Katharina Viklenko, M.A. 魏如蘭

Former Research Assistant at the Department of Chinese Studies

Academic Career

2019 M.A. Chinese Studies, University of Tübingen
2018-2019 Research Assistant at the Department of Chinese Studies, University of Tübingen
2017 B.A. Sinology/Chinese Studies and Korean Studies, University of Tübingen
2016 Semester abroad at Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul, Korea
2013-2014 Semesters abroad at Peking University

Research Focus

In her Bachelor thesis, Katharina Viklenko conducted a case study of the 2012 Anti-Japanese Protests in China, implementing a Marxist theoretical approach to analyse whether and how nationalist protests can function as social movements.

Her Master thesis, a work on the bridge between pre-modern and modern Chinese Studies, is titled “Espionage or Missionary Work? - Archimandrite Palladius (1817-1878) and the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Qing China.” She completed it in 2019 under the supervision of Prof. Hans Ulrich Vogel. Using Chinese and Russian original sources, she conducted a thorough study of the changing perception and reception history of the Russian Orthodox mission by Chinese scholars, which underwent great changes over the times. As such, she was able to identify and evaluate certain tendencies in the assessment and analysis of the mission and its missionaries, which to a high degree also mirrored changes in Chinese-Russian relationships.

Drawing of the compound of the Russian Orthodox Mission in Beijing, China (late 19th century), http://www.orthodox.cn/localchurch/index_en.html

The case study focused on archimandrite Palladius (Пётр Иванович Кафаров; 巴拉第), one of the most prominent Russian sinologists and equally one of the most controversial missionaries. A a result, her thesis verified that changes in perception towards Palladius coincided with general fluctuations in attitudes of Chinese scholars on the Russian ecclesiastical mission as a whole.

Archimandrite Palladius (Kafarov), head of the 13th Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Peking (Bejing) (1850-58), commons.orthodoxwiki.org/images/e/e7/Pyotr_Kafarov.jpg

Between 2018 and 2019, Katharina Viklenko has been also involved in the research project “Translating Western Science, Technology and Medicine to Late Ming China: Convergences and Divergences in the Light of the Kunyu gezhi 坤輿格致 (Investigations of the Earth’s Interior; 1640) and the Taixi shuifa 泰西水法 (Hydromethods of the Great West; 1612),” which is directed by Prof. Hans Ulrich Vogel and is be supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG) from 2018 to 2021.

Other Activities

In 2018, Katharina Viklenko had received a scholarship to take part in the “Visiting Program for Young Sinologists (VPYS; 青年汉学家研修计划),” which took place from 5 to 25 July in Beijing. The VPYS is hosted annually by the Ministry of Culture and co-organized by Chinese Provincial/Municipal Departments of Culture and academic institutions, in coordination with the Network of International Culturalink Entities. Designed as a platform for worldwide young sinologists and scholars, the program aims to facilitate and support China studies by promising young scholars around the world, promote their collaboration with China-based academic, cultural, and educational institutions, groups, enterprises and scholars, while helping them achieve academic excellence and international influence.