Fairbank Center Upcoming Events Calender

Below is brief information on events planned for 2009-10. More details will be available soon on our new events calendar (under construction). To join our e-mail list for weekly announcements of upcoming events, please send a message with the word 'subscribe' as the subject to: fairbankevents-list-request@lists.fas.harvard.edu

Special Events

Saturday November 7, 2009, 9:00am - 5:00 pm
Infrastructure Workshop
"New Linkages: Infrastructure and Entrepreneurship in Republican and Contemporary China"
Two panels with papers by historians, political scienctists, and economic historians on transportation, communications and investment institutions/networks before and after 1949 will provide the historical context for assessing China's ongoing infrastructure development.
Organizers: Elisabeth Koll and Anne Reinhardt
Presenters: Li Dan (Fudan University, Shanghai); Eric Harwit (University of Hawi'i); Zhao Minghua (University of Greenwhich, U.K.); Anne Reinhardt (Williams College); Elisabeth Koll (Harvard Business School); Regina Abrami (Harvard Business School) read on>>

--Rescheduled--
Thursday, December 10, 2009, 4:00 pm
 Charles Neuhauser Memorial Lecture
Thomas Fingar
Payne Distinguished Lecturer, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University.
“China on the World Stage”
China’s “rise” is a big deal. Pundits, politicians, and many scholars have declared China’s increased capabilities and engagement on the world stage to be the seminal development of the late 20th century and the foremost security challenge of 21st. Both characterizations are debatable, but one need not regard them as literally true in order to acknowledge the importance of China’s rise to the future of the international system and the need to move beyond straight-line projections and alarmist predictions. read on >>

Friday and Saturday March 5 and 6, 2010
Humanism Conference
“Humanistic International: Humanism, China, Globalism”
This conference tracing humanism’s global trail starts in Florence in the 16th century and winds up in Shanghai in the 20th century with intermediate stops in 16th century Macau and 20th century Cambridge, Massachusetts. A key relay is Irving Babitt (1865-1933) who promoted “humanism” as a way to cope with modernity, highlighting the thoughts of “human” in Chinese and Western traditions. His Chinese students in the early 20th century returned to China to influence many… beginning with these facts of global interaction, scholars will address other voices of humanism in the modern world and rethink the humanities as an academic subject, a cultural institution, and a lived experience in the new century.
Organizers: David Wang and Lindsay Waters

Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, April 14-16, 2010
Reischauer Lectures
Timothy Brook is principal of St. John’s College and professor of history at University of British Columbia. His research ranges from Ming history, culture, and economy to modern civil society, Sino-Japanese collaboration, and international commerce. The Association for Asian Studies awarded The Confusions of Pleasure: Commerce and Culture in Ming China the Levenson Prize in 2000. His most recent book, Vermeer’s Hat: The Seventeenth Century and the Dawn of the Global World, won the 2009 Mark Lynton History Prize awarded by Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism and the Nieman Foundation at Harvard.

Spring/summer 2010, dates TBA
Sex Workers and Public Health Conference
“Sex Workers and Sexually Transmitted Disease in Asia:
Integrating Empirical and Interpretive Data To Accelerate a Public Health Response”
This conference uses an interdisciplinary framework to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the resources that sex workers in different Asian contexts require to address sexually transmitted infections and other important social problems.
Steering Committee: Joseph Tucker, Arthur Kleinman, Allan Brandt, Joan Kaufman, Jacqueline Bhabha.

Spring 2010, dates TBA
Art Exhibit, Panel Discussion, and Lectures
“Visual Images, Media, and the Public in Contemporary China”
This will be a weeklong series of events, including an exhibition of photographs by Wang Di to be displayed in the Fairbank Center office area. Lectures and panel discussions will feature Yin Jinan, Dean of the School of Humanities, Central Academy of Fine Arts, as well as Wang Di, photographer, rock musician, and composer for CCTV, who was recently featured in the Venice Biennale.
Organizer: Eugene Wang

Series

China Business Seminar
In this series, leading practitioners and scholars of Chinese business are invited to address critical issues relevant to understanding China as both a competitor and a place for doing business. The seminar aims to address leading policy matters, the contemporary business environment in historical perspective, and research on business history.
Organizers: Regina Abrami, Elisabeth Köll, and William Kirby

Friday at 12:15 pm
October 30 Victor Zhikai Gao, private equity consultant read on >>

China Gender Studies Workshop
Fridays at 4:15 pm in CGIS South, S153 unless otherwise noted
This workshop brings together scholars whose research on China in various disciplines and time periods examines the significance of gender for social, cultural, economic, and political issues.
Organizers: Vanessa Fong, Christina Gilmartin, Ellen Widmer, and Weili Ye.

September 25 Xueping Zhong, Tufts University read on>>
October 16 Eriberto (Fuji) Lozada, Davidson College read on>>
February 5  Susan Mann, University of California at Davis
(in CGIS South, S020, co-sponsored by the China Humanities Seminar)
March 3 Wang Zheng, University of Michigan


China Humanities Seminar
Mondays at 4:00 pm at 2 Divinity unless otherwise noted
Covering the whole span of Chinese experience predating the modern era, the China Humanities Seminar addresses all aspects of Chinese civilization—literature, history, philosophy, religion, art history, and the performing arts.
Organizers: Wai-yee Lee and Vincent Leung

October 5 Ning Ma, Tufts University read on>>
October 19 Eugenio Menegon, Boston University read on >>
November 13 (Friday)  Tobie Meyer-Fong, John Hopkins University (in Knafel Building, K262, cosponsored by the Modern Chinese History Seminar) read on >>
February 5 (Friday) Susan Mann, University of California at Davis (CGIS South, S020, co-sponsored by the China Gender Studies Workshop)
February 8 Cynthia Brokaw, Ohio State University
March 8 Ellen Widmer, Wellesley College


China Lunchtime Seminar
Varying Days, 12:15 pm, in S153
The lunchtime seminar series offers an informal venue for visiting academics and practitioners to present their expertise on China-related issues to the Fairbank Center community.
Organizers: Merle Goldman and Lydia Chen

October 6 (Tuesday) Usha Haley, Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation read on>>
October 20 (Tuesday) Lynne Joiner, journalist read on >>
November 12 (Thursday) Donglin Han, An Wang Postdoctoral Fellow read on>>
November 16 (Monday) Peter Vamos, Hungarian Academy of Sciences read on >>
November 19 (Thursday) May-Britt Stumbaum, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs read on >>
December 7 (Monday) Audra Ang, Nieman Fellow, Harvard; James Reynolds, Nieman Fellow, Harvard; Craig Simons, Knight Fellow, MIT read on >>
April 20 (Tuesday.) Srini Sitaraman, Clark University


China Politics and Foreign Policy Workshop
Mondays at 12:15 pm, in K262 unless otherwise noted
This new series will bring to the Fairbank Center experts from academia and government to offer unique perspectives on contemporary trends in Chinese politics and society and in foreign policy.
Organizers: Joseph Fewsmith and Robert Ross

September 28 Dennis Wilder, Brookings Institution
(in S010, Tsai Auditorium) read on>>
October 26 Murray Scot Tanner, RAND Corporation read on>>
November 23 Daniel Rosen, Rhodium Group read on>>


Chinese Religions Seminar
Fridays at 12:15 pm  in CGIS South, S153
This series is focused on cutting edge research in the study of Chinese religions.  By inviting scholars from different disciplinary perspectives and with different areas of specialty, the seminar hopes to explore the complexity of Chinese religions, both in the past and in the ethnographic present.
Organizers: Michael Puett and Robert Weller

October 16 Thomas Borchart, University of Vermont read on>>
November 13 T. J. Hinrichs, Cornell University read on >>
February 12 Sarah Schneewind, University of California at Davis
April 23 Erin Cline, Georgetown University


Emergent Visions
Thursdays at 7:00 pm in CGIS South, S020
This will be a series of exceptional independent documentary films produced in China and Taiwan, followed by scholarly discussions led by faculty and students.  The films selected range from the just released to classics and evince distinct, compelling cinematic visions; yet they all share a commitment to serving as witness to the rapid changes taking place in China today.
Organizers:  Eileen Chow with Tarryn Chun, Jie Li, J.P. Sniadecki, and Ying Qian

September 24 Wheat Harvest read on>>
October 22 Petition read on >>
November 19 Rumination read on >>
January 28 Dancing with Oneself read on >>
February 25
April 22


Modern Chinese History Seminar
Fridays at 4:15 pm in S153, unless otherwise noted
In this series, scholars present their works-in-progress on topics concerning the Qing dynasty to the present. The seminars introduce the research of young scholars in the region and innovative projects being conducted by mid-career scholars.
Organizers: Henrietta Harrison and Rebecca Nedostup

October 2 Claire Roberts, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study read on >>
October 30 Ya-pei Kuo, International Institute for Asian Studies read on >>
November 13 Tobie Meyer Fong, Johns Hopkins University, (in Knafel Building, K262, co-sponsored by the China Humanities Seminar) read on>>
February 19 Stephen Platt, University of Massachusetts at Amherst
April 9 James Hevia, University of Chicago


New England China Seminar
First seminar session begins at 5:15 pm, and the second at 7:30 pm. S020 unless otherwise noted.
The New England China Seminar offers two lectures in one evening, with a dinner break in between, attracting an audience from the regional community. Scholars with interesting projects or books on modern and contemporary China are invited to present their work. This year’s program includes exciting panel presentations organized by Fairbank Center associates in research. Organizer: Merle Goldman

October 8 (Thursday)           
5:00  The Making of Modern Xinjiang
            Mark Elliott, Harvard University
7:30  Xinjiang after the Urumqi Uprisings: The New Normal
            Rian Thum, PhD candidate, Harvard University
            read on>>

November 17 (Tuesday)  
5:15 The Maritime Transformation of Ming China
            Andrew R. Wilson, US Naval War College
7:30 China’s Maritime Transformation
            Andrew E. Erickson, US Naval War College
            Discussant: Lyle Goldstein, US Naval War College
            Moderator: Robert Ross, Boston College
         read on >>

December 1 (Tuesday.)  
5:15 Prisoner of the State:
         The Great Publishing Coup of 2009
            Adi Ignatius
            Bao Pu
            Renee Chiang
            Discussant: Roderick MacFarquhar
7:30 What Does Zhao Ziyang Tell Us About Elite Politics
            in China?
           Joseph Fewsmith, Boston University
           read on >>

February 4 (Thursday)           
5:15 TBA
            William C. Kirby, Harvard University
7:30 TBA
            Deborah S. Davis, Yale University

March 23 (Tuesday)           
5:15 TBA
            Richard Baum, University of California at Los Angeles
7:30 Global Shanghai, 1850-2010: A History in Fragments
            Jeffery Wasserstrom, University of California at Irvine

April 19 (Monday)           
China’s One Child Policy after 30 Years: Time for a Change?
            Joan Kaufman, Brandeis University
            Yong Cai, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
            Wang Feng, University of California at Irvine
            Gu Baochang, People's University of China
            Zhen Zhenzhen, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
            Siri Tellier, Harvard School of Public Health
            Borje Lunggren, former Swedish Ambassador to China


New England East Asian Art History Seminars
This series presents two or three scholarly lectures of related subjects on East Asian Art History on Sautrday afternoons. Scholars, curators, graduate students, and interested public join to discuss the lectures.
Organizers: Susan Bush, Yukio Lippit, Melissa McCormick and Eugene Wang, with Nozomi Naoi, Philip Bloom, and Alan Yeung.
November 18 Katharine Burnett, University of California, Davis
read on >>



Taiwan Studies Workshop
The Taiwan Studies Workshop presents public programming and academic conferences concerned with all aspects of the politics, society and history of Taiwan. Each January, the workshop organizes a group of specialists who visit Taiwan and the mainland to exchange views with scholars and government officials on matters related to cross-strait relations and American policy in Asia.
Organizer: Steven Goldstein

 

 






 


      
 

Special Events
China Business Seminar
China Gender Studies Workshop
China Humanities Seminar
China Lunchtime Seminar
China Politics and Foreign Policy Workshop
Chinese Religions Seminar
Emergent Visions
Modern Chinese History Seminar
New England China Seminar
New England East Asian Art History Seminars
Taiwan Studies Workshop

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