HICCS 2025

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.