Exhibit: Dunhuang and Beyond
Sackler Building, Lower Level 485 Broadway, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United StatesA major milestone and world-renowned heritage site within Silk Road networks, Dunhuang preserves more than 400 embellished Buddhist cave shrines in present-day northwest China. Dunhuang’s cave shrines date from the fifth to fourteenth centuries. Each encloses visitors within murals and carved figures that depict Buddhist legends and paradises. Chronicling innumerable exemplary works of Buddhist artmaking […]
Exhibit: Dunhuang and Beyond
Sackler Building, Lower Level 485 Broadway, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United StatesA major milestone and world-renowned heritage site within Silk Road networks, Dunhuang preserves more than 400 embellished Buddhist cave shrines in present-day northwest China. Dunhuang’s cave shrines date from the fifth to fourteenth centuries. Each encloses visitors within murals and carved figures that depict Buddhist legends and paradises. Chronicling innumerable exemplary works of Buddhist artmaking […]
Household Registration: A Tale of Two Cities
Presented via ZoomSpeaker: Anthony Saich, Director of the Rajawali Foundation Institute for Asia and Daewoo Professor of International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy SchoolDiscussant: Rana Mitter, S.T. Lee Professor of US-Asia Relations, Harvard Kennedy School The household registration system (hukou) is widely seen as a major factor contributing to inequality in China. Individuals’ benefits depend on where their registration is located, with rural residents […]
Jeongsoo Shin — Can Korean Calligraphers Write Like Wang Xizhi? The Mujangsa Stele and its Reception in a Sino-Korean Context
Common Room, 2 Divinity Ave. 2 Divinity Ave., Cambridge, Massachusetts, United StatesSpeaker: Jeongsoo Shin, Associate Professor, Korean Cultural Studies, The Academy of Korean Studies; HYI Visiting Scholar, 2024-25Chair/Discussant: Sun Joo Kim, Harvard-Yenching Professor of Korean History, Harvard University From the late eighteenth century, Chinese scholars took a keen interest in the steles of early Korea. Some inscriptions on those steles were seen as material evidence of ancient Chinese […]
Urban China Lecture Series featuring Sarah Chang — From Xiagang (layoffs)to the New Silk Road: SOE Reform and Urban Renewal in Southwestern China from the 1990s to the Present
Presented via ZoomSpeakers: Sarah Chang, Assistant Professor of History, Miami UniversityThis presentation examines the relationship between urban renewal projects and SOE closures from the late 1990s to today. It uses published government and factory documents, oral history, and ethnography to explore how Chengdu’s urbanizing projects after the 2000s redefined the purpose of urban space, ejected industrial communities from […]
Urban China Lecture Series featuring Liu Zhi — What Drives Urban Regeneration Action in China Today?
Presented via ZoomSpeakers: Liu Zhi, Peking University-Lincoln InstituteOver the last few years, the Chinese government has actively promoted urban regeneration action across the country. However, many projects are not justified by demand and struggle to attract investment. Others lack rigorous feasibility studies and economic assessments, posing significant risk of inefficient or wasteful investment. Behind this phenomenon is what […]
Mark Baker — 𝘗𝘪𝘷𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘊𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘢: 𝘚𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘗𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐𝘯𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘔𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘯 𝘡𝘩𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘻𝘩𝘰𝘶
Presented via ZoomSpeaker: Mark Baker, Lecturer (Assistant Professor) of East Asian History at the University of Manchester, UK. Moderator: Xiang Zhou, Professor of Sociology, Harvard University Pivot of China (Harvard Asia Center, 2024) examines spatial inequality across China's twentieth century and beyond. It argues that by focusing on certain kinds of places, people and infrastructures, the development strategies of successive Chinese […]
Yu Zhao — The Effectiveness of China’s Emission Controls on Air Quality, Deposition and Health Burdens
Pierce Hall 100F 29 Oxford St., Cambridge, MA, United StatesSpeaker: Yu Zhao, Professor, School of Environment, Nanjing University; Alumnus (Postdoctoral Fellow) and Collaborator, Harvard-China Project Dr. Yu Zhao is a Professor in the School of Environment at Nanjing University. His research interests include the quantification and evaluation of air pollutant emissions with multiple measures; analysis of regional and city air quality and its improvement […]
Heejung Seo-Reich — The Emergence of the Aesthetic Subject in Zhuangzi
Common Room, 2 Divinity Ave. 2 Divinity Ave., Cambridge, Massachusetts, United StatesSpeaker: Heejung Seo-Reich, Associate Professor, School of International Studies, Sun Yat-Sen University; HYI Visiting Scholar, 2024-25Chair/Discussant: Michael Puett, Walter C. Klein Professor of Chinese History and Anthropology; Director, Asia Center, Harvard University What is East Asian aesthetics? In the study of aesthetics, there has been considerable doubt about the relevance of academic discussions to the […]
Webinar: The Global Impact of the United States Election
Presented via ZoomSpeakers:Erica Chenoweth, Academic Dean for Faculty Development; Frank Stanton Professor of the First Amendment, Harvard Kennedy SchoolJay Rosengard, Chair, Indonesia Public Policy Program, Rajawali InstituteAnthony Saich, Director, Rajawali Foundation Institute for Asia; Daewoo Professor of International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School You are invited to an online event featuring Ash Center faculty Erica Chenoweth, Jay Rosengard, and Anthony […]
Urban China Lecture Series featuring Philipp Demgenski — The Burden of the Past: Housing Expropriation and the Changing Priorities of Inner-City Redevelopment in Contemporary China
Presented via ZoomSpeakers: Philipp Demgenski, Institute of Anthropology, Department of Sociology, Zhejiang UniversityUnder current Chinese leadership, inner-city redevelopment has shifted from a “demolish and rebuild” (da chai da jian) model to prioritizing heritage preservation (baohu) and “subtle redevelopment” (wei gaizao), with policies prohibiting violent evictions, requiring public interest justification, and promoting transparency in housing expropriation. Drawing on […]
Yi-Chieh Lin — AI Meets Journalism: Rethinking Ethics, Efficiency, and Integrity in Taiwanese Newsrooms
Common Room, 2 Divinity Ave. 2 Divinity Ave., Cambridge, Massachusetts, United StatesSpeaker: Yi-Chieh Lin, Associate Professor, Department of Journalism, National Chengchi University; HYI Visiting Scholar, 2024-25Chair/Discussant: John P. Wihbey, Associate Professor, Media Innovation and Technology, Northeastern University This study explores journalists’ perspectives on the perils and possibilities of using generative AI tools in Taiwanese newsrooms, comparing specific applications across news reporting processes in Taiwan and the […]