The 2021/22 Yip So Man Wat Memorial Lecture
with guest speaker Professor Ban Wang (Stanford University)
Lecture: Going against the World by Joining It: Modern China’s Quest of Cosmopolitanism
逆现存世界祈望大同：现代中国的普世追索
Image credits: Cover image for Ban Wang’s monograph China in the World (forthcoming 2022 by Duke UP), designed by Aimee Harrison, based on a painting in the series “Landscape Relativities” by Arnold Chang and Michael Cherney
The recording of the main lecture is now made available:
Focusing on tensions and connections between national formation and international outlooks, this talk shows how ancient visions persist even as Chinese modernizers and revolutionaries adopted and revised the Western nation-state form. The concept of tianxia (all under heaven) and datong (great harmony) have been updated into outlooks of global harmony that value unity, equality, and reciprocity as the key to overcoming interstate conflict, national divides, and social fragmentation. The talk will delve into two ongoing debates: on the embrace of the West vs. aspirations for a common world, and on the difference between liberal cosmopolitanism and socialist internationalism.
Date & Time:
Thursday, February 10, 2022
In light of the current status of the pandemic in Vancouver, the lecture is now postponed to Tuesday, April 5.
5:00pm (PDT) Reception with light refreshments
6:00pm-8:00pm (PDT) Lecture
Location:
Asian Centre Auditorium, 1871 West Mall, Vancouver
*There is also an option to watch the event virtually. The lecture will be live-streamed through YouTube.
Proof of vaccination and face coverings: At UBC, proof of vaccination continues to be required for all indoor event participants over 12 years old. Face coverings are required in public indoor spaces until April 30. The Department of Asian studies reserves the right to deny entry or participation to anyone who doesn’t comply with the department’s stated policies, procedures and visitor code of conduct.
Presented in English.
Free & open to the public.
Events in Conjunction
Research Seminar: Lu Xun’s Critique of Techno-Scientific Modernity
鲁迅对科技神话的质疑
In this seminar, we will read Lu Xun’s essay “Toward a Refutation of Malevolent Voices” (Po esheng lun 破惡聲論) and stories “Mending Heaven” (Butian 補天), and “Curbing the Flood” (Lishui 理水). We will also read Ban Wang’s “Lu Xun as a Mytho-Ecological Writer” inspired by Lu Xun. We will discuss how Lu Xun mounts a critique of the myth of progress, science, and technology. By evoking ancient cosmology and ecological resonance of humans with nature, Lu Xun lampoons the hypocrisy of the hypocrite gentry. This privileged and power elite includes China’s reformers and westernizers at the turn of the 20th century. In Lu Xun’s stories, the knowledge elite in modern China rub shoulders with bureaucrats of the imperial dynasties. By indulging cynically in empty talk and performing vacuous rituals, by wielding the rhetoric of utilitarian rationality, this elite valorizes the fetish of technoscientific modernity by trashing “superstition.” Lu Xun’s defence of “superstition” re-invokes a millennial faith in the ecological interconnection of humans and nature, and expresses the intimate connection between faith, voice, and poetic imagination.
Date & Time:
Wednesday, February 9, 2022
In light of the current status of the pandemic in Vancouver, the research seminar is now postponed to Monday, April 4.
4:00pm – 5:45pm (PDT)
Location:
Asian Centre Auditorium, 1871 West Mall, Vancouver
*This session will not be live-streamed.
Presented in English.
Free & open to the public.
Attendees will be expected to read Lu Xun’s writings and Ban Wang’s essay before coming to the seminar. The readings are included in the registration confirmation email.
Proof of vaccination and face coverings: At UBC, proof of vaccination continues to be required for all indoor event participants over 12 years old. Face coverings are required in public indoor spaces until April 30. The Department of Asian studies reserves the right to deny entry or participation to anyone who doesn’t comply with the department’s stated policies, procedures and visitor code of conduct.
The Department of Asian Studies and the Asian Centre adhere to Provincial Health Orders and Public Health Guidance for all in-person events. Please check back regularly for specific information and details about attending this event safely and in accordance with the current phase of B.C.’s Restart Plan.
We look forward to seeing you.
Dr. Ban Wang of Stanford University.
About the Speaker
Ban Wang is the William Haas Professor in Chinese Studies in East Asian Languages and Cultures and Comparative Literature at Stanford University. His major publications include The Sublime Figure of History (1997), Illuminations from the Past (2004), History and Memory (Lish yu jiyi) (2004), and China in the World: Culture, Politics, and World Vision (forthcoming March 2022). He has edited and co-edited 8 book on the fields of Chinse studies, including Chinese Visions of World Order: Tianxia, Culture, and Word Politics (2017), Words and Their Stories (2011) and Trauma and Cinema (2004). He has taught at SUNY-Stony Brook, Harvard, Rutgers, East China Normal University, the University of Zurich, Yonsei university, and Seoul National University.
About the Yip So Man Wat Memorial Lecture
The Yip So Man Wat Memorial Lectures are made possible by the generous support of Messrs. Alex and Chi Shum Watt in honour of their mother, the late Mrs. Wat, and her passion for Chinese literature and culture. Please visit the full lecture list here.
