Academic Activities
Recapping the Academic Seminar “Life of a Salesman in Rural China: Local Markets, Consumers, and Business Competition in the 1920s” Delivered by Prof. Elisabeth KÖLL of the University of Notre Dame on 13 March 2018
Prof. Elisabeth KÖLL of the Department of History, University of Notre Dame, was invited by the Centre for Chinese History, Department of History; and the Research Centre for Ming-Qing Studies of the Research Institute for the Humanities, to present a lecture to faculty members and students.
Prof. Elisabeth KÖLL introduced the life of a staff member of the British American Tobacco plc (BAT) during the 1920s to the audience through diaries, letters and photographs etc. of that staff member. Prof. KÖLL hoped to re-examine issues of business history from a micro-historical perspective rather than writing a biography of a foreign salesman in China. She also raised important issues like how BAT competed with other companies in Chinese rural areas in the 1920s, the relationship between BAT and Chinese tobacco enterprises, and the strategies that BAT applied in different areas. Prof. KÖLL believed that these new materials may enable people to have a better understanding of Chinese business history in the 1920s.
Recapping the Academic Seminars Delivered by Prof. WU Yue of Osaka University of Economics and Law on 13 and 15 March 2018
Prof. WU Yue of the Faculty of International Studies, Osaka University of Economics and Law, was invited by the Department to present two lectures to faculty members and students.
The first lecture, entitled “從巴縣檔案看國家與基層社會──對雙軌制和皇權不下鄉的思考”, was held on 13 March 2018. Prof. WU Yue introduced Japanese historians’ efforts to collect and research on Ming Qing archives after World War II, and discussed the interaction between the state and local society, mainly based on the Ba County Archives. He selected a case which referred to a competition for community leaders (Xiangyue) and another case caused by tax farmers at Tongzhi period. He believed that these observations could generate a new understanding on the “dual track system” of Fei Xiaotong, and the theory of “inability of state power to penetrate prefectural society”. Prof. WU stated that due to the pluralistic structure of local society, local people actively sought the involvement of the state, enabling state power to penetrate villages through Xiangyue.
The second lecture, entitled “清朝捐納制度新探化史”, was delivered on 15 March 2018. In this lecture, Prof. WU, a renowned researcher on the Ming Qing donation system, explored how social members effectively facilitated the imperial examination system and donation system to achieve upward social mobility. He believed that the donation system was another important tool for achieving social mobility beyond the imperial examination system, and they were equipped with different functions in terms of work-related positions and promotions. The combination of the donation and imperial examination systems constituted a certain “modernity” in the premodern Chinese society.
Upcoming Events
The 12th Joseph Needham Memorial Lecture and The Joseph Needham Symposium
The Joseph Needham Symposium on Early Cultural and Scientific Transmission across Eurasia with China will be held on 26–27 March 2018 with details as follows:
| Date & Time: | 26 March 2018 (Monday) 9:00am–6:00pm 27 March 2018 (Tuesday) |
| Venue : | Cho Yiu Conference Hall G/F, University Administrative Building The Chinese University of Hong Kong |
The symposium will be conducted in English. For more information, please visit
https://www.history.cuhk.edu.hk/internal/poster/seminar/20180323.pdf
For enquiry, please email to celine.lee@rondabosh.com.
Organisers: The Joseph Needham Foundation for Science and Civilisation (Hong Kong);
Needham Research Institute
Co-organisers: Chung Chi College, CUHK; Centre for Chinese History, Department of History, CUHK;
Division of Humanities, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Sponsor: Croucher Foundation
Lecture Series on Historical Anthropology
Prof. ZHANG Peiguo of the School of Sociology and Political Science, Shanghai University, has been invited by the Department to present the following lectures:
| Date : | 6 April 2018 (Friday) |
| Time : | 10:30am–12:15pm |
| Venue : | Room 101, 1/F, Fung King Hey Building, CUHK |
| Topic : | 傳統中國福利實踐的社會邏輯——基於明清社會研究的解釋 |
| Date : | 18 April 2018 (Wednesday) |
| Time : | 10:30am–12:15pm |
| Venue : | Room 101, 1/F, Fung King Hey Building, CUHK |
| Topic : | 清代紳權的二重支配 |
| Date : | 19 April 2018 (Thursday) |
| Time : | 10:30am–12:15pm |
| Venue : | Room 220, 2/F, Fung King Hey Building, CUHK |
| Topic : | 「贏利」抑或「保護」——清末民初嘉定縣地方善舉的轉型 |
The lectures will be conducted in Putonghua. For enquiries, please call 3943 7198.
Organiser: Centre for Chinese History, Department of History, CUHK
Sponsor: Faculty of Arts, CUHK
Jao Tsung-I Visiting Professor Public Lecture 2018, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Prof. GE Zhaoguang of the National Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies and the Department of History, Fudan University, has been invited by the Institute of Chinese Studies and the Centre for Chinese History, Department of History to serve as the keynote speaker of Jao Tsung-I Visiting Professor Public Lecture 2018. Details are as follows:
| Date : | 9 April 2018 (Monday) |
| Time : | 4:30pm–6:00pm (Tea Reception starts at 3:45pm; Memorial for Professor Jao Tsung-I starts at 4:00pm) |
| Venue : | Cho Yiu Conference Hall G/F, University Administrative Building, CUHK |
| Topic : | 想像天下帝國？——以（傳）李公麟《萬方職貢圖》為中心 |
| Date : | 11 April 2018 (Wednesday) |
| Time : | 4:30pm–6:00pm (Tea Reception starts at 4:00pm) |
| Venue : | Room G24, Fung King Hey Building, CUHK |
| Topic : | 面向真的世界——以15–17 世紀的三幅地圖為例討論明代的世界知識 |
| Date : | 12 April 2018 (Thursday) |
| Time : | 1:00pm–2:00pm (Tea Reception starts at 12:30pm) |
| Venue : | Activities Room, 2/F Art Museum East Wing Institute of Chinese Studies, CUHK |
| Topic : | 如何化生為熟——從清代各種《苗蠻圖》說到中國民族史研究中的難題 |
The lectures will be conducted in Putonghua. For enquiries, please call 3943 1710.
Organiser: Institute of Chinese Studies, CUHK
Co-organiser: Centre for Chinese History, Department of History, CUHK
Workshops for the First-Year RPg Students 2017–18
Date: 13 April 2018 (Friday)
Time: 9:30am–12:30pm
Venue: Room 101, 1/F, Fung King Hey Building, CUHK
Moderator: CHEUNG Ka Lok
| Speaker | Topic | Language |
| HO Chung Hang Vincent |
Golden Age: Adolescence and Nation in Republican China | English |
| LAI Yan | 發現與塑造：民國時期廣東地區女童的初等教育 | Putonghua |
| MA Xiaofei | 漢代歲時活動研究 | Putonghua |
| LAU Tin Long | 郡縣制度的一個側面——從秦漢的「道」作考察 | Cantonese |
Date: 13 April 2018 (Friday)
Time: 2:30pm–5:30pm
Venue: Room 101, 1/F, Fung King Hey Building, CUHK
Moderator: WANG Jiayao
| Speaker | Topic | Language |
| Claudia Isabelle MONTERO |
The Role of History and Culture Towards Development, Control and Protection of Built Heritage: The Case of Manila, Philippines | English |
| HO Siu Ping Sammantha |
Confrontation between the North and the South: Prosopography of Scholars at Peking University and National Southeast University in Pre-war China | English |
| CHEUNG Ka Lok | Town Planning of New Kowloon and Colonial Governance of Hong Kong (1898–1941) | English |
| ZHENG Weian | 珠江三角洲的「香港風」與反「香港風」宣傳教育 (1949–1978) | Putonghua |
| HUANG Xinyu | 民國上海城市居民用水研究 | Putonghua |
Date: 20 April 2018 (Friday)
Time: 9:30am–12:30pm
Venue: Room 101, 1/F, Fung King Hey Building, CUHK
Moderator: CHEUNG Ka Lok
| Speaker | Topic | Language |
| TSE Nga Yin | 兩周賵賻現象再研究 | Putonghua |
| HO Chun Him | 晚商都邑性質再探討 | Putonghua |
| CHEUNG Chi Wai | 是敵？是友？──基督教青年會與中國共產革命(1937–1957) | Putonghua |
| CHEUNG Laura | Expanding the British Empire in China: British Commercial Interests and the International Context, 1870–1914 | Putonghua |
| TIAN Fang | 公局、紳商與公司——清末民初山西的礦權糾紛與地方影響 | Putonghua |
| WANG Jiayao | 作為地方傳統的瑤老制——清到民國粵北排瑤社會初探 | Putonghua |
Date: 20 April 2018 (Friday)
Time: 2:30pm–5:30pm
Venue: Room 101, 1/F, Fung King Hey Building, CUHK
Moderator: WANG Jiayao
| Speaker | Topic | Language |
| KAN Xuqiang | 自治與共謀：晚清重慶地方政府的財政與行政 | Putonghua |
| MA Chaoran | 重審國家與社會之間：圍繞清代法律制度的研究討論 | Putonghua |
| ZHOU Shuzhe | 明清集體行動的研究回顧 | Putonghua |
| HUANG Yawen | 順莊法之後的稅收與地方社會 | Putonghua |
| LIU Yichen | 度支的規則：十六世紀財政體制的演變 | Putonghua |
For enquiry, please call 3943 8541.
For teachers and students who have information to share with the Department,
please email your articles in both Chinese and English to chanfiona@cuhk.edu.hk by 4:00pm every Tuesday.