucian Role Ethics and the “Casting” of Persons

Abstract In the introduction of Chinese philosophy and culture into the Western academy, we have tended to theorize and conceptualize this antique tradition by appeal to familiar Western categories. Confucian role ethics is an attempt to articulate a sui generis moral philosophy that allows this tradition to have its own voice. I will use the […]

The Rise of Cultural Entrepreneurship in Twentieth-Century China and Southeast-Asia

About the Event From the late nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth century, changes in mass media, transportation, and communication technologies provided unprecedented opportunities for entrepreneurially minded men and women in Asia. Come hear cultural historians Christopher Rea and Nicolai Volland discuss the rise of modern Chinese “cultural entrepreneurs,” business people who risked financial well-being and […]

Why Create, When You May Steal? Ai Weiwei and the Art of Appropriation

“I don’t like this word, creation. It has such religious implications.” The Chinese artist Ai Weiwei once declared, and he meant it. This talk investigates how Ai employs, borrows and “steals” the ideas, prototypes and expertise of others in the making of his artworks, which range from massive and laborious to instant and cheaply recyclable […]

How Huang Zunxian Helped Canadian-Chinese in an Age of Chinese Exclusion (1882-1885)

About the Event The great poet, diplomat, and reformer Huang Zunxian (1848-1905) is one of the most widely studied figures of nineteenth-century China, but so far little has been written about his activities in the United States during his period of service as the Chinese Consul-General in San Francisco (1882-1885).  This talk will make use […]

Utopia, Dystopia and Uchronia – From ‘The Fat Years’ to ‘The Second Year of Jianfeng: An Alternative History of New China’

About the Speaker: Chan Koonchung is a sinophone writer living in Beijing. He is the Writer of the Year at the 2013 Hong Kong Book Fair. His 2009 novel “The Fat Years” has been translated into 13 languages. His 2013 novel “The Unbearable Dreamworld of Champa the Driver” is available  in English and Dutch. His 2015 novel, “The […]

Weaker States under the Shadow of Sino-US Great Power Competition: Myanmar and Thailand’s Foreign Policy Choices

 Abstract The rise of China in the recent decades has generated tremendous amount of strategic anxiety among myriads of concerned parties. In the case of the United States, concerned with losing its primacy in the East Asian region to China, has undertaken a series of actions aiming at strengthening its existing security alliances while building […]

City of Marvel and Transformation: Chang’an and Narratives of Experience in Tang Dynasty China

Abstract During China’s Tang dynasty (618–907 CE), the capital city of Chang’an (present-day Xi’an) was a megalopolis, career launch pad, and most importantly, cultural paradigm. As such, it captured the imaginations of Tang writers, shaped their future aspirations, and left significant traces in the literature of this period. This talk takes up some of the […]

Global Real Estate Investment: The Vancouver-China Nexus

By: Richard Koss (Director, IMF), Shaolong Li (President, Modern International Holding and Green Mountain Jade), Douglas Todd (Journalist, Vancouver Sun), Tsur Somerville (UBC), Christopher Rea (UBC) This panel discussion will focus on the following issues: What are the most important factors driving current trends in global real estate investment? How are capital flows and human […]

(Re)Viewing China Today

Abstract Recent developments in China invite interest and inquiry among both specialist and generalist observers.  The 13th Five Year Plan offers a blueprint for further economic reform, even while questions about the success of reform efforts to date abound.  The anti-corruption campaign and other political reform efforts associated with Xi Jinping have seen significant achievements […]

How China Escaped the Poverty Trap

**Please note that the date, time and location have been changed for this event.** Before markets opened in 1978, China was an impoverished planned economy governed by a Maoist bureaucracy. In just three decades it evolved into the world’s second-largest economy and is today guided by highly entrepreneurial bureaucrats. What explains this amazing metamorphosis? Was […]

Chinese Politics in the XI JINPING Era – Reassessing collective leadership

At the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party in the fall of 2017, China will likely experience its largest leadership turnover since the height of the Cultural Revolution in the late 1960s. Xi Jinping is one of the most intriguing and complex world leaders of our time, and China’s political trajectory is crucial to […]

Foreignness, Cultural Identity, and the Emergence of the Barbarian hero as a Literary Archetype: Using Zhang Fei as a Case Study

In this talk, I will consider the emergence of the barbarian-hero persona in Ming-Qing vernacular novels in connection to the development of Chinese cultural identity. As an emerging and popular character archetype found across a number of vernacular novels during the late Imperial period, the barbarian-hero is defined by two qualities: his barbarian-like physical (and […]

CROSSCURRENT 長江圖: Film Screening and A Conversation with Director Yang Chao

  Type: Film Screening and Discussion Speaker: Yang Chao (director of the Silver Bear award winner at this year’s Berlin Film Festival and the latest work, CROSSCURRENT長江圖) “The core of the film is surreal, almost supernatural—a man and a woman from a different time and space travel against each other, progressively and retrogressively at the same.” – […]

The Female Chieftain’s Tribute

During the long history of encounters between the Han and non-Han people, the Han writers produced many texts that represent the non-Han as the other. These texts are in the genres of local gazetteers, travelogues and miscellaneous notes, and they narrate about the geographical, institutional and social traits of the non-Han regions and people. Among […]

Screening Yellowing 亂世備忘, a documentary about the Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong

Length: 128 mins Language: Cantonese with English Subtitles About the Film The turmoil that has overtaken Hong Kong since its return to Chinese sovereignty in 1997 has spawned a new generation of young, passionately committed activist filmmakers; they want to tell Hong Kong’s story with Hong Kong voices. And the best indie documentary to have emerged […]

The Seven Chinas and Value Politics in the Post-Hegemonic Era

Abstract What forces, or narratives, shape Chinese foreign policy? We can see a spectrum of such policy narratives which I call the seven Chinas. They can be arranged in chronological order, starting with the ancient idea of China as the self-sufficient civilisation, and culminating, for now, with that of China as herald of the high frontier, safeguarding a […]

China’s Rise: Consequences for China and for the World

About the Speakers Professor Qin Hui 秦晖 is Professor of History at Tsinghua University, Beijing. His research has covered several fields in economic history, social history and the history of ideas. He has published more than twenty books including Fields and Garden Poetry and Rhapsodies (田园诗与狂想曲), Ten Treatises on Tradition (传统十论), Out of the Imperial […]

China’s Anti-Corruption Reforms and Shareholder Valuations

Chinese shares rose sharply on a 2012 announcement initiating an anticorruption campaign. More productive non-SOEs in high Q industries and greater external finance dependence in more liberalized provinces gained more. Non-SOEs in less liberalized provinces gained less, especially if their past entertainment and travel costs (ETC) were higher. These results suggest market development and anticorruption […]

Laughing in the Year of the Chicken: The Past and Future of Chinese Humor

Cock-a-doodle doo! Chinese comedians should have a lot to crow about during the Year of the Rooster. But should we expect Chinese humor in 2017 to be defined by wit, satire, parody, farce, or just cockiness? Come hear a practicing comedian swap perspectives with a cultural historian on the past, present, and future of Chinese […]

China-Indonesia Relations: Looking Back and Looking Forward

The talk will cover updates on Indonesian politics and Indonesia-China relations. About the Speaker:  Jona Widhagdo Putri is a lecturer in International Relations at the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, University of Indonesia as well as a Chinese language interpreter for the 6th and the 7th Indonesian President (2013-now). Her research focus is on […]

When Did the Cultural Revolution Begin?

How do historians delineate the temporal boundaries of major historical events, and trace their origins, precedents, and preludes? How are periodization schemes constructed and defined? In this talk, Prof. Wu will reconsider the opening phase of China’s Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and the critical events leading up to it, with the aim of developing an […]

The Sudden Expansion and Contraction of China’s Microfinance for Women Program

China scholars have explored shirking by local officials and “effective implementation,” but fewer have examined polices that are implemented with great enthusiasm. The Microfinance for Women Program fits in this last category. Especially in Sichuan, targets for lending were set by the province, exceeded, raised, and then exceeded again. The immediate reason that loan-making took […]

Bo Xilai and the Cultural Revolution

Since the trial of Bo Xilai in 2013, there has been no official discussion in China on the possible differences in political strategy which might exist between Bo Xilai and Xi Jinping. This presentation will analyze Bo Xilai’s Cultural Revolution experience as well as the discussions on various Chinese blogs to test the hypothesis that […]

After the Fall(s) – Rewriting China’s Securities Law and Regulation of the PRC Capital Markets

The collapse of the Chinese equity capital markets from mid-2015 to early 2016 captured the attention of the world, and elicited a blunt response from central organs of the PRC party state. That heavy-handed response included a moratorium on new issues, mandatory infusions of capital from state-controlled securities companies and funds, and direct prohibitions on […]

A Billion Voices: The Past and Future of Putonghua

Throughout the world, hundreds of millions of people, Chinese and foreign, are learning a version of Chinese called Putonghua.  Since the turn of the twentieth century a host of linguists and political leaders, from the radical intellectuals of the May Fourth Movement, to leaders such as Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong, all fought linguistic wars to […]

Symposium: What is China?

Those scholars who are concerned with Chinese academic circles will notice that since 2010 China has published many different works about “China.” All of these works deal with the topic of “What is China?”. Why, since 2010, have Chinese academics, especially in history, been specifically concerned about the question of “what is China”? In other […]

Health Care for 1.3 Billion: Successes and Challenges in China’s Health System Reforms

China has made significant progress toward universal health coverage that meets the reasonable expectations of the population and addresses the perennial patient complaint of “kan bing nan, kan bing gui” (getting healthcare is difficult and expensive). Yet many challenges remain. The recently announced 13th 5-year-plan for deepening health system reform issued by the PRC State […]

[CANCELLED] The Visual Politics of Walls: Barriers, Flows, and the Sublime

**Please note that this event is cancelled. We apologize for any inconvenience and look forward to seeing you at the next event** Abstract: As Donald J. Trump’s electoral victory graphically shows, walls are a hot topic. While ‘globalization’, with its free flow of capital, goods, ideas and people characterized world politics after the end of the […]

Hong Kong: 20 Years After – A Symposium

The past two decades have not been the best of times for Hong Kong. What have been the sources of tensions for this former British colony? As Hong Kong is set to enter the Carrie Lam era, what promises does Deng Xiaoping’s formulation of “One Country, Two Systems” still hold for this special administrative region […]

Making an International Currency: Renminbi Internationalization

The presentation will discuss the development of China’s currency, the Renminbi (RMB), as an international currency.  A rising Chinese state and associated market actors are the primary agents in internationalizing the RMB. Chinese state officials have created the government programs and legal/regulatory frameworks that have enabled corporates to use the RMB for cross-border trade settlement, […]

Radical Inequalities: China’s Welfare State in Comparative Perspective

Abstract: The Chinese communist welfare state was established with the goal of eradicating income inequality. Paradoxically, it widened the income gap between workers and peasants in the Mao era.  To explain this ironic outcome, this talk places the Chinese case in the context of the globalization of welfare policies in the 20th century.  The mismatch […]

Liu Xiaobo: A Commemoration

“The world has clearly lost a giant whose impact will live on in the hearts and minds of so many.” —Professor Santa J. Ono, President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of British Columbia Please join associates and guests of the Centre for Chinese Research for a special gathering to commemorate the life of Liu Xiaobo (1955–2017), writer, scholar, […]

[Colloquium] An Audience of One: The Private Music of the Chinese Literati

To most ethnomusicologists, music is a social activity with the main goal of interacting with an audience. China’s qin music, often associated with the literati who play primarily for themselves as a private activity, is an exception. Join Bell Yung, Professor Emeritus of Music of the University of Pittsburgh, an ethnomusicologist specializing on China, at this event!

The Incentive to Innovate? The Behaviour of Local Policymakers in China

Despite playing a key contributory role in China’s recent economic reforms and the Party’s regime durability, there has been a noted reduction in central-level policy experimentation under Xi Jinping’s administration. Although these changes at the central-level are filtering down to local officials, a great deal of variation in policy experimentation exists. How do local officials filter these institutional changes to the extent of observed variations in local policy innovation?

The Hard Work of Feeding the Baby: Breastfeeding and Intensive Mothering in Contemporary Urban China

Amy Hanser will be lecturing on the emerging culture of intensive mothering among middle-class, urban Chinese women that focuses on infant feeding. She suggests that the linkage between breastfeeding and motherhood represents a “gendered burden” for Chinese women and that infant feeding has become important, early terrain on which new mothers grapple with their own and others’ expectations about mothering and caring for a child.

Theology After the Hong Kong Umbrella Movement: Notes from Hong Kong and Vancouver

One of the hallmarks of the 2014 prodemocracy occupy protests in Hong Kong known as the Umbrella Movement was the presence of Christians doing theology on the streets, sometimes fused with Cantonese hero traditions. But in the aftermath of the movement, how has the relationship between theology and politics developed, especially in a time of […]

The First Master Text: The Classic of Odes

For over a century, the Warring States Masters (Kongzi, Laozi, Mozi, Mengzi, etc.) and their texts have dominated the modern imagination of early Chinese thought. But how reliable is the “Masters Narrative,” and is there a better way of telling the story? Join Professor Michael Hunter as he explores what the story of Warring States thought might look like with the Odes (as opposed to the Analects) as its foundational text.

[Series] City Inscribed 我寫 • 我城

The UBC Hong Kong Studies Initiative is pleased to present “City Inscribed,” a series of public lectures and events in celebration of the launch of “Literature of Hong Kong” (ASIA 324) at the University of British Columbia. All lectures and events are free and open to the public and are, unless otherwise noted (*), conducted in English.

New Era New Approach? China’s policy towards East Asia after the 19th Party Congress

Abstract:  At the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party, Xi Jinping made it clear that he would lead China into a new era and, by implication, put an end to the Dengist period of ‘opening up and reform’ as well as ‘hiding capabilities and bidding for time’.  This talk starts with the premise that […]

Always Liminal, Always in Transition: Reading Hong Kong as Staircase City

A City Inscribed event. Registration is strongly encouraged. Hong Kong is internationally renowned for its density, often depicted by images of the dramatic skyline of Hong Kong Island with Victoria Harbor in the foreground and the Peak behind. However, for those who are more familiar with the city, another image is likely more representative: that of the city’s animated, […]

Hong Kong Nationalism and the Chinese Dream in the Age of Global Capitalism

A City Inscribed event. Registration is strongly encouraged. Scholars and pundits continue to discuss the issue of Hong Kong’s right to self-determination under Chinese rule even after the Umbrella Movement has ended. The one perspective that frames the conflicts between Hong Kong and China in nationalist terms has attracted much attention in particular. The city’s inability to implement direct […]

Behind the Scenes: Transnational Ties Between the Hollywood and Hong Kong Entertainment Industries

A City Inscribed and IAR Lunar New Year event. Registration is strongly encouraged. Over the decades there have been many encounters between members of the Hollywood and Hong Kong entertainment industries such as film collaborations and co-productions. In comparing the two industries, stark differences including their size, scope, and relationship to the state are evident. Yet, production ethnography reveals that the […]

Rising China: What Lessons Can We Learn From the 19th Party Congress?

Held once every five years, the Party Congress is China’s most important political event, and has set the stage for the next five years of Chinese leadership. Beyond that, President Xi has outlined a bold vision for China in the coming decades that will see the country continue expanding its reach abroad, at the same […]

The Past and Present of Chinese-Language Book Publishing in Hong Kong

A City Inscribed event. This talk by Angela Ko, Acquisitions Librarian of the University of Hong Kong Libraries, will discuss some of the characteristics of Chinese-language book publishing in Hong Kong and identify some of the changes over the past decade. Registration for this event is strongly encouraged.

Hong Kong Literature: Why and How? 香港文學─為何？如何？

Free and open to the public (Program in Cantonese) A City Inscribed event. Registration is strongly encouraged. There is no need to justify the existence of Hong Kong literature. Yet, what kind of literature do we have? Why do we need literature in Hong Kong? Or why do we need a “Hong Kong” literature? How does local awareness arise in […]

Fires in Shandong, Fires in BC: Flora and Firefighting in Mediterranean & Boreal Forests

Opening talk for UBC China Study Forum, China& and CESS by Dr. Jack Hayes (Associate Professor of Chinese History and Environmental History in Asian Studies and History Faculty at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, CCR Associate.) This presentation analyzes aspects of fire fighting and fire management in Chinese and Canadian forest ecosystems.  In examining both natural systems […]

Unevenly Distributed: China and the Future of Work in Southeast Asia

2018 UBC CHINA STUDIES FORUM SERIES  Speaker: Dr. Stephen J. McGurk Special Advisor to the President Former Vice-President, International Development Research Centre   Abstract This presentation reviews the findings of a series of International Development Research Centre papers on the Future of Work. Digitization of ever-more connected and networked value chains permits faster, simpler, and cheaper trade […]

The Search for the Origins of Chinese Civilization

With Dr. Wang Wei 王巍 Institute of Archaeology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences About the Speaker: Professor Wang Wei is academician and director of History Division at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. He served as director of the Institute of Archaeology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences from 2006 through 2016. He is […]