Past Events
2013 Events
Korea in the Cross-Fire: The War Photographs of John RichExhibit — Photography
Dates: September 19, 2012 – February 4, 2013 | 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Location: Institute of East Asian Studies — 2223 Fulton, 6th Floor
Sponsors: Institute of East Asian Studies, Center for Korean Studies
The year 2013 marks the sixtieth anniversary of the armistice that ended what we now commonly call "the Korean War." Seen as the first open conflict of the cold war, the Korean conflict pitted north against south as defined by the 38th parallel. Only a few short years after the end of world war, the Korean "proxy war" began. NATO forces, overwhelmingly American, engaged initially Korean, and ultimately Chinese, armies, in a conflict that raged northward and southward with a destructive power that ravaged the countryside and left enormous numbers of dead, destitute, and homeless.
Yet the Korean War is often referred to in the US as a "forgotten war," despite widespread coverage by the popular press. One of the photo-journalists documenting the war for American readership was John Rich, a veteran correspondent who had covered the Pacific War and Japanese occupation. Following the war in his images, through to the final days of armistice and withdrawal, Rich witnessed and captured with his lens both key moments of action by the highest officials and the daily life of the cities and countryside. Rich turned the unblinking eye of his camera on a people caught in the cross-fire of civil war.
This display comprises not the images he took for popular consumption but his personal photographs, revealing his vision of the conflict and destruction around him. The opening of this exhibit will be marked by a panel on the legacy of a divided Korea today, and will close in 2013 with a program exploring the regional and international origins of the Korean War.
Thursday, January 31, 2013, 2:00 pm
IEAS Conference Room, 2223 Fulton Street, Sixth Floor, Berkeley
Panel: "The Origins of the Korean War in International Context"
IEAS and CKS gratefully acknowledge Seoul Selection for providing the pictures in this exhibition.
This exhibit is part of the IEAS Arts of Asia series. See other IEAS Exhibits here.
Event Contact: ieas@berkeley.edu, 510‑642‑2809
Connected Worlds: New Approaches across Pre-Modern Studies
Haas Junior Scholars Program Conference
January 24–26, 2013
Locations: 370 and 3335 Dwinelle Hall
Sponsor: Institute of East Asian Studies
This multidisciplinary conference brings together scholars interested in the study of interconnectedness during the pre-modern period. The panels will cross traditional disciplinary boundaries based on geography or periodization, and deal with themes like trade and travel, cross-cultural exchange, empire-building, and the making of ethnographic and geographic 'knowledge.' The conference also features four talks by invited speakers from Yale University, Stanford University, California State University (Chico), and the University of Southern California.
"Connected Worlds" is sponsored by the Walter and Elise Haas Chair in Asia Studies and the Haas Junior Scholars Program at the Institute of East Asian Studies, with additional support provided by the Classics Department, the Graduate Group in Ancient History and Mediterranean Archaeology, the History Department, the History of Art Department, the Townsend Center for the Humanities, the Center for Chinese Studies, the Center for Japanese Studies, the English Department, the Program in Medieval Studies, and the Division of Student Affairs.
Visit http://ieas.berkeley.edu/connectedworlds for the full conference schedule.
Event Contact: connected.worlds.conference@gmail.com
Letters of Advice for a Buddhist Queen of Tibet: Female Empowerment, Tantric Statecraft, and Contested Reputations
Lecture
Speaker: Jann Ronis, Shinjo Ito Postdoctoral Fellow, UC Berkeley
Date: January 24, 2013 | 5:00–6:30 p.m.
Location: IEAS Conference Room — 2223 Fulton, 6th Floor
Sponsor: Center for Buddhist Studies
At the turn of the nineteenth century the ruler of the powerful kingdom of Dergé in Eastern Tibet was the queen Tsewang Lhamo (d. 1812). This paper explores two epistles written for her by chaplains to the royal family. The conventions of advice for Buddhist kings written from the perspective of exoteric Buddhism are well known to scholars. These Tibetan epistles differ for being addressed to a woman and for operating out of a tantric ethical framework. The two works challenge the mainstream Buddhist views of the inferior spiritual and worldly capabilities of women in terms of esoteric doctrine and mythical precedents of the Buddha's past lives as women. Several key passages from the epistles will be highlighted in this paper. The normative claims made in the letters will be augmented with a profile of the political career and posthumous reputation of this unusually well documented female monarch.
Jann Ronis studied religion, Tibetan studies, Sinology, and the Tibetan and Chinese languages at the University of Virginia. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Virginia in 2009 for a dissertation about developments in the monasteries of eastern Tibet, along the border between Tibet and China, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. At Berkeley, Dr. Ronis is researching the twelfth and thirteenth century formation of an important ritual tradition in Tibetan Buddhism — the Kagye (bka' brgyad), or Eight Dispensations in an effort to better understand the domestication of Buddhism in Tibet.
Event Contact: buddhiststudies@berkeley.edu, 510‑643‑5104
Theatrical Engagement: Stan Lai in Conversation
Lecture
Speaker: Stan Lai
Moderator: Wen-hsin Yeh, Professor of Modern Chinese History, and Director, Institute of East Asian Studies, UC Berkeley
Date: January 29, 2013 | 5:00 p.m.
Location: IEAS Conference Room — 2223 Fulton, 6th Floor
Sponsors: Institute of East Asian Studies, Arts Research Center, Townsend Center for the Humanities, Center for Chinese Studies
Influential playwright Stan Lai has stretched the boundaries of the theatrical experience in his native Taiwan, in China, and around the world. He has negotiated the fraught landscape between China and Taiwan through drama, and in recent years through active efforts to reshape the theatrical culture of China. In a wide-ranging conversation with Professor of Modern Chinese History Wen-hsin Yeh, Lai explores his work, his ideas, and his unique vision.
Event Contact: ieas@berkeley.edu, 510‑642‑2809
Observations on Chinese Contemporary Art — Thinking and Practice
Colloquium
Speaker: Professor Xu Weixin, Dean, Department of Art, People's University (Renmin daxue)
Date: January 30, 2013 | 4:00–5:30 p.m.
Location: IEAS Conference Room — 2223 Fulton, 6th Floor
Sponsor: Center for Chinese Studies
Chinese Contemporary Art takes special interest in those artistic phenomena imbued with the spirit of folk art or marginalized art, in contrast to official (i.e., state-sponsored) art forms in China. We can date the start of contemporary art to 1978, the year when China first began its reforms; with its opening up to the world, Chinese contemporary art was shaped by the concepts underlying modern Western art, even as it retained Chinese characteristics. This new focus inevitably meant some departures, even confrontations with the so-called mainstream art, in both form and the content. The past thirty years of development in China have wrought tremendous changes to both the social environment and the economy, with the result that Chinese Contemporary Art has changed greatly over time as well. Evolving trends in China have much to teach us about China's place in the world and sense of itself. Illustrated by more than 100 slides, the lecture gives a concise introduction to the processes of generation and development with respect to these artistic phenomena. The talk will begin with a comparison of the classic works in Chinese and Western art history and end with a review of the speaker's own artistic practices and concerns.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2012/feb/24/cultural-revolution-portraits-xu-weixin
Event Contact: ccs@berkeley.edu, 510‑643‑6321
Flashpoint in Korea: Proxies, Rivals, and the Origins of the Korean War
Symposium
Panelists:
• Allan R. Millett, History and American Studies, University of New Orleans
• Sheila Miyoshi Jager, East Asian Studies, Oberlin College
• Michael Devine, Director, Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum
Moderator: Hong Yung Lee, Political Science, UC Berkeley
Date: January 31, 2013, | 4:00 p.m.
Location: IEAS Conference Room — 2223 Fulton, 6th Floor
Sponsors: Center for Korean Studies, Institute of East Asian Studies
The Korean War, following hard upon the horrors of World War II and marking the hot-war initiation of the "Cold War," has been discussed as a civil war and a proxy war; as a new kind of international conflict and as a continuation of unfinished business.
In conjunction with the closing of the exhibition "Korea in the Cross-Fire: The War Photographs of John Rich" the Institute of East Asian Studies and Center for Korean Studies present a discussion of the origins of the Korean War in the context of internal, Asian, and international rivalries.
Speakers:
"The War Before the War: Korea, 1945–1950"
Allan R. Millett (Ambrose Professor of History and Director of the Eisenhower Center for American Studies, University of New Orleans)
The conflict to unify post-colonial Korea began with Japan's surrender in 1945. Two Korean liberationist movements, based abroad in China, the Soviet Union, and the United States, returned to Korea under the limited patronage of the United States and the Soviet Union. In the Korea above the 38th Parallel, the Kapsan Faction (Kim Il-sung) took control of the Soviet-supported government. The competition for power in the American zone pitted four different factions against each other until the South Korean Labor (Communist) Party abandoned electoral politics and started an armed rebellion in April, 1948, which eventually encouraged the DPRK invasion of June, 1950.
"The Atomic Bombs President Truman Did Not Drop: Nuclear Weapons from Hiroshima to the Dismissal of General Douglas MacArthur"
Michael Devine (Director, Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum)
President Harry S. Truman will be known forever as the world leader who authorized the use of atomic bombs to end World War II. During his presidency, Truman initiated the building and stockpiling of a huge atomic arsenal and the development of a second generation nuclear weapon, the Hydrogen Bomb (or "super"). President Truman also insisted on civilian control over nuclear weapons, and he rejected advice to deploy nuclear weapons in several times of crisis, most significantly during the Korean War of 1950–53. In deciding not to use nuclear weapons in Korea, in spite of an overwhelming U.S. numerical superiority of 65 — 1 over the atomic arsenal of the Soviet Union, Truman kept the conflict confined to the Korean Peninsula and spared both North and South Korea from nuclear devastation.
"Brothers At War: The Unending Conflict in Korea"
Sheila Miyoshi Jager (Associate Professor of East Asian Studies, Oberlin College)
More than sixty years after North Korea invaded South Korea, the first major hot war of the cold war has yet to end. Today, the essentially continuous war between the Koreas threatens to reach beyond their borders, as North Korea continues to develop nuclear weapons and long-range missiles. How did we get to this point? This talk broadly traces the story of Korean competition and conflict — and Great Power competition and conflict — over the peninsula: an unending war between two "brothers" with ramifications for the rest of the world. If a resolution to the conflict is ever to be found, this history must be understood and taken into account.
Moderator: Hong Yung Lee, Political Science, UC Berkeley
Event Contact: ieas@berkeley.edu, 510‑642‑2809
What is Otaku?: The Changing Meanings of otaku in Japan
Colloquium
Speaker: Taishin Ikeda, Visiting Scholar, Center for Japanese Studies; Associate Professor, Konan Women's University
Date: February 1, 2013 | 4:00–6:00 p.m.
Location: IEAS Conference Room — 2223 Fulton, 6th Floor
Sponsor: Center for Japanese Studies
Now, the term, otaku, is widely known all over the world, but the meanings the term indicates aren't entirely clear. In fact, its meanings changed over time. In this presentation, I will examine the change in the meanings and images of otaku in Japanese contexts. The term became popular in Japanese society at the end of 1980's. At that time, it had very negative connotations. After that, as the situation around ACG culture has varying, the meanings, images, and evaluations of otaku are changing together. Finally, I will address the definition of otaku according to my own ideas. In addition, I will explain a new representation about Japanese women. It is called Joshi (女子). Joshi is a very old term, but it has acquired new meanings and is often used in contemporary Japanese media. I would like to examine what this Joshi is and what problem it offers to Japanese culture.
現在、オタクという言葉は、世界中で広く知られるようになった。しかし、その言葉が示す意味内容は、必ずしも明確ではない。実際、その意味はこれまで変化してきた。本発表では、日本文化の中で、オタクの意味内容とイメージがどのように変わったきたのかを明らかにする。オタクという言葉は、1980年代末に日本社会に広まったが、その言葉は極めてネガティブな意味付けがなされていた。その後、日本社会におけるアニメ・マンガ・ゲームといった文化を取り巻く環境が変化するにつれて、オタクという言葉の意味やイメージ、評価も変わってきたのである。最終的には、現在、オタクはどのように定義できるかを示したい。
加えて、新しい日本女性の表象についても報告する。その表象は、「女子」と呼ばれている。「女子」はかなり古い言葉だが、現在、それは新しい意味を獲得して、メディア上で頻繁に使われている。この「女子」という言葉の示す意味内容、およびその言葉が現代の日本文化に対して提起する問題についても報告する予定である。
*Paper will be presented in Japanese, with English translation.
Event Contact: cjs-events@berkeley.edu, 510‑642‑3156
Who Wins? China Wires Africa: The Cases of Angola and Nigeria
Lecture
Speaker: Roselyn Hsueh, Visiting Scholar/ Residential Research Fellow, U.C.Berkeley; Assistant Professor, Temple University
Moderator: Vinod K. Aggarwal, Political Science, and Professor and Director, APEC Study Center, UC Berkeley Date: February 4, 2013 | 4:00 p.m.
Location: IEAS Conference Room — 2223 Fulton, 6th Floor
Sponsors: Institute of East Asian Studies, Center for Chinese Studies
In recent years, Chinese telecommunications companies, with the assistance of Chinese financial institutions and diplomatic backing, have successfully secured contracts to build infrastructure and wire Africa for the 21st century. The practical implications for economic development are important. But also important are the theoretical implications: what, for instance, is the relevance of such South-South linkages for how we think about globalization and the state? Our paper begins by considering China's broader foreign economic policy agenda in Africa. What role does this play in the headway that Chinese telecommunications companies have made across African markets? What does this mean for market players from other countries (both African and non-African)? Importantly, what impact does China's growing presence have on the relationship between state-building and market-building in traditionally weak states across the continent? To answer these questions, we take our study to the sector-level to investigate the growing presence of Chinese telecommunications equipment makers and service providers in Africa's telecommunication markets.
This talk is part of a series of presentations by IEAS Residential Research Fellows.
Event Contact: ieas@berkeley.edu, 510‑642‑2809
China's Latest Twists and Turns
Colloquium
Speaker: Jeffrey Wasserstrom, History, UC Irvine
Discussants: Kevin O'Brien, Political Science, UC Berkeley; Xiao Qiang, School of Information, UC Berkeley
Date: February 5, 2013 | 12:30–2:00 p.m.
Location: IEAS Conference Room — 2223 Fulton, 6th Floor
Sponsor: Center for Chinese Studies
Through 2012, China constantly made headlines — just as it had in the last Olympic year. In 2012 as in 2008, we read of trauma in Tibet, environmental protests in the Yangzi Delta, and nationalist outbursts in Beijing. There were also surprising news stories. There was no earthquake or globally-wowing Bird's Nest spectacle in 2012, but a blind lawyer made a miraculous escape and Bo Xilai fell unexpectedly fast. The one expected 2012 big news event, Hu Jintao passing the baton to Xi Jinping, seemed anticlimactic when it finally occurred, and no one is quite sure how the new leader will be different from the old one. As 2013 begins with its own dramas, such as a strike by journalists, Jeffrey Wasserstrom turns a cultural historian's eye on recent developments in an informal presentation meant to stimulate debate and discussion.
Event Contact: ccs@berkeley.edu, 510‑643‑6321
Wither in Hong Sangsoo — A reading of a story by Kyung Hyun Kim: Preceded by "Weather in Hong Sangsoo" (video essay by Kyung Hyun Kim, 21 min)
Colloquium
Speaker: Kyung Hyun Kim, Professor of East Asian Languages and Literatures, University of California, Irvine
Date: February 6, 2013 | 4:00 p.m.
Location: IEAS Conference Room — 2223 Fulton, 6th Floor
Sponsor: Center for Korean Studies
The speaker will read from a story about an imaginary dialogue that takes place between the narrator, a retired film critic, and Hong Sangsoo, an amnesiac filmmaker. It is set in 2022. The story attempts to braid together a few concerns in the works of Hong Sangsoo that encompass the possibility of nondualistic relations: between authenticity and falsity, between humility and vanity, and between cultivation and resolute action.
Preceding this reading of a story entitled "Wither in Hong Sangsoo" is a 21-minute video essay called "Weather in Hong Sangsoo." "Weather in Hong Sangsoo" is a compilation film that collages footage from films Hong has thus far directed in a career that spans over past 15 years — one that began with his debut film, The Day a Pig Fell into the Well (1996), and continues most recently with In Another Country (2012). The video essay foregrounds cryptic themes found in Hong Sangsoo's films, such as weather, trees, and unseen, and argues that they are constant forces of passion, renewal, and even transmigration in Hong's work.
Kyung Hyun Kim is Professor of East Asian Languages and Literatures and Director of Critical Theory Emphasis at UC Irvine. He is also the author of "The Remasculinization of Korean Cinema" [Duke University Press, 2004] "Virtual Hallyu: Korean Cinema of the Global Era" [Duke University Press, 2011].
Event Contact: cks@berkeley.edu, 510‑642‑5674
Media Histories / Media Theories and East Asia
Conference/Symposium
Dates: February 7–8, 2013 | 9:00 a.m.–5:30 p.m.
Locations: 370 & 3335 Dwinelle
Sponsors: Center for Japanese Studies, Townsend Center for the Humanities, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Berkeley East Asia National Resource Center, Center for Chinese Studies, Department of Comparative Literature
In February 2013, UC Berkeley's Pacific Film Archive will hold a retrospective of the films of Art Theatre Guild (ATG), Tokyo's center of cinematic innovation from 1961-1988. This conference takes this opportunity, in conjunction with this film series and several exhibitions on Japanese arts, to bring together five invited media theorists from Japan, the prominent film director Hani Susumu from ATG, and scholars from the U.S. and Europe to discuss Japanese and East Asian cross-cultural developments in media theory and culture from the early twentieth century to the present.
The Media Histories / Media Theories & East Asia conference brings together prominent and emerging scholars to discuss Japanese and East Asian cross-cultural developments in media theory and culture from the early twentieth century to the present. The symposium will read East Asian film and visual arts as part of a changing media landscape in relation to commercial cinema, television, and intermedia arts as well as political, economic and cultural transformations. We encourage submissions on topics such as: the relation between urban space and the arts in cultural politics; reading the problems of film audience and reception; the important (and neglected) role of East Asian film and media theory and critical writings; East Asian arts movements in transnational perspective; film and visual art as a mediator of cultural/political history; avant-garde artist networks, commercial culture, and architectural transformation. The symposium aims to foster transnational and local scholarly perspectives on East Asian arts and media theory in the context of recent cross-disciplinary arguments in film and media studies.
Event details will be posted on the official conference website.
Event Contact: cjs-events@berkeley.edu, 510‑642‑3156
From Buddhist Monasteries and Meditation to Mental Hospitals and MRIs
Lecture
Speaker: James Robson, Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, Harvard University
Date: February 7, 2013 | 5:00–6:30 p.m.
Location: IEAS Conference Room — 2223 Fulton, 6th Floor
Sponsor: Center for Buddhist Studies
This talk explores the intersections between Buddhism/Buddhist institutions and madness/mental institutions. It begins with a general discussion of the place of madness within the Buddhist tradition by tracking references to madness in a variety of sources (from doctrinal texts to law codes). Following that general discussion, the talk moves to the intriguing history of the institutional connections between Buddhist monasteries and mental institutions in China, Taiwan and Japan. I introduce some case studies of sites where modern mental hospitals grew up within the precincts or adjacent to Buddhist monasteries. What, I will ask, is the historical relationship between the Buddhist monasteries and the new mental hospitals? Have there been institutional connections between the monasteries and the hospitals throughout history? In addressing these questions we encounter a history of the fundamental role played by Buddhist monasteries in the therapy of those beset with mental illnesses. Due to modern changes in the care for the mentally ill — including a move toward mandatory hospitalization — the earlier history of the connections between the Buddhist monasteries and those afflicted with mental illness became hidden. One of the primary goals of this paper is to recover some of that history and show the role that was played by Buddhist temples in providing therapies, magical cures, and day to day care for the mentally ill. I will conclude the talk by shifting our attention to the West and the dramatic increase in the number of psychotherapists, counselors, mental health workers, and neuroscientists who have become interested in meditation and various forms of what have come to be called "Buddhist Psychotherapy" and "Buddhist Mindfulness." A spate of articles in the New York Times ("Mindfulness Meditation, Based on Buddha's Teachings, Gains Ground With Therapists," "Lotus Therapy," and "The Neural Buddhists"), for example, evinces the high level of popular interests in these topics. Recent therapies claimed to be derived from the Buddhist tradition have continued apace despite little understanding of the long history of the care for the mentally ill within Buddhism and little accurate information concerning scientific research on Buddhist meditation and mindfulness practices and their application to specific psychiatric disorders and general self-help therapies.
James Robson is a Professor of East Asian Religions in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University. He received his Ph.D. from Stanford University and previously taught at Williams College and the University of Michigan. He specializes in the history of Chinese Buddhism and Daoism. He is the author of the Power of Place: The Religious Landscape of the Southern Sacred Peak [Nanyue 南嶽] in Medieval China (Harvard University Press, 2009) and has published on topics ranging from sacred geography and local religious history to talismans and the historical development of Chan/Zen Buddhism. He has been engaged in a long-term collaborative research project with the École Française d'Extrême-Orient studying local religious statuary from Hunan province and is the editor of the forthcoming Norton Anthology of World Religions: Daoism.
Event Contact: buddhiststudies@berkeley.edu, 510‑643‑5104
In Search of Sustainable Legitimacy: Environmental Law and Bureaucracy
Lecture
Speaker: Alex Wang, Visiting Assistant Professor, Law, UC Berkeley
Moderator: Thomas B. Gold, Sociology, and Director, IUP Program, UC Berkeley
Date: February 8, 2013 | 4:00 p.m.
Location: IEAS Conference Room — 2223 Fulton, 6th Floor
Sponsor: Institute of East Asian Studies This talk will examine why and how China mobilized the bureaucracy to prioritize and meet a range of pollution targets during the 11th FYP (2006-2010). This study draws on research into environmental regulation, law, governance, and China's broader political context.
Alex Wang's primary research and teaching interests are environmental law, China law, and comparative law. Prior to coming to Berkeley Law in 2011, Mr. Wang was a senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) based in Beijing and the director of NRDC's China Environmental Law & Governance Project for nearly six years. In this capacity, he worked with China's government agencies, legal community, and environmental groups to improve environmental rule of law and strengthen the role of the public in environmental protection. He helped to establish NRDC's Beijing office in 2006. He was a Fulbright Fellow to China from 2004-05. Prior to that, Mr. Wang was an attorney at the law firm of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP in New York City, where he worked on mergers & acquisitions, securities matters, and pro bono Endangered Species Act litigation. He was selected as a fellow to the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations (2008-10), and is a member of the Advisory Board to the Asia Society's Center on U.S.-China Relations.
Mr. Wang is a regular speaker on issues related to China and environmental protection, and has been an invited speaker at various institutions, such as the Council on Foreign Relations and the Asia Society. His commentary has appeared in such places as the New York Times, Huffington Post, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Bloomberg News, China Daily, Global Times, Time Magazine, National Public Radio, Marketplace, and CCTV.
Mr. Wang's recent publications include "China's Environmental Tipping Point" in China In and Beyond the Headlines (2011, forthcoming), a guest edited volume of Chinese Law and Government entitled "Environmental Courts and Public Interest Litigation in China" (with J. Gao) (2010), "Environmental Courts and the Development of Public Interest Litigation in China" in the Journal of Court Innovation (with J. Gao) (2010), and "The Role of Law in Environmental Protection in China" in the Vermont Journal of Environmental Law (2007). His latest article "In Search of Sustainable Legitimacy: Environmental Law and Bureaucracy in China" is forthcoming in the Harvard Environmental Law Review (summer 2013).
This talk is part of a series of presentations by IEAS Residential Research Fellows.
Event Contact: ieas@berkeley.edu, 510‑642‑2809
Annual Chinese New Year's Banquet
Social Event
Date: February 8, 2013 | 6:00–9:00 p.m.
Location: Restaurant 168 in the Pacific East Mall — 3288 Pierce Street, Richmond, CA
Sponsor: Center for Chinese Studies
Please join the Center for Chinese Studies for our annual Lunar New Year's Banquet. There will be great food and door prizes, it is the perfect way to welcome the Year of the Snake.
$15 UC Berkeley students and staff; $25 faculty and community.
Contact Angel Ryono at ccs-vs@berkeley.edu or 510‑643‑6322 for more information.
Attendance restrictions: Registration for this event has now closed.
Reservation required
Reservation info: Make reservations by February 1 by calling Angel Ryono at 510‑643‑6322, or by emailing Angel Ryono at ccs-vs@berkeley.edu.
Event Contact: ccs-vs@berkeley.edu, 510‑643‑6322
Ryuichi Sakamoto: Eco-Activism in Japan and the U.S. Post-Fukushima
Symposium
Speaker: Ryuichi Sakamoto
Date: February 9, 2013 | 1:00–2:30 p.m.
Location: Alumni House, Toll Room
Sponsors: Center for Japanese Studies, The Japan Foundation, Department of Anthropology
The Center for Japanese Studies welcomes Ryuichi Sakamoto, internationally-acclaimed musician, composer, producer and activist, to campus as the winner of the 3rd Berkeley Japan Prize.
The Berkeley Japan Prize, established in 2008, is a lifetime achievement award from the Center for Japanese Studies to an individual who has made significant contributions in furthering the understanding of Japan on the global stage.
Sakamoto is well known for his involvement in No Nukes activism. He wrote the score for Alexei and the Spring (2002), a documentary film about the aftermath of Chernobyl, and organized the No Nukes Concert 2012 in Japan. In honor of Sakamoto's contributions to the rise of eco-activism, especially in the Post-Fukushima accident era, the Center for Japanese Studies hosts a panel of prominent scholars and activists, to be followed by comments from Sakamoto.
Visit http://ieas.berkeley.edu/cjs/berkeley_japan_prize_current.html for the full schedule.
This event is supported by the Japan Foundation.
Free and open to the public.
Event Contact: cjs-events@berkeley.edu, 510‑642‑3156
Ryuichi Sakamoto LIVE: Solo Piano + Talk
Performing Arts — Music
Speaker/Performer: Ryuichi Sakamoto
Date: February 9, 2013 | 8:00–9:30 p.m.
Location: Hertz Concert Hall
Sponsors: Center for Japanese Studies, The Japan Foundation
The Center for Japanese Studies welcomes Ryuichi Sakamoto, internationally-acclaimed musician, composer, producer and activist, to campus as the winner of the 3rd Berkeley Japan Prize.
The Berkeley Japan Prize, established in 2008, is a lifetime achievement award from the Center for Japanese Studies to an individual who has made significant contributions in furthering the understanding of Japan on the global stage.
For this rare Bay Area appearance, Sakamoto performs a solo piano concert followed by a conversation with Ken Ueno (Associate Professor, Department of Music at UCB, Composer/Vocalist).
This event is supported by the Japan Foundation.
Tickets required: $30 general, $10 students (present IDs at the door)
Ticket info: Tickets go on sale January 11. Buy tickets online, or by calling Cal Performances at 510.642.9988.
Visit http://ieas.berkeley.edu/cjs/berkeley_japan_prize.html for the full schedule.
Event Contact: cjs-events@berkeley.edu, 510‑642‑3156
Law and/or Justice in Island Disputes in East Asia
Colloquium
Speaker: Tetsuya Toyoda, Associate Professor, International Law, Akita International University
Date: February 11, 2013 | 4:00–6:00 p.m.
Location: IEAS Conference Room — 2223 Fulton, 6th Floor
Sponsors: Institute of East Asian Studies, Center for Japanese Studies, Center for Korean Studies, Center for Chinese Studies
The remaining three major territorial disputes in East Asia are over small islands, the Dokdo/Takeshima dispute between the Republic of Korea (and DPRK) and Japan, the Senkaku/Diaoyutai dispute between Japan and China (and Taiwan), and the Paracel and Spratly dispute between China (and Taiwan), Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and the Philippines. With the rise of nationalism in East Asia, the disputes over those islands have become serious impediments to regional cooperation. One of reasons of unease comes from the fact that the rules of modern international law for territorial demarcation are not fit to the sense of justice of the peoples in East Asia.
My presentation is about possible solutions best fit to the sense of justice, and thus least unacceptable, in the region, with particular attention to Art. 121(3) of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea which provides that rocks which cannot sustain human habitation or economic life of their own shall have no exclusive economic zone or continental shelf.
Event Contact: cjs-events@berkeley.edu, 510‑642‑3156
China and Latin America: Perceptions, Problems, and Opportunities
Panelists:
• Carol Wise, International Relations, University of Southern California
• Julia Strauss, Politics and International Studies, School of Orienal and
African Studies (SOAS), University of London
• Barry Eichengreen, Economics, UC Berkeley
• Margaret Myers, Director, China and Latin America Program, Inter-America
Dialogue
Moderator: Harley Shaiken, Education, and Director, Center for Latin American Studies, UC Berkeley
Panel Discussion
Date: February 12, 2013 | 4:00 p.m.
Location: IEAS Conference Room — 2223 Fulton, 6th Floor
Sponsors: Institute of East Asian Studies, Center for Latin American Studies, Center for Chinese Studies
While once China's relations with Latin America focused on revolutionary movements and social justice, today China's focus is on markets and materials. With this change have come tensions and new relationships to define and cultivate. From village level competition to tensions at the level of government and industry, changes in both China and Latin America have generated new problems to negotiate, and new relationships to define and cultivate. This panel explores the changing role of China in Latin America, the economics that drive relations, cultural overtures, and opportunities for the future.
Event Contact: ieas@berkeley.edu, 510‑642‑2809
Flexible Repression: Governing "Underground" Civil Society in Authoritarian China
Colloquium
Speaker: Diana Fu, Shorenstein Postdoctoral Fellow, Stanford University
Date: February 13, 2013 | 4:00–6:00 p.m.
Location: IEAS Conference Room — 2223 Fulton, 6th Floor
Sponsor: Center for Chinese Studies
What technologies of control does the Chinese authoritarian state use to induce compliance in groups deemed to be "enemies of the state"? Foucault argued that disciplinary power relies on the state's ability to render society both visible and predictable. But under conditions of imperfect surveillance and ambiguous policies, how does a fragmented authoritarian state police "underground" groups? This talk attempts to open the black box of the state coercive apparatus. Findings based on original empirical data gathered from 18 months of fieldwork inside "underground" labor organizations in four Chinese cities suggest that the state deploys a model of flexible repression which makes use of disciplinary power more than coercive violence. Contrary to axiomatic assumptions that "underground" civil society must necessarily oppose state power, I show they can also collaborate with the state under certain conditions. Illegal organizations constitute the vast majority of associational life in most authoritarian states. How to govern these groups that are said to be nibbling away at state power is a formidable challenge for any regime that restricts free association.
Event Contact: ccs@berkeley.edu, 510‑643‑6321
What Is the K in K-pop? The Soft-Power Industry and the Hollowed Tradition in South Korea
Colloquium
Speaker: John Lie, Professor, Sociology, UC Berkeley
Moderator: Elaine Kim, Ethnic Studies, UC Berkeley
Date: February 14, 2013, | 4:00–6:00 p.m.
Location: IEAS Conference Room — 2223 Fulton, 6th Floor
Sponsors: Institute of East Asian Studies, Center for Korean Studies
How do we make sense of the global expansion of South Korean popular music? By considering its history and the production process, I explain not only the sources of K-pop's export success but also provide a window that illuminates contemporary South Korean political economy and Korean culture.
This talk is part of a series of presentations by IEAS Residential Research Fellows.
Event Contact: 510‑642‑2809
Seeking Asylum, Finding God: Religion and Moral Economy of Migrants' Illegality
Colloquium
Speaker: Jaeeun Kim, Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Center Postdoctoral Fellow, Stanford University
Date: February 15, 2013 | 4:00 p.m.
Location: IEAS Conference Room — 2223 Fulton, 6th Floor
Sponsor: Center for Korean Studies
The literature on immigration and religion has recently focused on how religion provides an alternative imaginary geography of belonging beyond the nation-state. Such works have analyzed how membership in a faith community provides illegal migrants with a path to de facto incorporation into the "local" society or a sense of belonging to a "transnational" community of faith, despite their de jure exclusion from the "national" citizenry in their state of residence. This talk will discuss the hitherto underexplored question, namely, how asylum procedures in contemporary immigration states prompt a certain group of migrants to take on a particular religious identity in pursuit of legal status. Drawing on ongoing research on the migration careers, legalization strategies, and conversion patterns of ethnic Korean migrants from China to the United States, the speaker shows that asylum-seeking is a contingent, temporally unfolding, and essentially an interactive process, guided not by long-term planning, but by everyday pragmatism, shifting state policies, and various middlemen informing migrants' perception of these policies. Kim also shows how religious institutions — which have developed distinctive understandings of the nation, the community of faith, and divine justice — get involved in, respond to, channel, and give meanings to this particular legalization strategy, and how the newly acquired religious identity reshapes these migrants' "cartography of belonging," through which they make sense of their place in the local society, in the states of origin and residence, and in the transnational community of faith.
Event Contact: cks@berkeley.edu, 510‑642‑5674
Introducing Hearts of Pine: Songs in the Lives of Three Korean Survivors of the Japanese "Comfort Women"
Colloquium
Speaker: Joshua Pilzer, Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology, University of Toronto
Date: February 19, 2013 | 4:00 p.m.
Location: IEAS Conference Room — 2223 Fulton, 6th Floor
Sponsor: Center for Korean Studies
In this presentation ethnomusicologist Josh Pilzer introduces the book that has resulted from his ten-year project on musical lives of South Korean survivors of the 'comfort women' system. During the long era of public secrecy about Japanese military sexual slavery, Korean survivors made use of veiled expressive forms such as song to reckon with their experiences and forge social selves without exposing their already opaquely public secrets. In the era of the "comfort women grandmothers" protest movement, which began in the early 1990s, the women became star witnesses and super-symbols of South Korea's colonial victimization at the hands of Japan; and the new normative constraints of this role compelled the women to continue to express taboo sentiments and continue the work of self-making behind the veils of song, often in the most public of places. The women's songs are thus simultaneously records of traumatic experiences; transcripts of struggles to overcome traumatic memory and achieve different kinds of cultural membership; performances of traumatic experience for an expectant public; and works of art that stretch beyond the horizons of traumatic experience and even those of Korean cultural identity.
Joshua D. Pilzer (PhD University of Chicago 2006) is an ethnomusicologist of Korean and Japanese music. His current research concerns the place of music in the texture of post-colonial Korean life, music's social utility and social poetics, and music as alternative history. He is interested in particular in the relationships between music, survival, traumatic experience, marginalization, socialization, public culture, and identity. He is the author of Hearts of Pine (Oxford University Press, 2012). Pilzer has published articles in Ethnomusicology, Dongyang Umak Yeonggu, and The Courtesan's Arts: Cross-Cultural Perspectives (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006), and has forthcoming articles in The Oxford Handbook of Applied Ethnomusicology and Music and War. He is currently conducting fieldwork for his next book project, an ethnography of music and song among Korean victims of the atomic bombing of Japan and their children in Hapcheon, "Korea's Hiroshima."
Event Contact: cks@berkeley.edu, 510‑642‑5674
Tsuneno's Journey: Households, Networks, and the Limits of the Ordinary in Early Modern Japan
Colloquium
Speaker: Amy Stanley, Assistant Professor, History, Northwestern University
Moderator: Mary Elizabeth Berry, Professor, History, UC Berkeley
Date: February 20, 2013 | 4:00–6:00 p.m.
Location: IEAS Conference Room — 2223 Fulton, 6th Floor
Sponsor: Center for Japanese Studies
Tsuneno, daughter of a Shin priest in a small Echigo village, had an unexpectedly interesting life that produced a large volume of correspondence. Over the course of the 1830's and '40's, she married twice, divorced twice, ran away to Edo, worked as a waitress, took up with a gangster who extorted her family, married a down-and-out masterless samurai, and finally entered the service of the famous Edo city magistrate Toyama Kinshiro. Her brothers, despairing of her behavior, called her a selfish idiot, but she insisted that she was a filial daughter.
This talk investigates Tsuneno's life (and its paper trail) in order to ask: What was the Tokugawa-era household (ie), and what did it mean to its members? And how might a revaluation of the "household system" join the typically small-scale, intimate histories of Tokugawa women to broader narratives about social and economic change in early modern Japan?
Event Contact: cjs-events@berkeley.edu, 510‑642‑3156
Images, Conventions, and Significance: Reading Buddha Images from Gandhara
Colloquium
Speaker: Juhyung Rhi, Seoul National University, Korea
Date: February 21, 2013 | 5:00–6:30 p.m.
Location: IEAS Conference Room — 2223 Fulton, 6th Floor
Sponsor: Center for Buddhist Studies
Two things seem clear as regards Buddha images from Gandhara. They were mostly votive dedications, and they had no straightforward connections to narrative themes from the Buddha's life. We are justified to ask, then, what they were supposed to mean as presentation, if not representation, of the Buddha. Did they reflect simple iconographic conventions? Or were they encoded with meanings that are not instantly manifest? Juhyung Rhi is professor of art history at Seoul National University and currently a member at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. As a specialist in Indian Buddhist art, he has written extensively on early Indian traditions, in particular Gandharan.
Event Contact: buddhiststudies@berkeley.edu, 510‑643‑5104
Download a copy of the announcement here.
Varieties of the Utopian in Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction
Colloquium
Speaker: Mingwei Song, Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures, Wellesley College
Date: February 22, 2013 | 4:00–6:00 p.m.
Location: IEAS Conference Room — 2223 Fulton, 6th Floor
Sponsor: Center for Chinese Studies (CCS)
In 2066, China dominates the world as the sole superpower. A team of go players are sent to the poverty-stricken United States to show off China's cultural superiority. Thus begins the story of Han Song's 2066: Mars over America (2000), which, together with numerous other new wave science fiction novels appearing in China over the last decade, has strengthened as well as complicated the utopian vision for a new, powerful China. Deeply entangled with the politics of a changing China, science fiction today mingles nationalism with utopianism/dystopianism; sharpens social criticism with an acute awareness of China's potential for further reform as well as its limitations; and envelops political consciousness in discourses on the power or powers of technology. This presentation analyzes the variations of the utopian motif in the major works of the three most influential SF authors, whom the speaker names as China's "Big Three": Liu Cixin (b. 1963), Wang Jinkang (b. 1948) and Han Song (b. 1965). The speaker's discussion focuses on three themes: (1) the appropriation of Mao's heritage in the narrative of China's future; (2) the myth of development; and (3) the uncertainty of a technologized post-human world.
Event Contact: ccs@berkeley.edu, 510‑643‑6321
Curriculum Design and National Identity Construction during the Anti-Japanese War: Focus on Relevant Chiang Kai-Shek's Personal Orders
Colloquium
Speaker: Zhengwei Liu, Professor, Vice-dean, School of Education, Zhejiang University, China
Date: February 25, 2013 | 2:00–3:30 p.m.
Location: IEAS Conference Room — 2223 Fulton, 6th Floor
Sponsor: Center for Chinese Studies (CCS)
After 1927, the Kuomintang (KMT) gradually increased the supervision of education. As the 1937 Lugouqiao Incident signaled full-scale Sino-Japanese War, Chiang Kai-shek took advantage of the political turbulence — as well as the study tour of the League of Nations which yielded an investigative report on The Reorganization of Education in China — to criticize policy advocated by pro-American intellectuals, including the liberal reform of Chinese education. On one hand, Chiang urged the Ministry of Education to implement the partisan discipline system in all universities, the secondary and primary schools. On the other hand, he gave nine personal orders to Chen Lifu, the Minister of Education, dictating that the Ministry of Education should lay special emphasis, in the curriculum design, on traditional ethnics, history, geography, farming, politics, war, education and science.
Event Contact: ccs-vs@berkeley.edu, 510‑643‑6322
Download the Abstract and Biography (English & Chinese) here.
The Mosque in China
Colloquium
Speaker: Nancy Steinhardt, Professor, East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Pennsylvania
Moderator: Heba Moustafa, History of Art, UC Berkeley
Date: February 26, 2013 | 4:00 p.m.
Location: IEAS Conference Room — 2223 Fulton, 6th Floor
Sponsors: Institute of East Asian Studies, Center for Chinese Studies
The first Muslims came to China in the Tang dynasty (618-907) and mosques were built at the same time. China's oldest mosques survive in coastal cities populated by Muslim traders in the Song dynasty.
This talk examines the oldest mosques and selected famous ones through extant buildings and textual records. It will demonstrate that even though every necessary feature for Muslim worship is present in the mosques, they are almost purely Chinese building complexes. It will be suggested that the ability of mosque and Chinese architecture to converge without compromising the beliefs of the one or the structural principles of the other was a major reason for the survival of both through thirteen centuries.
Event Contact: ieas@berkeley.edu, 510‑642‑2809
Balancing, Bandwagoning, or Standing Alone?: China's Rise and the Future of the Korean Peninsula
Colloquium
Speaker: Chung-in Moon, Professor of Political Science, Yonsei University
Date: February 27, 2013 | 12:00 p.m.
Location: 223 Moses Hall
Sponsor: Center for Korean Studies
What is South Korea's perception of China's rise? How has China's rise influenced its interactions with the two Koreas as well as the ROK-US alliance? What is South Korea's most ideal strategic choice? Balancing, bandwagoning, standing alone, or shaping a new regional order? What implications might these options have on the future of Korean peninsula?
Chung-in Moon is a professor of political science at Yonsei University and Editor-in-Chief of Global Asia, a quarterly magazine in English. He is also Director of the Kim Dae-jung Presidential Library and Museum. He served as Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Northeast Asian Cooperation Initiative, a cabinet-level post, and Ambassador for International Security Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Republic of Korea. He has published over 45 books and 250 articles in edited volumes and such scholarly journals. His recent publications include What Does Japan Now Think? (in Korean, 2013), The Sunshine Policy-In Defense of Engagement as a Path to Peace in Korea (2012), Exploring the Future of China (in Korean 2010 and Chinese in 2012), The United States and Northeast Asia: Debates, Issues, and New Order (with John Ikenberry 2008), and War and Peace in East Asia (2006). He attended the 1st and 2nd Pyongyang Korean summit as a special delegate. He is a recipient of Public Policy Scholar Award (the Woodrow Wilson International Center in Washington, D.C.), the Lixian Scholar Award (Beijing University), and the Pacific Leadership Fellowship (UCSD). He served as the President of the Korea Peace Research Association and Vice President of the International Studies Association (ISA) of North America. He is a member of ASEAN Regional Forum-Eminent and Expert Persons (ARF-EEPs) representing South Korea and served as co-chair of the first and second AFR-EEPs meetings in June 2006 and February 2007.
Event Contact: cks@berkeley.edu, 510‑642‑5674
On the Spatiality of Trade in Two Siberian Border Towns: Surfaces, Verticality and the Subterranean
Lecture
Speaker: Franck Billé, Research Associate, Department of Social Anthropology & Mongolia and Inner Asia Studies Unit, University of Cambridge, UK
Date: February 28, 2013 | 12:00 p.m.
Location: 270 Stephens Hall
Sponsors: Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies, Institute of East Asian Studies, Center for Chinese Studies
The two Manchurian cities of Blagoveshchensk (Russia) and Heihe (China) are the point along the 2500 mile border where Russian and Chinese urbanisms come closest together. Economically co-dependent, these 'twin' cities are nonetheless very different kinds of siblings. With the bulk of the trade taking place on the Chinese side, Heihe has rapidly developed into a modern town; by contrast Blagoveshchensk appears sedate and almost stagnant. This imbalance is especially visible at night when Heihe's riverbank illuminates in a wide array of colors.
If these lights are in many ways symptomatic of China's economic boom and newly acquired confidence, they are viewed with some ambivalence by Russian onlookers. Brushed aside as a cheap spectacle barely concealing enduring economic and cultural poverty, Heihe's riverbank is consistently described as a façade. In addition, Russian descriptions of Heihe tend to focus on the open-air markets and the commercial activities that take place at street level. Yet, much is happening beyond these surfaces.
Taking its cue from these 'surface readings' the paper will explore Russian spatial focus on horizontality. I will suggest that a certain cultural bias whereby horizontality is the primary plane where modernity is staged and enacted renders invisible those economic drivers that operate below this surface as well as along a vertical axis.
Event Contact: 510‑642‑3230
Why Did Japan Stop Growing?
Colloquium
Speaker: Takeo Hoshi, Senior Fellow in Japanese Studies, FSI; Director; Japan Studies Program, Shorenstein APARC; and Professor of Finance (by courtesy), Graduate School of Business, Stanford University
Date: February 28, 2013 | 4:00 p.m.
Location: IEAS Conference Room — 2223 Fulton, 6th Floor
Sponsor: Center for Japanese Studies
The talk will be based on Takeo Hoshi's NIRA reports with Anil Kashyap in 2011 and 2012. Hoshi will start by arguing that Japan's stagnation in the last 20 years was a result of the failure to respond to the new challenges that started to emerge in the 1970s (i) end of catching up process, (ii) limit of export led growth in the post Breton Woods system, and (iii) rapid aging. In addition, Japanese government and the BOJ made mistakes of (i) not addressing the non-performing loans problem sooner, (ii) expanding fiscal expenditure too much and on wasteful investments, and (iii) keeping the monetary policy too tight to allow deflation. Then, Hoshi argues that Japan needs more than expansionary macroeconomic policy to restore the growth. More concretely, he suggests nine policies in three policy areas that can be implemented to help Japan grow again: (1) deregulation, (2) opening up the country to the rest of the world, and (3) improving macroeconomic policy. The deregulation includes reforms to reduce the cost of doing business, stopping protection of zombie firms, deregulation especially in non-manufacturing, and growth enhancing special zones. Opening up policy includes trade opening including the participation in TPP, agricultural reform, and more open immigration policy. Improving macroeconomic policy includes the commitment to fiscal consolidation in the long run and more aggressive monetary policy. Finally, Hoshi will end the talk by evaluating Abenomics using the framework developed for the NIRA reports.
The Japanese version of the reports has been published as a book from Nihon Keizai Shimbun Shuppan last month.
Event Contact: cjs-events@berkeley.edu, 510‑642‑3156
Cities of Devotion: Newar Buddhist Traditions and the Paintings of Yuvak Tuladhar
Exhibit — Painting
Artist: Yuvak Tuladhar
Dates: March 1 – May 1, 2013 | 9:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
Location: IEAS Conference Room — 2223 Fulton, 6th Floor
Sponsors: Institute of East Asian Studies, Center for Buddhist Studies
Long after Buddhism faded in India, the artists of the historical Nepal Valley (where Buddhism survives as a vibrant tradition to this day) continued to create Buddhist icons of such renown that they were sought across Central Asia and even attracted the patronage of the imperial court in China. Today this venerable artistic tradition continues to flourish in its homestead in the ateliers of the Kathmandu Valley. Though besieged by rampant development, the glorious royal squares in the center of Nepal's ancient capitals, Kathmandu, Patan, and Bhaktapur, have been kept intact with their unique ensembles of temples and palatial buildings. The name of Bhaktapur itself means "City of Devotees."
The magnificent artistic heritage and deeply held beliefs continue to inspire Newar craftsmen and artists such as Yuvak Tuladhar. His icons reveal a personal and powerful vision of Buddhism, and his gentle town- and landscapes express a yearning for the Nepal of his childhood, a place that has changed dramaticallyindeed in many ways beyond recognitionas Kathmandu has exploded as the fastest growing city of Asia.
Public Program
Friday, March 22, 5 p.m.
Institute of East Asian Studies Conference Room
2223 Fulton Street, Berkeley CA
CONTEMPORARY FORMS OF NEPALESE ART PRACTICE
• Contemporary Nepalese Art: Narratives of Visuality and Postmodernity
Dina Bangdel, Art History, Virginia Commonwealth University
• A Conversation with Artist Yuvak Tuladhar
Participants:
Dina Bangdel, Art History, Virginia Commonwealth University
Atreyee Gupta, History of Art, UC Berkeley
Todd Lewis, World Religions, Holy Cross University
Sugata Ray, History of Art, UC Berkeley
Yuvak Tuladhar, Artist
Sanjeev Uprety, Central Department of English, Tribhuvan University, Nepal
Moderator:
Alexander von Rospatt, South and Southeast Asian Studies, UC Berkeley
This exhibit is part of the IEAS Arts of Asia series. See other IEAS Exhibits here.
Event Contact: ieas@berkeley.edu, 510‑642‑2809
Two Talks on Han Dynasty Chang'an
Colloquium
Speakers:
• Griet Vankeerberghen, History and Classical Studies, McGill University
• Liu Rui, Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
Date: March 4, 2013 | 12:00–2:00 p.m.
Location: IEAS Conference Room — 2223 Fulton, 6th Floor
Sponsor: Center for Chinese Studies
PRESENTATIONS
Western Han Chang'an: Emperors and their Local Lords
Griet Vankeerberghen, History and Classical Studies, McGill University
Water Resources of Western Han Chang'an: Weishui Bridge and Kunming Pond
Liu Rui, Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
Vankeerberghen will speak in English. Liu will speak in Chinese, with translation.
Event Contact: ccs@berkeley.edu, 510‑643‑6321
The Sun is Not So Central
Colloquium
Speaker: Michael Cherney, Photographer
Date: March 4, 2013 | 4:00 p.m.
Location: IEAS Conference Room — 2223 Fulton, 6th Floor
Sponsors: Institute of East Asian Studies, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Center for Chinese Studies
Michael Cherney's painterly photographs call upon the Chinese tradition in their contemporary interpretations. He writes "I try to utilize the advantage of the Chinese landscape, which allows for contrast between recent history and ancient history. My hope is that, through methods touched upon in this presentation, I am able to imbue photography with the sense of "the rise and fall of the ten thousand things" that can be found in more traditional Chinese works." In this talk Cherney shows examples of his work and how they relate to works from the classical Chinese painting tradition.
Event Contact: ieas@berkeley.edu, 510‑642‑2809
Hanji Unfurled: One Journey into Korean Papermaking
Colloquium
Speaker: Aimee Lee, Freelance Hanji Artist
Date: March 6, 2013 | 4:00 p.m.
Location: IEAS Conference Room — 2223 Fulton, 6th Floor
Sponsor: Center for Korean Studies
With a history of well over 1,500 years, Korean handmade paper, known as hanji, is familiar to Koreans but a mystery outside its home country. This lustrous paper that comes in a wide array of thickness, color, size, and translucency was once a coveted item inside and beyond Korean borders. Made by farmers during bitter cold winters, hanji was a noble marker of the literati that demanded paper for books, documents, calligraphy, and painting. Hanji also played a spiritual role as the ground for illuminated sutras, the body of temple decorations, and spirit of rituals where it was burned in hopes that its ashes would rise to the sky. Fashioned into objects that ranged from kites to armor to shrouds to chamber pots, there was seemingly no end to the possibilities of human ingenuity merged with transformation of nature's fibers, until the forces of history and industrialization collided and left this once celebrated substrate and its related practices near extinction.
Join Aimee Lee as she shares her experience of searching for a traditional Korean paper-making teacher as recounted in "Hanji Unfurled", the first English-language book about hanji. Of the handful of American hanji researchers, she is the only one to have interacted with Koreans in their own language while simultaneously learning the craft. Not only did she meet the few remaining paper-makers who still practice the indigenous Korean sheet formation method, but she also found teachers of related crafts that include jiseung — cording and weaving hanji, joomchi — texturing and felting hanji, natural dyeing, and calligraphy. Her talk will be accompanied by images, videos, and samples of hanji and paper objects. Her book will be available for sale and signing.
Aimee Lee is an interdisciplinary artist who works in paper, book, performance, and installation arts. She holds a BA from Oberlin College and MFA from Columbia College. Her post-graduate Fulbright research focused on Korean paper-making and allied crafts, and she built the first American hanji studio at the Morgan Conservatory in Cleveland, Ohio in 2010. In 2012, her first book, "Hanji Unfurled: One Journey into Korean Papermaking", was published by The Legacy Press. She exhibits internationally and travels as an artist-in-residence and teacher while raising awareness of hanji. For more information, visit aimeelee.net.
Event Contact: cks@berkeley.edu, 510‑642‑5674
The Taiwan Edge: UC Berkeley "TUSA" Scholars Present: 2013 TUSA Forum
Presentation
Date: March 8, 2013 | 2:00–6:00 p.m.
Location: IEAS Conference Room — 2223 Fulton, 6th Floor
Sponsors: Institute of East Asian Studies, Center for Chinese Studies
UC Berkeley, together with Harvard and Chicago, host annually a selection of scholars from Taiwan's "Top University Strategic Alliance"(TUSA) program. Drawn from a range of disciplines, from agriculture to art, from psychology to politics, from labor to law, these scholars will present their work in a joint session hosted by the Institute of East Asian Studies.
The Making and Reinvention of The Dijian tushuo
(Illustrated Arguments of the Emperor's Mirror)
Li-chiang Lin, Professor, Graduate Institute of Art History, National Taiwan Normal University
Discussant: Patricia Berger, History of Art, UC Berkeley
Technology, Offshoring, and Growth
Chu-Ping Lo, Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural Economics, National Taiwan University
Discussant: David Roland-Holst, Agricultural and Resource Economics, UC Berkeley
Neurobehavioral Aspects of Insomnia: Implications for the Association between Sleep and Emotion
Chien-Ming Yang, Professor, Department of Psychology/The Research Center for Mind, Brain, and Learning, National Chengchi University
Discussant: Kaiping Peng, Psychology, UC Berkeley
The Country Differences in the International Human Resource Management
Meiyu Fang, Associate Professor, Graduate Institute of Human Resource Management, School of Management, National Central University
Discussant: James Lincoln, Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley
The Rise of Judicial Politics in Taiwan
Chin-Shou Wang, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science & the Graduate Institute of Political Economy, National Cheng Kung University
Discussant: Thomas Gold, Sociology, UC Berkeley
WTO, Climate Change and China
Yao-Ming Hsu, Associate Professor, College of Law, National Chengchi University
Discussant: Rachel Stern, Boalt Law School, UC Berkeley
ABSTRACTS:
Li-Chiang LIN
The Making and Reinvention of The Dijian tushuo (Illustrated Arguments of the Emperor's Mirror)
This talk comprises two parts: it will first decipher the original intention of the making of the Chinese woodblock printed book Dijian tushuo through careful reading of both texts and pictures of this imperial textbook; secondly, it will briefly discuss my on-going investigation of its disseminations and reinventions, with focus on its reprint and appropriations in the 17th century Japan and the 18th century France. The Dijian tushuo (Illustrated Arguments of the Emperor's mirror; hence Dijian) was compiled in 1572 under the supervision of the Ming prime minister Zhang Juzheng (1525-1582) as the primer textbook for the emperor who reigned 1573-1620, who was then only 10-year-old in Chinese count. I have researched on the Chinese editions of the Dijian and hoped to solve the problems relating to the compilation process and, behind its facade as a textbook, the real agenda of its maker. However, there are still many more to be explored. This book was originally a hand-painted manuscript but was later made into woodblock-printed books. They were widely circulated and even got transported to Japan and France in the following centuries. My ongoing project is hoped to investigate further more on these Japanese and French versions of the Dijian.
New methodology has been proposed by scholars with emphasis on the interaction and communication between different countries, which stresses the reciprocity in the interaction between transmitter and receiver. It is under this very concern about the encounters and the interactions between the European countries and the East Asian countries that I am conducting this current research project. The comparisons of the transmissions of the Dijian eastward and westward should shed more light on our understanding of the multi-layer aspects of the different cultures' encounters. I will study the context in which specific cultural interactions took place, with special focus on the agents of these encounters and transmissions as well as on the exuberant visual culture and material culture these books generated.
Chu-Ping LO
Research Intensity, Business Services, and Trade
Eaton and Kortum (2001) employ a probabilistic formulation to a multi-country Ricardian model with a continuum of goods, in which all country endogenously share a common research intensity (relative to population growth) such that research intensities are invariant to relative incomes, then affecting relative incomes. However, the research intensities vary substantially even among OECD countries. I therefore extend their model by adding business services into production to show that the country-specific business service intensity is an important determinant to the research intensity. I argue that a country has a less distortion in its business service sector tends to have a higher business service intensity. It encourages the country to carry out more intensively the research activities, leading to the higher research intensity and then making a higher income to the country.
Chien-Ming YANG
Neurobehavioral Aspects of Insomnia: Implications for the Association between Sleep and Emotion
The advance of sleep science for the past few decades has enhanced our understanding of the neurophysiological mechanisms of sleep regulation. However, insomnia remains to be one of the most common health-related complaints. Past researches have accumulated evidences supporting the contributing roles of psychological and behavioral factors in insomnia. The factors indicated include dysfunctional beliefs about sleep, stress, maladaptive sleep-related behaviors, emotion disturbances and hyper-arousal. We proposed a Neurobehavioral Model that depicts insomnia as a disruption of the neurophysiological mechanisms that regulate sleep and waking that can be resulted from psychological and behavioral factors. The presentation will illustrate the model and describe the results of our previous studies that demonstrated the association of insomnia with different etiological factors. Furthermore, the implications of this model for the association between sleep and emotion and some research ideas and on-going researches on this topic will be discussed.
Meiyu FANG
The Country Differences in the International Human Resource Management
The purpose of the study is to examine the relationships between high performance work systems (HPWSs) and organizational performance among US, China, and Taiwan. Although there are some researches evidences on the impacts of HPWSs on organizational and individual performance, there is few research examining the moderating roles of the cultural perspectives. This will be the major contribution of the current study. The present study will treat the national characteristics of the United States as base lines for comparisons with Taiwan and China. Then the author will use meta-analysis to calculate the effect sizes of HPWSs in different countries. In addition, the present study also raises an important issue of the generalizability of the theories built in US context. Furthermore, the present study plans to construct the comparative models and provide useful suggestions for the human resource management practices for the companies operating in Taiwan, China, and the U.S.
Chin-Shou WANG
The Rise of Judicial Politics in Taiwan
The judiciary has played a more and more important role to the politics of Taiwan. For instance, the court determined the result for the litigious and controversial presidential election of 2004. On top of it, Taiwan's former President Chen Shui-bian was found guilty and put in jail because of corruption cases. There is a new phenomenon for the politics of Taiwan, i.e. the rise of judicial politics. Unlike other countries whose judicial politics originated from constitutional courts, the rise of the Taiwanese judicial politics came from District Courts. There are three major causes for the rise of judicial politics in Taiwan. First, Taiwan's judiciary has become more powerful and independent due to the efforts of some reform-minded prosecutors and judges. Second, there exists a flaw to the democracy of Taiwan. As clientelism and corruption are rampant, many politicians have been prosecuted for corruption. Third, elections in Taiwan have become very competitive. When disputations in elections occur, politicians would appeal to the judiciary for a resolution.
Yao-Ming HSU
WTO, Climate Change and China
The risk of climate change to our world is without doubt and the importance of relevant efforts for combating climate change are ongoing both at domestic and international level. At first, this research project mainly focuses on the specific regulatory paradigm of climate change, i.e., United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and Kyoto Protocol (and/or some possible future international regulatory instruments) and urges that such a mechanism must try to reach some harmonization between its implementation and the existing international trade rules codified in the World Trade Organization (WTO), no matter with the general norms such as non-discrimination principle or with the specific instrument such as the Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (SCM). The recent panel report of Case Canada Renewable Energy in DSB of WTO in the end of 2012 just demonstrated this necessity of harmonization.
Based on the theoretical backgrounds and practical implications between Trade and Climate Change, the study will be followed by an eminent case study: Chinaˇ's policies and laws relating to climate change. For now, China is under consultation for its measures concerning the wind power equipments (WT/DS/419) since the end of 2010. According to a panel report in Canada Renewable Energy case, it is very possible to resolve this dispute for the wind power equipments, politically and/or legally, between China and US, according to the legal arguments shown in Canada case.
However, a broader and thorough investigation about the climate change policies and laws in China would be finally needed for our comprehensive understanding. As we know, China is during the process of rapid industrialization and urbanization, her needs for energy security would be crucial for her economic growth. In the domain of energy and measures for mitigating the negative effects of climate change, she also invents some strategies, for example subsidies, to find a possible equilibrium between environmental protection and economic development. The conformity of these policies and norms to WTO rules would be necessarily examined in a wide-ranging framework.
Event Contact: 510‑642‑2809
Old Chang in New Bottles: New Light on the Dalai Lama Incarnation
2013 Khyentse Lecture
Speaker: Per K. Sørensen, University of Leipzig, Germany
Date: March 8, 2013 | 5:00–7:30 p.m.
Location: Alumni House, Toll Room
Sponsor: Center for Buddhist Studies
Throughout history, countless Tibetan religious masters and major emanational lineages or Tulku hierarchies have identified themselves with Tibet's celebrated patron bodhisattva and national saint, Avalokiteśvara, and further back with the Tibetan monarch and national founding figure Srongtsen Gampo. These lineages and eminent religious figures were all to play decisive roles in shaping the political and religious life of Tibet.
The most prominent embodiment of this popular deity patron surely culminated in the universally recognized Dalai Lama lineage, a lineage and cult of the Great Compassionate One that was to legitimize and thus underpin the first theocratic nation-building in Tibet. A compelling narrative central to the national identity of the country, the lecture will offer new intriguing insights regarding the formation and rise of this institution — aspects hitherto unknown to most people.
Per K. Sørensen is professor of Tibetology and Central Asian Studies at the University of Leipzig. He is the author of numerous books and research papers, including Divinity Secularized, Tibetan Buddhist Historiography, and co-authored the trilogy Civilization at the Foot of Mt. Shampo, Thundering Falcon and Rulers on the Celestial Plain. He has traveled widely in the Himalayas, in Tibet and Bhutan where he headed a research project for 15 years. His main interests include Tibetan language and literature, history and cultural studies.
Event Contact: buddhiststudies@berkeley.edu, 510‑643‑5104
Imagining in Isolation: Hong Kong Movies in Shanghai from 1949 to the Early 1960s
Lecture
Speaker: Jishun Zhang, Si-mian Institute for Advanced Studies in Humanities, East China Normal University
Moderator: Wen-hsin Yeh, Walter and Elise Haas Chair Professor in Asian Studies; Richard H. and Laurie C. Morrison Chair in History; Director, Institute of East Asian Studies
Date: March 11, 2013 | 4:00 p.m.
Location: IEAS Conference Room — 2223 Fulton, 6th Floor
Sponsors: Institute of East Asian Studies, Center for Chinese Studies
In Chinese. Soon after Hollywood movies were banished in the early 1950s in China, a craze for Hongkong films swept over Shanghai, as the urban population found in film a fashionable form of cultural consumption. In an era of isolation, this phenomenon in China's cities is particularly striking. Watching Hongkong movies was at once a spontaneous group behavior and functioned as shared memory, enabling urban populations to imagine the outside Capitalistic World, and to escape ideological pressure. In a Shanghai marked by dramatic transformation, a new kind of popular culture developed.
This lecture by Zhang Jishun will take a socio-cultural perspective on Hongkong Movies in Shanghai, unveiling Shanghai People's reaction and attitude towards Hongkong movies, and tracing both continuity and disjuncture in a period of great social and cultural upheaval.
In Chinese, without translation.
Event Contact: ieas@berkeley.edu, 510‑642‑2809
The Economic-Security Nexus in East Asia
Colloquium
Speaker: T.J. Pempel, Political Science, UC Berkeley
Moderator: Steve Vogel, Political Science, UC Berkeley
Date: March 12, 2013 | 4:00 p.m.
Location: IEAS Conference Room — 2223 Fulton, 6th Floor
Sponsor: Institute of East Asian Studies
At least since Immanuel Kant, analysts have debated the relationship between economics and security. Many so-called realists contend that a nation-state's primary concern must always be the protection of its territory from potential foreign military challenges. Thus, they should be dubious about committing the country's long term security to multilateral institutions and should be skeptical about the potential benefits of economic links to other states. A quite different view is offered by those who stress the peace-inducing power of cross-border economic transactions. Typically, this view holds that as countries become more interdependent economically and particularly as they create institutions embodying that interdependence, their incentives to engage in military conflicts with one another are diminished.
East Asia provides a valuable laboratory for investigating this general relationship. The countries of the region have typically become far more interdependent economically through expanded trade, foreign direct investment, the development of cross-border production networks, and monetary linkages. Moreover, an expanding network of regional institutions has enveloped most of them. But for a long period two countries, Burma-Myanmar and the Democratic People's Republic of [North] Korea have been conspicuous exceptions with their repressive military regimes, their economic isolation and poverty, and their apparent disdain for closer regional cooperation. Furthermore, East Asia also remains the locus of numerous intra-regional security hotspots tied to unresolved territorial divisions, nuclear proliferation, negative historical memories and high levels of domestic xenophobia, among other irritants. Importantly, however, despite such difficulties Northeast Asia has not seen a state-to-state shooting war since the Korean armistice of 1953 and Southeast Asia has been devoid of such wars since 1979.
Professor Pempel will examine the puzzling mixture of security tensions, economic linkages, regional institutions, and the absence of war in East Asia. His central concern will be to analyze the connected but often independent paths along which regional economic and regional security relations have been moving. The key aim will be toward deeper understanding of the region's recurring security tensions combined with the persistent avoidance of open shooting wars.
This talk is part of a series of lectures by IEAS Residential Research Fellows presenting their current research.
Event Contact: ieas@berkeley.edu, 510‑642‑2809
Japanese Society in Transition: Women, Family and Mental Health Issues
Panel Discussion
Speakers:
• Steven Vogel, Chair, Center for Japanese Studies; Professor,
Political Science, UC Berkeley
• Susan Holloway, Professor, Graduate School of Education, UC Berkeley
• Michael Zielenziger, Author and Journalist
Date: March 13, 2013 | 4:00 p.m.
Location: IEAS Conference Room — 2223 Fulton, 6th Floor
Sponsor: Center for Japanese Studies
This panel discussion will build on the research behind three books: Suzanne Hall Vogel's The Japanese Family in Transition: From the Professional Housewife Ideal to the Dilemmas of Choice; Susan Holloway's Women and Family in Contemporary Japan; and Michael Zielenziger's Shutting Out the Sun: How Japan Created its Own Lost Generation.
Are Japanese women today more liberated or more constrained than they were in the high-growth era? Are Japanese mothers raising children differently from their mothers and grandmothers? Are Japanese people having trouble coping with an era of greater freedom and choice? Are they under more stress? The panel will address these questions and more, reviewing recent developments in Japanese society.
Event Contact: cjs-events@berkeley.edu, 510‑642‑3156
"Chairman Mao Can Vote and So Can We": A History of Elections as State-Building Rituals in Twentieth Century China
Colloquium
Speaker: Joshua Hill, Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for Chinese Studies, UC Berkeley
Discussant: Wen-hsin Yeh, Professor, History; Director, Institute of East Asian Studies
Date: March 13, 2013 | 4:00–6:00 p.m.
Location: 223 Moses Hall
Sponsors: Institute of East Asian Studies, Center for Chinese Studies
Elections have been an important part of mainland Chinese political culture for over a century. Beginning in the waning years of the Qing dynasty and continuing until the first decade of the People's Republic, Chinese governments devoted significant amounts of time and resources to the organizing of elections. Despite this, Chinese elections have generally been dismissed as charades because none of the regimes that ruled China in the twentieth century came to power through the ballot box. Instead, rulers expected these elaborately planned elections to serve an entirely different function: as ritual occasions for the training, education, and creation of citizens. The goal of voting was not to give voters the chance to change the government, but to give the government an opportunity to transform the electorate.
Event Contact: ccs@berkeley.edu, 510‑643‑6321
Telepathic Corpses, Snow Buddhas, and Flames Encased in Ice: Radical Hope in Lu Xun's Wild Grass
Colloquium
Speaker: Eileen Cheng, Asian Languages and Literatures, Pomona College
Date: March 14, 2013 | 12:30–2:00 p.m.
Location: IEAS Conference Room — 2223 Fulton, 6th Floor
Sponsor: Center for Chinese Studies
This talk examines images of decomposition and disintegration in Lu Xun's Wild Grass. Reminders of the ephemeral nature of life, these images also reflect the violence of language and the limits of representation—that is, the inadequacy of texts to fully or accurately capture the past and a present in the midst of disappearing. Yet, Lu Xun's prose-poems also contain an urgent plea: Of the necessity for commemoration. In spite of his doubts, Lu Xun harbored a "radical hope": that his texts, like epitaph inscriptions, might allow the spirit of the past and the once living to flicker alive, as sources of illumination for the present.
Event Contact: ccs@berkeley.edu, 510‑643‑6321
Fan Writing: The Cultural Transactions between North and South in Early Medieval China
Colloquium
Speaker: Xiaofei Tian, East Asian Languages and Cultures, Harvard University Date: March 15, 2013 | 4:00–6:00 p.m.
Location: IEAS Conference Room — 2223 Fulton, 6th Floor
Sponsor: Center for Chinese Studies
Many scholars have demonstrated that Lu Ji (261-303) and Lu Yun (262-303), scions of a prominent southern noble family who went north and served the Western Jin court at Luoyang, reveal an intense "southern consciousness" in their writings. In this paper I call attention to the Lu brothers' enthrallment with the north, with a special focus on Lu Ji's poetic inscription of his nuanced fascination with the northern culture. The paper argues that the Lu brothers were fans of northern culture, with Lu Ji's poetry in particular demonstrating many characteristics of modern fan writings, and discusses how Lu Ji's refashioning of the north in turn influences the creation of the cultural south during the period of disunion known as the Northern and Southern Dynasties (317-589).
Event Contact: ccs@berkeley.edu, 510‑643‑6321
The Rule of Mandates: How China Governs Over Law and Democracy
Colloquium
Speaker: Mayling Birney, International Development, London School of Economics
Date: March 19, 2013 | 4:00–6:00 p.m.
Location: IEAS Conference Room — 2223 Fulton, 6th Floor
Sponsor: Center for Chinese Studies
The speaker will present evidence that China uses a distinctive form of governing, what she calls a "rule of mandates" in contrast to a rule of law. Under a rule of mandates, standards for accountability are relative rather than absolute, as lower officials are effectively directed to adjust the local implementation of the center's own laws and policies in order to meet the center's highest priorities. In China, this governing system has helped promote stability and growth, yet curtailed the potential impact of rule of law and democratic reforms. The speaker demonstrates this impact by drawing on evidence from original surveys, interviews, and archival work. Yet she also explains why this governing system is likely to become more problematic for China in the future, potentially jeopardizing even the economic growth and stability it has thus far supported.
Event Contact: ccs@berkeley.edu, 510‑643‑6321
Three Laughers and Six Friends: Designing Contemporary East Asian Gardens in the USA
Colloquium
Speaker: Marc Peter Keane
Date: March 20, 2013 | 12:30–2:00 p.m.
Location: 315A Wurster Hall
Sponsor: Center for Japanese Studies
The cultures of gardening in East Asia are among the most ancient in the world and are still vital to this day. Garden designer, Marc Peter Keane, who lived in Kyoto, Japan, for nearly 20 years will discuss the process of distilling and reinventing East Asian gardens for settings in the United States. The talk will look at two of his gardens: the recently completed Tiger Glen Garden at the Johnson Museum of Art and the Six Friends Garden designed for the Cornell Plantations. The Tiger Glen Garden depicts the tale known as the Three Laughers of the Tiger Glen, an allegory in which people overcoming differences of creed to find a unity of friendship. The Six Friends Garden is a contemporary expression of Japanese, Chinese and Korean gardening and literary culture.
Tiger Glen Garden wins the Golden A' Design Award (A-Prime Design Award)
The Tiger Glen Garden at the Johnson Museum of Art was chosen for the Gold level of the A' Design Award (A-Prime Design Award). The A' Design Award, based in Como, Italy, is an international award that aims to highlight the best designs, design concepts and design oriented products & services.
The general public announcement of the A' Design Awards will happen on April 15th. In the meantime a summary of the Tiger Glen Garden award can be seen here.
Photo by Alan Nyiri. Tiger Glen Garden.
Event Contact: cjs-events@berkeley.edu, 510‑642‑3156
Bright Lights across the River: Competing Modernities at China's Edge
Colloquium
Speaker: Franck Billé, Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge
Date: March 21, 2013 | 1:00–2:30 p.m.
Location: IEAS Numata Room — 2223 Fulton, 6th Floor
Sponsor: Center for Chinese Studies
The two cities of Heihe (China) and Blagoveshchensk (Russia) stand right opposite each other across the Amur River. But if they are comparable in footprint and population size, they look drastically different. Having evolved from a small settlement two decades ago, Heihe is a very modern city, structured on an urban model that is emerging throughout China. By contrast, Blagoveshchensk looks like a typical Eastern European town and has remained practically unchanged in the last twenty years. The contrast increases even further at night, when the whole of Heihe's riverbank illuminates in very bright lights.
For the Russians in Blagoveshchensk, these lights are symbolically crucial. If they continue to see their town as an outpost of Russian cultural presence in the East, former assumptions of cultural superiority have been deeply undermined. Indeed, no longer viewed as a ‘backward' developing country, China has now become a serious economic and geopolitical contender. This rise has been viewed by Blagoveshchensk residents with an ambivalent mixture of anxiety and fascination. For the younger generation, the lights increasingly signal the ushering in of a new kind of modernity, offered by an economically confident China where the future beckons and where everything seems possible.
Open to all audiences.
Event Contact: ccs-vs@berkeley.edu, 510‑643‑3622
Living Without Dignity and Writing with Integrity
Colloquium
Speaker: Yan Lianke
Date: March 21, 2013 | 4:00–6:00 p.m.
Location: IEAS Conference Room — 2223 Fulton, 6th Floor
Sponsor: Center for Chinese Studies
One of China's most successful writers, Yan will talk about writing fiction in China today. He sees the people's loss of dignity within Chinese culture and under Chinese state power and compromises made by authors faced with this lack of dignity and loss of intellectual integrity. The question is how to compromise in life while remaining faithful in one's writing. In the real world, dignified writing can only come from heroic characters.
Born in 1958 in Henan Province, China, he is the author of many novels and short-story collection, including Serve the People!, and has won China's two top literary awards, the Lu Xun for Nian, yue, ri (The Year, the Month, the Day), and the Lao She for Shouhuo (Pleasure). His most recent book, Lenin's Kisses, was listed as one of the top three books of 2012 by Evan Osnos of the New Yorker. Osnos comments: "This story of a village that decides to buy Lenin's corpse is Yan at the peak of his absurdist powers. He writes in the spirit of the dissident writer Vladimir Voinovich, who observed that 'reality and satire are the same.'"
Biography: http://paper-republic.org/authors/yan-lianke/
Event Contact: ccs@berkeley.edu, 510‑643‑6321
Contemporary Nepalese Art Practice: A Conversation with Yuvak Tuladhar
Panel Discussion
Date: March 22, 2013 | 5:00 p.m.
Location: IEAS Conference Room — 2223 Fulton, 6th Floor
Sponsors: Institute of East Asian Studies, Center for Buddhist Studies, Center for South Asia Studies
A panel discussion of art and religion in Nepal, organized in conjunction with the current exhibition at the Institute of East Asian Studies, "Cities of Devotion: Newar Buddhist Traditions and the Paintings of Yuvak Tuladhar" (on view through May 1, 2013).
Participants:
Atreyee Gupta, History of Art, UC Berkeley
Todd Lewis, World Religions, Holy Cross University
Sugata Ray, History of Art, UC Berkeley
Yuvak Tuladhar, Artist
Sanjeev Uprety, Central Department of English, Tribhuvan University, Nepal
Moderator:
Alexander von Rospatt, South and Southeast Asian Studies, UC Berkeley
Event Contact: ieas@berkeley.edu, 510‑642‑2809
On Family Values: A Question of Human Rights
Colloquium
Speaker: Henry Rosemont, Jr., Religious Studies, Brown University
Date: April 1, 2013 | 4:00–6:00 p.m.
Location: IEAS Conference Room — 2223 Fulton, 6th Floor
Sponsor: Center for Chinese Studies
In thinking about how to address the manifold economic, social, political and environmental problems facing the U.S. and the world today, it might prove useful to re-examine the early Confucian insistence on the family as the nexus of ethical, political and spiritual life. In the first place, while a great many families today can be characterized as sexist, oppressive, and/or just generally dysfunctional, many more of them are not, at least in the rich industrialized nations, and families are not going to disappear as an institution no matter what some people might wish. Moreover, admitting that "family values" has regularly been employed conceptually in the service of arch-conservative social and political orientations, reinforcing patriarchy, homophobia, and especially sexism, nevertheless, family values can, it will be argued, be modified along much more progressive social, political and economic lines when placed in an updated Confucian conceptual framework.
Event Contact: ccs@berkeley.edu, 510‑643‑6321
Women for Women: Gender Bias in the 2012 Presidential Election of Korea
Colloquium
Speaker: Jiyoon Kim, Asan Institute for Policy Studies
Date: April 2, 2013 | 4:00 p.m.
Location: IEAS Conference Room — 2223 Fulton, 6th Floor
Sponsor: Center for Korean Studies
The 18th presidential election of Korea in 2012 engendered numerous subjects to be discussed for electoral scholars. In particular, an incredible amount of attention was paid to the fact that a female president was elected in one of the world's most traditional and conservative societies. Some political pundits and scholars noted the disproportionately high support for Park among female voters, through which they attempted to explain Park's decisive victory.
This talk examines the source of the female voters' support for President Park Geun-hye in the 2012 presidential election. Conventionally, Korean female voters are known to be more conservative than their male counterparts. However, it is not yet clear whether the female support for Park stems from the "gender affinity effect" or a pre-existing gender gap. Using the Asan Institute's Electoral Studies of 2012, this talk will explore which effect prevailed and contributed more heavily to Park's electoral victory.
Event Contact: cks@berkeley.edu, 510‑642‑5674
Returning Souls: Documentary Screening with Filmmaker Hu Tai-Li
Documentary Film
Speakers:
• Hu Tai-Li, Filmmaker
• You-tien Hsing, Geography, UC Berkeley
Date: April 3, 2013 | 4:00 p.m.
Location: IEAS Conference Room — 2223 Fulton, 6th Floor
Sponsors: Institute of East Asian Studies, Center for Chinese Studies
An intimate family story within a politically charged historical framework, "Returning Souls" unfolds in an environment where ancient cultures grapple with the power of western religions, national land policy, and the local politics of Taiwan. In the most famous ancestral house of Taiwan's matrilineal Amis tribe, carved pillars tell the community's most cherished legends. Some forty years ago, a strong typhoon toppled the house, after which the pillars were moved to the Institute of Ethnology Museum. The documentary follows the efforts of young villagers who, with assistance from female shamans, challenged tribal members and village representatives to communicate with the ancestors residing in the pillars. They eventually brought those souls back — rather than the pillars themselves — and began reconstructing the house. The documentary explores issues of identity politics and the anxieties of a generation caught in the crosshairs of modernity.
Event Contact: ieas@berkeley.edu, 510‑642‑2809
The Missing Master: "China" in Zuoxiao Zuzhou's Music and Art
Lecture
Speaker: Zuoxiao Zuzhou, Musician and author
Discussant: Michael Timmins, Cowboy Junkies
Date: April 4, 2013 | 6:00&38211;8:00 p.m.
Location: Faculty Club, Heyns Room
Sponsors: Center for Chinese Studies, Townsend Center for the Humanities
From Zuoxiao Zuzhou's beginnings as an itinerant street vendor of cut-rate CDs and self-taught guitarist, he has developed a rich and distinctive musical idiom which draws playfully and with great passion on rock and roll, Chinese folk and operatic sounds, and electronic textures. His lyrics are complex, poetically ambiguous, sometimes scabrously funny, and full of heartbreakingly melancholic insights into the harsh and sometimes absurd social realities of post-socialist China. Zuoxiao Zuzhou's prolific work as a musician and film composer (with 15 albums of original compositions to date) has also garnered a great deal of attention outside of China. He's an electrifying performer, and has toured across China as well as in Europe.
He has also become a leading composer for independent Chinese films, working closely not only with Ai Weiwei, but also writing music for the most globally recognized film auteur of his generation, Jia Zhangke.
Zuoxiao Zuzhou's work as a maverick artist and public figure has been multi-faceted. He was one of the founding members and leading figures in the “East Village” artists village of the 1990s — a Beijing based group of artists who fueled the later explosion of Chinese visual and performance art in the global marketplace. His first band, No, was a pivotal experiment in avant-garde rock music, and its influence is still felt in underground and alternative music circles in Beijing. When faced with rampant censorship and music piracy in his solo career, Zuoxiao took the production, product design, and marketing of his music into his own hands, revealing his talent as one of the best studio sound engineers in contemporary China, while also pioneering a controversial new direct business model that eliminated political interference (by removing state-run music companies from the equation) and copyright infringement (by offering his music free on-line). He is also a novelist and memoirist, whose two published books feature wildly creative accounts of the artistic life in a country hell-bent on development at any cost. Whether in his books or his songs or his graphic art, Zuoxiao Zuzhou pushes the envelope artistically and politically, maintaining a tough, humorous, unflinching and clear-eyed empathy for those who have been silenced and marginalized.
Zuoxiao Zuzhou is the greatest popular Chinese musician of his generation, a brave and thoughtful voice of dissent, and an artist of rare talent and integrity.
See Morning Edition story on him: http://www.npr.org/2013/02/18/171900960/chinas-leonard-cohen-calls-out-political-corruption
Event Contact: ccs@berkeley.edu, 510‑643‑6321
China Goes Global: The Partial Power
Lecture
Speaker: David Shambaugh, Political Science and International Affairs, and Director of the China Policy Program, George Washington University
Moderator: Wen-hsin Yeh, Professor of Modern Chinese History, and Director, Institute of East Asian Studies, UC Berkeley
Date: April 5, 2013 | 4:00 p.m.
Location: Faculty Club, Heyns Room
Sponsors: Institute of East Asian Studies, Center for Chinese Studies
Most global citizens are well aware of the explosive growth of the Chinese economy, and China watchers have shed much light on the country's internal dynamics — China's politics, its vast social changes, and its economic development. In his discussion of his new book, China Goes Global, David Shambaugh focuses on how this increasingly powerful nation has become more active and assertive throughout the world.
Thirty years ago, China's role in global affairs beyond its immediate East Asian periphery was decidedly minor and it had little geostrategic power. As Shambaugh charts, though, China's expanding economic power has allowed it to extend its reach virtually everywhere — from mineral mines in Africa, to currency markets in the West, to oilfields in the Middle East, to agribusiness in Latin America, to the factories of East Asia. Shambaugh offers an enlightening look into the manifestations of China's global presence: its extensive commercial footprint, its growing military power, its increasing cultural influence or "soft power," its diplomatic activity, and its new prominence in global governance institutions. Shambaugh argues that China's global presence is more broad than deep and that China still lacks the influence befitting a major world power — what he terms a "partial power," and explores China's current and future roles in world affairs.
Event Contact: ieas@berkeley.edu, 510‑642‑2809
Hafu: a film about the experiences of mixed-Japanese living in Japan
Documentary film
April 7, 2013 | 4:00 p.m.
Location: 100 Genetics & Plant Biology Building
Sponsor: Center for Japanese Studies
Bay Area premiere of the documentary, Hafu.
About the film...
With an ever increasing movement of people between places in this transnational age, there is a mounting number of mixed-race people in Japan, some visible others not. "Hafu" is the unfolding journey of discovery into the intricacies of mixed-race Japanese and their multicultural experience in modern day Japan. The film follows the lives of five "hafus" — the Japanese term for people who are half-Japanese — and by virtue of the fact that living in Japan, they are forced to explore what it means to be multiracial and multicultural in a nation that once proudly proclaimed itself as the mono-ethnic nation. For some of these hafus Japan is the only home they know, for some living in Japan is an entirely new experience, and others are caught somewhere between two different worlds.
Registration required: Free
Event Contact: cjs-events@berkeley.edu, 510‑642‑3156
Prosper or Perish: Credit and Fiscal Systems in Rural China
Colloquium
Speaker: Lynnette Ong, Department of Political Science; Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto
Date: April 8, 2013 | 3:30–5:00 p.m.
Location: 202 Barrows Hall
Sponsor: Center for Chinese Studies
The official banking institutions for rural China are the Rural Credit Cooperatives (RCCs). Although these co-ops are mandated to support agricultural development among farm households, since 1980 half of RCC loans have gone to small and medium-sized industrial enterprises located in, and managed by, townships and villages. These township and village enterprises have experienced highly uneven levels of success, and by the end of the 1990s, half of all RCC loans were in or close to default, forcing China's Central Bank to bail out the RCCs. In Prosper or Perish, Lynette Ong examines the bias in RCC lending patterns, focusing on why the mobilization of rural savings has contributed to successful industrial development in some locales but not in others.
Interweaving insightful and theoretically informed discussions of rural credit, development, governance, and bank bailouts, Ong identifies various sources for China's uneven development. In the highly decentralized fiscal environment of the People's Republic, successful industrialization has significant implications for rural governance. Local governments depend on revenue from industrial output to provide public goods and services; unsuccessful enterprises starve local governments of revenue and result in radical cutbacks in services. High peasant burdens, illegal land acquisition by local governments, and other poor governance practices tend to be associated with unsuccessful industrialization. In light of the recent liberalization of the rural credit sector in China, Prosper or Perish makes a significant contribution to debates within political science, economic development, and international banking.
Lynette Ong is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science and at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto. She is the author of Prosper of Perish: Credit and Fiscal Systems in Rural China (Cornell University Press, 2012). Her publications have appeared in Comparative Politics, International Political Science Review, China Quarterly, Pacific Affairs, Journal of East Asian Studies, Asian Survey, Foreign Affairs, and Far Eastern Economic Review, among others.
Event Contact: ccs@berkeley.edu, 510‑643‑6321
China's Ancient History Expansionism and Korea's Response
Colloquium
Speaker: Chang-hee Nam, Professor of Political Science, Inha University
Date: April 9, 2013 | 12:00 p.m.
Location: IEAS Conference Room — 2223 Fulton, 6th Floor
Sponsor: Center for Korean Studies
This talk will cover Beijing's newly raised claim that the ancient Korean kingdoms, Koguryo and Palhae, belonged to China. This history expansionism by China aims at generating an excuse for the country to occupy the northern part of North Korea in the event of an internal crisis in Pyongyang. Another reason is to amplify nationalistic pride by annexing dazzling jade civilizations outside the Great Wall border area in an effort to divert mounting public frustration over economic disparity and corruption in the country.
Event Contact: cks@berkeley.edu, 510‑642‑5674
“Letter to Ren An" ascribed to Sima Qian (ca. 90 BCE)
Panel Discussion
Panelists:
• Steven Durrant, University of Oregon
• Waiyee Li, Harvard University
• Han van Ess, Ludwig Maximilian Universitat, Munich
• Michael Nylan, UC Berkeley
Date: April 10, 2013 | 3:00–5:30 p.m.
Location: IEAS Conference Room — 2223 Fulton, 6th Floor
Sponsor: Center for Chinese Studies
Many consider the curious "Letter to Ren An" (attributed to Sima Qian) to contain the most important insights into the motivations for writing history in early China, as it purports to describe Sima Qian's refusal to take the "honorable way out" by committing suicide, on the grounds that he must complete the monumental work of history begun by his father as an act of filial piety. As the the or (aka, the ), the joint work of the Simas is widely reckoned to be the single most powerful work of history-writing in the entire Chinese tradition (hence the continual analogies made to both Herodotus or Thucydides) and the ancestor of the entire genre, the longstanding controversies regarding the authenticity of the letter require some attention. Four leading Han historians have been convened for this workshop, each offering a different "take" on the Letter.
Event Contact: ccs@berkeley.edu, 510‑643‑6321
Exceptional and Chinese: Beyond China and the West
Lecture
Speaker: Wang Gungwu, Professor and Chairman of the East Asian Institute, National University of Singapore
Discussants:
• Aihwa ong, Anthropology, UC Berkelely
• Penny Edwards, South and Southeast Asian Studies, UC Berkeley
Moderator: Wen-hsin Yeh, History, UC Berkeley, and Director, Institute of East Asian Studies
Date: April 10, 2013 | 4:00 p.m.
Location: Faculty Club, Heyns Room
Sponsors: Institute of East Asian Studies, Center for Chinese Studies (CCS), Department of South & Southeast Asian Studies, Center for Southeast Asia Studies
Sixty years ago, Francis L.K. Hsu in his Americans and Chinese: two ways of life (1953), described the people of both countries as culturally and psychologically exceptional. Today all the talk is about two powerful countries, exceptional now in a different world. Like the book, this lecture will focus on people. Were Chinese who left China exceptional, or exceptional only after they left? Did it matter if they moved not to the West but within the region? When they remained or became Chinese, was that what distinguished them outside China? For several centuries, more than 90 per cent of them lived, worked and settled in various parts of the Nanyang or Southeast Asia. What was exceptional and Chinese about them, and what happens when China now seeks to be exceptional anew?
Professor Wang Gungwu is the Chairman of the East Asian Institute and University Professor, National University of Singapore and Emeritus Professor, Australian National University. He received his B.A. (Hons) and M.A. degrees from the University of Malaya in Singapore, and his Ph.D. at the University of London (1957). His teaching career took him from the University of Malaya (Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, 1957-1968, Professor of History 1963-68) to The Australian National University (1968-1986), where he was Professor and Head of the Department of Far Eastern History and Director of the Research of Pacific Studies. From 1986 to 1995, he was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hong Kong. He was Director of East Asian Institute of NUS from 1997 to 2007.
Professor Wang is a Commander of the British Empire (CBE); Fellow, and former President, of the Australian Academy of the Humanities; Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Science; Member of Academia Sinica; Honorary Member of the Chinese Academy of Social Science. He was conferred the International Academic Prize, Fukuoka Asian Cultural Prizes. In Singapore, he is Chairman of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies; Chairman of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at NUS; Vice-Chairman of the Chinese Heritage Centre; Board Member of the Institute of Strategic and Defence Studies at NTU.
This talk is part of the Institute of East Asian Studies Distinguished Speaker Series.
Event Contact: ccary@berkeley.edu, 510‑642‑2809