Announcing "100 Years of Chinese Revolution": Chinarains special events in commemoration of the 1911

Dear Friends,
In commemoration of the centennial of the 1911 revolution, Chinarains has organized a special series of events “100 years of Chinese Revolution”. During the fall quarter, we will hold three talks focusing on different periods in modern Chinese history. Please mark your calender!
1. “Is 1911 Revolution Inevitable?” by Daren RUAN
Nitery 209, Old Union; Oct 6, 2011 (7:00-- 8:30 pm)
2. “To Return Home or “Return to Taiwan”: Conflicts and Survival in the ‘Voluntary Repatriation’ of Chinese POWs in the Korean War”, by David Cheng CHANG
Nitery 209, Old Union, Nov. 3 (7:00-- 8:30 pm)
3. “Reform or Revolution? Liang Qichao’s The Future of a New China” by Ban WANG
Nairobi Room, Graduate Community Center; Nov. 12, 2011 (2: 00-- 3:30pm)
Chinarains is a student academic organization that has served the Stanford community for over 15 years. We organize academic lectures, seminars, film screening and other ctivities in the field of China studies. For further information about Chinrains, please visit our website at http://chinarains.blogspot.com/ or become a friend of Chinarains on Facebook (full features of our facebook page will be updated soon!). If you have any suggestions or recommendations of activities, or if you wish to join Chinarains and help us organize events, please email George Zhijian Qiao at zhijianqiao@gmail.com.
Thank you very much!
Zhijian Qiao President of Chinarains

Is 1911 Revolution Inevitable?

"Is 1911 Revolution Inevitable?"

by Dr. Daren RUANA

Lecture followed by discussion

Oct 6, 2011. Thursday. 7-- 8:30 p.m.

Room 209, Nitery Building in Old Union, Stanford (Map)

Working Language: Chinese

Soft drinks and refreshments will be provided.

Lecture Abstract:
In view of the Han vs. Manchu discord, the 1911 Revolution is a nationalistic revolution of the Han people against Manchu rule. But had the Qing Dynasty been a Han Chinese regime, then would the 1911 Revolution still break out? To what extent and in what sense, we can regard the 1911 Revolution as a “historical accident”? Still, toward the end of the Qing era, China was facing a crucial situation of drastic change unprecedented in three thousand years. The backward and malfunctioning Qing political system no longer satisfied the new needs of Chinese society and failed to resolve the socioeconomic contradictions triggered by the transformation from an agrarian to an industrial society. As such, was the 1911 Revolution one of the inevitable milestones of great historical change? What is the real historical meaning to the new Chinese elites of the current age? Now 100 years after the 1911 Revolution, has the China of today already accomplished this great historical transformation? Or rather, is contemporary Chinese society approaching another critical juncture in the great historical transformation, not unlike a century ago? The lecture will last an hour, to be followed by Dr. Ruan’s discussion with the audience on the causes and contemporary relevance of the 1911 revolution.


Speaker Bio:
Daren Ruan, after B.S. graduation from National Taiwan University, came to the United States in 1965. He received his Ph.D. in Mathematics from Notre Dame University, MBA from University of Wisconsin-Madison, and M.S. in Computer Science from Stanford. He taught at various universities, and also worked in the Silicon Valley high-tech sector and also in banking. Dr. Ruan belongs to a prominent family of Kuomingtang elite. His grandfather witnessed the 1911 Revolution as a Tongmenghui (Revolutionary Alliance) member. Buttressed with his family background and wide-ranging interests, Dr. Ruan has devoted himself to the study of the republican era Chinese history, with particular expertise in the leading personalities and their anecdotes. He has been a long-term contributor to the Biographic Literature published in Taipei. A vivid public speaker with superb command of historical sources and collaborative references, Dr. Ruan is held in high regard by specialists in modern Chinese history who often rely on his knowledge and always enjoy his company.

各位朋友，Chinarains 诚邀您参加 “百年中国革命”系列活动。10月6日週四晚7時，我們將在Old Union的 Nitery Room 209 舉辦 ”百年中國革命“ 的第一講：
阮大仁博士主講 “辛亥革命的必然性與偶然性”

該講演為中文

講座提要：
因為有滿漢之分，辛亥革命是漢人反抗滿清統治的民族革命。但如果清朝是一個漢人統治的政權，那辛亥革命是否還會發生？在何種程度上，我們可以認為辛亥革命只是歷史的偶然？然而，清末中國面臨三千年未遇之大變局，滿清落後的政治體制不能符合新的社會要求，無法解決中國由農業社會向工商社會轉型所產生的社會矛盾，那辛亥革命是否只是大歷史變遷的必然的里程碑之一呢？對於現在新一代的中國精英而言，辛亥革命的歷史又意味著甚麼？辛亥百年之後的當代中國，是否已經完成了歷史的大轉型？抑或，今天的中國社會，是否又一次走到了大歷史的轉折關頭呢？

講演約一小時，此後阮先生將與聽眾共同討論辛亥革命的緣起及當代意義。

主講人介紹 ：
阮大仁，1965年臺大畢業後來美，先後獲得 聖母大學博士，威斯康星大學MBA，斯坦福電腦工程碩士。曾在多所大學任教，又曾服務於銀行及硅谷高科技屆。阮先生出身於國民黨世家，其祖父為親歷辛亥革命之老同盟會員。阮先生家學淵藪，學識廣博，專研國史，尤其數稔民國掌故，長期為台灣《傳記文學》撰稿。阮先生精於講演，其講史旁徵博引，深入淺出，為眾多近代史專家所推崇。

Special Event: “Writing China in Silicon Valley, A Dialogue between Chen Qian (award-winning female writer based in Silicon Valley) and Wang Kan (visi

Special Event: “Writing China in Silicon Valley, A Dialogue between Chen Qian (award-winning female writer based in Silicon Valley) and Wang Kan (visiting scholar and professor of literature from Zhejiang), followed by discussion

Time: Saturday 2:30-4:00, May 28, 2011
Place: Nairobi Room, Graduate Community Center (2nd Floor),
750 Escondido Road, Stanford.
Working Language: Chinese
Soft Drinks and Light Refreshments will be served.

Introduction:

Qian Chen grew up in Nanning, China and came to the United States in 1989, where she received a MS degree in Computer Engineering at the University of Idaho, and worked as a logic design engineer until early 2008. During her engineering career, Chen’s stories and essays have been published in People’s Literature, Harvest and other publications in China and abroad. Her first novel, Xia Ju, was published in 2002. Her novella, Listen to the Caged Bird Sing, received the People’s Literature Award, one of the most prestigious literature awards in China, and her novella Teresa’s Rogue received the Yu Da Fu Fiction Prize, and was nominated for the Lu Xun Literature Award, and the National Literature Award of China.
Wang Kan received his Ph.D. from Nanjing University, and is now Professor of contemporary Chinese Literature in Hangzhou Normal University. He specializes in modern Chinese literary thoughts. He is author of five books, including Narratives and Rhetoric (2010), History, Language and Desire (2008), and others.

This dialogue and discussion will include, but not limited to, the following questions: How did Chen Qian manage to reinvent herself from a computer engineer into an award-winning novelist? What is the path that one can take to become a successful writer in China? How to write about China in the U.S.? How is overseas Chinese literature read in Mainland China? How do insiders of the Chinese literature circle understand the contemporary Chinese literary production and the future of Chinese literature?

在硅谷写作中国：关于中国当代文学的对话

陈谦，女，自幼生长于广西南宁，毕业于广西大学。1989年春赴美国留学，获爱达荷大学电机工程硕士学位。曾长期供职于芯片设计业。著有长篇小说《爱在无爱的硅谷》及中篇小说《望断南飞雁》、《特蕾莎的流氓犯》、《覆水》、《残雪》及《何以言爱》等。其中《特蕾莎的流氓犯》入选2008年中国小说排行榜并获首届郁达夫小说奖，及鲁迅文学奖提名。陈谦现居美国硅谷。
王侃，博士，教授，现任职于中国杭州师范大学中文系，从事中国现当代文学思潮研究。代表著作有：《诗与思的维度》（1999）、《感受梦幻》（2000）、《“浙江潮”与中国新文学》（2004）、《历史·语言·欲望》（2008）、《叙事门与修辞术》（2010）。

该对话及讨论将围绕以下问题展开：首先，陈谦将回顾其个人经历，并讲述她如何从一名硅谷电脑工程师转型成为知名作家。其二，我们将探讨文学爱好者如何能在国内文坛获得成功的途径。其三，在美国居住的华人作家如何来写作并展现中国？他们有怎样的独特视角，又有什么困惑？其四，国内文学界又怎样来看待海外的华语文学和中国写作？最后，中国文学的圈内人又如何来看待当前中国的文学创作以及中国文学的未来？

The Sustainable Reconstruction in Rural Areas Damaged by the Earthquake--A Social Experiment in a Chinese Vallage

Public Talk: “The Sustainable Reconstruction in Rural Areas Damaged by the Earthquake--A Social Experiment in a Chinese Vallage”, by Luo Jar-Der

Time: Saturday 2:30-4:00, May 21, 2011
Place: Nairobi Room, Graduate Community Center (2nd Floor),
750 Escondido Road, Stanford.
Working Language: English and Chinese
Soft Drinks and Light Refreshments will be served.

Abstract:

Japan’s recent massive earthquake and Tsunami reinvigorated public interest in post-earthquake reconstruction. Would China’s recent reconstruction efforts in Sichuan offer any lesson? Three years ago, the 8.0-magnitude earthquake that jolted Sichuan and the neighboring provinces on May 12th in 2008 has caused extensive damage to local society. The Tsinghua Sustainable Reconstruction Project aims at establishing a model for sustainable reconstruction in rural areas that emphasizes sustainability of the local ecology, economy, and social systems. Prof. Luo Jiar-Der, one of the principal participants in the Tsinghua Project will share with us how they endeavored to implement a reconstruction model combining private-public partnership and sustainable concepts into practice, incorporating scientific planning, balanced development, step-by-step implementation and self-reliance of local community.

Speaker:
Luo Jar-Der 罗家德, Professor of Sociology, Tsinghua University, Beijing.
He received his Ph.D. degree in sociology from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and conducted Post-doctoral research in statistics from UC-Berkeley. Professor Luo taught in Yuan-Ze University in Taiwan for 9 years before he joined the sociology department of Tsinghua University in 2005, where he has worked ever since. Professor Luo published a series of articles on the roles of social networks in Taiwan business activities. His current interests include community organizations and urbanization in China.

Film Screening & Discussion: Popular Democracy in Contemporary China

Over the last few weeks, a wave of popular unrests and calls for democracy has swept the Middle East. Most recently, this wave has spread to China, when organized small-scale popular protests unnerve the Chinese public. What is the situation of democracy in China? How do the grassroots population approach the question and practice of democracy?

At this interesting historical moment, Chinarains is going to organize a special event to help understand the situation of popular democracy in contemporary China through screening a documentary film “Please Vote for Me”, which tells an intriguing story of a kids election in an elementary school in urban central China. Directed by Chen Weijun, this 2007 documentary has won a series of awards in international film festivals. Meanwhile, we have invited Wang Rui, Ph.D. candicate at Communication Department at Stanford to introduce the film and lead discussions. Wang Rui specializes in deliberative democracy, democratic experiment and practice in China.


Following is the information of the event:

When: March 5, 2011. Satuday. 2:30--4:00 p.m.
Where: Nairobi Room, 2nd Floor, Graduate Community Center. (750 Escondido Road, Stanford)
What: Film-Screening of “Please Vote For Me” (57 minutes)
Discussion with Wang Rui (30 minutes)
Language: Film- Chinese Dialogue with English Subtitles
Discussion in English.

For further information about the film, please refer to http://www.pleasevoteforme.org/
For further information about Chinrains, please visit our website at http://chinarains.blogspot.com/ or become a friend of Chinarains on Facebook.