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Distinguished Lectures on Chinese Culture and Religion (4)

Focusing on tensions and links between national formation and international outlooks, this talk shows how classical world visions persist as China’s modernizers and revolutionaries adopted and revised the Western nation-state and cosmopolitanism. The concepts of tianxia (all under heaven) and datong (great harmony) have been updated into outlooks of global harmony that value unity, equality, and reciprocity as strategies of overcoming interstate conflict, national divides, and social fragmentation. The talk will delve into two debates: the embrace of the West vs. aspirations for a common world, and the difference between liberal cosmopolitanism and socialist internationalism.

Distinguished Lectures on Chinese Culture and Religion (3)

Abstract (based on the abstract of Chapter 1) In this CIHK webinar, we will discuss the material conditions of and historical background to the use of Classical Chinese or Literary Sinitic in writing-mediated brush conversation between literati of Sinitic engaged in cross-border communication within Sinographic East Asia or the Sinographic cosmopolis, which corresponds with today’s China, North Korea, South Korea, Japan (including Okinawa, formerly the Ryukyu Kingdom) and Vietnam. Compared with speech as a modality of communication, real-time writing-mediated interaction between talking humans, synchronously face-to-face, seems uncommon. In any society, speaking is premised on one condition: the interlocutors must have at least one shared spoken language at their disposal, but even then, there are circumstances under which speaking is either physically not feasible or socially inappropriate. Could writing function as an alternative modality of communication when speaking is not an option due to the absence of a shared spoken language, as in cross-border communication settings? Whereas real-time writing-mediated face-to-face interaction is rare where a regional lingua franca was known to exist (e.g., Latin and Arabic), there is ample historical evidence of literati of Classical Chinese or Literary Sinitic from different parts of Sinographic East Asia conducting ‘silent conversation’, synchronously and interactively in writing mode using brush, ink, and paper. Such a pattern of writing-assisted interaction is still practiced and observable in pen-assisted conversation – pen-talk – between Chinese and Japanese speakers today, thanks to the pragma-linguistic affordance of morphographic, non-phonographic sinograms (i.e., Chinese characters and Japanese kanji). We will outline the historical spread of Classical Chinese or Sinitic texts from the ‘center’ to the ‘peripheries’, and the historical background to the acquisition of literacy in Sinitic by the people there. Their shared knowledge of Sinitic helps explain why, for well over a thousand years until the 1900s, literati from these places were able to speak their mind by engaging in ‘Sinitic brush-talk’ 漢文筆談 in cross-border communication.

Specialist Lecture on Chinese History and Culture (5)

Property and Financial Management of Manchu Imperial Princesses in Qing China, 1617–1911 During the Qing period (1644–1911), the property right of Women who married Manchu imperial family members were protected by Qing laws, but not the one of Manchu imperial princesses. Those Qing imperial princesses did not own full ownership of their property, only occupancy, use, and income rights, but not act of disposition. Their offspring did not have rights to inherit the estate from their mothers. This lecture draws on Qing sources in Manchu, Mongol, and Chinese and focuses on the human dowry of the Qing imperial princesses who married Mongol princes to explore the ownership of their property and how their property were used, managed, and transferred. In the end, this paper will show how the expenditure on patronage of Tibetan Buddhism played an important role in the Qing policies toward the Mongols.

Specialist Lecture on Chinese History and Culture (4)

內容簡介： 有關《穆天子傳》周穆王西行地理的研究多矣，然自古未有定論。本研究以顧頡剛的實據地理與神話地理二重結構為理論框架，結合傳世文獻、出土資料與地理實查資料，重探《穆傳》的地理空間。針對有實據之部的地理，本研究強調以當代資料作為地理重構的依據，並發現其主要以戰國早期的晉南及其鄰近地區為核心。針對神話空間，則著重分析其「理性化」的創作思維及其反映的歷史地理脈絡，包含其領土型態、中國觀、世界觀以及交通地理背景。基於上述的歷史地理重構與分析，本研究進一步探討《穆傳》的體裁、國家主體、成書年代、資料依據、作者與讀者以及文本性質，期許對於這部高度爭議的奇書帶來新的認識。

Specialist Lecture on Chinese History and Culture (3)

Abstract The transformation of literary language from classical Chinese to the vernacular from the late Qing to early Republican period in China had a profound impact on the Chinese women’s literary expressions. This lecture will analyze the vernacular writing on vernacular newspapers in the late Qing Dynasty, the evolution of women’s textbooks, and the generation of gender concepts. Tracing the historical development of women’s education and social customs at different periods, this lecture will examine how the changes in vocabulary, grammar and composition concepts influenced women’s own gendered expressions and the popular ideas of gendered identities in modern China.

Specialist Lecture on Chinese History and Culture (2)

Abstract The Islamic World, the regions where Muslim communities form the majority, stretches from Southeast Asia to North Africa, encompassing a large number of nations and cultures which have been shaped variously by the one faith they share. This is particularly evident in their music: on the one hand, there is a significant controversy surrounding the permissibility of music in Islam, leading some communities to ban music and musical instruments; yet, at the same time, there are many practices in Islam, such as the call to prayer and the recitation of the Qur’an, that have an undeniably musical quality even though they are not nominally called ‘music’; furthermore, we know that most Muslim communities have their own hugely popular musical traditions that animate different public and private occasions, some of which have even attracted a global following for the spirituality that many perceive in them.   In this lecture, we shall explore the idea of ‘Music in the Islamic World’ through understanding the status of music in Islam, surveying music traditions & instruments in different parts of the Islamic world, and exploring their connections and specificities in terms of both the musical contents as well as the social context where music is made. Audio-visual examples will be supplanted by live performance of musical instruments from the Middle East and Central Asia.

Specialist Lecture on Chinese History and Culture (1)

內容簡介： 本演講的出發點是《西廂記》在法國的傳播與接受，從儒蓮、巴贊的戲曲翻譯談起，說明《西廂記》故事如何被十九世紀的歐陸漢學家理解，進而創發出風貌各異的紅娘、鶯鶯與張生等角色類型。本演講也將觸及晚清民初在法國的外交官、留學生，說明他們如何譯介或改編《西廂記》，並與法國文學界激盪出不同模式的文化交流。由此延伸出的議題是熊式一、夏志清等身處英美國家的華人學者，淺析他們如何將《西廂記》置放於知識傳播的脈絡下，讓《西廂記》在二十世紀成為西方讀者認識中國戲曲的重要媒介之一。

Distinguished Lectures on Chinese Culture and Religion (2)

Abstract As a kingdom that existed during the Song, Liao, Xia and Jin period, the history and culture of Xi Xia had its distinctive features, but at the same time, the culture of Xi Xia was also closely related to that of China proper. Following the model of Chinese characters, Xi Xia created its own script, which was used for creating a lot of documents. Xi Xia adopted Confucianism and honored Confucius as Emperor of Exalted Culture. It promoted Chinese scholarship, implemented the civil service examination system, and cultivated talents. The Xi Xia court codified legal codes by incorporating elements of Chinese legal codes, and the Xi Xia legal codes extant today are the earliest legal codes written in a minority script, thus enriching the Chinese legal system. Xi Xia also accepted the Chinese social customs and left a large number of valuable documents regarding social life. The Xi Xia technicians improved the Chinese printing technique by inventing wood movable type printing. Finally, the people of Xi Xia revered Buddhism, translated the Tripitaka brought from China proper into the Xi Xia script, and thousands of volumes of Buddhist scriptures have been unearthed. Xi Xia also borrowed cultural elements from the neighboring Tubo and Uyghur peoples. The culture of Xi Xia is an integral part of the brilliant traditional cultures of China.

Distinguished Lectures on Chinese Culture and Religion (1)

Abstract The origin of Chinese opera can be traced back to witchcraft rituals of the Neolithic ages. During the Northern Song Dynasty, a variety of performing arts, singing styles and oral literary genres merged to form Nanxi (Southern Drama), the first genre of Chinese opera. While Cantonese opera gradually took shape in the 1850s, it still maintains a close tie to Taoist rituals, preserves tunes from Kunju and a number of other operatic genres, as well as staging plays originated from Nanxi. This talk surveys the contemporary development of Cantonese opera in Hong Kong in the context of Chinese opera history, and puts in perspective how traditional operatic elements are preserved and modernised. Specifically, it will cover topics such as contemporary religious opera, the White Tiger Ritual as stage initiation, troupe organisation, role types, the repertory, characteristic features of vocal music, and training of young artists.

Specialist Lecture on Chinese History and Culture (9)

Spectacular Benevolence:  Operatic Entertainment and Court Politics  in Qing-Dynasty China Theatrical performance occupied a central place in the emotional and political life of the Qing dynasty imperial household. For over two centuries, the Qing court poured a tremendous amount of human and material resources into institutionalizing the theatrical arts for the purposes of entertainment and edification. The emperors and empresses, as ardent patrons, went to great lengths to cultivate a discerning taste in theatre and oversaw the artistic and managerial aspects of court theatrical activities. Staging for the Emperors: A History of Qing Court Theatre, 1683-1923, examines two distinct and interlocking dimensions of the Qing court theatre—the vicissitudes of the palace troupe and the multifaceted functions of court-commissioned ceremonial dramas—to highlight the diverse array of views held by individual rulers as they used theatrical means to promote their personal and political agendas. Drawing on recently discovered materials from the court theatrel bureau, as well as court-commissioned paintings, memoirs written by foreign delegates, and play scripts written for court ceremonial occasions, this talk will zoom in on the theatrical performances produced for ceremonial occasions of Emperor Qianlong’s court. It shows how the ground principles of the guest ritual were reflected in ceremonial plays that addressed the theme of tribute-bearing and obeisance-paying guests and imperial subjects. This example demonstrates that theatre, like other forms of courtly art, served the individual rulers’ desire to embody virtue, to entertain at leisure, and to project aspirations.