Current Announcements

Call for Papers: The 25th Biennial Conference of the European Association for Chinese Studies (EACS)

2nd Dec 2023

Tallinn, Estonia
27–30th Aug 2024

The conference is organized by the EACS in collaboration with the Department of Asian Studies at the Institute of Humanities of Tallinn University (TLU). Scholars in all areas of Chinese Studies from Europe and beyond are kindly invited to submit their proposals for contributions in one of the following disciplinary categories:

  1. Language and Linguistics
  2. Chinese as Foreign Language, Education
  3. Literature (Premodern)
  4. Literature (Modern)
  5. Philosophy and History of Thought
  6. History (Premodern)
  7. History (Modern)
  8. Religion
  9. Law
  10. Economics
  11. Politics and International Relations
  12. Art and Archaeology
  13. Museum Studies and Material Culture
  14. Environmental Studies
  15. Anthropology and Sociology
  16. Digital Humanities
  17. Music, Media, and Performing Arts
  18. Gender and Queer Studies
  19. Science, Technology and Medicine
  20. Sinophone Worlds
  21. Interdisciplinary field

The board accepts proposals in the following formats:

  1. Individual paper proposal: abstract, max. 250 words.
  2. Panel proposals: panel abstract, max. 250 words; names of the panel organizer, chair, participants, and optionally a discussant; 3-4 individual abstracts, with max. 250 words each.
… Read more ⤻

Call for Papers: Journal of the European Association for Chinese Studies (JEACS), Volume 5 (2024)

28th Oct 2023

Deadline: 17th Dec 2023

For its fifth volume, the Journal of the European Association for Chinese Studies (JEACS) invites scholars to submit papers on Exegesis and Commentary in the pre-modern, modern, and contemporary Chinese world. We welcome unpublished papers that consider commentary as textual material and analyse its linguistic, stylistic, and rhetorical dimensions. Topics may include, but are not limited to:

  • Margins, marginality, and page layout,
  • Commentaries, legitimacy, and canonization,
  • Gloss, elucidation, explanation, and translation,
  • Ways of rephrasing, relocating, illustrating, re-expressing,
  • Layers of exegetical texts: accumulation, digression, or dialogue,
  • Intellectual traditions and knowledge transmission,
  • Types of relations between base text and commentaries,
  • Commentaries as separate texts,
  • Genre-dependent commentaries,
  • Reading transformations and the performativity of commentary,
  • Self-commentary.

Deadline: December 17th 2023

Papers written in English (max. 10,000 words) should be supplemented with an abstract and 5 keywords in both English and Chinese, and should follow the Author Guidelines and Style Sheet provided on the submission webpage:
https://journals.univie.ac.at/index.php/jeacs/about/submissions… Read more ⤻

Call for Submissions: EACS Young Scholar Award 2024 (YSA)

25th Oct 2023

Deadline: 22nd Jan 2024

The Board of the European Association for Chinese Studies is pleased to announce again the EACS Young Scholar Award (YSA). The purpose of this award is to encourage research in Chinese studies among young scholars, especially, but not exclusively, scholars studying and working at European institutions.

The Young Scholar Award is made possible through the generous support by the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange. It was first awarded during the 2004 EACS biennial conference in Heidelberg. Many papers submitted by shortlisted candidates in previous competitions have now appeared as peer-reviewed publications. The next YSA will be announced at the 25th biennial conference in Tallinn, Estonia, 27-30 August 2024.

Eligibility:

Candidates for the YSA should be 35 years of age or below (2022 YSA candidates must have been born in 1988 or later) AND their rank of academic employment should be below that of Associate Professor or Senior Lecturer, or the equivalent ranks in other systems.… Read more ⤻

Members’ Publications: The ENP-China project

19th Oct 2023
The ENP-China project is pleased to announce the release of the Biographical Dictionary of Occupied China (BDOC) [https://bdoc.enpchina.eu/], an online resources created by historian David Serfass (Inalco). The BDOC seeks to address a significant lacuna in the scholarship surrounding the Japanese occupation of China (1937-1945). The current tally of entries stands at 170, but this number is anticipated to grow steadily, aspiring to emulate the breadth and depth of “the Boorman”. The vision for the BDOC is to evolve into a collaborative endeavor, uniting historians specializing in occupied China. Please check out the full presentation of the  Biographical Dictionary of Occupied China (BDOC) on the ENP-China reasearch blog [https://enepchina.hypotheses.org/5304].

… Read more ⤻

Members’ Publications: Helena F. S. Lopes

10th Aug 2023
Cambridge University Press, 2023

Helena F. S. Lopes, Cardiff University, Neutrality and Collaboration in South China: Macau during the Second World War
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2023

The South China enclave of Macau was the first and last European colonial settlement in East Asia and a territory at the crossroads of different empires. In this highly original study, Helena F. S. Lopes analyses the layers of collaboration that developed from neutrality in Macau during the Second World War. Exploring the intersections of local, regional and global dynamics, she unpacks the connections between a plurality of actors with competing and collaborative interests, including Chinese Nationalists, Communists and collaborators with Japan, Portuguese colonial authorities and British and Japanese representatives. Lopes argues that neutrality eased the movement of refugees of different nationalities who sought shelter in Macau during the war and that it helped to guarantee the maintenance of two remnants of European colonialism – Macau and Hong Kong.… Read more ⤻

Vacant Position: Assistant Professor in Classical Chinese and Middle-Period China

10th Aug 2023

Univ. of Cambridge, UK
Deadline: 8th Dec 2023

Applications are invited for an Assistant Professor in Classical and Literary Chinese and Middle-Period China in the Department of East Asian Studies, University of Cambridge UK, starting on 1 September 2024.

The successful candidate will deliver teaching in classical and literary Chinese at all levels, to the highest standard, as well as lectures and seminars on pre-modern China at undergraduate and graduate level. The successful candidate will be expected to contribute to the administration of the Chinese Studies program, offer supervisions (small-scale tutorials), and supervise research students at both the master’s and doctoral levels. An outstanding command of classical and literary Chinese is a prerequisite.

The successful applicant will engage in high-level research and publish in their specialist field. We invite applicants whose research and teaching interests are in medieval and middle-period China, broadly conceived here as the period from the end of the Han to the end of the Yuan.… Read more ⤻

Member’s Publications: Thorben Pelzer

10th Aug 2023
Brill, 2023

Pelzer, Thorben, 2023. Engineering Trouble: US–Chinese Experiences of Professional Discontent, 1905–1945. China Studies, Volume 52. Boston: Brill, 2023.

In the early twentieth century, the first large batch of Chinese civil engineers had graduated from the USA, and together with their American senior colleagues returned to China. They were enthusiastic about reconstructing the young republic by building new railways, highways, and canals, but what the engineers experienced in China, including mismanaged railways, useless highways, and silted canals, did not always meet their expectations and ideals. In this book, Thorben Pelzer makes the stories of these Chinese and American engineers come to life through exploring previously unpublished letters, rare images, maps, and a rich biographical dataset. He argues that the experiences of these engineers include a myriad of contradictions, disillusionment, and discontent, keeping the engineering profession in a constant flux of searching for its meaning and its place in Republican China.

Download this announcement’s original PDF:

62246Download
… Read more ⤻

Members’ Publications: Nina Borevskaia

10th Aug 2023
Shans 2023, 2 Vols.

Nina Borevskaia, 2023. The translation of Luo Maodeng’s novel The Tale of Zheng He’s Voyage to the Western Ocean (San Bao taijian Xiyang ji, 1597). Moscow, Shans Publishing House. 2 Vols.

The Russian translation of one of the classical Chinese novels Sanbao taijian xia Xiyang tongsu yanyi (Xiyangji, Author Luo Maodeng, 1597) was published in Moscow by Shanse publishing house in May 2023 (slightly abridged version, in two volumes with three appendixes, coloured illustratins and many comments), The translation was made by Nina Borevskaia, EACS member for almost 35 years. The book is in two volumes, each of about 440 pages. It has a welcome address by the famous modern writer Wang Meng and a long Preface in the format of the interview between the translator and the author called “Over the Abyss of Time and Space”. The translation is provided with several thousand comments (references).

English Abstract

Abstract: The translation of Luo Maodeng’s novel
The Tale of Zheng He’s Voyage to the Western Ocean
(San Bao taijian Xiyang ji, 1597)

According to the generally accepted Eurocentric ideas shared by many historians, the era of great geographical discoveries of the 15th — 16th centuries began with the expeditions of Vasco da Gama, Christopher Columbus, and Ferdinand Magellan.… Read more ⤻

ERCCS: Reviews of new academic books from China

14th Jun 2023

The European Research Centre for Chinese Studies (ERCCS) in Beijing, a joint centre of the École française d’Extrême-Orient and the Max Weber Stiftung, regularly publishes reviews of new academic books from China on its blog: https://erccs.hypotheses.org/category/publications/book-reviews
Here the latest reviews:
• 翁有为《近代中国之变轴：军阀话语建构、省制变革与国家》(Weng Youwei: The Axis of Change in Modern China. The Construction of the Discourse on Warlordism, the Reform of the Provincial System, and the State) reviewed by Clemens Büttner
• 吕庙军《清华简与文武周公史事研究》(Lü Miaojun: Research on Tsinghua Bamboo-Slip Manuscripts and Historical Events of King Wen, King Wu, and the Duke of Zhou) reviewed by Felix Bohlen
• 李小尉《新中国初期的中国人民救济总会研究》(Li Xiaowei: Research on the People’s Relief Association of China in the Early Period of the PRC) reviewed by Henrike Rudolph
• 陳少明《夢覺之間：〈莊子〉思想錄》(Chen Shaoming: Between Waking and Dreaming. Reflections on the Zhuangzi) reviewed by Dennis Schilling
• 李尹蒂《晚清农学的兴起与困境》(Li Yindi: The Rise and Dilemma of Agricultural Science in Late Qing Dynasty) reviewed by Jörg H. Hüsemann
• 张昌平《吉金类系：海外及港台地区收藏的中国青铜器研究》(Zhang Changping: Auspicious Metals’ Categories and System: A Study of Chinese Bronze Vessels Collected Overseas and in the Hong-Kong and Taiwan Region) reviewed by Maria Khayutina

See also the selective bibliography of books on Chinese history from China for 2022: https://erccs.hypotheses.org/1880… Read more ⤻

Members’ Publications: Qing Cao

1st Feb 2023
Routledge Studies in Chinese Discourse Analysis

The Language of Nation-State Building in Late Qing China – A Case Study of the Xinmin Congbao and the Minbao, 1902-1910, Qing Cao, Routledge Studies in Chinese Discourse Analysis, January 2023: 148pp

The Language of Nation-State Building in Late Qing China investigates the linguistic and intellectual roots of China’s modern transformation by presenting a systematic study of the interplay between language innovation and socio-political upheavals in the final decade of the Qing Empire.
This book will be useful and relevant to academics, postgraduate students and final year undergraduate students in the field of Chinese Studies, and anyone
interested in the role of language in shaping modern intellectual history.… Read more ⤻

Open Positions in Modern Chinese Literature

5th Jan 2023

The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Deadline: 31st Jan 2023

Open positions – Professor(s) / Associate Professor(s) / Assistant Professor(s) in Modern Chinese Literature, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Department/ Institution: Department of Chinese Language and Literature, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Closing Date: 31 January 2023

The Department of Chinese Language and Literature is now inviting applications for the posts of Professor / Associate Professor / Assistant Professor in the area of modern Chinese literature. Applicants with research interests in (1) modern Chinese literature, transnational/global Chinese literature, and (2) Chinese film and media studies are particularly preferred.
Areas of specialization are open, but preference will be given to candidates whose research falls in the period of 1970s and beyond for the post in modern Chinese literature. Applicants of the last recruitment exercise are welcome to apply.

For more details, please refer to https://cuhk.taleo.net/careersection/cu_career_teach/jobdetail.ftl?job=220002R7&tz=GMT%2B08%3A00&tzname=Asia%2FHong_Kong

For general inquiries, please contact the Department by email at chi-dapc@cuhk.edu.hk… Read more ⤻

Call for Papers: Youth Political Mobilization and Socialization in Contemporary China

20th Mar 2022
8th Sep 2022 (All day) Virtual event, registration required Deadline: 30th Mar 2022 2022 marks the 100th anniversary of the official establishment of the Chinese Communist Youth League (中国共产主义青年团, CYL), one of the largest youth political organizations in the world. As the Chinese Communist Party’s assistant and reserve force, the CYL is the Party’s main channel to socialize youth in the official political discourse and practices, and mobilize them to support the current system. Despite the importance of the organization, English-language academic work on its history, politics and multifaceted role in contemporary China remains

Members’ Publications: Xiaoyan Hu

21st Nov 2022

The Aesthetics of Qiyun and Genius: Spirit Consonance in Chinese Landscape Painting and Some Kantian Echoes. Published by Lexington Books (an imprint of Rowman & Littlefield), 320 Pages, 2021.

In The Aesthetics of Qiyun and Genius: Spirit Consonance in Chinese Landscape Painting and Some Kantian Echoes, Xiaoyan Hu provides an interpretation of the notion of qiyun, or spirit consonance, in Chinese painting, and considers why creating a painting—especially a landscape painting—replete with qiyun is regarded as an art of genius, where genius is an innate mental talent. Through a comparison of the role of this innate mental disposition in the aesthetics of qiyun and Kant’s account of artistic genius, the book addresses an important feature of the Chinese aesthetic tradition, one that evades the aesthetic universality assumed by a Kantian lens. 

Drawing on the views of influential sixth to fourteenth-century theorists and art historians and connoisseurs, the first part explains and discusses qiyun and its conceptual development from a notion mainly applied to figure painting to one that also plays an enduring role in the aesthetics of landscape painting.… Read more ⤻

CrossAsia Online-Survey: “Chinese Studies Research Conditions in Europe”

4th Sep 2022
Between research needs and access to resources - Getting an overview of the situation in different countries in Europe Deadline: 5th Sep 2021 Despite the growing importance of Asia-related expertise, European researchers and their communities often have only limited access to digital material published on Asian and international markets because researchers are comparatively small in number and dispersed over institutions, countries and regions. We at CrossAsia would like to check and underpin our assumption with this questionnaire on the research conditions and requirements in Chinese studies in different countries in Europe. Our goal - together with European

Statement by the EACS Board regarding the sanctions issued by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs against European China researchers 

12th Apr 2021
The European Association for Chinese Studies (EACS) supports and advocates for independent academic research on China and hence disapproves of the People’s Republic of China’s reaction to foreign governments’ and administrations’ diplomatic actions by holding directly responsible academic researchers, their relatives, and their institutions in Europe. As an independent professional academic association of European scholars, EACS trusts in the good faith of researchers and in the transparency of academic research on China, and firmly believes that such approaches contribute significantly to the sustainability of international relations.

In Memoriam: Stefano Zacchetti

4th Jul 2023
Professor Stefano Zacchetti, who died on 29 April 2020 at the age of 52, was one of the world’s most distinguished scholars and teachers in the field of Buddhist Studies. His untimely death has shocked all of us who knew him and were fortunate enough to be his friends and colleagues. An intellectual of the highest order whose boundless energy and thoroughness showed in each and every one of his published papers and monographs in both English and Italian, he was also an exceptionally charming and generous man, a loving father, and a steadfast and loyal friend. As I sit down to write this tribute to the Yehan Numata Professor of Buddhist Studies and fellow of Balliol College, Oxford, I do it in the full knowledge that he would quite possibly