Speaker: Song Niansheng, Tsinghua University

What can one neighborhood reveal about the making of a modern nation? This talk deciphers the unexpected significance of Xita, a half-square-mile quarter in Shenyang, in Northeast China. It shows that over nearly four centuries, Xita has been shaped and reshaped by empire, war, migration, and urban transformation. The history of this small area mirrors large-scale changes, including and especially China’s metamorphosis from a multi-ethnic Eurasian empire to a postindustrial society. By studying how global and local forces play out in everyday spaces, the talk reveals a perspective for understanding China’s past—not from the top down, but through the streets and people who lived it.

Professor Nianshen Song is a historian at the Tsinghua Institute of Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences. His research and teaching focus on late imperial and modern East Asia, with special interest in frontiers, trans-regional networks and historical geography. His monographies in English include The Neighborhood: Space, State, and Daily Life in a Manchurian City (2025) and Making Borders in Modern East Asia: The Tumen River Demarcation, 1881–1919 (2018).

Join Zoom Meeting Link: https://mit.zoom.us/j/97955535212