Prof. Mu-Chou Poo Department of History, The Chinese University of Hong Kong In this lecture Prof. Poo re-examines the theory of the Axial Age by first investigating the case of China, situating the findings in the context of the on-going scholarly discussions on the idea of the Axial Age as proposed by Jaspers and expounded […]

Prof. Hsiung Ping-Chen The Chinese University of Hong Kong The Term “Humanities” is often used in reference to disciplinary academic humanities: a modern, institutional subject. That its development is usually a product (or byproduct) of cultural politics in nation-building can be taken for granted. In the case of China, however, the long and complicated civilization […]

Prof. Viren Murthy Department of History, University of Wisconsin-Madison In den 1980er Jahren begann eine zentrale Auseinandersetzung zwischen Marxisten und postkolonialen Theoretikern. Letztere kritisierten den Marxismus als eurozentrisch. Ihrer Meinung nach sahen Marxisten die europäische Geschichte als universell gültig und nutzten daher das europäische Entwicklungsmodell um Asien zu erklären. So verwendeten die Marxisten Kategorien wie […]

This talk focuses on how environmental change transformed the religious culture by examining the floating community of boat-dwelling fisherpeople in freshwater in North China. These mobile, isolated boat people adapted to a boat-dwelling lifestyle, organized aquatic social groups, and created innovative religious practices and beliefs in order to maintain their relationships with spirits and ancestors, […]