Past Events
Fall 2021 Chinese Language Placement Test
For those students who were not able to take the placement exam on 8/14, a make-up exam will be offered on Friday, September 3. Students who learned the simplified form in school should sign up for…
Tales of a Late-Ming Iconoclast: On Li Zhi李贄, His Life, and His Books
Pauline C. Lee
The 16th century iconoclast Li Zhi has been rightly celebrated as a pioneer of individualism, one of history’s great voices of social protest, an original mind powerfully arguing for genuine self-…
Paul Goldin to be on "Against the Grain"
Dr. Goldin was a guest on "Against the Grain" today at 3:00PM EDT. He will discuss The Chinese philosophical text Laozi, also known as the Tao Te Ching, a text debated for over two millenia. A recording of…
The Imperial Network in Ancient China
The Foundation of Sinitic Empire in Southern East Asia
Dr. Maxim Korolkov
Migration, Identity and Colonial Fantasies in a Fifth-Century Story Collection
The fourth-century southward migration of the northern Chinese was a traumatic event. The migrants were refugees fleeing from non-Han invaders; they were also settler colonialists forcefully asserting sovereignty…
The Lunyu 論語 and Its Neighbors
November 21-22
Please note that the meeting will be recorded.
Nov 21, 2020
9.15-9.30 Introduction by Paul R. Goldin and Maddalena Poli
9.30-10.00 Charles Sanft – Lunyu 論語 and Its Neighbors in the…
"Lama, Emperor, Icon: Art, Tantra, and the Right to Rule"
A Lecture by Dr. Karl Debreczeny
Curator, Rubin Museum
"Convicts as Officials in the Western Han (202 BC–9 AD): Disparities between Philosophical Ideal and Realpolitik"
Professor Cai Liang, University of Notre Dame
This talk examines the convict politics in central court. Former convicts were entrusted with power, serving as important officials or even chancellors. Approximately one third of recorded high…
"Making and Remaking Silla Origins"
Professor Richard McBride, BYU
“Urban Life in Ichijôdani, Japan, a Late Medieval Provincial City”
CEAS Humanities Colloquium
Morgan Pitelka, Chair, Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies and Professor, Asian Studies and History, UNC-Chapel Hill
The city of Ichijôdani served as the capital of Echizen Province for approximately one century during Japan’s late medieval period. It was a vibrant and successful urban center built around the residential complex of…
The Greatest Story Ever Told: Meditators, Madmen, and the Making of a Tibetan Saint
Lecture by Dr. Andrew H. Quintman, Associate Professor of Religion, Wesleyan University
Andrew Quintman
Late in the eleventh century a wandering mendicant, the Yogin, starved himself in the frigid mountains of southern Tibet while undertaking ascetic practice. He was later recognized as a buddha famed for…
DH For East Asian Studies
Dr. Molly Des Jardin (Penn Libraries), Paul Vierthaler (William & Mary)
Course Description:
The Daedalus Quartet
In programs of world and Philadelphia premieres, the Daedalus Quartet, Penn’s quartet-in-residence, illustrates how centuries of cultural cross-pollination has enriched our artistic and spiritual life.
My Life as a Lama
The Autobiography of Arjia Rinpoche
Arjia Rinpoche
Arjia Rinpoche is one of the most prominent Buddhist teachers and lamas to have left Tibet. He was recognized at the age of two by the Panchen Lama as a major reincarnation and was the abbot of Kumbum Monastery. He…
The Daedalus Quartet
In programs of world and Philadelphia premieres, the Daedalus Quartet, Penn’s quartet-in-residence, illustrates how centuries of cultural cross-pollination has enriched our artistic and spiritual life.
Miners, Traders, and Multiethnic Kings
Uncovering a Lost History of Japan (1400-1570)
Thomas D. Conlan, Professor of East Asian Studies and History, Princeton University
Social Sciences Korea
Korean Studies Conference
Restoring Buddhism to Seoul: Court Lady Ch’ŏn’s Influence in Modernizing Korean Buddhism
Korean Studies Colloquium
Hwansoo Kim, Yale University
This talk will examine the work of a largely forgotten Korean Buddhist laywoman, Court Lady Ch’ŏn Ilch’ŏng (1848 – 1934?), who served as one of the highest-ranking ladies in the court of the late Chosŏn dynasty. Ch’…
Collectivizing Kinship
Rural China's Women in the 1950s
Gail Hershatter, Distinguished Professor of History, University of California, Santa Cruz
In the first several decades of the People’s Republic of China, ambitious state initiatives worked to reshape everything about rural communities. State authorities created powerful new…