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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260416T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260416T131500
DTSTAMP:20260312T154336Z
CREATED:20260312T154333Z
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SUMMARY:Taiwan Workshop featuring Thung-Hong Lin — Stormy Seas: Taiwan’s Democratic Resilience under China’s Sharp Power
DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Thung-Hong Lin\, Research Fellow\, Institute of Sociology\, Academia Sinica\, Taiwan.  \n\n\n\nHow can a small democracy resist the influence of a powerful authoritarian neighbor? Taiwan is often praised for its successful economic development and peaceful democratic transition\, yet it faces substantial challenges from both internal political divisions and external geopolitical pressures. Taiwan’s political landscape is shaped by several major cleavages\, including national identity\, economic inequality and class conflict\, and generational and cultural differences. The greatest challenge to Taiwan’s democracy comes from China\, which has sought to exploit these cleavages through economic leverage\, propaganda\, and political interference. Under the pressure of Beijing’s sharp power\, Taiwan’s democracy has repeatedly faced threats of regression. Yet each time these pressures escalate\, Taiwan’s civil society has mobilized in response\, playing a crucial role in defending democratic institutions. Drawing on case studies such as the 2014 Sunflower Movement\, the 2019 wave of solidarity with Hong Kong protests\, and recent civic mobilizations in 2024\, this talk highlights how Taiwan’s vibrant civil society has become a key source of democratic resilience. \n\n\n\nThe talk is based on Lin’s forthcoming book\, Stormy Seas: Taiwan Under the Shadow of China in the 21st Century (Stanford University Press\, forthcoming September 2026)\, which situates Taiwan’s democratic resilience within the broader trajectory of U.S.–China relations and global geopolitics over the past half century. \n\n\n\nThung-Hong Lin is a Research Fellow at the Institute of Sociology\, Academia Sinica\, Taiwan. He studies inequality\, political economy\, disasters\, and Taiwan’s democracy\, and was a 2023–24 Stanford–Taiwan Social Science Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) and a Fulbright Fellow. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nVenue
URL:https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/events/taiwan-workshop-featuring-thung-hong-lin-stormy-seas-taiwans-democratic-resilience-under-chinas-sharp-power/
LOCATION:CGIS Knafel K262\, 1737 Cambridge Street\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:Taiwan
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260416T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260416T133000
DTSTAMP:20260406T172550Z
CREATED:20260406T172546Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260406T172550Z
UID:44731-1776340800-1776346200@fairbank.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Sinophone South Studies: A Dialogue
DESCRIPTION:Speakers: Chia-rong Wu\, University of CanterburyKyle Shernuk\, Georgetown UniversityModerator: David Der-wei Wang\, Harvard University \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nVenue
URL:https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/events/sinophone-south-studies-a-dialogue/
LOCATION:Plimpton Room (133)\, Barker Center\, 12 Quincy St.\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:Events of Interest
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/kyle.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260417T093000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260417T170000
DTSTAMP:20260408T182443Z
CREATED:20260408T182441Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260408T182443Z
UID:44740-1776418200-1776445200@fairbank.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Taiwan Studies+ 2.0 Symposium
DESCRIPTION:As Taiwan finds itself reentering into the global conversation today\, where does the field of Taiwan Studies find itself in this historical moment? From the origins of capitalism to the threat of nuclear pollution\, from soundscapes in the authoritarian era to contemporary video games\, from indigenous identities to Cold War activism\, and from geopolitical competition to ecological imaginations – how do we identify different moments of Taiwan’s history as key nodes of global and local processes? This symposium\, now in its second iteration\, seeks to bring together different generations of global Taiwan scholars\, with the goal to foster new linkages and networks for a burgeoning field. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nVenue
URL:https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/events/taiwan-studies-2-0-symposium/
LOCATION:Yenching Auditorium\, 2 Divinity Ave.\, Cambridge\, Massachusetts\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:Events of Interest
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260421T103000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260421T113000
DTSTAMP:20260416T143755Z
CREATED:20260129T190506Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260416T143755Z
UID:44165-1776767400-1776771000@fairbank.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Revisiting the Wasteocene: Shifting Circular Economies of Human Manure in Early 20th-Century China
DESCRIPTION:Register for zoom webinar\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSpeaker: Gonçalo Santos\, University of Coimbra \n\n\n\nPresent-day climate and environmental disruptions are connected to the workings of a global capitalist order that generates ever-growing amounts of waste. Emerging scholarship on what has come to be known as the Wasteocene has highlighted how waste in the age of global capitalism is never simply about matter; it is also about systems of power and wasting relationships. One the best ways to explore this relational history of waste in global capitalism is through the history of the modern flush toilet and the wider waterborne system of waste disposal supporting its operation. This system of waste disposal is widely regarded as a symbol of global modernity\, but it uses a lot of water and carries considerable environmental costs\, and for this reason\, there is a growing body of multidisciplinary research promoting alternative approaches to sanitation. Some of this research is historical and focuses on civilizations like China that developed a seemingly more sustainable model of sanitation based on the large-scale commercialization of human manure. In this paper\, I draw on collaborative research with my colleague Jun Zhang to revisit the rise of Chinese agro-urban circular economies of human manure in the late imperial period\, providing a new explanation of why these circular economies did not collapse after the end of the imperial order and during much of the 20th century. My account questions “Western-centric” historical narratives of sanitation and modernity\, while showing that contemporary debates on global ecological transitions have much to learn from Chinese historical experiences.Meeting Registration – Zoom \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nVenue
URL:https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/events/revisiting-the-wasteocene-shifting-circular-economies-of-night-soil-in-early-20th-century-china/
LOCATION:Presented via Zoom
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/cosponsored-lecture-thumbnail-e1705695585733.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260421T121500
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260421T133000
DTSTAMP:20260415T162944Z
CREATED:20260415T162928Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260415T162944Z
UID:44763-1776773700-1776778200@fairbank.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Navigating Economic Lawfare: Multinational Firms in U.S.–China Competition
DESCRIPTION:Speakers:Mitch Presnick\, Founder of Super 8 Hotels ChinaMatthew Bock Esq. LCB\, Bock Trade LawJoin us for this timely and important lunch talk on how U.S.–China economic competition is reshaping the legal and business landscape for multinational firms. We are honored to welcome distinguished speakers with deep expertise in cross-border business and trade law: Mitch Presnick 柏力 ( China Veteran | Founder of Super 8 Hotels China) and Matthew Bock Esq. LCB (r\, Bock Trade Law | Customs & International Trade | Export Controls & Sanctions)\, who will share practical insights on export controls\, sanctions\, and the global supply chain. Lunch will be provided. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nVenue
URL:https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/events/navigating-economic-lawfare-multinational-firms-in-u-s-china-competition/
LOCATION:WCC 5044\, Wasserstein Hall\, 1585 Massachusetts Ave.\, Cambridge\, Massachusetts\, 02138
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260421T203000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260421T220000
DTSTAMP:20260415T161103Z
CREATED:20260415T161101Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260415T161103Z
UID:44753-1776803400-1776808800@fairbank.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Urban China Lecture Series featuring Zhao Miaoxi —Mismatched Industrial Land Lease Terms: Urban Land Vacancy Induced by Business Turnover
DESCRIPTION:Zoom Meeting link\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSpeaker: Zhao Miaoxi\, South China University of TechnologyIn China’s system of public land ownership\, industrial land leases often extend beyond the relatively short lifespan of enterprises. Consequently\, formulating land use strategies that account for business turnover has emerged as a crucial task for urban planning. This lecture explores urban land vacancy through the primary lens of firm turnover data\, examining the complete business life cycle from market entry to exit. Using downtown Guangzhou as an empirical case study\, the research reveals that the survival spans of most companies are significantly shorter than their granted land tenure\, inevitably leading to spatial inefficiency and vacancy. By simulating the interaction between company survival rates and land tenure periods\, the study evaluates various policy interventions aimed at minimizing land waste. We propose several targeted planning strategies\, including flexible land transfer mechanisms\, the revitalization of underutilized industrial spaces\, and the promotion of mixed-use development.Professor Miaoxi Zhao holds dual Ph.D. degrees in Urban Planning (China) and Geography (Belgium). He is a Professor and Department Head of Urban Planning at South China University of Technology.  His research centers on urban transformation in contemporary China\, examined through the theoretical and empirical lens of the global network society. His methodological and technological innovations in spatial planning have directly informed high-impact policy documents and strategic frameworks\, including the Pearl River Delta Regional Integrated Development Plan\, the Guangzhou Urban Development Strategy (2040)\, and the Shenzhen Hub City Construction Research Report.We would like to thank the Harvard Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies\, the MIT Sustainable Urbanization Lab\, and the Australian Centre on China in the World for supporting this event.  Please subscribe to our mailing list if you’d like to receive e-mail notifications: http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/urbanchinaseminar.Join Zoom Meeting: https://mit.zoom.us/j/97955535212 \n\n\n\nhttps://mit.zoom.us/j/97955535212 \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nVenue
URL:https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/events/urban-china-lecture-series-featuring-zhao-miaoxi-mismatched-industrial-land-lease-terms-urban-land-vacancy-induced-by-business-turnover/
LOCATION:Presented via Zoom
CATEGORIES:Urban China Series
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260422T113000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260422T130000
DTSTAMP:20260312T153730Z
CREATED:20260312T153727Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260312T153730Z
UID:44569-1776857400-1776862800@fairbank.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:What Does It Mean to “Write Oneself” in Tibetan Autobiographical Tradition: The Amazing  Life of Guru Chowang
DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Geri Jiebu\, Associate Professor\, School of Chinese Ethnic Minority Language and Literature\, Minzu University of China; HYI Visiting Scholar\, 2025-26Chair/Discussant: Janet Gyatso\, Hershey Professor of Buddhist Studies\, Harvard Divinity School \n\n\n\n\nWhat Does It Mean to “Write Oneself” in Tibetan Autobiographical Tradition: The Amazing  Life of Guru Chowang\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nVenue
URL:https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/events/what-does-it-mean-to-write-oneself-in-tibetan-autobiographical-tradition-the-amazing-life-of-guru-chowang/
LOCATION:Common Room\, 2 Divinity Ave.\, 2 Divinity Ave.\, Cambridge\, Massachusetts\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:Events of Interest
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/FNU-Geri-Jiebu.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260423T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260423T123000
DTSTAMP:20260415T163921Z
CREATED:20260415T163611Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260415T163921Z
UID:44769-1776942000-1776947400@fairbank.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:What Factors Influence Senior People’s Digital Health Technology Adoption Decision in China and Thailand: A Qualitative Study
DESCRIPTION:Register now\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPanelists:Haijing Hao\, Associate Professor\, Computer Information Systems\, Bentley University; Associate\, Harvard University Asia Center Heiko Gewald\, Research Professor of Information Management\, Neu-Ulm University\, Neu-Ulm\, Germany (joining virtually) Assadaporn Sapsomboon\, Associate Professor of Information Technology\, Department of Statistics\, Chulalongkorn Business School\, Bangkok\, Thailand (joining virtually) \n\n\n\nModerator: Hongtu Chen\, Co-director\, Social Technology for Global Aging Research Initiative at Harvard; Assistant Professor of Psychology\, Harvard Medical School \n\n\n\nRegistration appreciated for planning purpose.  \n\n\n\nThis panel discussion will cover the TAMAG project\, a cross-cultural study examining how seniors in China\, Thailand\, and Germany navigate digital health technologies and the personal challenges of aging. \n\n\n\nThe TAMAG project (Technology Acceptance Model for the Aging Generation) conducted field interviews with seniors (65+) in China\, Thailand\, and Germany during 2025/26. Participants were drawn from diverse backgrounds and varied geographical regions\, including major cities and rural areas. The study focused on seniors’ daily use of digital technologies\, such as smartphones and tablets\, particularly for health-related purposes. Researchers also explored issues critical to older adults\, including the ease of navigating healthcare systems\, experiences with medical consultations\, and personal perceptions of aging and loneliness. While the interviews highlighted the diverse cultural contexts within China and Thailand\, the next phase of analysis will contrast these findings with the Western context\, as represented by the interviews with German participants. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nVenue
URL:https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/events/what-factors-influence-senior-peoples-digital-health-technology-adoption-decision-in-china-and-thailand-a-qualitative-study/
LOCATION:CGIS South\, Room S153\, 1730 Cambridge St.\, Cambridge\, Massachusetts\, 02138\, United States
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260423T163000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260423T173000
DTSTAMP:20260420T173813Z
CREATED:20260420T173810Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260420T173813Z
UID:44839-1776961800-1776965400@fairbank.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:A Conversation with Ambassador Lui Tuck Yew of Singapore
DESCRIPTION:Register now\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJoin us for a fireside chat between Ambassador Lui Tuck Yew and Ambassador Nicholas Burns. The conversation will explore Singapore’s role amid intensifying U.S.–China competition and consider the broader forces shaping today’s international landscape. \n\n\n\nAmb Lui Tuck Yew was appointed Singapore’s Ambassador to the United States in June 2023\, after serving as Ambassador to China (2019–2023) and Japan (2017–2019). He was Minister for Transport (2011–2015)\, concurrently Second Minister for Foreign Affairs (2011–2012) and Defense (2015)\, and Minister for Information\, Communications and the Arts (2009–2011). First elected to Parliament in 2006\, he served as Senior Minister of State until 2009. A Singapore Armed Forces scholar\, Amb Lui rose to Chief of Navy in 1999. He later served as Chief Executive of the Maritime and Port Authority (2003) and CEO of the Housing and Development Board (2005). He has degrees from University of Cambridge\, Trinity College United Kingdom\, and Tufts University\, and he was awarded the Public Administration Medal (Bronze) (Military) in 1993\, the Public Administration Medal (Gold) (Military) in 2000\, and the Long Service Medal in 2005. \n\n\n\nAmbassador Nicholas Burns is a Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Relations at the Kennedy School and the Founder and Faculty Chair of the Program on Diplomacy and Statecraft. Burns served as the U.S. Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China from 2021-2025.Registration required. Open to Harvard Faculty\, Students\, and Staff.  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nVenue
URL:https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/events/a-conversation-with-ambassador-lui-tuck-yew-of-singapore/
LOCATION:Ellwood Democracy Lab – Rubenstein 414AB\, 79 JFK St.\, Cambridge\, Massachusetts\, 02138\, United States
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260424T090000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260424T170000
DTSTAMP:20260408T184309Z
CREATED:20260408T184306Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260408T184309Z
UID:44742-1777021200-1777050000@fairbank.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Gender Studies and Performance Workshop
DESCRIPTION:9:00 – 9:15 AM: Welcome Remarks \n\n\n\n9:15 – 10:45 AM: Panel One \n\n\n\nCommentators: Waiyee Li\,  Harvard UniversityThomas Kelly\, Harvard University \n\n\n\nEugene Wang\, Harvard UniversityThe Woman Inhabiting a Dog’s Body: How Asian Theatre Evolved? \n\n\n\nWhen did Asian theatre begin—and how? I approach this question through a single\, startling image: Mulian’s mother reborn as a dog. The Mulian story—of a son descending into hell to rescue his damned mother—circulated as scripture\, transformation text\, cave mural\, Ghost Festival ritual\, and eventually full-fledged theatrical spectacle. Its remarkable transmedial persistence demands explanation. \n\n\n\nI argue that Mulian functioned as a conceptual engine for theatre’s evolution. The narrative’s internal pressures—how to render hell visible\, how to stage karmic punishment\, how to embody transformation\, how to make filial devotion sensorially overwhelming—forced successive media to innovate. Cave murals developed sequential and topographic pictorial logics; ritual performances mobilized immersive\, participatory environments; theatre devised acrobatics\, mechanical effects\, demonic choreography\, percussive soundscapes\, and startling audience infiltration. \n\n\n\nThe episode of “the woman inhabiting a dog’s body” crystallizes this engine at work: grotesque degradation and redemptive love fused into a single theatrical demand. The story did not simply migrate across media—it reconfigured them. Asian theatre\, I suggest\, emerged not as a sudden invention but as the cumulative response to a narrative that insisted the invisible be made visible\, the metaphysical made bodily\, and salvation staged before a crowd. \n\n\n\nKangni Huang\, University of Southern California\, Society of Fellows in the HumanitiesThe (After)life of a Stele: The Materiality of Writing in Jiang Shiquan’s Three Plays on Consort Lou \n\n\n\nThis paper focuses on the High Qing dramatist Jiang Shiquan’s 蔣士銓 (1725-1785) three plays on Consort Lou 婁妃\, wife of the rebellious Prince Ning\, Zhu Chenhao 朱宸濠 (d. 1520). The historical Consort Lou leaves only scarce traces in official history\, appearing primarily as a virtuous yet tragic figure whose repeated remonstrations against her husband’s rebellion went unheeded. Meanwhile\, Jiang’s theatrical portrayal of this historical figure shapes the image of Consort Lou into a reflexive voice on the issue of writing as material traces. Among the three plays by Jiang\, the first two\, Yi pian shi 一片石 (A Piece of Stone) and Di’er bei 第二碑 (The Second Stele)\, tell the rediscovery and commemoration of her burial site over the span of twenty-five years. And the last one\, Caiqiao tu 採樵圖 (The Painting of Gathering Wood)\, stages the rebellion and Lou’s virtuous actions during the turmoil. Building on recent scholarship that defines these works as “metahistorical plays\,” my analysis highlights the intricate relationship between Consort Lou’s life story as a virtuous woman and the materiality of writing. It argues that Jiang’s recurring reflection on the precariousness of material texts is deeply intertwined with the constructed image of Lou as both a female author and reader. By recentering on Lou’s authorial and readerly voice in these plays\, this study elucidates how theater not only reimagines but also reinvents gender history. \n\n\n\n10:45 – 11:00 AM: Refreshment Break \n\n\n\n11:00 AM – 1:00 PM: Panel Two \n\n\n\nCommentators: David Der-Wei Wang\, Harvard UniversityEileen Cheng-yin Chow\, Duke University \n\n\n\nNancy Rao\, Rutgers UniversityOpera Actresses in the Cantonese Sojourner Community: From Shanghai to San Francisco \n\n\n\nTaking the 1922 encounter in Shanghai between Cantonese opera actress Li Xuefang and Peking opera star Mei Lanfang as a point of departure\, this paper argues that Cantonese opera’s rising status then was a reconfiguration of cultural capital across regional and diasporic networks. By analyzing the circulation of the term “Bei-Mei-Nan-Xue” (北梅南雪) and the scholar–gentry–merchant alliances that underwrote both of their prominence\, the study demonstrates how operatic prestige was produced through urban modernity and elite patronage. The paper situates Shanghai as a mediating hub in the transpacific cultural economy that linked Cantonese opera to Chinese communities in North America. In this way\, opera actresses emerge not only as performers but as agents in the production of diasporic modernity\, negotiating gender\, regional identity\, and transpacific mobility. \n\n\n\nCatherine V. Yeh\, Boston UniversityHuashanas the Ideal Modern Women \n\n\n\nBetween 1910s and early 1920s a group of talented Peking Opera actors\, led by Mei Lanfang 梅兰芳and followed by three other great dan actors created a new female role called huashan 花衫\,or “flower-shirt.” This was remarked upon at the time by the theater world at large as the main reason for their rise in stardom. Undoubtedly\, the new huashan operas attracted large audiences in part because of the novelty of the role\, which combined the three main dan roles including the morally upright qingyi 青衣\,the coquette sexy huadan and the martial\, spirited wudan. In the huadan the audience saw a more rounded female character that seemed to fit the modern standards of realism\, while the dynamism expressed in this new role appeared to represent the spirit of the time. Yet\, in terms of ideology\, this huashan character does not pose a challenge to the Confucian image of the ideal woman. Embedded in each of the three main dan role types is an essentially Confucian view of womanhood. The real formal breakthrough that challenged the standard ideology of ideal womanhood came with the introduction of dance into Peking opera by Mei Lanfang. The re-creation of the lost Chinese dance by him and his adviser Qi Rushan transformed Peking opera aesthetics and its embedded social values. The form itself projected an alternative ideal womanhood that challenged standard gender ideals. At the same time\, Mei Lanfang and Qi Rushan legitimized the introduction of dance by making the claim that what they were doing was reclaiming a lost Chinese aesthetic heritage. The aestheticism of mei 美or beauty was this new ideology’s outer cloak. \n\n\n\nDaphne P. Lei\, University of California\, IrvineConformity as Rebellion? Convention\, Innovation\, and Gendered Interculturalism in Taiwan Jingju \n\n\n\nTraditional theatrical convention\, which made sense when it was invented in the past\, often appears dated or even ridiculous in the context of innovation or modernization. For instance\, the art of stilting (caiqiao) in jingju\, which was invented for male actors to mimic women’s bound feet during the Qing dynasty\, should have disappeared by now\, since women dominate female roles today and the modern definition of femininity goes beyond foot fetish. However\, not only do many “dated” conventions survive\, but they also work as wonderful stimuli for innovation and as a tool to negotiate conceptions of gender and interculturalism. This talk will focus on recent case studies in innovative jingju and jingju-inspired intercultural theatre in Taiwan\, such as The Tempest by Contemporary Legend Theatre. \n\n\n\n1:00 – 2:00 PM: Lunch Break \n\n\n\n2:00 – 2:15 PM: Workshop participants move to Harvard FAS CAM Lab Lower Level\, Sackler Building\, 485 Broadway\, Cambridge MA \n\n\n\n2:30 – 4:00 PM: Room — A Corporeal Dialogue Across Time (2026) \n\n\n\nJingqiu Guan\, Choreographer/Dancer\, Duke UniversityHan Qin\, Visual Design\, State University of New York at Stony BrookEthan Eldred\, Lighting Design\, Duke University \n\n\n\nRoom is a multimedia solo dance performance inspired by poems carved onto the wooden walls of the Angel Island Immigration Station\, written by Asian immigrants detained and interrogated upon their arrival in the United States between 1910 and 1940. Originally staged inside a translucent cube with four projection walls activated through motion-capture choreography\, the work is reimagined for the spatial architecture of Harvard’s CAMLab\, where four parallel screens transform the space into a layered landscape of memory\, surveillance\, and inscription.  \n\n\n\nHan Qin’s visual design\, combining charcoal drawing\, cyanotype blueprint\, and digital art derived from Guan’s original footage of Angel Island\, renders the archive as both tactile and mediated\, material and spectral. Within this constructed “room\,” the dancer\, juxtaposing the labor of birthing with the violence of immigration control\, positions her body as both witness and translator\, engaging in a cross-temporal dialogue with voices that persist through absence and erasure. Room invites us to ponder how we might listen to and touch our histories with openness and humility\, and how freedom is imagined\, constrained\, and valued.  \n\n\n\nPerformance to be immediately followed by a conversation with Jingqiu Guan and Han Qin\, moderated by Eileen Cheng-yin Chow \n\n\n\n4:00 PM: Reception \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nVenue
URL:https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/events/gender-studies-and-performance-workshop/
LOCATION:CGIS South S020\, Belfer Case Study Room\, 1730 Cambridge St.\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:Gender Studies
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260427T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260427T160000
DTSTAMP:20260415T161929Z
CREATED:20260415T161927Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260415T161929Z
UID:44757-1777302000-1777305600@fairbank.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Green Transportation: Co-benefits for Climate\, Air Quality\, and the Economy
DESCRIPTION:Speaker: WU Ye\, Professor\, School of Environment\, Tsinghua University\, Beijing\, China; Executive Deputy Director\, Beijing Laboratory of Environment Frontier\, China \n\n\n\nElectric vehicle (EV) promotion is a key strategy to improve air quality and address climate change. As the world’s largest manufacturer of EVs and batteries\, China’s rapid development in both passenger and commercial fleets has also facilitated the global electrification transition. The promotion of electric vehicles must balance cost viability and environmental benefits\, and notable variations across different use scenarios. Air quality benefits depend on the amount and spatiotemporal distribution of pollutant emission reductions\, whereas climate benefits should be assessed from a life-cycle perspective across EV and battery supply chains. \n\n\n\nThis talk will involve recent data research on real-world carbon footprints\, air pollutant emissions\, traffic activity\, and cost to quantify the carbon reduction\, pollution mitigation\, and economic characteristics of EVs and batteries. Next\, it will present case studies of two megacities\, Shanghai and Chengdu\, evaluating the air quality benefits and costs of different electric truck fleets informed by real-world usage data. For example\, it will introduce the real case of road right policy design which has enhanced the economic competitiveness of electric trucks while generating considerable air quality improvements.  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nVenue
URL:https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/events/green-transportation-co-benefits-for-climate-air-quality-and-the-economy/
LOCATION:Pierce Hall 100F\, 29 Oxford St.\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Wu-ye.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260501T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260501T173000
DTSTAMP:20260420T175427Z
CREATED:20260420T175424Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260420T175427Z
UID:44841-1777640400-1777656600@fairbank.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:2026 Harvard Visual China Graduate Symposium — Enclosures: In and Out of Worldmaking
DESCRIPTION:Throughout history\, the meeting of images and architecture has generated spaces of imagination\, devotion\, and meaning. From murals and sculpture ensembles in Buddhist cave temples to digital projections and immersive installations\, images and architecture have long collaborated in the making of worlds. Yet the relationship between images and architecture in artistic worldmaking is anything but monolithic. Architecture does not merely contain or frame images\, but situates and conditions their visual expressions and interpretations. Conversely\, images transform the built environments that hold them\, reconfiguring space into realms of vision\, ritual\, and belief. Harvard Visual China’s 2026 Graduate Symposium presents two panels on how images and architecture in Chinese and East Asian art at large construct\, sustain\, and reimagine worlds.This event is generously sponsored by the Department of History of Art & Architecture and the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Innovation Fund\, Harvard FAS CAMLab\, and the Yin-Cheng Distinguished Lecture Series.  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nVenue
URL:https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/events/2026-harvard-visual-china-graduate-symposium-enclosures-in-and-out-of-worldmaking/
LOCATION:Sackler Building Auditorium\, 485 Broadway\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260504T140000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260504T153000
DTSTAMP:20260501T133018Z
CREATED:20260327T201631Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260501T133018Z
UID:44673-1777903200-1777908600@fairbank.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:China’s Political Economy: Challenges and Opportunities — Presentations by Fairbank Center Visiting Scholars and Fellows
DESCRIPTION:Presentations: \n\n\n\nLingang Zhou\, Associate Professor\, School of Politics and International Affairs\, East China Normal University; 2025-26 Visiting Scholar\, Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies The Progressive Logic of the PRC’s ConstitutionThe PRC’s constitution was initially established on the basis of a differentiated allocation of political power. First\, the exploiting classes were deprived of the right to vote. Second\, voting rights were distributed unequally between workers and peasants. However\, at the level of constitutional law\, both forms of inequality were gradually eliminated. By no later than 2010\, formal equality in voting rights had been achieved within the system. Yet the dominant interpretation of the principle of equality remains unchanged. This has led to an inconsistency between interpretation and institutional reality. Exploring this inconsistency can help reveal the progressive logic underlying it.Yixiao Zhou\, Associate Professor in Economics and Director of the China Economy Program\, Crawford School of Public Policy\, The Australian National University; 2025-26 Visiting Scholar\, Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies The Impact of Chinese Firms on Global Competition Since China’s market-oriented reforms and accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO)\, the share of Chinese firms in the global market has expanded significantly in recent decades. In this talk\, Yixiao Zhou examines how the increase in China’s global market share has reshaped global competition. She examines how competitive pressure varies between firms of different market power\, size\, geographic locations\, and industry sectors. \n\n\n\nYunli Lou\, Founder and Managing Partner\, Milestone Capital Partners; 2025-26 Visiting Fellow of Practice\, Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies China’s Path to Energy Security – what has been achieved and what can be learned?For more than a decade\, China has been deliberately building an energy infrastructure and supply chain with a goal to reduce reliance on imports\, dramatically increase clean energy production and consumption\, and achieve a high degree of energy self-sufficiency. This will only be accomplished through a fundamental transformation of its energy system\, moving from a fossil-fuel dominant structure to one led by new energy sources.   \n\n\n\nBased on her experience investing in renewable and battery companies in China over the last 20 years\, Yunli Lou will present a case study to illustrate the opportunities and challenges for firms in China’s new energy sector. \n\n\n\nDiscussant: Mark Wu\, Henry L. Stimson Professor of Law\, Harvard Law School; Director\, Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nVenue
URL:https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/events/fairbank-center-visiting-scholar-presentations-4/
LOCATION:CGIS South Room S354\, 1730 Cambridge St\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:Special Event
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/vs2.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260506T103000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260506T113000
DTSTAMP:20260424T131906Z
CREATED:20260424T131903Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260424T131906Z
UID:44861-1778063400-1778067000@fairbank.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Poetry Evaluation and Gender Portrayal in Early Medieval Chinese Texts: Two Case Studies Using Language Models
DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Wenyi Shang\, Assistant Professor\, School of Information Science & Learning Technologies\, University of MissouriEarly medieval Chinese texts are known for their interpretive richness\, inviting a wide range of sometimes conflicting readings. The development of Transformer-based language models allows us to revisit these texts and examine them comparatively within a shared semantic space. This presentation introduces two case studies: one on poetry evaluation in the work of literary criticism Shipin 詩品 (Poetry Gradings)\, composed in the early sixth century\, and the other on gender portrayal in epitaph verses from the Northern Wei dynasty (386–534 C.E.). The results reveal nuanced yet consistent patterns in both cases\, which become most visible within a relational space by simultaneously comparing a large corpus of texts\, an endeavor made possible through computational methods. \n\n\n\nWenyi Shang is an assistant professor in the School of Information Science & Learning Technologies at the University of Missouri. He received his bachelor’s degree from Peking University in 2019\, and his Ph.D. in information sciences from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2024. His research focuses on digital humanities\, where he both works as a humanities scholar specializing in medieval China\, applying computational methods to revisit longstanding questions in the social\, political\, cultural\, and literary history of the period\, and works with humanities scholars as a methodologist and disciplinary translator\, engaging in topics across humanities disciplines. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nVenue
URL:https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/events/poetry-evaluation-and-gender-portrayal-in-early-medieval-chinese-texts-two-case-studies-using-language-models/
LOCATION:Room K354\, CGIS Knafel\, 1737 Cambridge St\, Cambridge\, Massachusetts\, 02138\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/dci1.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260506T153000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260506T163000
DTSTAMP:20260429T164134Z
CREATED:20260415T162247Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260429T164134Z
UID:44760-1778081400-1778085000@fairbank.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Electric Vehicle–Power System Interactions: Potential\, Impacts\, and Economics
DESCRIPTION:Speaker: ZHAO Yang\, Postdoctoral Fellow\, Harvard Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences \n\n\n\nRSVP Required \n\n\n\nEV-grid integration (VGI) has the potential to manage the power demand from EVs and utilize EV batteries as distributed storage to support power-system balancing. Challenges remain in planning the long-term development of EV-grid integration\, as the system value of VGI is often insufficiently understood in the context of coupled power-system expansion and EV growth. Recent studies have explored the impact of VGI on solar-rich power systems\, where noon-time charging is predominantly promoted. However\, many coastal high-growth regions are well suited to EV adoption but face land constraints on utility-scale solar and wind generation\, making the role of VGI unclear. Here\, we develop an integrated optimization model linking EV operating patterns with least-cost power-system expansion under VGI. We apply it to Guangdong\, China’s leading province in both EV stock and electricity demand\, through 2050 under different decarbonization scenarios. Our results show how VGI interacts with rooftop PV\, offshore wind\, and fossil-fuel-fired power plants with CCS under different decarbonization scenarios. We further evaluate the avoided system costs of unidirectional and bidirectional VGI in long-run power-system expansion. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nVenue
URL:https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/events/electric-vehicle-power-system-interactions-potential-impacts-and-economics/
LOCATION:Pierce Hall 100F\, 29 Oxford St.\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/zhao-yang.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260507T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260507T123000
DTSTAMP:20260501T191705Z
CREATED:20260422T182437Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260501T191705Z
UID:44844-1778151600-1778157000@fairbank.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:How to Cultivate a Moral Human: A Conversation with Michael Puett and Amy Zhang
DESCRIPTION:Register now\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSpeakers:Michael Puett\, Walter C. Klein Professor of Chinese History; Director\, Harvard University Asia CenterAmy Zhang\, Master’s Student\, Harvard Graduate School of EducationWhat can ancient Confucian philosophy offer for how we design education and live well in the AI age?Mencius argued that moral life begins not with rules but with cultivating the “four sprouts\,” the seeds of moral life\, through ritual\, relationship\, and care. Join Michael Puett\, Professor of Chinese History and Anthropology and author of The Path: What Chinese Philosophers Can Teach Us About the Good Life\, and Amy Zhang\, graduate student at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and former producer of Netflix’s Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj\, for a reflection on their fall independent study on ritual and Mencius on moral development. \n\n\n\nEnjoy Chinese tea in this casual talk and salon as we bring together philosophers\, artists\, and educators to ask what it means to design from this non-Western ontology.  \n\n\n\nRSVP Here | Limited Capacity \n\n\n\nMichael Puett (普鸣) is the Walter C. Klein Professor of Chinese History and Chair of the Committee on the Study of Religion and the Director of the Harvard University Asia Center. He is also a non-resident long-term fellow for programs in anthropological and historical sciences and the languages and civilizations of East Asia at the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study\, Uppsala. \n\n\n\nPuett joined the Harvard faculty in 1994 after earning his M.A. (1987) and Ph.D. (1994) from the Department of Anthropology at the University of Chicago. His interests focus on the inter-relations between religion\, anthropology\, history\, and philosophy. In his research\, Puett aims to bring the study of China into larger historical and comparative frameworks. He has published many articles on early Chinese history (c. 1200 B.C. – c. 755 A.D.)\, and on classical Chinese ritual\, social\, and political theory.Amy Zhang is a writer\, artist\, and educator creating narratives and methods that ask how we live\, learn\, and become human\, drawing from non-Western philosophies and ways of being. As a graduate student at the Harvard Graduate School of Education\, she is developing the right to become human — an applied framework across children’s rights and pluriversal philosophy — along with companion theatrical work (Out of Time) and pedagogy (Awake\, a summer camp for teens to redesign their lives in the attention age).Previously\, she produced global stories for Netflix’s Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj and worked in documentary theater at Pink Fang (formerly Ping Chong + Company). Her writing has appeared in The New York Times\, The Atlantic\, The Dial\, and Joyland Magazine\, where her short story on Chinese international students won the 2022 Open Borders Prize. Born in Beijing and raised in Hong Kong\, she graduated with honors in anthropology from Wesleyan University and is a descendant of the Neo-Confucian philosopher Zhang Zai.www.amy-zhang.com \n\n\n\nWith support from the HGSE Dean’s Office Student AI Initiative Fund \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nVenue
URL:https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/events/how-to-grow-a-human-a-conversation-with-michael-puett-and-amy-zhang/
LOCATION:CGIS South\, Room S153\, 1730 Cambridge St.\, Cambridge\, Massachusetts\, 02138\, United States
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/zhang2.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260612T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260612T201500
DTSTAMP:20260529T211247Z
CREATED:20260529T211152Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260529T211247Z
UID:44976-1781287200-1781295300@fairbank.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Film Screening and Discussion: Daughter of the Light with the Filmmaker
DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Khashem Gyal\, Filmmaker; Adjunct Assistant Professor\, School of the Arts\, and Asia in Action Fellow\, Weatherhead East Asian Institute\, Columbia University  \n\n\n\nDaughter of the Light is a deeply moving feature documentary about thirteen-year-old Metok Karpo who lives in a Tibetan boarding school for orphans. The film follows Metok as she navigates the emotional complexities of her parents’ divorce in a rural town on the Tibetan plateau\, set against the backdrop of generational and social change.  \n\n\n\nA discussion will follow the screening. \n\n\n\nFree and open to public.  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nVenue
URL:https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/events/film-screening-and-discussion-daughter-of-the-light-with-the-filmmaker/
LOCATION:Hall A\, Science Center\, 1 Oxford St.\, Cambridge\, Massachusetts\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:Co-Sponsored Lectures
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Khashem-Gyal.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260903T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260903T160000
DTSTAMP:20260828T145249Z
CREATED:20260828T145247Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260828T145249Z
UID:45531-1788447600-1788451200@fairbank.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Subversion and Seduction: China’s Economic Statecraft
DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Audrye Wong\, Senior Fellow\, American Enterprise InstituteChair: Rana Mitter\, S.T. Lee Professor of U.S.-Asia Relations\, Harvard Kennedy School \n\n\n\nEven as the Chinese government intensifies supply-chain coercion\, it continues to deepen the trade and investment linkages that sustain its global economic centrality. Audrye Wong’s new book\, Subversion and Seduction: China’s Economic Statecraft\, explores an underemphasized aspect of China’s economic influence: positive inducements. Through six case studies\, extensive field research\, and a survey experiment\, Dr. Wong’s book explores what kinds of inducement strategies succeed at achieving Beijing’s foreign policy goals and under what conditions. \n\n\n\nUnderstanding the mechanisms\, successes\, and limitations of China’s economic statecraft will be critical for leaders in the United States and abroad as they navigate a world where China increasingly wields its economic clout for geopolitical influence. Join Professor Rana Mitter and Dr. Audrye Wong for a discussion on this essential new book. \n\n\n\nAudrye Wong is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute\, where her work focuses on China’s foreign policy\, economic statecraft\, propaganda and disinformation campaigns\, and foreign influence operations. Previously\, Dr. Wong was a professor at the University of Southern California and postdoctoral fellow at the Grand Strategy\, Security\, and Statecraft joint program of the Harvard Kennedy School and Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Security Studies Program. She has also held affiliations with Harvard’s Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies\, the Wilson Center\, the Brookings Institution\, and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. She is fluent in Mandarin.  \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nVenue
URL:https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/events/subversion-and-seduction-chinas-economic-statecraft/
LOCATION:Fainsod Room (324)\, Littauer Building\, 79 JFK St.\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:Events of Interest
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/audrye-wong.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260908T203000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260908T220000
DTSTAMP:20260810T163134Z
CREATED:20260810T161547Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260810T163134Z
UID:45321-1788899400-1788904800@fairbank.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Urban China Lecture Series featuring Wang Mengqi — Anxious Homes: Inflexible Demand and China’s Housing Market
DESCRIPTION:zoom meeting link\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSpeaker: Mengqi Wang\, Assistant Professor of Anthropology\, Duke Kunshan University  \n\n\n\nThis talk presents the vernacular concept of inflexible demand\, known as 刚需/gangxu in Chinese\, that people in contemporary urban China draw on to refer to—and construct—an absolute need for homeownership for all city dwellers. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in a gangxu development at the urban periphery of east Nanjing from 2013 to 2015\, this talk argues that the concept of “inflexible demand” works as an empty signifier bridging diverse value-making projects that are constitutive of China’s housing market. It argues that homeownership\, in China\, suggests not independence but a further inclusion of citizens within the state. The talk ends with a reflection on how recent changes of the market have rendered homeownership both a promise and a trap for migrants in urban China. The talk is developed from a new book titled Anxious Homes: Inflexible Demand and China’s Housing Market (Cornell University Press 2026). \n\n\n\nMengqi Wang is a cultural and economic anthropologist specialized in the study of housing and the urban environment. She is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Duke Kunshan University with fields of research covering economic anthropology\, political economy\, human geography\, and critical infrastructure studies. Her book\, Anxious Homes: Inflexible Demand and China’s Housing Market (Cornell University Press\, 2026)\, is an ethnographic monograph charting the discursive formation of the housing market at East Nanjing’s urban periphery from 2012 to 2015. Her research articles have appeared in journals such as Positions: Asia Critique\, the Journal of Cultural Economy\, and Urban Studies. \n\n\n\nZoom Meeting Link: https://mit.zoom.us/j/94120080608 \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nVenue
URL:https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/events/urban-china-lecture-series-featuring-wang-mengqi-anxious-homes-inflexible-demand-and-chinas-housing-market/
LOCATION:Presented via Zoom
CATEGORIES:Urban China Series
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/wangmenqi.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260923T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260923T131500
DTSTAMP:20260828T150007Z
CREATED:20260828T150004Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260828T150007Z
UID:45534-1790164800-1790169300@fairbank.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Performing Enlightenment: Buddhism and Theater in Early Modern China
DESCRIPTION:Register for zoom webinar\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSpeaker: Mengxiao Wang\, Assistant Professor of East Asian Languages and Cultures\, University of Southern CaliforniaModerator: Thomas P. Kelly\, Assistant Professor\, East Asian Languages and Civilizations\, Harvard University \n\n\n\nIn early modern China\, a major revival of Buddhism coincided with a surging fascination with theater. Buddhist monastics and laypeople increasingly participated in viewing\, discussing\, and writing plays. Far from merely serving as a medium for conveying religious teachings and practices\, drama became a source of deep concern for Buddhists due to the perceived tension between spiritual discipline and worldly entertainment. \n\n\n\nIn Performing Enlightenment\, Mengxiao Wang examines how Buddhist clerics and laity engaged with and drove innovations in theater during the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. Drawing on an extensive range of sources—including clerical sermons\, scriptural commentaries\, temple gazetteers\, morality books\, literati prose\, and dramatic texts and paratexts—Wang argues that Ming-Qing Buddhists resolved the conflict between religion and entertainment by transforming theater into a creative mode of devotional practice. Consequently\, playwriting\, stage performance\, and theatergoing all emerged as legitimate pathways to spiritual enlightenment. This interdisciplinary work provides fresh insights into Chinese studies\, Buddhist studies\, and theater studies while offering a comparative perspective on the complex interplay between religion\, literature\, and performance across cultures.Register at: https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_YdUlq3BDRaiOMqGl8fN9iA#/registration \n\n\n\nCo-sponsored by the Harvard-Yenching Insitute and the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies\, Harvard University. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nVenue
URL:https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/events/performing-enlightenment-buddhism-and-theater-in-early-modern-china/
LOCATION:Zoom\, Registration Required
CATEGORIES:Co-Sponsored Lectures
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/enlightenment.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260924T093000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260924T104500
DTSTAMP:20260828T150737Z
CREATED:20260828T150500Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260828T150737Z
UID:45537-1790242200-1790246700@fairbank.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Everyday Occupation: American Soldiers and Chinese Civilians after World War II
DESCRIPTION:zoom registration\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSpeaker: Chunmei Du\, Professor\, Department of History\, Lingnan University\, Hong Kong; Associate\, Harvard University Asia Center  \n\n\n\nIn this rich history of everyday encounters between US soldiers and Chinese civilians\, Chunmei Du explores their entangled relations from the end of World War II to the founding of the People’s Republic of China. Drawing upon official\, popular and personal accounts from both countries\, Du examines the sensorial\, material\, and symbolic exchanges that took place between GIs and ordinary Chinese people-stall vendors\, pedestrians\, rickshaw pullers\, “Jeep girls\,” and suspected thieves. Through the conceptual lens of the everyday\, this book reveals how interactions such as traffic accidents\, sexual relations\, theft\, and black-market dealings\, impacted larger political dynamics during this pivotal era. Du shows how mundane struggles made imperialism and sovereignty tangible\, fueling anti-American sentiment. Meanwhile\, these encounters fostered informal diplomacy\, shaping identities and forging new bonds that left a lasting imprint on both countries. \n\n\n\nProfessor Du’s talk will be based on her book Everyday Occupation: American Soldiers and Chinese Civilians after World War II\, published by Cambridge University Press (2026). This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core. \n\n\n\nTo join the webinar\, register here. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nVenue
URL:https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/events/everyday-occupation-american-soldiers-and-chinese-civilians-after-world-war-ii/
LOCATION:Presented via Zoom
CATEGORIES:Co-Sponsored Lectures
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/everyday.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260924T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260924T173000
DTSTAMP:20260828T153357Z
CREATED:20260203T192334Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260828T153357Z
UID:44201-1790265600-1790271000@fairbank.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Modern China Lecture Series featuring Xiaobo Lü — Domination and Mobilization: The Rise and Fall of Political Parties in China’s Republican Era
DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Xiaobo Lü\, Associate Professor\, Department of Political Science\, University of California\, BerkeleyXiaobo Lü is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of California\, Berkeley. His research explores the relationships between fiscal policies\, party-building\, and state-society relations in authoritarian regimes\, particularly in China. He is particularly interested in the formation and functioning of political parties and institutions in authoritarian regimes across both historical and contemporary contexts. Xiaobo Lü earned his Ph.D. in Political Science from Yale University in 2011. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nVenue
URL:https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/events/modern-china-lecture-series-featuring-xiaobo-lu-domination-and-mobilization-the-rise-and-fall-of-political-parties-in-chinas-republican-era/
LOCATION:CGIS South\, Room S050\, 1730 Cambridge St\, Cambridge\, Massachusetts\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:FCCS Modern China,Modern China Lecture
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/xiaobo-lu.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20261007T183000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20261007T200000
DTSTAMP:20260828T151033Z
CREATED:20260828T151030Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260828T151033Z
UID:45540-1791397800-1791403200@fairbank.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Uncanny Beliefs: Superstition in Modern Chinese History
DESCRIPTION:zoom registration\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSpeakers: Emily Baum\, Professor of History\, University of California\, IrvineAlbert Wu\, Associate Research Fellow\, Institute of History and Philology\, Academia Sinica\, Taipei\, Taiwan \n\n\n\nChair: Michael Puett\, Victor and William Fung Foundation Director\, Harvard University Asia Center; Walter C. Klein Professor of Chinese History and Anthropology; Harvard College Professor \n\n\n\nIn the early twentieth century\, scholars around the world believed that “superstition” belonged to a bygone era. Yet despite their confident predictions\, superstitious beliefs have endured. Perhaps nowhere has the history of superstition been more prolonged and tumultuous than in China. From the late nineteenth century to the present day\, intellectuals and politicians have denigrated practices like divination\, ancestor worship\, and geomancy as unbefitting of a modern nation\, and governing regimes have launched a succession of campaigns to replace superstitious thinking with science and rationality. Efforts to eliminate such practices from public life\, however\, have regularly encountered resistance from people who continue to find meaning in them. \n\n\n\nUncanny Beliefs seeks to understand what “superstition” has meant in modern China—and questions why superstitious thinking has remained such an urgent target of state intervention. Through a range of temporal and thematic perspectives\, the chapters in this volume link the study of superstition to the histories of science\, religion\, gender\, state building\, and popular culture. In doing so\, they collectively broaden our understanding of modern Chinese history by revealing the complex entanglements of superstition with religion\, modernity\, authority\, and everyday life. \n\n\n\nRegister at: https://harvard.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ocqHDzihSR6jUAd6vpXK-w#/registration \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nVenue
URL:https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/events/uncanny-beliefs-superstition-in-modern-chinese-history/
LOCATION:Presented via Zoom
CATEGORIES:Co-Sponsored Lectures
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/uncanny.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20261022T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20261022T173000
DTSTAMP:20260828T154227Z
CREATED:20260828T154224Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260828T154227Z
UID:45546-1792684800-1792690200@fairbank.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Modern China Lecture Series featuring Xu Guoqi
DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Xu Guoqi\, David H. Y. Chang Professor of Chinese History; Founding Director\, Institute of Transnational History of China\, University of Hong Kong \n\n\n\nProfessor Xu Guoqi was born in China and taught both in Asia and the USA before joining the University of Hong Kong’s History Department. He writes and has published widely in both Chinese and English on various topics. \n\n\n\nProfessor Xu is a leading authority of transnational and shared history of modern China and the world. His research topics include First World War Studies\, roles of Sports in China and the world\, history of US-China relations\, the idea of China\, among many others. He has served as a visiting professor at many prestigious institutions such as Harvard University\, Yale University\, Cambridge University\, the University of Melbourne\, and King’s College London. He has received many awards such as the Shigemutsu Fellowship for scholarship in global cultural affairs from the Global Culture Center of the Japan Society of Boston and the best book award from the International Society of Olympic Historians. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nVenue
URL:https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/events/modern-china-lecture-series-featuring-xu-guoqi/
LOCATION:CGIS South Room S354\, 1730 Cambridge St\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:Modern China Lecture
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/xu-guogi.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20261027T203000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20261027T220000
DTSTAMP:20260810T162033Z
CREATED:20260810T162031Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260810T162033Z
UID:45324-1793133000-1793138400@fairbank.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Urban China Lecture Series featuring Treng Ta
DESCRIPTION:zoom meeting link\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSpeaker: Treng Ta\, University of Maryland Baltimore County \n\n\n\nMore information coming soon! \n\n\n\nZoom meeting link: https://mit.zoom.us/j/94120080608 \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nVenue
URL:https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/events/urban-china-lecture-series-featuring-treng-ta/
LOCATION:Presented via Zoom
CATEGORIES:Urban China Series
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/treng-ta.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20261103T203000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20261103T220000
DTSTAMP:20260810T162245Z
CREATED:20260810T162244Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260810T162245Z
UID:45327-1793737800-1793743200@fairbank.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Urban China Lecture Series featuring Zhu Jin
DESCRIPTION:zoom meeting link\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSpeaker: Zhu Jin\, Hong Kong University \n\n\n\nMore information coming soon! \n\n\n\nZoom meeting link: https://mit.zoom.us/j/94120080608 \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nVenue
URL:https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/events/urban-china-lecture-series-featuring-zhu-jin/
LOCATION:Presented via Zoom
CATEGORIES:Urban China Series
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/zhu-jin.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20261110T203000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20261110T220000
DTSTAMP:20260810T162504Z
CREATED:20260810T162502Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260810T162504Z
UID:45330-1794342600-1794348000@fairbank.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Urban China Lecture Series featuring Zhang Qingyong
DESCRIPTION:zoom meeting link\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSpeaker: Zhang Qingyong\, Renmin University \n\n\n\nMore information coming soon! \n\n\n\nZoom meeting link: https://mit.zoom.us/j/94120080608 \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nVenue
URL:https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/events/urban-china-lecture-series-featuring-zhang-qingyong/
LOCATION:Presented via Zoom
CATEGORIES:Urban China Series
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/zhang-qinyong.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20261117T203000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20261117T220000
DTSTAMP:20260810T162829Z
CREATED:20260810T162827Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260810T162829Z
UID:45333-1794947400-1794952800@fairbank.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Urban China Lecture Series featuring Susan Whiting — Illiberal Law and Development: Property Rights and Conflict over Land in China
DESCRIPTION:zoom meeting link\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSpeaker:Susan Whiting\, University of Washington \n\n\n\nIn Illiberal Law and Development\, Susan H. Whiting advances institutional economic theory with original survey and fieldwork data\, addressing two puzzles in Chinese political economy: how economic development has occurred despite insecure property rights and weak rule of law and how the Chinese state has maintained political control amid unrest. Whiting answers these questions by focusing on the role of illiberal law in reassigning property rights and redirecting grievances. The book reveals that\, in the context of technological change\, a legal system that facilitates reassignment of land rights to higher-value uses plays an important and under-theorized role in promoting economic development. This system simultaneously represses conflict and asserts legitimacy. Comparing China to post-Glorious Revolution England and contemporary India\, Whiting presents a critical new argument that brings the Chinese case more directly into debates in comparative politics about the role of the state in specifying property rights and maintaining authoritarian rule.  \n\n\n\nSusan H. Whiting (Ph.D. University of Michigan\, B.A. Yale University) is Professor of Political Science at the University of Washington. She is the author two books\, Illiberal Law and Development and Power and Wealth in Rural China\, both published by Cambridge University Press. She specializes in Chinese and comparative politics\, with an emphasis on the political economy of development. Her research has been published in journals such as Comparative Political Studies\, Studies in Comparative International Development\, China Quarterly\, Journal of Asian Studies\, and Voluntas\, as well as in edited volumes such as Holding China Together and Trust and Governance. \n\n\n\nZoom meeting link: https://mit.zoom.us/j/94120080608 \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nVenue
URL:https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/events/urban-china-lecture-series-featuring-susan-whiting-illiberal-law-and-development-property-rights-and-conflict-over-land-in-china/
LOCATION:Presented via Zoom
CATEGORIES:Urban China Series
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/susan-whitiing.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20261124T203000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20261124T220000
DTSTAMP:20260828T160905Z
CREATED:20260828T160903Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260828T160905Z
UID:45550-1795552200-1795557600@fairbank.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:Urban China Lecture Series featuring Zhao Miaoxi
DESCRIPTION:zoom meeting link\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSpeaker: Zhao Miaoxi\, South China University of Technology \n\n\n\nMore information coming soon! \n\n\n\nZoom meeting link: https://mit.zoom.us/j/94120080608 \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nVenue
URL:https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/events/urban-china-lecture-series-featuring-zhao-miaoxi/
LOCATION:Presented via Zoom
CATEGORIES:Urban China Series
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/zhao-miaoxi.jpg
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR