BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//IHSS - ECPv6.17.0//NONSGML v1.0//EN CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH X-WR-CALNAME:IHSS X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://ihss.hku.hk X-WR-CALDESC:Events for IHSS REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H X-Robots-Tag:noindex X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Asia/Hong_Kong BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0800 TZOFFSETTO:+0800 TZNAME:HKT DTSTART:20150101T000000 END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Asia/Hong_Kong:20151117T183000 DTEND;TZID=Asia/Hong_Kong:20151117T200000 DTSTAMP:20261108T204108 CREATED:20240731T005645Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260416T102913Z UID:88001-1447785000-1447790400@ihss.hku.hk SUMMARY:Tektonikon and Surfacescape: Architecture and the Body in the Premodern Age DESCRIPTION:Language: English\n \n \n \n \n Room 929\, 9/F\, The Jockey Club Tower\, The University of Hong Kong\n \n \n \n \n May 11\, 2015 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm\n \n \n \n \n (Tel) (852) 3917-5011\n \n \n \n\n \n \n Enquiry: ihss@hku.hk\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABSTRACT \n \n \n \n \n The Sichuan earthquake was not only a massive natural disaster but also a political drama\, in which the Chinese civil society transcended their particular group interests and took actions to address their fellow citizens’ suering and was engaged in intensive and emotional interactions with the authoritarian state. The most memorable episodes of the drama included a large wave of volunteering\, the public sphere’s advocacy for an unprecedented national mourning ritual for the earthquake victims\, activists and public intellectuals challenge to the state’s moral authority on the school collapse issue\, and civic associations’ complex relations with the local governments in the recovery period. Drawing on interviews\, ethnography\, textual and visual data\, Bin Xu’s book project on the Sichuan earthquake argues that a massive disaster like the Sichuan earthquake provides civil society under authoritarianism with rare political opportunities and symbolic-moral resources to participate in large-scale public activities. This participation is enabled and constrained by the interplay between the disaster’s dual feature — being both a management crisis and a moral event — and the structural state-civil society relations. Its long-term political outcomes are mixed. To contribute to the scholarship on civil society under authoritarianism\, this book project stresses two important but often neglected aspects: situational variation in the state-civil society relations; the moral-cultural dimension of civil society. The project’s inquiry of the two aspects casts doubt on a linear thinking of the potentiality of civil society development for democratization. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABOUT THE SPEAKER \n \n \n \n Bin Xu is Postdoctoral Associate in the Council on East Asian Studies (CEAS) at Yale University (2014 – 2015) and Assistant Professor at Florida International University (2011 – present). His research interests include cultural sociology\, political sociology\, and social theory with a regional focus on East Asia\, particularly China. His empirical foci are on civil society\, collective memory\, and politics of disaster. His articles have appeared in sociology and China studies journals\, including Theory & Society\, Sociological Theory\, Social Problems\, The China Journal\, China Quarterly\, etc. He has finished his first book manuscript on the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and is currently working on his second book project on China’s zhiqing (the “educated youth”) generation’s social history and collective memory. URL:https://ihss.hku.hk/events/tektonikon-and-surfacescape-architecture-and-the-body-in-the-premodern-age/ LOCATION:KB 419\, 4/F Knowles Building\, Hong Kong CATEGORIES:IHSS END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Asia/Hong_Kong:20151117T120000 DTEND;TZID=Asia/Hong_Kong:20151117T130000 DTSTAMP:20261108T204108 CREATED:20240731T005217Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260416T102913Z UID:87994-1447761600-1447765200@ihss.hku.hk SUMMARY:The Chieftains of Shan-Dai Borderland Between Yunnan and Burma from the Ming to the Qing Dynasties: The Dowry Lands\, the Decentralized Institution and the Burmese Kingdoms DESCRIPTION:Language: English\n \n \n \n \n Room 929\, 9/F\, The Jockey Club Tower\, The University of Hong Kong\n \n \n \n \n May 11\, 2015 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm\n \n \n \n \n (Tel) (852) 3917-5011\n \n \n \n\n \n \n Enquiry: ihss@hku.hk\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABSTRACT \n \n \n \n The Sichuan earthquake was not only a massive natural disaster but also a political drama\, in which the Chinese civil society transcended their particular group interests and took actions to address their fellow citizens’ suering and was engaged in intensive and emotional interactions with the authoritarian state. The most memorable episodes of the drama included a large wave of volunteering\, the public sphere’s advocacy for an unprecedented national mourning ritual for the earthquake victims\, activists and public intellectuals challenge to the state’s moral authority on the school collapse issue\, and civic associations’ complex relations with the local governments in the recovery period. Drawing on interviews\, ethnography\, textual and visual data\, Bin Xu’s book project on the Sichuan earthquake argues that a massive disaster like the Sichuan earthquake provides civil society under authoritarianism with rare political opportunities and symbolic-moral resources to participate in large-scale public activities. This participation is enabled and constrained by the interplay between the disaster’s dual feature — being both a management crisis and a moral event — and the structural state-civil society relations. Its long-term political outcomes are mixed. To contribute to the scholarship on civil society under authoritarianism\, this book project stresses two important but often neglected aspects: situational variation in the state-civil society relations; the moral-cultural dimension of civil society. The project’s inquiry of the two aspects casts doubt on a linear thinking of the potentiality of civil society development for democratization. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABOUT THE SPEAKER \n \n \n \n Bin Xu is Postdoctoral Associate in the Council on East Asian Studies (CEAS) at Yale University (2014 – 2015) and Assistant Professor at Florida International University (2011 – present). His research interests include cultural sociology\, political sociology\, and social theory with a regional focus on East Asia\, particularly China. His empirical foci are on civil society\, collective memory\, and politics of disaster. His articles have appeared in sociology and China studies journals\, including Theory & Society\, Sociological Theory\, Social Problems\, The China Journal\, China Quarterly\, etc. He has finished his first book manuscript on the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and is currently working on his second book project on China’s zhiqing (the “educated youth”) generation’s social history and collective memory. URL:https://ihss.hku.hk/events/the-chieftains-of-shan-dai-borderland-between-yunnan-and-burma-from-the-ming-to-the-qing-dynasties-the-dowry-lands-the-decentralized-institution-and-the-burmese-kingdoms/ LOCATION:Room 201\, 2/F\, Hong Kong CATEGORIES:IHSS END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Asia/Hong_Kong:20151103T120000 DTEND;TZID=Asia/Hong_Kong:20151103T130000 DTSTAMP:20261108T204108 CREATED:20240731T005952Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260416T102913Z UID:88009-1446552000-1446555600@ihss.hku.hk SUMMARY:Enchanted Industries: An Ethnographic Study of the Production of Hollywood and Hong Kong Film and Television Entertainment DESCRIPTION:Language: English\n \n \n \n \n Room 929\, 9/F\, The Jockey Club Tower\, The University of Hong Kong\n \n \n \n \n May 11\, 2015 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm\n \n \n \n \n (Tel) (852) 3917-5011\n \n \n \n\n \n \n Enquiry: ihss@hku.hk\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABSTRACT \n \n \n \n The Sichuan earthquake was not only a massive natural disaster but also a political drama\, in which the Chinese civil society transcended their particular group interests and took actions to address their fellow citizens’ suering and was engaged in intensive and emotional interactions with the authoritarian state. The most memorable episodes of the drama included a large wave of volunteering\, the public sphere’s advocacy for an unprecedented national mourning ritual for the earthquake victims\, activists and public intellectuals challenge to the state’s moral authority on the school collapse issue\, and civic associations’ complex relations with the local governments in the recovery period. Drawing on interviews\, ethnography\, textual and visual data\, Bin Xu’s book project on the Sichuan earthquake argues that a massive disaster like the Sichuan earthquake provides civil society under authoritarianism with rare political opportunities and symbolic-moral resources to participate in large-scale public activities. This participation is enabled and constrained by the interplay between the disaster’s dual feature — being both a management crisis and a moral event — and the structural state-civil society relations. Its long-term political outcomes are mixed. To contribute to the scholarship on civil society under authoritarianism\, this book project stresses two important but often neglected aspects: situational variation in the state-civil society relations; the moral-cultural dimension of civil society. The project’s inquiry of the two aspects casts doubt on a linear thinking of the potentiality of civil society development for democratization. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABOUT THE SPEAKER \n \n \n \n Bin Xu is Postdoctoral Associate in the Council on East Asian Studies (CEAS) at Yale University (2014 – 2015) and Assistant Professor at Florida International University (2011 – present). His research interests include cultural sociology\, political sociology\, and social theory with a regional focus on East Asia\, particularly China. His empirical foci are on civil society\, collective memory\, and politics of disaster. His articles have appeared in sociology and China studies journals\, including Theory & Society\, Sociological Theory\, Social Problems\, The China Journal\, China Quarterly\, etc. He has finished his first book manuscript on the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and is currently working on his second book project on China’s zhiqing (the “educated youth”) generation’s social history and collective memory. URL:https://ihss.hku.hk/events/enchanted-industries-an-ethnographic-study-of-the-production-of-hollywood-and-hong-kong-film-and-television-entertainment/ LOCATION:Room 201\, 2/F\, Hong Kong CATEGORIES:IHSS END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Asia/Hong_Kong:20151026T143000 DTEND;TZID=Asia/Hong_Kong:20151026T160000 DTSTAMP:20261108T204108 CREATED:20240731T010846Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260416T102843Z UID:88019-1445869800-1445875200@ihss.hku.hk SUMMARY:Starting-up Biology: BGI and the Making of Life in Shenzhen DESCRIPTION:Language: English\n \n \n \n \n Room 929\, 9/F\, The Jockey Club Tower\, The University of Hong Kong\n \n \n \n \n May 11\, 2015 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm\n \n \n \n \n (Tel) (852) 3917-5011\n \n \n \n\n \n \n Enquiry: ihss@hku.hk\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABSTRACT \n \n \n \n The Sichuan earthquake was not only a massive natural disaster but also a political drama\, in which the Chinese civil society transcended their particular group interests and took actions to address their fellow citizens’ suering and was engaged in intensive and emotional interactions with the authoritarian state. The most memorable episodes of the drama included a large wave of volunteering\, the public sphere’s advocacy for an unprecedented national mourning ritual for the earthquake victims\, activists and public intellectuals challenge to the state’s moral authority on the school collapse issue\, and civic associations’ complex relations with the local governments in the recovery period. Drawing on interviews\, ethnography\, textual and visual data\, Bin Xu’s book project on the Sichuan earthquake argues that a massive disaster like the Sichuan earthquake provides civil society under authoritarianism with rare political opportunities and symbolic-moral resources to participate in large-scale public activities. This participation is enabled and constrained by the interplay between the disaster’s dual feature — being both a management crisis and a moral event — and the structural state-civil society relations. Its long-term political outcomes are mixed. To contribute to the scholarship on civil society under authoritarianism\, this book project stresses two important but often neglected aspects: situational variation in the state-civil society relations; the moral-cultural dimension of civil society. The project’s inquiry of the two aspects casts doubt on a linear thinking of the potentiality of civil society development for democratization. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABOUT THE SPEAKER \n \n \n \n Bin Xu is Postdoctoral Associate in the Council on East Asian Studies (CEAS) at Yale University (2014 – 2015) and Assistant Professor at Florida International University (2011 – present). His research interests include cultural sociology\, political sociology\, and social theory with a regional focus on East Asia\, particularly China. His empirical foci are on civil society\, collective memory\, and politics of disaster. His articles have appeared in sociology and China studies journals\, including Theory & Society\, Sociological Theory\, Social Problems\, The China Journal\, China Quarterly\, etc. He has finished his first book manuscript on the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and is currently working on his second book project on China’s zhiqing (the “educated youth”) generation’s social history and collective memory. URL:https://ihss.hku.hk/events/starting-up-biology-bgi-and-the-making-of-life-in-shenzhen/ LOCATION:Lecture Hall\, G/F\, Hong Kong CATEGORIES:Others END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Asia/Hong_Kong:20151020T120000 DTEND;TZID=Asia/Hong_Kong:20151020T130000 DTSTAMP:20261108T204108 CREATED:20240731T011325Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260416T102914Z UID:88032-1445342400-1445346000@ihss.hku.hk SUMMARY:Envisioning Urban Futures: Spectacle\, World Heritage\, and Emergent Activism in Macau DESCRIPTION:Language: English\n \n \n \n \n Room 929\, 9/F\, The Jockey Club Tower\, The University of Hong Kong\n \n \n \n \n May 11\, 2015 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm\n \n \n \n \n (Tel) (852) 3917-5011\n \n \n \n\n \n \n Enquiry: ihss@hku.hk\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABSTRACT \n \n \n \n The Sichuan earthquake was not only a massive natural disaster but also a political drama\, in which the Chinese civil society transcended their particular group interests and took actions to address their fellow citizens’ suering and was engaged in intensive and emotional interactions with the authoritarian state. The most memorable episodes of the drama included a large wave of volunteering\, the public sphere’s advocacy for an unprecedented national mourning ritual for the earthquake victims\, activists and public intellectuals challenge to the state’s moral authority on the school collapse issue\, and civic associations’ complex relations with the local governments in the recovery period. Drawing on interviews\, ethnography\, textual and visual data\, Bin Xu’s book project on the Sichuan earthquake argues that a massive disaster like the Sichuan earthquake provides civil society under authoritarianism with rare political opportunities and symbolic-moral resources to participate in large-scale public activities. This participation is enabled and constrained by the interplay between the disaster’s dual feature — being both a management crisis and a moral event — and the structural state-civil society relations. Its long-term political outcomes are mixed. To contribute to the scholarship on civil society under authoritarianism\, this book project stresses two important but often neglected aspects: situational variation in the state-civil society relations; the moral-cultural dimension of civil society. The project’s inquiry of the two aspects casts doubt on a linear thinking of the potentiality of civil society development for democratization. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABOUT THE SPEAKER \n \n \n \n Bin Xu is Postdoctoral Associate in the Council on East Asian Studies (CEAS) at Yale University (2014 – 2015) and Assistant Professor at Florida International University (2011 – present). His research interests include cultural sociology\, political sociology\, and social theory with a regional focus on East Asia\, particularly China. His empirical foci are on civil society\, collective memory\, and politics of disaster. His articles have appeared in sociology and China studies journals\, including Theory & Society\, Sociological Theory\, Social Problems\, The China Journal\, China Quarterly\, etc. He has finished his first book manuscript on the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and is currently working on his second book project on China’s zhiqing (the “educated youth”) generation’s social history and collective memory. URL:https://ihss.hku.hk/events/envisioning-urban-futures-spectacle-world-heritage-and-emergent-activism-in-macau/ LOCATION:Room 201\, 2/F\, Hong Kong CATEGORIES:IHSS END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Asia/Hong_Kong:20151014T160000 DTEND;TZID=Asia/Hong_Kong:20151014T173000 DTSTAMP:20261108T204108 CREATED:20240731T011757Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260416T102914Z UID:88042-1444838400-1444843800@ihss.hku.hk SUMMARY:Cantopop in Hong Kong: Three Different Periods of Development and Three Different Styles (香港的粵語流行曲 ── 三個時期、三種不同風格) DESCRIPTION:Language: English\n \n \n \n \n Room 929\, 9/F\, The Jockey Club Tower\, The University of Hong Kong\n \n \n \n \n May 11\, 2015 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm\n \n \n \n \n (Tel) (852) 3917-5011\n \n \n \n\n \n \n Enquiry: ihss@hku.hk\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABSTRACT \n \n \n \n The Sichuan earthquake was not only a massive natural disaster but also a political drama\, in which the Chinese civil society transcended their particular group interests and took actions to address their fellow citizens’ suering and was engaged in intensive and emotional interactions with the authoritarian state. The most memorable episodes of the drama included a large wave of volunteering\, the public sphere’s advocacy for an unprecedented national mourning ritual for the earthquake victims\, activists and public intellectuals challenge to the state’s moral authority on the school collapse issue\, and civic associations’ complex relations with the local governments in the recovery period. Drawing on interviews\, ethnography\, textual and visual data\, Bin Xu’s book project on the Sichuan earthquake argues that a massive disaster like the Sichuan earthquake provides civil society under authoritarianism with rare political opportunities and symbolic-moral resources to participate in large-scale public activities. This participation is enabled and constrained by the interplay between the disaster’s dual feature — being both a management crisis and a moral event — and the structural state-civil society relations. Its long-term political outcomes are mixed. To contribute to the scholarship on civil society under authoritarianism\, this book project stresses two important but often neglected aspects: situational variation in the state-civil society relations; the moral-cultural dimension of civil society. The project’s inquiry of the two aspects casts doubt on a linear thinking of the potentiality of civil society development for democratization. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABOUT THE SPEAKER \n \n \n \n Bin Xu is Postdoctoral Associate in the Council on East Asian Studies (CEAS) at Yale University (2014 – 2015) and Assistant Professor at Florida International University (2011 – present). His research interests include cultural sociology\, political sociology\, and social theory with a regional focus on East Asia\, particularly China. His empirical foci are on civil society\, collective memory\, and politics of disaster. His articles have appeared in sociology and China studies journals\, including Theory & Society\, Sociological Theory\, Social Problems\, The China Journal\, China Quarterly\, etc. He has finished his first book manuscript on the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and is currently working on his second book project on China’s zhiqing (the “educated youth”) generation’s social history and collective memory. URL:https://ihss.hku.hk/events/cantopop-in-hong-kong-three-different-periods-of-development-and-three-different-styles-%e9%a6%99%e6%b8%af%e7%9a%84%e7%b2%b5%e8%aa%9e%e6%b5%81%e8%a1%8c%e6%9b%b2-%e2%94%80%e2%94%80-%e4%b8%89%e5%80%8b/ LOCATION:Lecture Hall\, G/F\, Hong Kong CATEGORIES:IHSS END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Asia/Hong_Kong:20151006T120000 DTEND;TZID=Asia/Hong_Kong:20151006T130000 DTSTAMP:20261108T204108 CREATED:20240731T012423Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260416T102914Z UID:88062-1444132800-1444136400@ihss.hku.hk SUMMARY:“One China” in the Eyes of Millennial Youth in Hong Kong and Taiwan DESCRIPTION:Language: English\n \n \n \n \n Room 929\, 9/F\, The Jockey Club Tower\, The University of Hong Kong\n \n \n \n \n May 11\, 2015 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm\n \n \n \n \n (Tel) (852) 3917-5011\n \n \n \n\n \n \n Enquiry: ihss@hku.hk\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABSTRACT \n \n \n \n The Sichuan earthquake was not only a massive natural disaster but also a political drama\, in which the Chinese civil society transcended their particular group interests and took actions to address their fellow citizens’ suering and was engaged in intensive and emotional interactions with the authoritarian state. The most memorable episodes of the drama included a large wave of volunteering\, the public sphere’s advocacy for an unprecedented national mourning ritual for the earthquake victims\, activists and public intellectuals challenge to the state’s moral authority on the school collapse issue\, and civic associations’ complex relations with the local governments in the recovery period. Drawing on interviews\, ethnography\, textual and visual data\, Bin Xu’s book project on the Sichuan earthquake argues that a massive disaster like the Sichuan earthquake provides civil society under authoritarianism with rare political opportunities and symbolic-moral resources to participate in large-scale public activities. This participation is enabled and constrained by the interplay between the disaster’s dual feature — being both a management crisis and a moral event — and the structural state-civil society relations. Its long-term political outcomes are mixed. To contribute to the scholarship on civil society under authoritarianism\, this book project stresses two important but often neglected aspects: situational variation in the state-civil society relations; the moral-cultural dimension of civil society. The project’s inquiry of the two aspects casts doubt on a linear thinking of the potentiality of civil society development for democratization. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABOUT THE SPEAKER \n \n \n \n Bin Xu is Postdoctoral Associate in the Council on East Asian Studies (CEAS) at Yale University (2014 – 2015) and Assistant Professor at Florida International University (2011 – present). His research interests include cultural sociology\, political sociology\, and social theory with a regional focus on East Asia\, particularly China. His empirical foci are on civil society\, collective memory\, and politics of disaster. His articles have appeared in sociology and China studies journals\, including Theory & Society\, Sociological Theory\, Social Problems\, The China Journal\, China Quarterly\, etc. He has finished his first book manuscript on the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and is currently working on his second book project on China’s zhiqing (the “educated youth”) generation’s social history and collective memory. URL:https://ihss.hku.hk/events/one-china-in-the-eyes-of-millennial-youth-in-hong-kong-and-taiwan/ LOCATION:Room 201\, 2/F\, Hong Kong CATEGORIES:IHSS END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Asia/Hong_Kong:20150922T120000 DTEND;TZID=Asia/Hong_Kong:20150922T130000 DTSTAMP:20261108T204108 CREATED:20240731T014600Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260416T102915Z UID:88078-1442923200-1442926800@ihss.hku.hk SUMMARY:Diaspora and Diplomacy: China\, Indonesia and the Cold War\, 1945 – 1967 DESCRIPTION:Language: English\n \n \n \n \n Room 929\, 9/F\, The Jockey Club Tower\, The University of Hong Kong\n \n \n \n \n May 11\, 2015 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm\n \n \n \n \n (Tel) (852) 3917-5011\n \n \n \n\n \n \n Enquiry: ihss@hku.hk\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABSTRACT \n \n \n \n The Sichuan earthquake was not only a massive natural disaster but also a political drama\, in which the Chinese civil society transcended their particular group interests and took actions to address their fellow citizens’ suering and was engaged in intensive and emotional interactions with the authoritarian state. The most memorable episodes of the drama included a large wave of volunteering\, the public sphere’s advocacy for an unprecedented national mourning ritual for the earthquake victims\, activists and public intellectuals challenge to the state’s moral authority on the school collapse issue\, and civic associations’ complex relations with the local governments in the recovery period. Drawing on interviews\, ethnography\, textual and visual data\, Bin Xu’s book project on the Sichuan earthquake argues that a massive disaster like the Sichuan earthquake provides civil society under authoritarianism with rare political opportunities and symbolic-moral resources to participate in large-scale public activities. This participation is enabled and constrained by the interplay between the disaster’s dual feature — being both a management crisis and a moral event — and the structural state-civil society relations. Its long-term political outcomes are mixed. To contribute to the scholarship on civil society under authoritarianism\, this book project stresses two important but often neglected aspects: situational variation in the state-civil society relations; the moral-cultural dimension of civil society. The project’s inquiry of the two aspects casts doubt on a linear thinking of the potentiality of civil society development for democratization. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABOUT THE SPEAKER \n \n \n \n Bin Xu is Postdoctoral Associate in the Council on East Asian Studies (CEAS) at Yale University (2014 – 2015) and Assistant Professor at Florida International University (2011 – present). His research interests include cultural sociology\, political sociology\, and social theory with a regional focus on East Asia\, particularly China. His empirical foci are on civil society\, collective memory\, and politics of disaster. His articles have appeared in sociology and China studies journals\, including Theory & Society\, Sociological Theory\, Social Problems\, The China Journal\, China Quarterly\, etc. He has finished his first book manuscript on the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and is currently working on his second book project on China’s zhiqing (the “educated youth”) generation’s social history and collective memory. URL:https://ihss.hku.hk/events/diaspora-and-diplomacy-china-indonesia-and-the-cold-war-1945-1967/ LOCATION:Room 201\, 2/F\, Hong Kong CATEGORIES:IHSS END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Asia/Hong_Kong:20150909T160000 DTEND;TZID=Asia/Hong_Kong:20150909T160000 DTSTAMP:20261108T204108 CREATED:20240731T014150Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260416T102915Z UID:88070-1441814400-1441814400@ihss.hku.hk SUMMARY:Between Perseverance and Manipulation: the Art of Accumulation on Social Media in Rural China DESCRIPTION:Language: English\n \n \n \n \n Room 929\, 9/F\, The Jockey Club Tower\, The University of Hong Kong\n \n \n \n \n May 11\, 2015 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm\n \n \n \n \n (Tel) (852) 3917-5011\n \n \n \n\n \n \n Enquiry: ihss@hku.hk\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABSTRACT \n \n \n \n The Sichuan earthquake was not only a massive natural disaster but also a political drama\, in which the Chinese civil society transcended their particular group interests and took actions to address their fellow citizens’ suering and was engaged in intensive and emotional interactions with the authoritarian state. The most memorable episodes of the drama included a large wave of volunteering\, the public sphere’s advocacy for an unprecedented national mourning ritual for the earthquake victims\, activists and public intellectuals challenge to the state’s moral authority on the school collapse issue\, and civic associations’ complex relations with the local governments in the recovery period. Drawing on interviews\, ethnography\, textual and visual data\, Bin Xu’s book project on the Sichuan earthquake argues that a massive disaster like the Sichuan earthquake provides civil society under authoritarianism with rare political opportunities and symbolic-moral resources to participate in large-scale public activities. This participation is enabled and constrained by the interplay between the disaster’s dual feature — being both a management crisis and a moral event — and the structural state-civil society relations. Its long-term political outcomes are mixed. To contribute to the scholarship on civil society under authoritarianism\, this book project stresses two important but often neglected aspects: situational variation in the state-civil society relations; the moral-cultural dimension of civil society. The project’s inquiry of the two aspects casts doubt on a linear thinking of the potentiality of civil society development for democratization. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABOUT THE SPEAKER \n \n \n \n Bin Xu is Postdoctoral Associate in the Council on East Asian Studies (CEAS) at Yale University (2014 – 2015) and Assistant Professor at Florida International University (2011 – present). His research interests include cultural sociology\, political sociology\, and social theory with a regional focus on East Asia\, particularly China. His empirical foci are on civil society\, collective memory\, and politics of disaster. His articles have appeared in sociology and China studies journals\, including Theory & Society\, Sociological Theory\, Social Problems\, The China Journal\, China Quarterly\, etc. He has finished his first book manuscript on the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and is currently working on his second book project on China’s zhiqing (the “educated youth”) generation’s social history and collective memory. URL:https://ihss.hku.hk/events/between-perseverance-and-manipulation-the-art-of-accumulation-on-social-media-in-rural-china/ LOCATION:Room 201\, 2/F\, Hong Kong CATEGORIES:IHSS END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Asia/Hong_Kong:20150908T120000 DTEND;TZID=Asia/Hong_Kong:20150908T130000 DTSTAMP:20261108T204108 CREATED:20240731T174110Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260416T102915Z UID:88099-1441713600-1441717200@ihss.hku.hk SUMMARY:Prisoners at Death’s Door: Chinese POWs as U.S. Secret Agents in the Korean War (九死一生: 韓戰美軍徵用中國戰俘從事敵後諜報工作探秘) DESCRIPTION:Language: English\n \n \n \n \n Room 929\, 9/F\, The Jockey Club Tower\, The University of Hong Kong\n \n \n \n \n May 11\, 2015 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm\n \n \n \n \n (Tel) (852) 3917-5011\n \n \n \n\n \n \n Enquiry: ihss@hku.hk\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABSTRACT \n \n \n \n The Sichuan earthquake was not only a massive natural disaster but also a political drama\, in which the Chinese civil society transcended their particular group interests and took actions to address their fellow citizens’ suering and was engaged in intensive and emotional interactions with the authoritarian state. The most memorable episodes of the drama included a large wave of volunteering\, the public sphere’s advocacy for an unprecedented national mourning ritual for the earthquake victims\, activists and public intellectuals challenge to the state’s moral authority on the school collapse issue\, and civic associations’ complex relations with the local governments in the recovery period. Drawing on interviews\, ethnography\, textual and visual data\, Bin Xu’s book project on the Sichuan earthquake argues that a massive disaster like the Sichuan earthquake provides civil society under authoritarianism with rare political opportunities and symbolic-moral resources to participate in large-scale public activities. This participation is enabled and constrained by the interplay between the disaster’s dual feature — being both a management crisis and a moral event — and the structural state-civil society relations. Its long-term political outcomes are mixed. To contribute to the scholarship on civil society under authoritarianism\, this book project stresses two important but often neglected aspects: situational variation in the state-civil society relations; the moral-cultural dimension of civil society. The project’s inquiry of the two aspects casts doubt on a linear thinking of the potentiality of civil society development for democratization. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABOUT THE SPEAKER \n \n \n \n Bin Xu is Postdoctoral Associate in the Council on East Asian Studies (CEAS) at Yale University (2014 – 2015) and Assistant Professor at Florida International University (2011 – present). His research interests include cultural sociology\, political sociology\, and social theory with a regional focus on East Asia\, particularly China. His empirical foci are on civil society\, collective memory\, and politics of disaster. His articles have appeared in sociology and China studies journals\, including Theory & Society\, Sociological Theory\, Social Problems\, The China Journal\, China Quarterly\, etc. He has finished his first book manuscript on the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and is currently working on his second book project on China’s zhiqing (the “educated youth”) generation’s social history and collective memory. URL:https://ihss.hku.hk/events/prisoners-at-deaths-door-chinese-pows-as-u-s-secret-agents-in-the-korean-war-%e4%b9%9d%e6%ad%bb%e4%b8%80%e7%94%9f-%e9%9f%93%e6%88%b0%e7%be%8e%e8%bb%8d%e5%be%b5%e7%94%a8%e4%b8%ad%e5%9c%8b/ LOCATION:Room 201\, 2/F\, Hong Kong CATEGORIES:IHSS END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20150810 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20150818 DTSTAMP:20261108T204108 CREATED:20240731T175255Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260416T102916Z UID:88106-1439164800-1439855999@ihss.hku.hk SUMMARY:Humanities\, Social Sciences and Medicine in East Asia: Interdisciplinary Approaches DESCRIPTION:Language: English\n \n \n \n \n Room 929\, 9/F\, The Jockey Club Tower\, The University of Hong Kong\n \n \n \n \n May 11\, 2015 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm\n \n \n \n \n (Tel) (852) 3917-5011\n \n \n \n\n \n \n Enquiry: ihss@hku.hk\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABSTRACT \n \n \n \n The Sichuan earthquake was not only a massive natural disaster but also a political drama\, in which the Chinese civil society transcended their particular group interests and took actions to address their fellow citizens’ suering and was engaged in intensive and emotional interactions with the authoritarian state. The most memorable episodes of the drama included a large wave of volunteering\, the public sphere’s advocacy for an unprecedented national mourning ritual for the earthquake victims\, activists and public intellectuals challenge to the state’s moral authority on the school collapse issue\, and civic associations’ complex relations with the local governments in the recovery period. Drawing on interviews\, ethnography\, textual and visual data\, Bin Xu’s book project on the Sichuan earthquake argues that a massive disaster like the Sichuan earthquake provides civil society under authoritarianism with rare political opportunities and symbolic-moral resources to participate in large-scale public activities. This participation is enabled and constrained by the interplay between the disaster’s dual feature — being both a management crisis and a moral event — and the structural state-civil society relations. Its long-term political outcomes are mixed. To contribute to the scholarship on civil society under authoritarianism\, this book project stresses two important but often neglected aspects: situational variation in the state-civil society relations; the moral-cultural dimension of civil society. The project’s inquiry of the two aspects casts doubt on a linear thinking of the potentiality of civil society development for democratization. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABOUT THE SPEAKER \n \n \n \n Bin Xu is Postdoctoral Associate in the Council on East Asian Studies (CEAS) at Yale University (2014 – 2015) and Assistant Professor at Florida International University (2011 – present). His research interests include cultural sociology\, political sociology\, and social theory with a regional focus on East Asia\, particularly China. His empirical foci are on civil society\, collective memory\, and politics of disaster. His articles have appeared in sociology and China studies journals\, including Theory & Society\, Sociological Theory\, Social Problems\, The China Journal\, China Quarterly\, etc. He has finished his first book manuscript on the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and is currently working on his second book project on China’s zhiqing (the “educated youth”) generation’s social history and collective memory. URL:https://ihss.hku.hk/events/humanities-social-sciences-and-medicine-in-east-asia-interdisciplinary-approaches-2/ CATEGORIES:IHSS ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ihss.hku.hk/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/banner-advanced-training-workshop-humanities-social-sciences-and-medicine-in-east-asia-interdisciplinary-approaches-1-768x256-1.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Asia/Hong_Kong:20150618T143000 DTEND;TZID=Asia/Hong_Kong:20150618T160000 DTSTAMP:20261108T204108 CREATED:20240731T181419Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260416T102917Z UID:88170-1434637800-1434643200@ihss.hku.hk SUMMARY:Spiritual Connection and Cultivation: The Cultivation Experience of the Spiritual Mediators in Taiwan (通靈與修行：神佛授法者的修行經驗) DESCRIPTION:Language: English\n \n \n \n \n Room 929\, 9/F\, The Jockey Club Tower\, The University of Hong Kong\n \n \n \n \n May 11\, 2015 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm\n \n \n \n \n (Tel) (852) 3917-5011\n \n \n \n\n \n \n Enquiry: ihss@hku.hk\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABSTRACT \n \n \n \n The Sichuan earthquake was not only a massive natural disaster but also a political drama\, in which the Chinese civil society transcended their particular group interests and took actions to address their fellow citizens’ suering and was engaged in intensive and emotional interactions with the authoritarian state. The most memorable episodes of the drama included a large wave of volunteering\, the public sphere’s advocacy for an unprecedented national mourning ritual for the earthquake victims\, activists and public intellectuals challenge to the state’s moral authority on the school collapse issue\, and civic associations’ complex relations with the local governments in the recovery period. Drawing on interviews\, ethnography\, textual and visual data\, Bin Xu’s book project on the Sichuan earthquake argues that a massive disaster like the Sichuan earthquake provides civil society under authoritarianism with rare political opportunities and symbolic-moral resources to participate in large-scale public activities. This participation is enabled and constrained by the interplay between the disaster’s dual feature — being both a management crisis and a moral event — and the structural state-civil society relations. Its long-term political outcomes are mixed. To contribute to the scholarship on civil society under authoritarianism\, this book project stresses two important but often neglected aspects: situational variation in the state-civil society relations; the moral-cultural dimension of civil society. The project’s inquiry of the two aspects casts doubt on a linear thinking of the potentiality of civil society development for democratization. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABOUT THE SPEAKER \n \n \n \n Bin Xu is Postdoctoral Associate in the Council on East Asian Studies (CEAS) at Yale University (2014 – 2015) and Assistant Professor at Florida International University (2011 – present). His research interests include cultural sociology\, political sociology\, and social theory with a regional focus on East Asia\, particularly China. His empirical foci are on civil society\, collective memory\, and politics of disaster. His articles have appeared in sociology and China studies journals\, including Theory & Society\, Sociological Theory\, Social Problems\, The China Journal\, China Quarterly\, etc. He has finished his first book manuscript on the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and is currently working on his second book project on China’s zhiqing (the “educated youth”) generation’s social history and collective memory. URL:https://ihss.hku.hk/events/spiritual-connection-and-cultivation-the-cultivation-experience-of-the-spiritual-mediators-in-taiwan-%e9%80%9a%e9%9d%88%e8%88%87%e4%bf%ae%e8%a1%8c%ef%bc%9a%e7%a5%9e%e4%bd%9b%e6%8e%88%e6%b3%95/ LOCATION:Room 201\, 2/F\, Hong Kong CATEGORIES:IHSS END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20150610 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20150613 DTSTAMP:20261108T204108 CREATED:20240731T180418Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260416T102916Z UID:88140-1433894400-1434153599@ihss.hku.hk SUMMARY:Jing Jiao DESCRIPTION:Language: English\n \n \n \n \n Room 929\, 9/F\, The Jockey Club Tower\, The University of Hong Kong\n \n \n \n \n May 11\, 2015 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm\n \n \n \n \n (Tel) (852) 3917-5011\n \n \n \n\n \n \n Enquiry: ihss@hku.hk\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABSTRACT \n \n \n \n The Sichuan earthquake was not only a massive natural disaster but also a political drama\, in which the Chinese civil society transcended their particular group interests and took actions to address their fellow citizens’ suering and was engaged in intensive and emotional interactions with the authoritarian state. The most memorable episodes of the drama included a large wave of volunteering\, the public sphere’s advocacy for an unprecedented national mourning ritual for the earthquake victims\, activists and public intellectuals challenge to the state’s moral authority on the school collapse issue\, and civic associations’ complex relations with the local governments in the recovery period. Drawing on interviews\, ethnography\, textual and visual data\, Bin Xu’s book project on the Sichuan earthquake argues that a massive disaster like the Sichuan earthquake provides civil society under authoritarianism with rare political opportunities and symbolic-moral resources to participate in large-scale public activities. This participation is enabled and constrained by the interplay between the disaster’s dual feature — being both a management crisis and a moral event — and the structural state-civil society relations. Its long-term political outcomes are mixed. To contribute to the scholarship on civil society under authoritarianism\, this book project stresses two important but often neglected aspects: situational variation in the state-civil society relations; the moral-cultural dimension of civil society. The project’s inquiry of the two aspects casts doubt on a linear thinking of the potentiality of civil society development for democratization. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABOUT THE SPEAKER \n \n \n \n Bin Xu is Postdoctoral Associate in the Council on East Asian Studies (CEAS) at Yale University (2014 – 2015) and Assistant Professor at Florida International University (2011 – present). His research interests include cultural sociology\, political sociology\, and social theory with a regional focus on East Asia\, particularly China. His empirical foci are on civil society\, collective memory\, and politics of disaster. His articles have appeared in sociology and China studies journals\, including Theory & Society\, Sociological Theory\, Social Problems\, The China Journal\, China Quarterly\, etc. He has finished his first book manuscript on the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and is currently working on his second book project on China’s zhiqing (the “educated youth”) generation’s social history and collective memory. URL:https://ihss.hku.hk/events/jing-jiao/ CATEGORIES:IHSS ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://ihss.hku.hk/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/banner-international-conference-on-jing-jiao-768x256-1.jpg END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Asia/Hong_Kong:20150512T120000 DTEND;TZID=Asia/Hong_Kong:20150512T130000 DTSTAMP:20261108T204108 CREATED:20240731T181857Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260416T102917Z UID:88177-1431432000-1431435600@ihss.hku.hk SUMMARY:Daoist Ritual\, the Transformation of Tradition and the Politics of Heritage among the Lanten Yao Minority of Laos DESCRIPTION:Language: English\n \n \n \n \n Room 929\, 9/F\, The Jockey Club Tower\, The University of Hong Kong\n \n \n \n \n May 11\, 2015 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm\n \n \n \n \n (Tel) (852) 3917-5011\n \n \n \n\n \n \n Enquiry: ihss@hku.hk\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABSTRACT \n \n \n \n The Sichuan earthquake was not only a massive natural disaster but also a political drama\, in which the Chinese civil society transcended their particular group interests and took actions to address their fellow citizens’ suering and was engaged in intensive and emotional interactions with the authoritarian state. The most memorable episodes of the drama included a large wave of volunteering\, the public sphere’s advocacy for an unprecedented national mourning ritual for the earthquake victims\, activists and public intellectuals challenge to the state’s moral authority on the school collapse issue\, and civic associations’ complex relations with the local governments in the recovery period. Drawing on interviews\, ethnography\, textual and visual data\, Bin Xu’s book project on the Sichuan earthquake argues that a massive disaster like the Sichuan earthquake provides civil society under authoritarianism with rare political opportunities and symbolic-moral resources to participate in large-scale public activities. This participation is enabled and constrained by the interplay between the disaster’s dual feature — being both a management crisis and a moral event — and the structural state-civil society relations. Its long-term political outcomes are mixed. To contribute to the scholarship on civil society under authoritarianism\, this book project stresses two important but often neglected aspects: situational variation in the state-civil society relations; the moral-cultural dimension of civil society. The project’s inquiry of the two aspects casts doubt on a linear thinking of the potentiality of civil society development for democratization. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABOUT THE SPEAKER \n \n \n \n Bin Xu is Postdoctoral Associate in the Council on East Asian Studies (CEAS) at Yale University (2014 – 2015) and Assistant Professor at Florida International University (2011 – present). His research interests include cultural sociology\, political sociology\, and social theory with a regional focus on East Asia\, particularly China. His empirical foci are on civil society\, collective memory\, and politics of disaster. His articles have appeared in sociology and China studies journals\, including Theory & Society\, Sociological Theory\, Social Problems\, The China Journal\, China Quarterly\, etc. He has finished his first book manuscript on the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and is currently working on his second book project on China’s zhiqing (the “educated youth”) generation’s social history and collective memory. URL:https://ihss.hku.hk/events/daoist-ritual-the-transformation-of-tradition-and-the-politics-of-heritage-among-the-lanten-yao-minority-of-laos/ LOCATION:Room 201\, 2/F\, Hong Kong CATEGORIES:IHSS END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Asia/Hong_Kong:20150511T160000 DTEND;TZID=Asia/Hong_Kong:20150511T173000 DTSTAMP:20261108T204108 CREATED:20240731T182336Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260416T102917Z UID:88184-1431360000-1431365400@ihss.hku.hk SUMMARY:Politics of Moral Sentiments: Civil Society and the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake in China DESCRIPTION:Language: English\n \n \n \n \n Room 929\, 9/F\, The Jockey Club Tower\, The University of Hong Kong\n \n \n \n \n May 11\, 2015 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm\n \n \n \n \n (Tel) (852) 3917-5011\n \n \n \n\n \n \n Enquiry: ihss@hku.hk\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABSTRACT \n \n \n \n The Sichuan earthquake was not only a massive natural disaster but also a political drama\, in which the Chinese civil society transcended their particular group interests and took actions to address their fellow citizens’ suering and was engaged in intensive and emotional interactions with the authoritarian state. The most memorable episodes of the drama included a large wave of volunteering\, the public sphere’s advocacy for an unprecedented national mourning ritual for the earthquake victims\, activists and public intellectuals challenge to the state’s moral authority on the school collapse issue\, and civic associations’ complex relations with the local governments in the recovery period. Drawing on interviews\, ethnography\, textual and visual data\, Bin Xu’s book project on the Sichuan earthquake argues that a massive disaster like the Sichuan earthquake provides civil society under authoritarianism with rare political opportunities and symbolic-moral resources to participate in large-scale public activities. This participation is enabled and constrained by the interplay between the disaster’s dual feature — being both a management crisis and a moral event — and the structural state-civil society relations. Its long-term political outcomes are mixed. To contribute to the scholarship on civil society under authoritarianism\, this book project stresses two important but often neglected aspects: situational variation in the state-civil society relations; the moral-cultural dimension of civil society. The project’s inquiry of the two aspects casts doubt on a linear thinking of the potentiality of civil society development for democratization. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABOUT THE SPEAKER \n \n \n \n Bin Xu is Postdoctoral Associate in the Council on East Asian Studies (CEAS) at Yale University (2014 – 2015) and Assistant Professor at Florida International University (2011 – present). His research interests include cultural sociology\, political sociology\, and social theory with a regional focus on East Asia\, particularly China. His empirical foci are on civil society\, collective memory\, and politics of disaster. His articles have appeared in sociology and China studies journals\, including Theory & Society\, Sociological Theory\, Social Problems\, The China Journal\, China Quarterly\, etc. He has finished his first book manuscript on the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and is currently working on his second book project on China’s zhiqing (the “educated youth”) generation’s social history and collective memory. URL:https://ihss.hku.hk/events/politics-of-moral-sentiments-civil-society-and-the-2008-sichuan-earthquake-in-china/ LOCATION:Room 929\, 9/F\, Hong Kong CATEGORIES:IHSS END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Asia/Hong_Kong:20150505T163000 DTEND;TZID=Asia/Hong_Kong:20150505T180000 DTSTAMP:20261108T204108 CREATED:20240731T183208Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260416T102918Z UID:88195-1430843400-1430848800@ihss.hku.hk SUMMARY:Europe’s Infrastructure Transition DESCRIPTION:Language: English\n \n \n \n \n Room 929\, 9/F\, The Jockey Club Tower\, The University of Hong Kong\n \n \n \n \n May 11\, 2015 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm\n \n \n \n \n (Tel) (852) 3917-5011\n \n \n \n\n \n \n Enquiry: ihss@hku.hk\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABSTRACT \n \n \n \n The Sichuan earthquake was not only a massive natural disaster but also a political drama\, in which the Chinese civil society transcended their particular group interests and took actions to address their fellow citizens’ suering and was engaged in intensive and emotional interactions with the authoritarian state. The most memorable episodes of the drama included a large wave of volunteering\, the public sphere’s advocacy for an unprecedented national mourning ritual for the earthquake victims\, activists and public intellectuals challenge to the state’s moral authority on the school collapse issue\, and civic associations’ complex relations with the local governments in the recovery period. Drawing on interviews\, ethnography\, textual and visual data\, Bin Xu’s book project on the Sichuan earthquake argues that a massive disaster like the Sichuan earthquake provides civil society under authoritarianism with rare political opportunities and symbolic-moral resources to participate in large-scale public activities. This participation is enabled and constrained by the interplay between the disaster’s dual feature — being both a management crisis and a moral event — and the structural state-civil society relations. Its long-term political outcomes are mixed. To contribute to the scholarship on civil society under authoritarianism\, this book project stresses two important but often neglected aspects: situational variation in the state-civil society relations; the moral-cultural dimension of civil society. The project’s inquiry of the two aspects casts doubt on a linear thinking of the potentiality of civil society development for democratization. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABOUT THE SPEAKER \n \n \n \n Bin Xu is Postdoctoral Associate in the Council on East Asian Studies (CEAS) at Yale University (2014 – 2015) and Assistant Professor at Florida International University (2011 – present). His research interests include cultural sociology\, political sociology\, and social theory with a regional focus on East Asia\, particularly China. His empirical foci are on civil society\, collective memory\, and politics of disaster. His articles have appeared in sociology and China studies journals\, including Theory & Society\, Sociological Theory\, Social Problems\, The China Journal\, China Quarterly\, etc. He has finished his first book manuscript on the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and is currently working on his second book project on China’s zhiqing (the “educated youth”) generation’s social history and collective memory. URL:https://ihss.hku.hk/events/europes-infrastructure-transition/ LOCATION:T6\, 1/F\, Meng Wah Complex\, Hong Kong CATEGORIES:IHSS END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Asia/Hong_Kong:20150429T163000 DTEND;TZID=Asia/Hong_Kong:20150429T163000 DTSTAMP:20261108T204108 CREATED:20240731T185029Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260416T102918Z UID:88209-1430325000-1430325000@ihss.hku.hk SUMMARY:Goddess of Safe Journey: A Comparision on Mazu and Mary during the Ming-Qing Period (慈航女神：明清媽祖與聖母瑪利亞的比較) DESCRIPTION:Language: English\n \n \n \n \n Room 929\, 9/F\, The Jockey Club Tower\, The University of Hong Kong\n \n \n \n \n May 11\, 2015 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm\n \n \n \n \n (Tel) (852) 3917-5011\n \n \n \n\n \n \n Enquiry: ihss@hku.hk\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABSTRACT \n \n \n \n The Sichuan earthquake was not only a massive natural disaster but also a political drama\, in which the Chinese civil society transcended their particular group interests and took actions to address their fellow citizens’ suering and was engaged in intensive and emotional interactions with the authoritarian state. The most memorable episodes of the drama included a large wave of volunteering\, the public sphere’s advocacy for an unprecedented national mourning ritual for the earthquake victims\, activists and public intellectuals challenge to the state’s moral authority on the school collapse issue\, and civic associations’ complex relations with the local governments in the recovery period. Drawing on interviews\, ethnography\, textual and visual data\, Bin Xu’s book project on the Sichuan earthquake argues that a massive disaster like the Sichuan earthquake provides civil society under authoritarianism with rare political opportunities and symbolic-moral resources to participate in large-scale public activities. This participation is enabled and constrained by the interplay between the disaster’s dual feature — being both a management crisis and a moral event — and the structural state-civil society relations. Its long-term political outcomes are mixed. To contribute to the scholarship on civil society under authoritarianism\, this book project stresses two important but often neglected aspects: situational variation in the state-civil society relations; the moral-cultural dimension of civil society. The project’s inquiry of the two aspects casts doubt on a linear thinking of the potentiality of civil society development for democratization. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABOUT THE SPEAKER \n \n \n \n Bin Xu is Postdoctoral Associate in the Council on East Asian Studies (CEAS) at Yale University (2014 – 2015) and Assistant Professor at Florida International University (2011 – present). His research interests include cultural sociology\, political sociology\, and social theory with a regional focus on East Asia\, particularly China. His empirical foci are on civil society\, collective memory\, and politics of disaster. His articles have appeared in sociology and China studies journals\, including Theory & Society\, Sociological Theory\, Social Problems\, The China Journal\, China Quarterly\, etc. He has finished his first book manuscript on the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and is currently working on his second book project on China’s zhiqing (the “educated youth”) generation’s social history and collective memory. URL:https://ihss.hku.hk/events/goddess-of-safe-journey-a-comparision-on-mazu-and-mary-during-the-ming-qing-period-%e6%85%88%e8%88%aa%e5%a5%b3%e7%a5%9e%ef%bc%9a%e6%98%8e%e6%b8%85%e5%aa%bd%e7%a5%96%e8%88%87%e8%81%96%e6%af%8d/ LOCATION:Wang Gungwu Lecture Hall\, Hong Kong CATEGORIES:IHSS END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Asia/Hong_Kong:20150428T120000 DTEND;TZID=Asia/Hong_Kong:20150428T130000 DTSTAMP:20261108T204108 CREATED:20240731T185754Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260416T102918Z UID:88242-1430222400-1430226000@ihss.hku.hk SUMMARY:Curating Cultural Revolution: Exhibitions by and for Red Guards in Shanghai DESCRIPTION:Language: English\n \n \n \n \n Room 929\, 9/F\, The Jockey Club Tower\, The University of Hong Kong\n \n \n \n \n May 11\, 2015 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm\n \n \n \n \n (Tel) (852) 3917-5011\n \n \n \n\n \n \n Enquiry: ihss@hku.hk\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABSTRACT \n \n \n \n The Sichuan earthquake was not only a massive natural disaster but also a political drama\, in which the Chinese civil society transcended their particular group interests and took actions to address their fellow citizens’ suering and was engaged in intensive and emotional interactions with the authoritarian state. The most memorable episodes of the drama included a large wave of volunteering\, the public sphere’s advocacy for an unprecedented national mourning ritual for the earthquake victims\, activists and public intellectuals challenge to the state’s moral authority on the school collapse issue\, and civic associations’ complex relations with the local governments in the recovery period. Drawing on interviews\, ethnography\, textual and visual data\, Bin Xu’s book project on the Sichuan earthquake argues that a massive disaster like the Sichuan earthquake provides civil society under authoritarianism with rare political opportunities and symbolic-moral resources to participate in large-scale public activities. This participation is enabled and constrained by the interplay between the disaster’s dual feature — being both a management crisis and a moral event — and the structural state-civil society relations. Its long-term political outcomes are mixed. To contribute to the scholarship on civil society under authoritarianism\, this book project stresses two important but often neglected aspects: situational variation in the state-civil society relations; the moral-cultural dimension of civil society. The project’s inquiry of the two aspects casts doubt on a linear thinking of the potentiality of civil society development for democratization. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABOUT THE SPEAKER \n \n \n \n Bin Xu is Postdoctoral Associate in the Council on East Asian Studies (CEAS) at Yale University (2014 – 2015) and Assistant Professor at Florida International University (2011 – present). His research interests include cultural sociology\, political sociology\, and social theory with a regional focus on East Asia\, particularly China. His empirical foci are on civil society\, collective memory\, and politics of disaster. His articles have appeared in sociology and China studies journals\, including Theory & Society\, Sociological Theory\, Social Problems\, The China Journal\, China Quarterly\, etc. He has finished his first book manuscript on the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and is currently working on his second book project on China’s zhiqing (the “educated youth”) generation’s social history and collective memory. URL:https://ihss.hku.hk/events/curating-cultural-revolution-exhibitions-by-and-for-red-guards-in-shanghai/ LOCATION:Room 201\, 2/F\, Hong Kong CATEGORIES:IHSS END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Asia/Hong_Kong:20150427T120000 DTEND;TZID=Asia/Hong_Kong:20150427T130000 DTSTAMP:20261108T204108 CREATED:20240731T190154Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260416T102919Z UID:88249-1430136000-1430139600@ihss.hku.hk SUMMARY:Christianity & Popular Religion in Late Imperial China: Some Notes from the Archives DESCRIPTION:Language: English\n \n \n \n \n Room 929\, 9/F\, The Jockey Club Tower\, The University of Hong Kong\n \n \n \n \n May 11\, 2015 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm\n \n \n \n \n (Tel) (852) 3917-5011\n \n \n \n\n \n \n Enquiry: ihss@hku.hk\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABSTRACT \n \n \n \n The Sichuan earthquake was not only a massive natural disaster but also a political drama\, in which the Chinese civil society transcended their particular group interests and took actions to address their fellow citizens’ suering and was engaged in intensive and emotional interactions with the authoritarian state. The most memorable episodes of the drama included a large wave of volunteering\, the public sphere’s advocacy for an unprecedented national mourning ritual for the earthquake victims\, activists and public intellectuals challenge to the state’s moral authority on the school collapse issue\, and civic associations’ complex relations with the local governments in the recovery period. Drawing on interviews\, ethnography\, textual and visual data\, Bin Xu’s book project on the Sichuan earthquake argues that a massive disaster like the Sichuan earthquake provides civil society under authoritarianism with rare political opportunities and symbolic-moral resources to participate in large-scale public activities. This participation is enabled and constrained by the interplay between the disaster’s dual feature — being both a management crisis and a moral event — and the structural state-civil society relations. Its long-term political outcomes are mixed. To contribute to the scholarship on civil society under authoritarianism\, this book project stresses two important but often neglected aspects: situational variation in the state-civil society relations; the moral-cultural dimension of civil society. The project’s inquiry of the two aspects casts doubt on a linear thinking of the potentiality of civil society development for democratization. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABOUT THE SPEAKER \n \n \n \n Bin Xu is Postdoctoral Associate in the Council on East Asian Studies (CEAS) at Yale University (2014 – 2015) and Assistant Professor at Florida International University (2011 – present). His research interests include cultural sociology\, political sociology\, and social theory with a regional focus on East Asia\, particularly China. His empirical foci are on civil society\, collective memory\, and politics of disaster. His articles have appeared in sociology and China studies journals\, including Theory & Society\, Sociological Theory\, Social Problems\, The China Journal\, China Quarterly\, etc. He has finished his first book manuscript on the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and is currently working on his second book project on China’s zhiqing (the “educated youth”) generation’s social history and collective memory. URL:https://ihss.hku.hk/events/christianity-popular-religion-in-late-imperial-china-some-notes-from-the-archives/ LOCATION:Room 201\, 2/F\, Hong Kong CATEGORIES:IHSS END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Asia/Hong_Kong:20150421T120000 DTEND;TZID=Asia/Hong_Kong:20150421T130000 DTSTAMP:20261108T204108 CREATED:20240731T213907Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260416T102920Z UID:88263-1429617600-1429621200@ihss.hku.hk SUMMARY:The Development of Buddhist Charity in China: The Case Study of the Ren’ai Foundation in Beijing DESCRIPTION:Language: English\n \n \n \n \n Room 929\, 9/F\, The Jockey Club Tower\, The University of Hong Kong\n \n \n \n \n May 11\, 2015 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm\n \n \n \n \n (Tel) (852) 3917-5011\n \n \n \n\n \n \n Enquiry: ihss@hku.hk\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABSTRACT \n \n \n \n The Sichuan earthquake was not only a massive natural disaster but also a political drama\, in which the Chinese civil society transcended their particular group interests and took actions to address their fellow citizens’ suering and was engaged in intensive and emotional interactions with the authoritarian state. The most memorable episodes of the drama included a large wave of volunteering\, the public sphere’s advocacy for an unprecedented national mourning ritual for the earthquake victims\, activists and public intellectuals challenge to the state’s moral authority on the school collapse issue\, and civic associations’ complex relations with the local governments in the recovery period. Drawing on interviews\, ethnography\, textual and visual data\, Bin Xu’s book project on the Sichuan earthquake argues that a massive disaster like the Sichuan earthquake provides civil society under authoritarianism with rare political opportunities and symbolic-moral resources to participate in large-scale public activities. This participation is enabled and constrained by the interplay between the disaster’s dual feature — being both a management crisis and a moral event — and the structural state-civil society relations. Its long-term political outcomes are mixed. To contribute to the scholarship on civil society under authoritarianism\, this book project stresses two important but often neglected aspects: situational variation in the state-civil society relations; the moral-cultural dimension of civil society. The project’s inquiry of the two aspects casts doubt on a linear thinking of the potentiality of civil society development for democratization. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABOUT THE SPEAKER \n \n \n \n Bin Xu is Postdoctoral Associate in the Council on East Asian Studies (CEAS) at Yale University (2014 – 2015) and Assistant Professor at Florida International University (2011 – present). His research interests include cultural sociology\, political sociology\, and social theory with a regional focus on East Asia\, particularly China. His empirical foci are on civil society\, collective memory\, and politics of disaster. His articles have appeared in sociology and China studies journals\, including Theory & Society\, Sociological Theory\, Social Problems\, The China Journal\, China Quarterly\, etc. He has finished his first book manuscript on the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and is currently working on his second book project on China’s zhiqing (the “educated youth”) generation’s social history and collective memory. URL:https://ihss.hku.hk/events/the-development-of-buddhist-charity-in-china-the-case-study-of-the-renai-foundation-in-beijing/ LOCATION:Room 201\, 2/F\, Hong Kong CATEGORIES:IHSS END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Asia/Hong_Kong:20150414T120000 DTEND;TZID=Asia/Hong_Kong:20150414T130000 DTSTAMP:20261108T204108 CREATED:20240731T215856Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260416T102920Z UID:88270-1429012800-1429016400@ihss.hku.hk SUMMARY:(Re)making and Contesting Political Subjectivities and Citizenship: Canadians in Hong Kong in the Era of the Umbrella Movement Protest DESCRIPTION:Language: English\n \n \n \n \n Room 929\, 9/F\, The Jockey Club Tower\, The University of Hong Kong\n \n \n \n \n May 11\, 2015 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm\n \n \n \n \n (Tel) (852) 3917-5011\n \n \n \n\n \n \n Enquiry: ihss@hku.hk\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABSTRACT \n \n \n \n The Sichuan earthquake was not only a massive natural disaster but also a political drama\, in which the Chinese civil society transcended their particular group interests and took actions to address their fellow citizens’ suering and was engaged in intensive and emotional interactions with the authoritarian state. The most memorable episodes of the drama included a large wave of volunteering\, the public sphere’s advocacy for an unprecedented national mourning ritual for the earthquake victims\, activists and public intellectuals challenge to the state’s moral authority on the school collapse issue\, and civic associations’ complex relations with the local governments in the recovery period. Drawing on interviews\, ethnography\, textual and visual data\, Bin Xu’s book project on the Sichuan earthquake argues that a massive disaster like the Sichuan earthquake provides civil society under authoritarianism with rare political opportunities and symbolic-moral resources to participate in large-scale public activities. This participation is enabled and constrained by the interplay between the disaster’s dual feature — being both a management crisis and a moral event — and the structural state-civil society relations. Its long-term political outcomes are mixed. To contribute to the scholarship on civil society under authoritarianism\, this book project stresses two important but often neglected aspects: situational variation in the state-civil society relations; the moral-cultural dimension of civil society. The project’s inquiry of the two aspects casts doubt on a linear thinking of the potentiality of civil society development for democratization. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABOUT THE SPEAKER \n \n \n \n Bin Xu is Postdoctoral Associate in the Council on East Asian Studies (CEAS) at Yale University (2014 – 2015) and Assistant Professor at Florida International University (2011 – present). His research interests include cultural sociology\, political sociology\, and social theory with a regional focus on East Asia\, particularly China. His empirical foci are on civil society\, collective memory\, and politics of disaster. His articles have appeared in sociology and China studies journals\, including Theory & Society\, Sociological Theory\, Social Problems\, The China Journal\, China Quarterly\, etc. He has finished his first book manuscript on the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and is currently working on his second book project on China’s zhiqing (the “educated youth”) generation’s social history and collective memory. URL:https://ihss.hku.hk/events/remaking-and-contesting-political-subjectivities-and-citizenship-canadians-in-hong-kong-in-the-era-of-the-umbrella-movement-protest/ LOCATION:Room 201\, 2/F\, Hong Kong CATEGORIES:IHSS END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Asia/Hong_Kong:20150331T120000 DTEND;TZID=Asia/Hong_Kong:20150331T130000 DTSTAMP:20261108T204108 CREATED:20240731T220251Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260416T102920Z UID:88277-1427803200-1427806800@ihss.hku.hk SUMMARY:Madness Made in China: Manufacturing Mental Disorders and the Incomplete Medical Modernity DESCRIPTION:Language: English\n \n \n \n \n Room 929\, 9/F\, The Jockey Club Tower\, The University of Hong Kong\n \n \n \n \n May 11\, 2015 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm\n \n \n \n \n (Tel) (852) 3917-5011\n \n \n \n\n \n \n Enquiry: ihss@hku.hk\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABSTRACT \n \n \n \n The Sichuan earthquake was not only a massive natural disaster but also a political drama\, in which the Chinese civil society transcended their particular group interests and took actions to address their fellow citizens’ suering and was engaged in intensive and emotional interactions with the authoritarian state. The most memorable episodes of the drama included a large wave of volunteering\, the public sphere’s advocacy for an unprecedented national mourning ritual for the earthquake victims\, activists and public intellectuals challenge to the state’s moral authority on the school collapse issue\, and civic associations’ complex relations with the local governments in the recovery period. Drawing on interviews\, ethnography\, textual and visual data\, Bin Xu’s book project on the Sichuan earthquake argues that a massive disaster like the Sichuan earthquake provides civil society under authoritarianism with rare political opportunities and symbolic-moral resources to participate in large-scale public activities. This participation is enabled and constrained by the interplay between the disaster’s dual feature — being both a management crisis and a moral event — and the structural state-civil society relations. Its long-term political outcomes are mixed. To contribute to the scholarship on civil society under authoritarianism\, this book project stresses two important but often neglected aspects: situational variation in the state-civil society relations; the moral-cultural dimension of civil society. The project’s inquiry of the two aspects casts doubt on a linear thinking of the potentiality of civil society development for democratization. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABOUT THE SPEAKER \n \n \n \n Bin Xu is Postdoctoral Associate in the Council on East Asian Studies (CEAS) at Yale University (2014 – 2015) and Assistant Professor at Florida International University (2011 – present). His research interests include cultural sociology\, political sociology\, and social theory with a regional focus on East Asia\, particularly China. His empirical foci are on civil society\, collective memory\, and politics of disaster. His articles have appeared in sociology and China studies journals\, including Theory & Society\, Sociological Theory\, Social Problems\, The China Journal\, China Quarterly\, etc. He has finished his first book manuscript on the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and is currently working on his second book project on China’s zhiqing (the “educated youth”) generation’s social history and collective memory. URL:https://ihss.hku.hk/events/madness-made-in-china-manufacturing-mental-disorders-and-the-incomplete-medical-modernity/ LOCATION:Room 201\, 2/F\, Hong Kong CATEGORIES:IHSS END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Asia/Hong_Kong:20150325T160000 DTEND;TZID=Asia/Hong_Kong:20150325T160000 DTSTAMP:20261108T204108 CREATED:20240731T220648Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260416T102921Z UID:88284-1427299200-1427299200@ihss.hku.hk SUMMARY:A Market of Distrust: Unofficial Payments for Hospital Care in China DESCRIPTION:Language: English\n \n \n \n \n Room 929\, 9/F\, The Jockey Club Tower\, The University of Hong Kong\n \n \n \n \n May 11\, 2015 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm\n \n \n \n \n (Tel) (852) 3917-5011\n \n \n \n\n \n \n Enquiry: ihss@hku.hk\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABSTRACT \n \n \n \n The Sichuan earthquake was not only a massive natural disaster but also a political drama\, in which the Chinese civil society transcended their particular group interests and took actions to address their fellow citizens’ suering and was engaged in intensive and emotional interactions with the authoritarian state. The most memorable episodes of the drama included a large wave of volunteering\, the public sphere’s advocacy for an unprecedented national mourning ritual for the earthquake victims\, activists and public intellectuals challenge to the state’s moral authority on the school collapse issue\, and civic associations’ complex relations with the local governments in the recovery period. Drawing on interviews\, ethnography\, textual and visual data\, Bin Xu’s book project on the Sichuan earthquake argues that a massive disaster like the Sichuan earthquake provides civil society under authoritarianism with rare political opportunities and symbolic-moral resources to participate in large-scale public activities. This participation is enabled and constrained by the interplay between the disaster’s dual feature — being both a management crisis and a moral event — and the structural state-civil society relations. Its long-term political outcomes are mixed. To contribute to the scholarship on civil society under authoritarianism\, this book project stresses two important but often neglected aspects: situational variation in the state-civil society relations; the moral-cultural dimension of civil society. The project’s inquiry of the two aspects casts doubt on a linear thinking of the potentiality of civil society development for democratization. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABOUT THE SPEAKER \n \n \n \n Bin Xu is Postdoctoral Associate in the Council on East Asian Studies (CEAS) at Yale University (2014 – 2015) and Assistant Professor at Florida International University (2011 – present). His research interests include cultural sociology\, political sociology\, and social theory with a regional focus on East Asia\, particularly China. His empirical foci are on civil society\, collective memory\, and politics of disaster. His articles have appeared in sociology and China studies journals\, including Theory & Society\, Sociological Theory\, Social Problems\, The China Journal\, China Quarterly\, etc. He has finished his first book manuscript on the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and is currently working on his second book project on China’s zhiqing (the “educated youth”) generation’s social history and collective memory. URL:https://ihss.hku.hk/events/a-market-of-distrust-unofficial-payments-for-hospital-care-in-china/ LOCATION:Room 201\, 2/F\, Hong Kong CATEGORIES:IHSS END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Asia/Hong_Kong:20150321T173000 DTEND;TZID=Asia/Hong_Kong:20150321T190000 DTSTAMP:20261108T204108 CREATED:20240731T221044Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260416T102921Z UID:88291-1426959000-1426964400@ihss.hku.hk SUMMARY:Making Friends with Mr. Zhang (和張老師做朋友) DESCRIPTION:Language: English\n \n \n \n \n Room 929\, 9/F\, The Jockey Club Tower\, The University of Hong Kong\n \n \n \n \n May 11\, 2015 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm\n \n \n \n \n (Tel) (852) 3917-5011\n \n \n \n\n \n \n Enquiry: ihss@hku.hk\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABSTRACT \n \n \n \n The Sichuan earthquake was not only a massive natural disaster but also a political drama\, in which the Chinese civil society transcended their particular group interests and took actions to address their fellow citizens’ suering and was engaged in intensive and emotional interactions with the authoritarian state. The most memorable episodes of the drama included a large wave of volunteering\, the public sphere’s advocacy for an unprecedented national mourning ritual for the earthquake victims\, activists and public intellectuals challenge to the state’s moral authority on the school collapse issue\, and civic associations’ complex relations with the local governments in the recovery period. Drawing on interviews\, ethnography\, textual and visual data\, Bin Xu’s book project on the Sichuan earthquake argues that a massive disaster like the Sichuan earthquake provides civil society under authoritarianism with rare political opportunities and symbolic-moral resources to participate in large-scale public activities. This participation is enabled and constrained by the interplay between the disaster’s dual feature — being both a management crisis and a moral event — and the structural state-civil society relations. Its long-term political outcomes are mixed. To contribute to the scholarship on civil society under authoritarianism\, this book project stresses two important but often neglected aspects: situational variation in the state-civil society relations; the moral-cultural dimension of civil society. The project’s inquiry of the two aspects casts doubt on a linear thinking of the potentiality of civil society development for democratization. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABOUT THE SPEAKER \n \n \n \n Bin Xu is Postdoctoral Associate in the Council on East Asian Studies (CEAS) at Yale University (2014 – 2015) and Assistant Professor at Florida International University (2011 – present). His research interests include cultural sociology\, political sociology\, and social theory with a regional focus on East Asia\, particularly China. His empirical foci are on civil society\, collective memory\, and politics of disaster. His articles have appeared in sociology and China studies journals\, including Theory & Society\, Sociological Theory\, Social Problems\, The China Journal\, China Quarterly\, etc. He has finished his first book manuscript on the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and is currently working on his second book project on China’s zhiqing (the “educated youth”) generation’s social history and collective memory. URL:https://ihss.hku.hk/events/making-friends-with-mr-zhang-%e5%92%8c%e5%bc%b5%e8%80%81%e5%b8%ab%e5%81%9a%e6%9c%8b%e5%8f%8b/ LOCATION:T6\, Meng Wah Complex\, Hong Kong CATEGORIES:IHSS END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Asia/Hong_Kong:20150320T163000 DTEND;TZID=Asia/Hong_Kong:20150320T180000 DTSTAMP:20261108T204108 CREATED:20240731T222347Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260416T102922Z UID:88330-1426869000-1426874400@ihss.hku.hk SUMMARY:Panglossian Dream and Dark Consciousness: Modern Chinese Literature and Utopia DESCRIPTION:Language: English\n \n \n \n \n Room 929\, 9/F\, The Jockey Club Tower\, The University of Hong Kong\n \n \n \n \n May 11\, 2015 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm\n \n \n \n \n (Tel) (852) 3917-5011\n \n \n \n\n \n \n Enquiry: ihss@hku.hk\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABSTRACT \n \n \n \n The Sichuan earthquake was not only a massive natural disaster but also a political drama\, in which the Chinese civil society transcended their particular group interests and took actions to address their fellow citizens’ suering and was engaged in intensive and emotional interactions with the authoritarian state. The most memorable episodes of the drama included a large wave of volunteering\, the public sphere’s advocacy for an unprecedented national mourning ritual for the earthquake victims\, activists and public intellectuals challenge to the state’s moral authority on the school collapse issue\, and civic associations’ complex relations with the local governments in the recovery period. Drawing on interviews\, ethnography\, textual and visual data\, Bin Xu’s book project on the Sichuan earthquake argues that a massive disaster like the Sichuan earthquake provides civil society under authoritarianism with rare political opportunities and symbolic-moral resources to participate in large-scale public activities. This participation is enabled and constrained by the interplay between the disaster’s dual feature — being both a management crisis and a moral event — and the structural state-civil society relations. Its long-term political outcomes are mixed. To contribute to the scholarship on civil society under authoritarianism\, this book project stresses two important but often neglected aspects: situational variation in the state-civil society relations; the moral-cultural dimension of civil society. The project’s inquiry of the two aspects casts doubt on a linear thinking of the potentiality of civil society development for democratization. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABOUT THE SPEAKER \n \n \n \n Bin Xu is Postdoctoral Associate in the Council on East Asian Studies (CEAS) at Yale University (2014 – 2015) and Assistant Professor at Florida International University (2011 – present). His research interests include cultural sociology\, political sociology\, and social theory with a regional focus on East Asia\, particularly China. His empirical foci are on civil society\, collective memory\, and politics of disaster. His articles have appeared in sociology and China studies journals\, including Theory & Society\, Sociological Theory\, Social Problems\, The China Journal\, China Quarterly\, etc. He has finished his first book manuscript on the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and is currently working on his second book project on China’s zhiqing (the “educated youth”) generation’s social history and collective memory. URL:https://ihss.hku.hk/events/panglossian-dream-and-dark-consciousness-modern-chinese-literature-and-utopia/ LOCATION:Wang Gungwu Lecture Hall\, Hong Kong CATEGORIES:IHSS END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20150320 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20150322 DTSTAMP:20261108T204108 CREATED:20240731T221639Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260416T102921Z UID:88306-1426809600-1426982399@ihss.hku.hk SUMMARY:Utopia and Utopianism in the Contemporary Chinese Context: Texts\, Ideas\, Spaces DESCRIPTION:Language: English\n \n \n \n \n Room 929\, 9/F\, The Jockey Club Tower\, The University of Hong Kong\n \n \n \n \n May 11\, 2015 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm\n \n \n \n \n (Tel) (852) 3917-5011\n \n \n \n\n \n \n Enquiry: ihss@hku.hk\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABSTRACT \n \n \n \n The Sichuan earthquake was not only a massive natural disaster but also a political drama\, in which the Chinese civil society transcended their particular group interests and took actions to address their fellow citizens’ suering and was engaged in intensive and emotional interactions with the authoritarian state. The most memorable episodes of the drama included a large wave of volunteering\, the public sphere’s advocacy for an unprecedented national mourning ritual for the earthquake victims\, activists and public intellectuals challenge to the state’s moral authority on the school collapse issue\, and civic associations’ complex relations with the local governments in the recovery period. Drawing on interviews\, ethnography\, textual and visual data\, Bin Xu’s book project on the Sichuan earthquake argues that a massive disaster like the Sichuan earthquake provides civil society under authoritarianism with rare political opportunities and symbolic-moral resources to participate in large-scale public activities. This participation is enabled and constrained by the interplay between the disaster’s dual feature — being both a management crisis and a moral event — and the structural state-civil society relations. Its long-term political outcomes are mixed. To contribute to the scholarship on civil society under authoritarianism\, this book project stresses two important but often neglected aspects: situational variation in the state-civil society relations; the moral-cultural dimension of civil society. The project’s inquiry of the two aspects casts doubt on a linear thinking of the potentiality of civil society development for democratization. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABOUT THE SPEAKER \n \n \n \n Bin Xu is Postdoctoral Associate in the Council on East Asian Studies (CEAS) at Yale University (2014 – 2015) and Assistant Professor at Florida International University (2011 – present). His research interests include cultural sociology\, political sociology\, and social theory with a regional focus on East Asia\, particularly China. His empirical foci are on civil society\, collective memory\, and politics of disaster. His articles have appeared in sociology and China studies journals\, including Theory & Society\, Sociological Theory\, Social Problems\, The China Journal\, China Quarterly\, etc. He has finished his first book manuscript on the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and is currently working on his second book project on China’s zhiqing (the “educated youth”) generation’s social history and collective memory. URL:https://ihss.hku.hk/events/utopia-and-utopianism-in-the-contemporary-chinese-context-texts-ideas-spaces/ CATEGORIES:IHSS END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Asia/Hong_Kong:20150317T170000 DTEND;TZID=Asia/Hong_Kong:20150317T170000 DTSTAMP:20261108T204108 CREATED:20240731T223103Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260416T102922Z UID:88353-1426611600-1426611600@ihss.hku.hk SUMMARY:Anthropology in\, of\, and by East Asia: Moving to the Center in the 21st Century? DESCRIPTION:Language: English\n \n \n \n \n Room 929\, 9/F\, The Jockey Club Tower\, The University of Hong Kong\n \n \n \n \n May 11\, 2015 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm\n \n \n \n \n (Tel) (852) 3917-5011\n \n \n \n\n \n \n Enquiry: ihss@hku.hk\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABSTRACT \n \n \n \n The Sichuan earthquake was not only a massive natural disaster but also a political drama\, in which the Chinese civil society transcended their particular group interests and took actions to address their fellow citizens’ suering and was engaged in intensive and emotional interactions with the authoritarian state. The most memorable episodes of the drama included a large wave of volunteering\, the public sphere’s advocacy for an unprecedented national mourning ritual for the earthquake victims\, activists and public intellectuals challenge to the state’s moral authority on the school collapse issue\, and civic associations’ complex relations with the local governments in the recovery period. Drawing on interviews\, ethnography\, textual and visual data\, Bin Xu’s book project on the Sichuan earthquake argues that a massive disaster like the Sichuan earthquake provides civil society under authoritarianism with rare political opportunities and symbolic-moral resources to participate in large-scale public activities. This participation is enabled and constrained by the interplay between the disaster’s dual feature — being both a management crisis and a moral event — and the structural state-civil society relations. Its long-term political outcomes are mixed. To contribute to the scholarship on civil society under authoritarianism\, this book project stresses two important but often neglected aspects: situational variation in the state-civil society relations; the moral-cultural dimension of civil society. The project’s inquiry of the two aspects casts doubt on a linear thinking of the potentiality of civil society development for democratization. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABOUT THE SPEAKER \n \n \n \n Bin Xu is Postdoctoral Associate in the Council on East Asian Studies (CEAS) at Yale University (2014 – 2015) and Assistant Professor at Florida International University (2011 – present). His research interests include cultural sociology\, political sociology\, and social theory with a regional focus on East Asia\, particularly China. His empirical foci are on civil society\, collective memory\, and politics of disaster. His articles have appeared in sociology and China studies journals\, including Theory & Society\, Sociological Theory\, Social Problems\, The China Journal\, China Quarterly\, etc. He has finished his first book manuscript on the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and is currently working on his second book project on China’s zhiqing (the “educated youth”) generation’s social history and collective memory. URL:https://ihss.hku.hk/events/anthropology-in-of-and-by-east-asia-moving-to-the-center-in-the-21st-century/ LOCATION:Room 201\, 2/F\, Hong Kong CATEGORIES:IHSS END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Asia/Hong_Kong:20150317T120000 DTEND;TZID=Asia/Hong_Kong:20150317T130000 DTSTAMP:20261108T204108 CREATED:20240731T224323Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260416T102923Z UID:88377-1426593600-1426597200@ihss.hku.hk SUMMARY:A History of Communications: Bian Zhilin 卞之林\, Li Shangyin 李商隱\, and World Literature in Chinese Poetry DESCRIPTION:Language: English\n \n \n \n \n Room 929\, 9/F\, The Jockey Club Tower\, The University of Hong Kong\n \n \n \n \n May 11\, 2015 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm\n \n \n \n \n (Tel) (852) 3917-5011\n \n \n \n\n \n \n Enquiry: ihss@hku.hk\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABSTRACT \n \n \n \n The Sichuan earthquake was not only a massive natural disaster but also a political drama\, in which the Chinese civil society transcended their particular group interests and took actions to address their fellow citizens’ suering and was engaged in intensive and emotional interactions with the authoritarian state. The most memorable episodes of the drama included a large wave of volunteering\, the public sphere’s advocacy for an unprecedented national mourning ritual for the earthquake victims\, activists and public intellectuals challenge to the state’s moral authority on the school collapse issue\, and civic associations’ complex relations with the local governments in the recovery period. Drawing on interviews\, ethnography\, textual and visual data\, Bin Xu’s book project on the Sichuan earthquake argues that a massive disaster like the Sichuan earthquake provides civil society under authoritarianism with rare political opportunities and symbolic-moral resources to participate in large-scale public activities. This participation is enabled and constrained by the interplay between the disaster’s dual feature — being both a management crisis and a moral event — and the structural state-civil society relations. Its long-term political outcomes are mixed. To contribute to the scholarship on civil society under authoritarianism\, this book project stresses two important but often neglected aspects: situational variation in the state-civil society relations; the moral-cultural dimension of civil society. The project’s inquiry of the two aspects casts doubt on a linear thinking of the potentiality of civil society development for democratization. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABOUT THE SPEAKER \n \n \n \n Bin Xu is Postdoctoral Associate in the Council on East Asian Studies (CEAS) at Yale University (2014 – 2015) and Assistant Professor at Florida International University (2011 – present). His research interests include cultural sociology\, political sociology\, and social theory with a regional focus on East Asia\, particularly China. His empirical foci are on civil society\, collective memory\, and politics of disaster. His articles have appeared in sociology and China studies journals\, including Theory & Society\, Sociological Theory\, Social Problems\, The China Journal\, China Quarterly\, etc. He has finished his first book manuscript on the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and is currently working on his second book project on China’s zhiqing (the “educated youth”) generation’s social history and collective memory. URL:https://ihss.hku.hk/events/a-history-of-communications-bian-zhilin-%e5%8d%9e%e4%b9%8b%e6%9e%97-li-shangyin-%e6%9d%8e%e5%95%86%e9%9a%b1-and-world-literature-in-chinese-poetry/ LOCATION:Room 201\, 2/F\, Hong Kong CATEGORIES:IHSS END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Asia/Hong_Kong:20150303T120000 DTEND;TZID=Asia/Hong_Kong:20150303T130000 DTSTAMP:20261108T204108 CREATED:20240731T224613Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260416T102923Z UID:88384-1425384000-1425387600@ihss.hku.hk SUMMARY:Localizing Mental Health Practices: Anthropological Research on the Psychosocial Dimensions of Disaster Recovery DESCRIPTION:Language: English\n \n \n \n \n Room 929\, 9/F\, The Jockey Club Tower\, The University of Hong Kong\n \n \n \n \n May 11\, 2015 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm\n \n \n \n \n (Tel) (852) 3917-5011\n \n \n \n\n \n \n Enquiry: ihss@hku.hk\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABSTRACT \n \n \n \n The Sichuan earthquake was not only a massive natural disaster but also a political drama\, in which the Chinese civil society transcended their particular group interests and took actions to address their fellow citizens’ suering and was engaged in intensive and emotional interactions with the authoritarian state. The most memorable episodes of the drama included a large wave of volunteering\, the public sphere’s advocacy for an unprecedented national mourning ritual for the earthquake victims\, activists and public intellectuals challenge to the state’s moral authority on the school collapse issue\, and civic associations’ complex relations with the local governments in the recovery period. Drawing on interviews\, ethnography\, textual and visual data\, Bin Xu’s book project on the Sichuan earthquake argues that a massive disaster like the Sichuan earthquake provides civil society under authoritarianism with rare political opportunities and symbolic-moral resources to participate in large-scale public activities. This participation is enabled and constrained by the interplay between the disaster’s dual feature — being both a management crisis and a moral event — and the structural state-civil society relations. Its long-term political outcomes are mixed. To contribute to the scholarship on civil society under authoritarianism\, this book project stresses two important but often neglected aspects: situational variation in the state-civil society relations; the moral-cultural dimension of civil society. The project’s inquiry of the two aspects casts doubt on a linear thinking of the potentiality of civil society development for democratization. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABOUT THE SPEAKER \n \n \n \n Bin Xu is Postdoctoral Associate in the Council on East Asian Studies (CEAS) at Yale University (2014 – 2015) and Assistant Professor at Florida International University (2011 – present). His research interests include cultural sociology\, political sociology\, and social theory with a regional focus on East Asia\, particularly China. His empirical foci are on civil society\, collective memory\, and politics of disaster. His articles have appeared in sociology and China studies journals\, including Theory & Society\, Sociological Theory\, Social Problems\, The China Journal\, China Quarterly\, etc. He has finished his first book manuscript on the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and is currently working on his second book project on China’s zhiqing (the “educated youth”) generation’s social history and collective memory. URL:https://ihss.hku.hk/events/localizing-mental-health-practices-anthropological-research-on-the-psychosocial-dimensions-of-disaster-recovery/ LOCATION:Room 201\, 2/F\, Hong Kong CATEGORIES:IHSS END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTART;TZID=Asia/Hong_Kong:20150210T120000 DTEND;TZID=Asia/Hong_Kong:20150210T130000 DTSTAMP:20261108T204108 CREATED:20240731T223843Z LAST-MODIFIED:20260416T102923Z UID:88369-1423569600-1423573200@ihss.hku.hk SUMMARY:Strange Partners: Japan and the German Alliance\, 1940 DESCRIPTION:Language: English\n \n \n \n \n Room 929\, 9/F\, The Jockey Club Tower\, The University of Hong Kong\n \n \n \n \n May 11\, 2015 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm\n \n \n \n \n (Tel) (852) 3917-5011\n \n \n \n\n \n \n Enquiry: ihss@hku.hk\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABSTRACT \n \n \n \n The Sichuan earthquake was not only a massive natural disaster but also a political drama\, in which the Chinese civil society transcended their particular group interests and took actions to address their fellow citizens’ suering and was engaged in intensive and emotional interactions with the authoritarian state. The most memorable episodes of the drama included a large wave of volunteering\, the public sphere’s advocacy for an unprecedented national mourning ritual for the earthquake victims\, activists and public intellectuals challenge to the state’s moral authority on the school collapse issue\, and civic associations’ complex relations with the local governments in the recovery period. Drawing on interviews\, ethnography\, textual and visual data\, Bin Xu’s book project on the Sichuan earthquake argues that a massive disaster like the Sichuan earthquake provides civil society under authoritarianism with rare political opportunities and symbolic-moral resources to participate in large-scale public activities. This participation is enabled and constrained by the interplay between the disaster’s dual feature — being both a management crisis and a moral event — and the structural state-civil society relations. Its long-term political outcomes are mixed. To contribute to the scholarship on civil society under authoritarianism\, this book project stresses two important but often neglected aspects: situational variation in the state-civil society relations; the moral-cultural dimension of civil society. The project’s inquiry of the two aspects casts doubt on a linear thinking of the potentiality of civil society development for democratization. \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n ABOUT THE SPEAKER \n \n \n \n Bin Xu is Postdoctoral Associate in the Council on East Asian Studies (CEAS) at Yale University (2014 – 2015) and Assistant Professor at Florida International University (2011 – present). His research interests include cultural sociology\, political sociology\, and social theory with a regional focus on East Asia\, particularly China. His empirical foci are on civil society\, collective memory\, and politics of disaster. His articles have appeared in sociology and China studies journals\, including Theory & Society\, Sociological Theory\, Social Problems\, The China Journal\, China Quarterly\, etc. He has finished his first book manuscript on the 2008 Sichuan earthquake and is currently working on his second book project on China’s zhiqing (the “educated youth”) generation’s social history and collective memory. URL:https://ihss.hku.hk/events/strange-partners-japan-and-the-german-alliance-1940/ LOCATION:Room 201\, 2/F\, Hong Kong CATEGORIES:IHSS END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR