HICCS 2025

This panel examines the interplay of politics and society in modern China, exploring collaboration and colonialism in Tibetan grasslands during early Maoist rule, the origins of Red Guard factionalism during the Cultural Revolution, and the symbolic role of automobiles in China's early industrialization.

Benno Weiner
Carnegie Mellon University, Associate Professor

Title:
Collaboration and Colonialism on the Tibetan Grasslands of Early-Maoist China: The Political Lives of a Patriotic Nationality Representative

Abstract:
Among the thorniest issues historians face when researching non-Han communities during the Maoist period is evaluating the political lives and legacies of members of the pre-1949 traditional elite who after 1949 were enlisted into the Chinese Communist Party’s United Front (tongyi zhanxian). These were people who under different circumstances would have been targeted by the new regime as class enemies. Instead, they were christened “patriotic nationality representatives” (aiguo minzu daibiao) and given positions as leaders of local and regional “nationality autonomous areas.” I have written about the Party’s ideological justification for opting, at least for a time, to preserve and promote non-Han indigenous elites (2020, 2023). Acting both as agents of the new state and through the charismatic authority of their indigenous positions, these figures would prove pivotal in the establishment CCP power across non-Han borderlands in the early years of the People’s Republic.
Borrowing from theorists of colonial collaboration such as Ronald Robinson’s “excentric idea of imperialism” (1986) and Uradyn Bulag’s notion of “collaborative nationalism” (2010), this paper explores the contemporary decisions made by one Tibetan “patriotic nationality representative” as a grassroots vantage point from which to consider the complex interplay of agency, belief, coercion, and resistance within a colonial setting that masked itself both through a transformative ideology and by demands for the active political participation of the colonized. Gélek Gyatso (1920-1969, T. gde legs rgya mtsho, C. Gelei Jiacuo) was a locally prominent monk-official from contemporary Qinghai province in the region Tibetan speakers refer to as Amdo. Most of what is known about Gélek Gyatso comes from official Chinese-language sources published in the 1990s and early 2000s that celebrate his life as an exemplary United Front figure. Unlike most of his contemporaries, however, Gélek Gyatso left a spotty but revealing archival footprint which suggests a more complex political subjectivity. Augmented by insights drawn from other regionally prominent United Front figures, this paper
considers a range of possible interpretations for the actions of Gélek Gyatso and other traditional elites in Amdo and beyond when confronted with unprecedented challenges but also new opportunities presented by incorporation into an extraordinarily interventionist, transformative, and ultimately colonial state power.
(Refer to the speaker's profile page for full abstract)

Jun Yang
Academy of History and Documentationnof Socialism, Department of History, East China Normal University, Junior Fellow and Assistant Researcher

Title:
Rethinking the Origins of Red Guard Factionalism in Beijing’s High Schools: Three Cases Studies at the First
Two Months of Cultural Revolution

Abstract:
Existing literature on the evolution of the Red Guards movement has highlighted opposing factions that violently fought against one another and produced sociological and political interpretations to explain mass factionalism. Despite significant differences, researchers generally attribute factionalism to the debates over the so-called “blood-line theory” in the late summer of 1966. However, this attribution has tended to inadvertently reproduce certain key features of the Red Guards’ own political understanding at the time. My research seeks to reconsider established interpretations of Red Guard factionalism by examining three long-neglected high schools (Beijing Normal High, Girls’ High and No. 65), which played critical roles in the early Red Guard movement. Utilizing newly available sources, this paper will focus on the role of party officials’ work teams in these schools and argue that by dividing students based on family class status and initiating antagonisms that pitted some against others, work teams had amplified fissures that already existed on campus and later exploded into factionalism in the schools. Following their abrupt withdrawal, students previously supported by work teams continued to use similar tactics for igniting the violent “blood-line” debate in the society at large. Thereby, the students activated preexisting interests and orientations rooted in entrenched social and political cleavages in China’s state-socialist regime. At the same time, Red Guard factionalism and movement developed and expanded from high school campuses to the society.

Chuan Wang
University of Alabama, Full-Time Instructor

Title:
Political Symbols on Wheels: The Role of Automobiles in Early Auto Industrialization in China

Abstract:
While acknowledging the vulnerable industrial foundation left after the civil war, the CCP began to build an independent automobile industry in the early 1950s. These initial years' car manufacturing was primarily a means to fulfill its path to heavy industrialization, which followed the Soviet Union’s model. Motor vehicles like trucks produced were primarily for logistical purposes, thereby preparing for potential warfare. However, this industrialization strategy did not readily introduce passenger cars to the Chinese people. While an independent automobile industry had contributed to the CCP’s industrialization and modernization, it had little connection with everyday mobility. Meanwhile, China issued the household registration system in 1958 to formally restrict population mobilization. In this paper, I argue that at a time when mobility was slow and restrictive, cars paradoxically became a political symbol of the party cadre’s socio-economic privilege and the CCP’s ultimate power. On the one hand, the missing connection between the car and the people, or simply put, the lack of a “people’s car” in the Mao period, demonstrates the CCP’s designer’s role in China’s automobility system. On the other hand, the role of the automobile remained open to redefinition as cars began to enter the everyday lives of the Chinese people.

This panel organized by Dominik Mierzejewski explores the dynamics of governance and policy implementation in China, examining center-province relations under the Belt and Road Initiative, regional strategies for patriotic education, and the influence of Tuanpai within subnational party committees.

Dominik Mierzejewski
University of Lodz, Associate Professor

Title:
Quasi-Centralization of Local Interests and Centre-Province Relations under the Belt and Road Initiative “Umbrella"

Abstract:
This paper addresses the critical issue of the domestication of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Most analyses present the BRI as China's grand strategy, based on imperial approaches supported by the PRC government. This, however, is only part of the complex picture. From a domestic perspective, the BRI is illustrated by discussing central-local dyadic relations from a post-1978 viewpoint. In the first part, the author sheds light on central-provincial government relations by discussing the continuity of fragmentation in China and the horizontal relations between provinces. The second part delves into theoretical debates over China's decentralisation-centralisation cycles, emphasising the post-Tiananmen debates initiated by Wang Huning, Wang Shaoguang, and Hu Angang, known as the new-left movement, which has been further developed under Xi Jinping. The empirical part of the paper presents a case study of practical interactions between Sichuan province and Chongqing municipalities. The paper concludes that, while the central government has taken extra measures to integrate China's fragmented economy, the question of the future 'united market' remains unanswered. As argued in the paper, the international actorness of China’s provinces allows Beijing's government to quasi-centralize local players' interests and navigate their horizontal competition in more coordinated directions. However, the fully integrated direction is seen as a possible threat to the central government's paramount position.

Joanna Nawrotkiewicz
University of Warsaw, PhD Student

Title:
Patriotic Education Across China: Comparing Local Implementation Strategies

Abstract:
Patriotic education policies play a crucial role in maintaining stability in authoritarian regimes. In the PRC, the current version of ideological teachings emerged as a response to the Tian’anmen Square events in 1989; it is aimed at fostering pro-motherland sentiments among the younger generation and mitigating the influence of Western ideologies that could threaten the communist regime. The significance of these initiatives has been underscored by various policy frameworks, including the Outline for Implementing Patriotic Education in 1994, the Outline for Implementing Patriotic Education in the New Era in 2019, and the Patriotic Education Law in 2024.

Despite extensive literature on the subject, a significant gap remains in understanding the local implementation of patriotic education and its variance from national directives. To address this, the paper compares how three provinces — Guangdong, Heilongjiang and Jiangxi — interpret and enact central government guidelines on patriotic education. These provinces have been chosen based on their geographic, economic, historic, and cultural differences.

This comparative analysis focuses on the qualitative review of key policy documents issued by central and local authorities, as well as the quantitative assessment of memory sites designated as “patriotic education bases.” The author examined over 450 memory sites and conducted in-depth analyses in 20 of them during fieldwork in 2023. The content of these bases was categorized into six thematic areas: 1) external conflicts, 2) the history of the CCP until 1949, 3) socialist development and modernization, 4) national history excluding CCP events, 5) traditional cultural heritage, and 6) nature.

Findings highlight significant regional variations in the implementation of patriotic education. In Guangdong, the focus is on collectivism and socialist values, alongside an emphasis on Lingnan culture, influenced by, i.a., the province's proximity to Hong Kong and the need to strengthen national identity. In Jiangxi, there is a strong alignment with national directives, with local authorities leveraging the province's revolutionary history to promote "red tourism" as part of an economic development strategy. Heilongjiang's approach centers on themes of external conflict and socialist modernization, emphasizing national unity against external threats and integrating the region's development into broader national goals.

These findings underscore the complex relationship between central and local governments in China, showing how regional authorities adapt and reinterpret national patriotic education policies to suit regional contexts. Such adaptations not only modify the central government's vision of patriotism but also reveal potential areas of local resistance and innovation within the framework of ideological control. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of governance in authoritarian regimes, offering insights into how regional differences shape the implementation of national policies in China.

Adrian Brona
Jagiellonian University, Research and Teaching Assistant

Title:
The Prevalence of Tuanpai within Subnational Party Committees in China

Abstract:
This paper examines the political career progression within China, focusing on the representation of tuanpai, former members of the Communist Youth League (CYL), within the provincial-level party committees of the Chinese Communist Party. Using a comprehensive dataset of profiles from all 31 provincial-level units (provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities) selected during two seasons of provincial party congresses in 2016/2017 and 2021/2022 (n=6207), this study investigates the prevalence of former CYL members in these committees. Additionally, it explores the correlation between appointing former CYL members as provincial Party Secretaries and the broader representation of former CYL members within those provincial committees.
The analysis is conducted on three levels: 1) an overview of the population of all committees (“global approach”) 2) comparison of tuanpai prevalence across provincial-level committees (“provincial approach”) 3) examination of the provincial party standing committees, which include 10-14 most influential officials in each province (“core groups approach”).
This study aims to reveal changes in recruitment preferences for subnational political elites during Xi Jinping's administration and demonstrate the potential influence of CYL networks on power distribution at the provincial level after a decade of his leadership.

This panel explores transnational educational and talent mobility, addressing trends in Chinese brain drain and gain, challenges faced by international students in China, Chinese community activism for immigrant children's education, and sustainable collaboration in online international language learning, with a focus on Chinese in Japan.

Shibao Guo
University of Calgary, Professor

Title:
Brain Drain, Brain Gain and Brain Circulation: Emerging Trends and Patterns of Chinese Transnational Talent Mobility in a Global World

Abstract:
This paper examines the changing nature of education in the age of transnational mobility between China and the globalized world. It maps the emerging trends and patterns of transnational talent mobilities as part of the overall world trend of increasing transnational migration and international student mobility. A rising China with its economic boom created the economic conditions for the mobility of Chinese people particularly to OECD countries. Guided by a transnationalism framework, we explore how education has to be rethought in the context of transnational mobility as a multidirectional process where diverse identities, forms of attachment and belonging inscribe the experiences of people as they move across geographical, cultural, national, and linguistic boundaries.
(Refer to the speaker's profile page for full abstract)

Baocun Liu
Institute of International and Comparative Education, Beijing Normal University, Professor

Title:
International Students at Chinese Universities: Challenges, Policies and Praxis Responses at Age of Uncertainty

Abstract:
At the age of internationalization, mobility of students becomes a worldwide phenomenon of higher education. In order to implement the National Medium and Long Term Education Reform and Development Plan (2010-2020) and promote the sustainable and healthy development of studying in China, the Chinese Ministry of Education issued the “Study in China Plan” in September 2010, which clearly stated the development goal to build China into a major destination for studying abroad. In 2019, there were over 490,000 international students studying in China, making it the third largest study abroad destination in the world after the United States and the United Kingdom. In 2023, China proposed to build itself into one of the most important world education centers with strong global influence, and to become a major destination for studying abroad in the world. However, in recent years, China’s international student education is facing great challenges. In the era of uncertainty, what are the main tensions between China’s international student education strategy and the external environment? What are the challenges facing international student education in China? What policies has the Chinese government already adopted and what policies will it adopt soon? What are the attitudes and response measures of Chinese higher education institutions?
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Yan Guo
University of Calgary, Professor

Title:
Chinese Community Activism for Equitable Educational Policy for Immigrant Children

Abstract:
Purpose: Existing language policy research puts little emphasis on parental agency, particularly immigrant parents. This study explores how immigrant parents advocated for more equitable policies and practices for English Learners (ELs) in Alberta, Canada.
Theoretical Framework: Informed by critical language policy theory, this study examined how and to what extent language policy responds to social pressures while also serving as “an officially mandated set of rules for language use and form within a nation-state” intended to shape citizens (Spolsky, 2012, p. 3). The study takes policy as discursive practice and examines how policy is experienced and constructed locally by parents (Dagenais, 2013). It focuses on eight components of ELs policy: visibility, designation of responsibility, eligibility, duration, placement, programming, assessment and reporting, and funding (Kouritzin, 2013).
Conclusion and Implications: The study analyzes how parental advocacy groups informed educational change for new Canadians in public schools. The study thus brings new voices of immigrant parents into the educational policy process and challenges the deficit perspective that educators often hold against immigrant parents. Results of this research will provide directions for ELs policies, programs and services, as well as new insights into the effectiveness of advocacy and capacity building of immigrant parents, thus of knowledge mobilization processes (Levin, 2013).
(Refer to the speaker's profile page for full abstract)

Ming Qu
Muroran Institute of Technology, Professor

Title:
Fostering Sustainable Collaboration Through Online International Language Learning: A Case Study of Chinese Language Learning in Japan

Abstract:
The advancement of technology and the Internet has created new opportunities for foreign language learning and teaching. Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) has become widely adopted in universities around the world. The Chinese language course presented in this study was created for university students from China and Japan to study Chinese language and culture together through synchronous online communication (using Zoom) and asynchronous online communication (using Moodle).
This course lasted for 15 weeks, with 75 Japanese students participating in the study. A mixed methods approach was used to evaluate the impact of this course. The results of the quantitative analysis showed a significantly greater increase in intercultural sensitivity for the experimental group compared to the control group. There were no significant differences in test scores between the two groups. The qualitative data showed a preference for this COIL course.

This panel explores the intersections of gender, sexuality, and societal change in China, examining the challenges and transformations of queer identities in a transnational context, the evolution of the "New Woman" through the writings of Wu Ruonan, and the complex interplay of public opinion, media, and judiciary in the 1935 Liu Jinggui case.

Yingying Jiang
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Researcher on the European project 'Dealing with a Resurgent China (DWARC)' at the Center for East Asian Studies, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.

Title:
Queer in China: challenges and transformations in a transnational context

Abstract:
The term queer has historically been stigmatized in the English-speaking world as an insult. However, following the HIV/AIDS crisis in the 1980s and 1990s, activists appropriated this insult to turn it into a critique of normativity. In this context, the queer movement not only includes gender and sexual dissidents who resist dominant heterosexual values and norms, but also critically examines identity politics and questions the binary between homosexuality and heterosexuality, as well as the exclusionary processes that arise both within and outside the gay and lesbian movement. It is important to note that queer theory is inseparable from its struggles, as it draws strength from the social movement and its political agenda. The term queer theory was first mentioned by Teresa de Lauretis in 1990, in her critique and resistance against the normative institutionalization of lesbian and gay studies. In this sense, Warner (1993) adds that queer refers to an anti-normative stance that questions the regimes of the normal that produce exclusion and inclusion, and therefore, it is both a theoretical stance and a political position that claims resistance to a broad and complex field of normativities, which manifest differently in each cultural and political context.

Starting from the genealogy of the term queer, this paper analyzes its transformation in the context of the People's Republic of China, as well as queer Chinese activism from a transnational perspective, to demonstrate that queer subjectivities and politics are a field of constant negotiation, treated in peculiar ways between institutions such as the state, activist and academic sectors and individuals, and shaped also by local and transnational conditions.

The methodology of this research is based on fieldwork conducted in Madrid and other European cities between 2022 and 2024, using participant observation with the Chinese diaspora collective and Chinese queer and feminist activists. Direct participation in their political activities is also incorporated into the analysis. In addition to ethnographic work, the analysis of primary and secondary sources in English, Spanish, and Chinese concerning queer and feminist movements in China is applied.

Shuhui Yin
Macau University of Science and Technology, Assistant Professor

Title:
New Woman” as “Nüshi” and “Nora”: A Case Study of Wu Ruonan’s Woman Writing

Abstract:
Wu Ruonan, identifying herself as a “Nüshi”, actively voiced herself in Chinese vernacular publications since late nineteenth century, and engaged in political and cultural activities as one of the earliest female members of Tongmenghui of China. After the 1911 Revolution in China, she advocated for Chinese modern families of monogamy with her theories and practices. Among which, Wu directly involved with the translations of the “Ibsen Special Issue” of the journal La Jeunesse, contributing to the discourse of “Nora” in rethinking and reshaping women’s possible identities in the family, nation and society. “Nüshi”, originated from Chinese cultural traditions of intellectuals, together with the introducing ideas of “Nora”, constructed a new societal identity of “New Woman” in late nineteenth and early twentieth century China under Wu Ruonan’s woman writing. By analyzing texts, para-texts and intertextuality regarding to Wu Ruonan’s voices and practices, this research will decode the possibilities and also the “weakness” of her “New Woman”.

Yujie Zhu
Jilin University, Ph.D Student

Title:
"The Triple Entanglement and Response of the Public, Media, and Judiciary: A Reexamination of the Liu Jinggui Case of 1935

Abstract:
In 1935, China was colloquially referred to as the "Year of Women's Issues," marked by a surge in incidents involving women's suicides, homicides, and murders, such as the suicide of Ruan Lingyu, the shooting of Liu Jinggui, and the revenge of Shi Jianqiao. Among these, the case of Liu Jinggui shooting Teng Shuang falls into the category of crimes of passion, with its sensational nature and the involvement of female criminality appealing to the public's curiosity. Notably, the three principal figures—Liu Jinggui, Lu Ming, and Teng Shuang—belonged to the intellectual elite, with Lu Ming and Teng Shuang both recognized as outstanding national athletes. Their public identities as members of the intellectual and athletic classes drew significant societal attention to the case, making Liu Jinggui's crime of passion a nationwide sensation. This period coincided with the Nanjing National Government's vigorous promotion of the New Life Movement and judicial reforms, thus the evaluations of Liu Jinggui and the trial of his case became intertwined with the construction of "national discourse," serving as a crucial lens through which to examine the process of community formation during the Republican era.
Recent scholarly research on the Liu Jinggui case，these studies primarily focus on the discussions surrounding "emotion" or "chastity" in public opinion and the judiciary, while neglecting the interplay and dynamics among Liu Jinggui's personal narrative, media coverage, judicial proceedings, and government intervention under the dual discourses of "reform" and "reconstruction." Therefore, this paper aims to build upon previous research by examining the Liu Jinggui case from three perspectives: social opinion, governmental regulations, and judicial discretion. It seeks to clarify the representation of Liu Jinggui across different levels, analyze the gender perceptions and conflicts among various groups during this period, and explore their differing perceptions and practices regarding the New Life Movement and judicial reforms. Through this analysis, I intend to understand the relationship between media, society, and the judiciary in the 1930s, elucidating how the Republican government utilized, transformed, and controlled public opinion and the judiciary to unify public sentiment, legal adjudication, and political ideology, thereby advancing the process of "social community," disciplining individuals, shaping citizens, and consolidating the authority of the Kuomintang during the Nanjing National Government era.

This panel delves into Chinese literary and cultural studies, exploring the emotional dimensions of Mudan Ting through Luo Rufang’s thought, the representation of Ming imperial imagination, and the symbolic role of water in The Story of the Stone.

Jonah Katz
Harvard University, Ph.D Student

Title:
Learning with Feeling: A New Reading of Mudan Ting through the Thought of Luo Rufang

Abstract:
The playwright Tang Xianzu (1550-1616) was fortunate to have called himself a student of one of the most influential Confucian scholars of his era, Luo Rufang (1515-1588). Literary scholars have speculated that Luo's thought may have had an influence observable in Tang Xianzu's plays, an important piece of evidence for the broader claim that intellectual trends during the Ming dynasty had a significant influence on contemporary literature. Most scholars have made such speculations about Luo Rufang and his student's plays, however, primarily by relying on the brief summary of Luo's thought given in Huang Zongxi's (1610-1695) biographies of Ming scholars. Deeper engagement with Luo’s recorded discourses, in fact, reveals many more shared ideas between Luo and Tang than previously suggested. Tang Xianzu, like his teacher, was a scholar who could discourse on learning, and especially on the value of emotions, but was also able to do so using his
dramatic works as a vehicle for his thought. This presentation attempts a reading of Tang's masterwork, Mudanting (The Peony Pavilion) alongside a new critical analysis of concepts core to Luo Rufang's thought: 1. Feeling as a basis for Confucian learning and practice, 2. The "Scene" (guangjing), and 3. Heavenly Knowledge. By reading these texts side-by-side, one can make sense of some of Mudan ting's most idiosyncratic aspects and show both how Tang Xianzu absorbs and questions ideas from Luo Rufang, thus giving a fuller account of the play's philosophical significance.

Tsz Wing Giovanna WU (胡梓穎）
The Education University of Hong Kong, Assistant Professor

Title:
The Inner Palace Edition of Feng Tianming Sanbao Xia Xiyang and the Imagination of Great Ming in the Court Drama of the Ming Dynasty

Abstract:
The Inner Palace edition of Feng Tianming Sanbao Xia Xiyang (or Eunuch Sanbao Sailing to the West Seas under Heaven’s Mandate) is the only Ming court drama preserved today that narrates the history of the Ming dynasty. Previous studies were conducted either to determine whether the drama describes the official history from a historiographical perspective or compare it with the plots of the novels of the Ming and Qing dynasties, such as Luo Maodeng’s Sanbao Taijian Xiyang Ji Tongsu Yanyi (or the Romance of the Eunuch Sanbao Sailing to the West Seas) and Peng Heling’s Sanbao Taijian Xia Xiyang (or Eunuch Saobao Sailing to the West Seas). However, it has neither been analyzed in the context of court drama of the Ming Dynasty nor positioned in the history of Ming drama. As a court drama compiled by the anonymous playwright(s) of the Inner Palace, the ideology and aesthetics of the Ming court inevitably constrained the plots and performing methods of Sailing to the West Seas. All these constraints not only show the Ming court’s attitudes toward the “distinction between Hua and Yi” after the overthrow of the Mongolian rule of the Yuan Dynasty but also reflect their impression and even imaginings of the prosperous era of the Great Ming. For this reason, I will investigate the extent to which the court drama shows the ideological form of the rule of the Ming Dynasty. I will also analyze the aesthetics of the royal family of the Ming Dynasty from the court drama from the perspective of material culture.

Peng Liu
Rutgers University, Assistant Teaching Professor

Title:
Water in The Story of the Stone

Abstract:
This paper examines how water serves as a philosophical, religious, and aesthetic foundation within The Story of the Stone (aka. Dream of the Red Chamber). The novel indisputably bears Buddhist undertones, due to numerous Buddhist ideas, temples, and professionals in the story. In addition to teaching the achievement of enlightenment through passion, how does the novel represent Buddhist ideas about space and material reality? Conversely, how do Buddhist perspectives on space and material reality influence the novel’s fictional space? To answer these questions, this paper draws attention to the relationship between the novel and the concept of “Water Meditation” from the Surangama Sutra. I argue that the novel’s Grand View Garden is modeled upon Buddhist meditative practice. In particular, through storytelling, the novel transforms meditative space into physical space. During the time the novel was conceived, the Surangama Sutra enjoyed popularity among intellectuals. The sutra features “Water Meditation,” a meditative practice aimed at altering perceptions of reality. Practitioners are encouraged to view the material world as consisting of nothing but water. Water embodies purity of the mind, whereas stone represents a danger obstructing the achievement of mental tranquility. The Buddhist opposition of water and stone not only contributes to configuring the novel’s fictional space but also foretells the destinies of its major characters. The male protagonist Jia Baoyu is a reincarnation of a precious jade; his female companions in the garden embody the essence of water. As a stone in the Buddhist way, Baoyu must disappear from the garden and the narrative.

This panel examines the intersections of land, culture, and identity in China, exploring clan-based governance in Shenzhen's shareholding cooperatives, the interplay of fengshui and tourism in modern China, and the spatial dynamics of identity and boundaries in Beijing’s military compounds.

Jing Cheng
University of Erfurt, Ph.D Candidate

Title:
Land property, Clan and Shareholding Cooperative Company Governance: A case study in Shenzhen, China

Abstract:
This study explores the complex dynamics of clans and Shareholding Cooperative Companies (SCCs) within urban villages in the context of land property changes in Shenzhen, China. Through two large-scale land acquisitions and transformations, Shenzhen achieved comprehensive urbanization in 2004, converting former rural collective economic organizations into SCCs, with villagers becoming shareholders. SCCs utilize collective land for a range of commercial activities such as industrial factory construction, property management, leasing operations as well as the sale of land development quotas. The economic benefits generated from these businesses are subsequently distributed among the shareholders according to the principle of equity distribution, forming a capital appreciation and income-sharing model based on land resources. Driven by the siphoning effect associated with Shenzhen’s high population density and the sustained wealth growth from housing demolition compensation under urban renewal initiatives, SCCs and their underlying clans have accumulated substantial wealth. Data indicates that the collective assets of Shenzhen’s SCCs amount to 3 trillion yuan, with the eleven most influential clans, distributed across nearly 400 urban villages, collectively holding assets valued over 1 trillion yuan. However, this rapid wealth accumulation and identity transformation have imparted characteristics to SCCs that distinguish them from fully marketized private enterprises. Clan remains deeply entrenched, with significant overlap between clan elites and board members. This phenomenon has profound implications for corporate governance and performance, worthy of further exploration.
This study examines a specific case of SCC controlled by a clan in Shenzhen’s Bao’an District. Through a comprehensive methodology that includes ten months of participant observation, indepth interviews, focus group discussions, and subsequent two-year longitudinal data collection from 2022, the study analyzes how the clan influence the SCC’s governance and business performance.
The preliminary results show the dual impact of the clan on the governance of SCCs. On one hand, clan networks cultivate and enhance social capital, thereby enabling SCCs to assert their influence in negotiations with state authorities. Conversely, the pervasive presence of the clan in governance structure, human resource management, and market expansion results in a contraction of the radius of trust, the adoption of conservative market exploration strategies, and a preference for maintaining clan interests and stability. These factors collectively impact the development of the company, presenting challenges in adapting to the competitive dynamics of a market economy.

Xuyan Pan
Lingnan University, Masters of Philosophy Student

Title:
The Wheel of Fortune Turns: Fengshui and Tourism in Modern China, 1890-1937

Abstract:
This study examines the interplay of fengshui principles and tourism in modern China through a close study of Mokanshan, one of the Four Great Summer Resorts during the Republican era (民國四大避暑勝地). Historically nameless and was considered free from fengshui influences, Mokanshan attracted foreign settlers in the late Qing dynasty, prompting locals to reinterpret the area’s geomantic significance. Through three developmental phases (1890-1937), this research explores how traditional Chinese beliefs were challenged and reinterpreted in response to foreign influence and the demands of modern tourism and contributed to Mokanshan’s transformation into a modern tourist destination. The study argues that the evolving narrative surrounding Mokanshan reflects the ideological shifts in early tourism development and environmental understanding, with fengshui consistently adapting and maintaining its influence throughout these transformations. Utilizing primary sources from Chinese and foreign archives, personal diaries, and contemporary newspapers, the research offers a nuanced understanding of how touristic activities intersected with local fengshui beliefs. It also examines the broader implications for local communities as they navigated the complexities of modernization and national tourism policies.

Nan Xu
Stanford University, Graduate Student

Title:
Permeable Borders: Walls, Identity, and Space in Beijing’s Military Compounds

Abstract:
How do the physical boundaries established contest municipal authority while simultaneously shaping and blurring the identities of those within? This paper examines this question within the context of Beijing’s military compounds (budui dayuan 部队大院) from their inception during the Chinese Communist Party’s entry into Beiping through the transformations of the post-socialist era. The culture of Beijing compounds (dayuan 大院) has played a pivotal role in shaping contemporary China, particularly through the spatial and social constructs they introduced. When the Chinese Communist Party entered Beiping (now Beijing) with the aim of forging a new nation, they demarcated these compounds by constructing walls. These walls were not mere physical barriers; they served as mediums that communicated authority, identity, and the boundaries of a socialist nation. Through the materiality of the walls—inscriptions, language, and the very act of enclosure—the walls shaped the lived experiences and perceptions of the residents.
However, these borders were never absolute. The interaction between the compounds and the surrounding city reveals instances of blurred boundaries, challenging the rigid demarcation envisioned by the state. In the post-socialist era, the wall’s transformation signifies a process of deterritorialization, reflecting the gradual erosion of enclosed space under the pressures of globalization and commodification. Yet, the persistence of multiple boundaries within and around these compounds suggests that deterritorialization is incomplete, fostering a sense of nostalgia and raising questions about the ongoing negotiation of identity and space in contemporary China. By focusing on the walls that enclose these compounds, this study explores the dual role they play: as mediums that construct and communicate the boundaries of a socialist nation, and as porous membranes through which the tides of globalization and commodification flow.

This panel investigates the intersections of education, morality, and media in shaping societal and historical narratives.

Anna Ivanova
Washington State Unviersity, Ph.D Candidate, Independent Instructor

Title:
Exploring the Influence of Academia Sinica’s Epistemic Community on Taiwan’s Education Policy

Abstract:
This research aims to explore the influence of Academia Sinica on the formation and implementation of education policy in Taiwan. Building on the epistemic community framework, the study examines the engagement of a network of Academia Sinica’s experts united by shared values, causal beliefs, and notions of validity in the policymaking process. Through a mixed-method approach, including interviews with key stakeholders and content analysis of relevant documents, this research identifies the reasons for Academia Sinica’s effective influence on education policy in Taiwan. The findings reveal key factors, including active engagement, institutional prestige, autonomy, and historical context, to impact education policy.

Chen Xin
Jilin University, Ph.D Student

Title:
Active Morality versus Passive Morality: The Differential Emergence of Moral Imperatives

Abstract:
As a social ideology and a code of conduct and norms for people to live together, morality has shifted its exploration paradigm from the ultimate question of "how individuals should lead to a happy life" to the social law of "what kind of moral rules a person should obey". It is worth noting that there is a tension between Kant's moral judgments and the moral reasoning of Chinese style ethics. When we attempt to examine moral principles, we must recognize the fundamental shift that intersubjectivity may cause in the evaluation perspective, and avoid consequentialist simplifications. At the same time, we must value the significant role of moral principles in practical applications, recognize the difference between active morality and passive morality, and use an intersubjective moral principle to reconstruct and reflect on moral principles.

Yihe Zhang
The Chinese University of Hong Kong, second year M.Phil. Student

Title:
A Story of Hyponotism: (Pseudo)scientific Media Technology and Global Diplomatic History in Flower in a Sea of Retribution

Abstract:
This paper presents a case study situated at the confluence of media studies, diplomatic history and Late Qing fiction. Employing a diplomatic journey portrayed in the historical novel, Flower in a Sea of Retribution (Niehai Hua 孽海花), the study sheds light on China’s responses to scientific innovations and global political landscape at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries through the lens of hypnotism.

Challenging the prevailing notion that hypnotism, as a category of paranormal phenomena, arises from novelistic exaggeration, this paper offer a material and historical guide to re-evaluate hypnotism. To be specific, it showcases the dialogue between surrealist hypnotic narratives and modern optics within the cross-cultural knowledge flow, demonstrating that hypnotism serves as an analogical framework for comprehending and imagining new visual media and technology. Furthermore, inspired by this cognitive framework, Flower in a Sea of Retribution contextualizes hypnotism in Sino-Western diplomatic history. The novel, therefore, elucidates how Late Qing China identified, reflected upon, and ultimately mastered the strategies and principles of diplomacy within the realm of global (geo)politics.

In conclusion, this paper uncovers overlooked aspects of media and diplomatic history, highlighting the crises faced by China and its creative responses. Rather than focusing on the analysis of novel characters and their historical counterparts, this research adopts a material studies approach to showcase how hypnotism facilitates a more comprehensive and nuanced exploration and commentary on the intricate scientific and political history conveyed through Late Qing fiction.

This panel examines the intersection of medicine, religion, and society in China from the Ming to the early Republican period.

Xun Liu
Department of History, Rugters University/Central China Normal University, Associate Professor

Title:
The Sage of Medicine Shrine: Reconstructing Authenticity and Authority of National Medicine in Early Republican China
Abstract:
As the anti-Chinese medicine discourse and activities escalated into a major controversy across the media and even in debates at the national assembly, the Sage of Medicine Shrine (Yisheng ci醫聖祠) in Nanyang 南陽 of Henan province that celebrate the memory of Zhang Zhongjing (張仲景), arguably the most central authority and demigod of Chinese medicine also faced major challenges and underwent a drastic revival due the collective efforts by a group of physicians and herbal merchants at the time. This preliminary study reconstructs the history of the shrine’s revival by examining the efforts led by Huang Weihan (黃維翰, also, Qian謙, h. Zhuzhai竹斋, 1886-1960), a Republican official and a renowned physician and educator of Chinese medicine from Xi’an and a group of local doctors of Chines medicine and herbal merchants in Nanyang to revive and re-consecrate Zhang Zhongjing as the unassailable sage and authority of Chinese medicine by renovating and maintaining the Sage of Medicine Shrine, by republishing and canonizing medical texts and herbal formula attributed to Zhang, and by forming a national association dedicated to the preservation and promulgation of Chinese medicine as the new National Medicine (guoyi國醫) in Nanyang and beyond. Alongside their efforts to renovate the shrine in honor of Zhang Zhongjing, Huang and his cohorts were also engaged in efforts to modernize and standardize the Chinese medical education and training programs throughout China by legislative activism within the National Committee of Chinese Medicine (Quanguo zhongyi weiyuanhui全國中醫委員會)) under the aegis of the Republican government’s Agency of Public Health (weishengshu衛生署). These legislative efforts succeeded in enlisting support from many Republican government officials and politicians in the central Republican government and the Henan provincial regime.
(Refer to the author's personal profile for full abstract)

Lu Cheng
Hubei Academy of Social Sciences, Assistant Researcher

Title:
From Dispelling Diseases to Blessing Pharmaceutical Merchant Groups: Temples of Medicine King and Their Social Functions in Hubei Region During the Ming-Qing China
Abstract:
This paper argues that the prosperity of temples of Medicine King reflected the dual construction of folk beliefs and social space by local social groups in Ming-Qing China. The emergence of temples of Medicine King is closely related to the reform of national ideology in the Ming dynasty. In the situation of the decline of the Three Emperors' worship, the folk reshaped the temple of Medicine King, which enshrines famous ancient doctors and embodies the desire of health. In the regional social environment, temples of Medicine King in Hubei during the Ming and Qing dynasties expanded its diverse social functions. Such as being as a barn, a charity school, a military fortress, and the image of the medicine king worship is also more diverse. Since the 17 century, the pharmaceutical industry in Hankou, the central city of Hubei, has been increasingly prosperous. The Henan merchants, Jiangxi merchants, and other pharmaceutical merchant groups who came to Hankou build up the enshrinement of the Medicine King as a space to maintain their own pharmaceutical trade. At this time, the meaning of the temple of Medicine King has expanded from dispelling diseases to blessing pharmaceutical merchant groups, and its social function has also changed from a common temple to a business hall. The emergence of the “Guild type Temple” in Hankou not only reflects the emerging pharmaceutical merchant group's ability to shape social space, but also showcases the specialized and large-scale landscape of the medicinal herb trading market in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River in Qing China.

Yurong Feng
Central China Normal University, Professor

Title:
"The Medicine King Migrated Westward": Beliefs, Medicine, and Market Space of the Temple of Medicine King in Tengchong, Yunnan from the Ming and Qing Dynasties to the Republic of China
Abstract:
During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, most of the Temples of Medicine King (Yaowang药王) were located in northwest and north China, but there was a Yaowang Palace in Tengchong(腾冲), Yunan(云南) province located in the southwest border. Although Yaowang Palace was built by doctors from Jiangxi who migrated west with the army in 1626, based on the Taoist Qingwei Palace(清微宫), it gradually integrated original medical and local resources. The influence of central cultural dynamics was vivid by the expansion of the Five Emperors Tower after the Qing conquest in 1725. Then it was rebuilt by the famous local doctor Ming Yulang(明于朗) rebuilt it in 1887, which was part of a local charity. During the Republic of China period, Yaowang Palace became a gathering place for the Medical Association and pharmaceutical merchants. The election of the Medical Association and the evaluation of the qualifications of Chinese medicine doctors were held here. As the infrastructure expanded, so did its network encompassing beliefs, medicinal economy, and the trade in medicinal materials, consolidating as a hub that symbolized local culture "Teng medicine". This convergence attracted doctors, pharmacists, local officials, and the gentry, reflecting how outsiders integrated into the local area. At the same time, local officials also utilized diverse resources to bolster regional identity. Therefore, the Temple of Medicine King evolved into a space where external influences fused with local elements, enhancing the commercial and social significance of the area.

Xiaomeng Liu
Fudan University, Assistant Professor

Title:
Regional Network and Cult Assemblage: The Temple of Medicine King in Qizhou and the Construction of Popular Belief in North China during the Ming-Qing Period
Abstract: