History,Culture, and Politics： On Historical Formation and Identity Dilemmas of ＂China＂

This lecture is concerned with some historical issues of ＂China,＂ ＂territory, culture＂ and ＂identity＂ that are placed against the background of politics, culture and scholarship in contemporary China. I want to draw attention to the question of how historians understand and interpret ＂China.＂ It addresses the following questions. First, where did the idea of ＂China＂ come from？ and how did it become a topic of scholarly research？ What kind of dilemmas does ＂China＂ confront in its current condition and historical interpretation？ Second, how do various new historical theories and methods in international academic circles enrich our understanding of ＂China＂？ Third, how does China＇s history and reality challenge the theories of ＂empire＂ and ＂nation-state＂？ Fourth, is it possible to write ＂East Asian history＂？ Does ＂national history＂ prove still effective in describing China or East Asia？     

Li,Huaiyin, Reinventing Modern China： Imagination and Authenticity in Chinese Historical Writing

Li Huaiyin＇s new book deals with the dialectic and competing processes ofwriting the history of ＂modem China＂ in China during the past century. Li presents the writing of history as a literary genre that has produced multiple narratives in different periods, narratives that corresponded to or were instigated by particular socio-political （especially political） circumstances of the protagonists of his story. In general, Li depicts these narratives as ＂romantic,＂ ＂optimistic,＂ or ＂pessimistic,＂ based on two major conflicting paradigms （or ＂grand narratives＂--Li often uses ＂narrative＂ and ＂paradigm＂ interchangeably）： ＂modernization＂ and ＂revolutionary.＂     

China＇s Contested Capital： Architecture,Ritual, and Response in Nanjing

After over a decade of civil war, the Nationalists under Chiang Kai-shek established something of a national government in 1928. This marvelous book explores how they built up Nanjing as China＇s new capital city over the following decade. Musgrove argues that the Nationalists＇ city planning, public building architecture, mausoleum of Sun Yat-sen and other memorials, and new state rituals all promoted the new government＇s legitimacy, even though that government remained relatively weak and divided. In line with more favorable views of the ＂Nanjing Decade＂ that have come to replace an earlier generation of historiography, Musgrove believes that the government＇s accomplishments in building up Nanjing were real and significant, albeit limited.     

Rosner,Erhard, Guide Signs of the Empire： Programmatic Place Names in the History of China （in German）

Successive dynasties used to emblazon their respective political agendas on the Chinese landscape by bestowing programmatic names on the towns and cities of their empire. Depending on the ruling elites＇ propagandistic aims, these messages could be allusive or blunt, bellicose or pacific, deprecating towards outsiders or culturally inclusive.     

Intolerable Cruelty： Marriage,Law, and Society in Early Twentieth-Century China

In Intolerable Cruelty： Marriage, Law, and Society in Early Twentieth-Century China, Margaret Kuo argues that legal reforms allowed wives in the Republican era unprecedented opportunities to leave abusive or undesirable marriages. In addition to reevaluating Republican-era law, Kuo significantly contributes to scholarship by acknowledging the agency of the wives who brought forth their cases in court. In contrast to CCP scholarship that ＂has worked to expunge GMD contributions＂ to women＇s rights and family law （p. 12）, Kuo argues that the Republican era offered flexible solutions during ＂an important transitional period＂ （19. 198）.     

Perry,Elizabeth, Anyuan： Mining China＇s Revolutionary Tradition

In the Spring of 2008 I visited Pingxiang, a mining town close to the border between Jiangxi and Hunan provinces. I posed for a picture in the empty plaza in front of a large revolutionary era memorial hall with a statue of a reedy young Mao in a scholar＇s gown on the steps leading up to the entrance. The front gates, however, were locked and the plaza had the abandoned air of a ghost town. In the pouring rain I hired a taxi to drive me into the grounds of the Anyuan Coal Mining Company, past another statue of Mao, this one of the older, fuller bodied statesman. I took some more pictures of a dilapidated shell of a building dating from the days when German engineers had dominated the technical staff at the mines. On a dreary rain soaked day, smokestacks across the town still billowed, adding to the gloom, and I remember a feeling of desolation and the desire to get away as soon as possible. This was the Pingxiang of my memory.     

魏扬：搜尽奇峰绘心象

魏扬,1928年11月生于武汉。国家一级美术师。曾任湖北省美术院副院长、湖北中国画艺委会主任、湖北书画院院士,现为中国美术家协会会员、湖北省文史研究馆馆员、联合国世界教科文卫组织专家成员等。出版有《魏扬画集》《当代中国画家魏扬画集》《魏扬山水画集》《中国当代名家画集·魏扬》等,多次获国内外艺术展赛金、银奖,并获“中国当代百名杰出画家”“优秀人民艺术家”等荣誉称号。曾被美国纽约世界著名艺术家传记中心评为“世界著名艺术家”荣誉称号,获“金帆奖”。     

Onstage Rumor,Offstage Voices： The Politics of the Present in the Contemporary Opera of Li Yu

Much scholarly work on the literary culture of the early Qing dynasty has focused on notions of memory, trauma, and nostalgia. In contrast, this essay investigates the ＂contemporary operas＂ （shishi xiqu） of the seventeenth-century Suzhou playwright Li Yu to argue for the importance of the notion of＂the present day.＂ How is this notion of the present day given dramatic form in Li Yu＇s operas and what implications does this interest in the contemporary have for the broader cultural scene of the early Qing dynasty？ This paper will answer these questions by investigating one dramatic technique favored by Li Yu： the inclusion of snippets of rumor and ＂news＂ reports into the play. By including such contemporary media reports, Li Yu not only generates a constantly evolving sense of the present, he also projects this sense of immediacy beyond the fiction of the stage into the ＂reality＂ of the audience, creating a form of opera eminently suited for both reflecting and producing local Suzhou activism, as evidenced in Li Yu＇s most famous work, Qing zhong pu （Registers of the pure and loyal）, a work chronicling the popular Suzhou protests of the mid-1620s and Wanli yuan （Reunion over ten thousand miles）, which stages the dissolution and reintegration of family and empire right after the fall of the Ming.     

向京 女人的身体,女人的情感

在中国当代女艺术家中,向京无疑是把"我的身体我的感情"做得精微、做向极致的一位。9月6日,向京2006-2007新作展《全裸》在北京798当代唐人艺术中心开幕。她给自己2年多的"狂做"一个交待——除了比较面熟的《敞开