Scope: Jianjun He:Confucius Institute Faculty International Travel Grant

Grants and Contracts Details

Description

I am interested in this seminar because of its location and the courses taught by leading Chinese experts and scholars. The seminar fits well my own research project. In recent years, I have been studying the politicization of the body in Chinese court culture, that is, how the body was transformed from a biological entity to a social and political subject that could be trained, invested and projected with political symbols at the center of power. One aspect in this bodily politics is the so-called weiyi, presenting an awe-inspiring demeanor, in Chinese court culture. The weiyi notion arose around the late fifth century BCE and was developed into court ritual when Han dynasty overthrew the Qin (221-206 BCE). The ensuring dynasties in Chinese history all adopted the weiyi notion as an indispensable part of their court rituals. The late imperial dynasties Ming and Qing were the apex of this weiyi culture and also its final chapter, since imperial China ceased to be in 1911. A comparative study of the weiyi culture between Han China and Ming/Qing periods will assist understanding of the imperial political culture and practices in pre-modern China. The grant will also support my field research for another research project to several counties in the northwest Gansu Province that were on the border of the Han empire and where military documents have been discovered at the garrison stations in this region. In recent years, I have been working on the issues of Han education. My interest in this topic is different from the majority of research in this area (most in Chinese and Japanese) that concentrates on glarge tradition,h such as educational philosophy, the relationship between education and politics, and the imperial school system. I pay particular attention to gsmall traditions,h especially those issues that have not fully studied before. For example, what teaching pedagogy, curriculum, and textbooks were used, how the classroom looked in Han China, and the nature of student life in local and imperial schools. At the same time, I seek to understand and explore how common people, especially people at the lower social strata, learned to read and write. This is why the Han documents found in the then military sites in modern day Gansu Province are important to my project, because these documents written on wooden slips contain many useful materials for a study of education among the Han soldiers at the frontier.
StatusFinished
Effective start/end date4/1/1810/1/18

Funding

  • Confucius Institute Headquarters of China

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