Capitalism, War, and Revolution--What You May Not Know about Hong Kong

2011 marks the 100th anniversary of China’s 1911 Revolution; it also marks the 170th anniversary of the first hoisting of the British Union Jack on Hong Kong Island. Over the course of its history, Hong Kong has transformed from a frontier isle into the business hub in the Orient and financial powerhouse of Asia. Yet what are the forces that contributed to Hong Kong's metamorphosis? What was the Hong Kong experience of revolutions, wars and global capitalism that swept the world over the last century?

Talk: "Capitalism, War, and Revolution--What You May Not Know about Hong Kong"

(1 hour presentation and 30 minutes discussion)

Speaker: Nicole Kwan and Ming Chan

Time: Saturday 2:30-4:00, April 23.

Place: Nairobi Room, Graduate Community Center (2nd Floor), 750 Escondido Road, Stanford.

Working Language: English




Soft drinks and refreshment will be provided.

Talk Summary and Bio of Speakers:


2011 marks the 100th anniversary of China’s 1911 Revolution; it also marks the 170th anniversary of the first hoisting of the British Union Jack on Hong Kong Island. Dr. Sun Yat-sen attended Central College in Hong Kong starting in 1884, and graduated in 1892 from the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese (later the medical faculty of the University of Hong Kong). Upon re-visiting the University in 1923, Dr. Sun said, “I feel as though I have returned home, because Hong Kong and its university are my intellectual birthplace…”

Nicole Kwan, who co-authored The Dragon and the Crown: Hong Kong Memoirs with her uncle Stanley Kwan, will talk about their book and share the discoveries of her research on Hong Kong’s past century. The Dragon and the Crown is the memoir of Stanley Kwan who created the Hang Seng Index (Hong Kong’s equivalent of the Dow Jones Industrial Average) in 1969 while working at Hang Seng Bank. The talk will cover

topics that include: the little-known but pivotal role of yinhao (traditional Chinese banks) in pre-War Hong Kong; the work of Hong Kong interpreters deployed with American forces in wartime China; and the critical presence of the Chinese Communist Party in the former colony. She will be joined by Professor Ming Chan, who will talk about Hong Kong’s important role in China’s 1911 Revolution and comment on major trends and key developments during this turbulent period of Hong Kong history.



Ms. Kwan has a BA degree from Smith College and MAs from Yale University and the University of Hong Kong. She worked in international banking for over 20 years while based in Hong Kong and conducted the course “Doing Business in China” at Stanford University during 2005-07. The Dragon and the Crown: Hong Kong Memoirs was published by Hong Kong University Press (hardcover 2009, paperback 2011).



As a historian of modern China focusing on Guangdong and Hong Kong-Macao, Prof. Chan received all three degrees in the US, including a PhD from Stanford at age 25. Besides Stanford, he has taught at the University of Hong Kong, Duke and UCLA, amongst others, and was a Research Fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution, 1976-80 and 1999-09, when he ran the Hong Kong Documentary Archives project. He is currently with the Center of East Asian Studies at Stanford University. Among his 13 books, the latest is New Perspectives on Modern Lingnan History: Guangdong and Its Hong Kong Links, 1900-1938.

Whither China? Time for Cultural Rejuvenation

Are you concerned about where China is heading toward? When the world attention is attracted to China's extraordinary economic growth and rapidly increasing political clout, cultural transformation in contemporary China is no less epic. Is China going to be more Westernized? Or is Chinese intellectual and cultural tradition reviving? ChinaRains has invited the famous public intellectual and political philosopher Dr. Hsieh Shan Yuan (謝善元) to share his thinking about cultural rejuvenation in contemporary China.


Talk: "Whither China? Time for Cultural Rejuvenation"

by Dr. Hsieh Shanyuan

When: April 2, 2011. Saturday. 2:30--4:00 p.m.
Where: Nairobi Room, Graduate Community Center, 2nd Floor (750 Escondido Road, Stanford)
Language: English
Soft drinks and refreshments will be provided.



Abstract of the Talk:


China's "No.2 World Economy" status has produced both admirations and concerns in the world. The concerns are intensified when Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo and his wife were prevented from going to Norway to accept the award. Some people are tempted to cite Samuel Huntington's theory of civilizational conflicts to explain this incident. But a history-conscious person would probably characterize it more as an evidence of China's failture to fulfil the aspirations of her intellectuals of the early 20th century. They embraced science and democracy as the surest ways of saving China and totally abandoned their cultural heritage. A review of the history of these ideas and that of Chinese culture indicates that, while their insight is laudable, their understanding of tradition is inadequate. There are indeed elements in Chinese culture which are compatible with the requirements of both science and democracy. By reorganizing the core teachings of both Confucius and Mencius and by supplementing them with valuable ideas from other schools of thought, one can form a synthesis which, if adopted by the Chinese people, would hopefully guide China's future policies. And a culturally rejuvenated China could probably convince the whole world that her rise would indeed be peaceful.


Short Bio of the Speaker:

Dr. Hsieh Shan-yuan received his Ph.D. in Far Eastern Languages and Civilizations from University of Chicago. He has taught classical Chinese philosophy in various universities, including University of Toronto and University of Denver. Currently, he is a freelance writer and translator. His publications range from academic monographs to Chinese translations of Western classics. Below are some of his publications:
1. Plato Republic (tr.into Chinese from Paul Shorey's Eng. version), to be published.
2. The Last Days of Socrates (tr. into Chinese from Hugh Tredennick's Eng.version), (Shanghai: Yiwen Publishing Co., 2007)
3. The Life and Thought of Confucius, video, 1993
4.The Life and Thought of Li Kou (1009-1059), (S.F.: Chinese Materials Center, 1979)
5. "Hsun-tzu's Political Philosophy", Journal of Chinese Philosophy, 6.1, pp. 69-90, March 1979

A Historical Examination of Nomadic Societies in Northern China-—A Case Study of the Kazakh People

A Historical Examination of Nomadic Societies in Northern China
—A Case Study of the Kazakh People
中国北方游牧民族社会生活的历史学考察

Zhongyi Han
Professor and Research Fellow
Northwestern Nationalities Research Center
Shaanxi Normal University
韩中义
陕西师范大学 西北民族研究中心

Saturday, Feb 26, 2010
2:30-4:00pm
Graduate Community Center (GCC), Nairobi Room
750 Escondido Road (http://campus-map.stanford.edu/index.cfm?ID=03-400)

Working language: Chinese
讲座语言：中文

Outline of the talk:

一 中国北方游牧民族社会生活的一般性考察
1，历史上中国北方的游牧民族
2，中国北方游牧民族的社会生活管窥
3，有关北方游牧民族的史料与研究。
二 中国游牧民族四季迁徙
1，历史上的四季游牧
2，当今游牧生活——以哈萨克族四季迁徙的人类学解读：
2.1，哈萨克族的历史、分布、人口略谈
2.2，哈萨克族四季迁徙——四季牧场
2.3. 哈萨克族精神生活与物质生活
2.4.哈萨克游牧生活的未来状况，以及相关研究

A. general examination of the nomad societies in northern China
(1). northen nomad societies in Chinese history
(2). everyday life of the nomads
(3). historical sources and the state of research
B. Seasonal migration of the nomads
(1). seasonal migration in history
(2). nomad life in the contemporary: anthropologist approach to seasonal migration
(2.1) history, distribution, and population of the Kazakh people
(2.2) seasonal migration of the Kazakh people---seasonal pasture
(2.3) mentality and material life of the Kazakh people
(2.4) the future of the Kazakh nomad life, and related research


About the Speaker:


韩中义，陕西师范大学西北民族研究中心研究员/教授。1985-1992年在中央民族大学学习，获得学士、硕士学位。1992-2001年在新疆社会科学院工作，主要研究新疆宗教、民族问题。2001-2004年在南京大学历史学系学习，获得博士学位。2004-至今在陕西师范大学西北民族研究中心工作，主要研究中亚、新疆伊斯兰教历史、民族史。讲授课程主要有蒙古史、维吾尔族史、伊斯兰教史、少数民族史料学等。出版了《西域苏非主义研究》一部，发表了《喀喇汗王朝名称杂考》等30余篇论文。现为斯坦福大学伊斯兰研究中心访问学者。

Han Zhongyi is Professor and Research Fellow at the Northwestern Nationalities Research Center, Shaanxi Normal University. He received BA and MA from the Central University for Nationalities, and Ph.D. in history from Nanjing University. He has worked in Xinjiang Social Science Academy between 1992 and 2001. His research focuses on Central Asia and Xinjiang Islamic history, while his publications features studies of Sufism in the Western Region, and other central Asian historical problems. Currently, he is visiting scholar at the Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies at Stanford.

Archaeology and the Chinese Public: From The Case of "Cao Cao Mausoleum"

Archaeology and the Chinese Public
—from the case of “Cao Cao Mausoleum”
考古与公众：从“曹操墓”谈起

Tao Wang
Associate Professor of Archaeology
Chinese Academy of Sciences

王涛
中国科学院

Saturday, Feb 19, 2010
2:30-4:00pm
Graduate Community Center (GCC), Nairobi Room
750 Escondido Road (http://campus-map.stanford.edu/index.cfm?ID=03-400)

Working language: Chinese
讲座语言：中文

Outline of the talk:
近些年来，中国的重大考古发现层出不穷。随着人们的文化遗产保护意识的增强，一些考古发现引起了社会各界的关注，成为了新闻热点。例如去年去年河南安阳曹操墓的发掘就引发了轰动，甚至聚讼纷争，莫衷一是。本次报告，中国科学院科技考古系的王涛教授将向同学们介绍考古学的基本原理，探索考古发现的一般经过，考古学研究的工作过程，以及科技考古的最新发展。同时，他将以曹操墓的发掘工作为例，从考古学专业角度来分析围绕着曹操墓的争议与谜团。
In recent years, China has manifested series of monumental archaeological discoveries. When the Chinese public is becoming more and more interested in cultural heritage conservation, a number of archaeological projects attracted enormous public attention. One such example is the excavation of the “Cao Cao Mausoleum" in Anyang, Henan Province, which aroused excitement as well as huge controversies. In this talk, Prof. Wang from Department of Archaeological Science at the Chinese Academy of Sciences will introduce the basic principles and work process of archaeology, and the recent development of archaeological science. He will also analyze the controversies and myths around the “Cao Cao Mausoleum” from the perspective of a professional archaeologist.

About the Speaker:

王涛，中国科学院研究生院科技考古系副教授，硕士生导师。在西北大学文博学院考古学专业获得学士、硕士学位；2001－2005年就读于北京大学考古文博学院，2005年获博士学位。从事考古学教学与科研工作，主要研究方向为新石器时代考古与陶器分析，已在国内外期刊发表相关专业文章20余篇。现为斯坦福大学考古中心访问学者。

Tao Wang is Associate Professor at the Department of Scientific Archaeology, Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He received his B.A. and M.A. in archaeology from Northwestern University, China. He received his Ph.D. in archaeology from Beijing University. His research focuses on the pre-historical archaeology of China. He specializes in pottery analysis. Currently, he is visiting scholar at the Stanford Archaeology Center.

The First Stock Market Crash in Chinese History: 1882-1883

The First Stock Market Crash in Chinese History: 1882-1883

中國歷史上的第一次股災

Yu Li
Professor
Department of History, Center for Studies of Republican China
Nanjing University

李玉
教授、博士生导师
南京大学历史系
中国民国史研究中心

Thursday,May 20, 2010
7:30-9:00 pm
Meyer Library, Room 142
560 Escondido Mall (Map: http://campus-map.stanford.edu/index.cfm?ID=03-400)
Working language: Chinese
讲座语言：中文

Outline of the talk:

19世纪80年代初期，近代股市在上海出现后不久，就发生了一次严重的市场风潮，其前因后果颇值得关注与检讨。
一、上海股市渐趋火热
二、股市带动创业
三、股市火热与企业绩效基本无关
四、风险渐至
五、企业受损
六、民心大失
七、走向理性

In early 1880s, immediately after modern stock market first appeared in Shanghai, a stock market crash hit the investors badly. It was the first stock market crash in Chinese history, which also has multiple implications for later development of the Chinese capital market and financial sector. Prof. Li will lead us through the process of that incident,explaining its origins as well as interpreting its consequences.





About the Speaker:

李玉：南京大学历史系、中华民国史研究中心教授，博士生导师，已出版《晚清公司制度建设研究》、《北洋政府时期企业制度结构史论》、《长沙的近代化启动》、《国民党政治与社会结构之演变（1905-1949）》（合著）等著作，现为斯坦福大学胡佛研究所访问学者。


Yu Li, Professor, Department of History and Center for Studies of Republican China, Nanjing University. He is a distinguished researcher on history of enterprises in modern China, and has extensive publications on the history of modern China. His major publications include: Studies of Late Qing Business Institutions (2002), History of Business Institutions in Early Republican China (2007), Engineering the Modernization of Changsha (2000), Politics of the Kuomintang and the Transformation of Chinese Social Structure: 1905-1949 (2007) .




George Zhijian Qiao