New Asia College The Chinese University of Hong Kong eNewsletter

The "Ch'ien Mu Lecture in History and Culture" is designed to enhance academic and cultural exchange. Ever since Mr. Ch'ien Mu chaired the first lecture in 1978, it has become a well-respected academic event within academia, and invited speakers are all distinguished scholars in different fields of Chinese Culture. Since 2013, the lecture series has been endowed by the Mr. Chan Chi-sun Chinese Culture Fund.

The College was honored to have Prof. Benjamin A. Elman, Gordon Wu '58 Professor of Chinese Studies and Professor of East Asian Studies and History at Princeton University, as the guest speaker of The 30th Ch'ien Mu Lecture in History and Culture held in early March 2017. Prof. Elman delivered three public lectures during his visit. A banquet in honor of Prof. Elman was held on 3 March at Yun Chi Hsien, to extend our warmest welcome to the speaker.

The first talk "A Late Chosŏn Korean Polymath -- Kim Chŏng-hŭi (1786-1856) and Qing Dynasty Qianlong – Jiaqing Era Scholarship" was held on 3 March at the Sir Run Run Shaw Hall, CUHK, and was moderated by Prof. Wong Nai-ching, Head of the College. From the writings and discourses of Kim Chŏng-hŭi, an influential Korean scholar in the 19th century, we learnt the political consciousness as well as intellectual and cultural development among Chinese and Korean literati in the post-Qianlong period.

The second talk, "The Great Reversal: China, Korea, and Japan in the Early Modern World, 1590s to 1890s", was held on 4 March at the Lecture Theatre of the Hong Kong Central Library, with Prof. Leung Yuen Sang, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Professor of History, as the moderator. In this lecture, a 2006 website controversy concerning Japan's victory in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-95 was used to indicate that in the 21st century we are entering new historical terrain vis-à-vis 'modern' China and Japan. Wars and cultural history are inseparable.

The third talk "The Restoration of Huang Kan's Lunyu yishu in Eighteenth Century Japan and China" was held on 8 March at Lecture Theatre 2, Yasumoto International Academic Park, and was moderated by Professor Cheung Hiu Yu from the Department of History. In the 1740s, Japanese Confucians discovered a long lost sub-commentary of Confucius's Analects. After publication in 1750, an imprint was also sent to China, from where it had disappeared between 1200 and 1250. The commentary provided important information about medieval Chinese classical learning.

The three talks received an enthusiastic response and inspired fruitful discussion between the speaker and the audience.