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Die Einführungsveranstaltungen Sinologie werden am Mo, 18.10.2021, zu folgenden Zeiten stattfinden:
(The introductory sessions for the Bachelor and Master programmes Chinese Studies will take place on Monday, October 18, at the following times:)

9:00-10:00 Studierende im Haupt- und Nebenfach B.A., B.Ed. 1. Semester (Gruppe A) (hybrid)
10:00-11:00 Studierende im Haupt- und Nebenfach B.A., B.Ed. 1. Semester (Gruppe B) (hybrid)
https://zoom.us/j/91727925546?pwd=Ukp6djk1Wjd6ajdjVWVJM2ZNSTZiQT09, Meeting-ID: 917 2792 5546, Kenncode: 113554

11:00-11:30 Studierende im Haupt- und Nebenfach B.A., B.Ed. 3. Semester (hybrid)
https://zoom.us/j/99733461342?pwd=SHIwc3dKUzkzRFRmRXB3ZFZMclZFQT09, Meeting-ID: 997 3346 1342, Kenncode: 182823

12:00-13:00 Studierende im Haupt- und Nebenfach B.A., B.Ed. 5.-7. Semester (nur/only online)
https://zoom.us/j/99047217593?pwd=b3VCbjdiK3RiVzhDVEllWjFDS3I1UT09, Meeting-ID: 990 4721 7593, Kenncode: 243971

13:00-14:00 Studierende im M.A., M.Ed. (Students of the M.A. programmes China and the Dynamics of Globalization / Politics and Societies in East Asia) (nur/only online)
https://zoom.us/j/98651790926?pwd=Vjl6RG9kVWhzK3grVVcrbEJTeHZuQT09, Meeting-ID: 986 5179 0926, Kenncode: 959519

Die ersten drei Veranstaltungen werden im Hybridmodus stattfinden, d. h. wir haben die Kapazität von 25 Personen in Raum 30 "Großer Übungsraum", Wilhelmstr. 133, 1. Stock. Bitte registrieren Sie sich über ALMA.

The conference "Coloniality and Global Enocunters in Romance Cultural History", held online 21-22 Oct 2021,  is part of the University of Tübingen’s multidisciplinary Global Encounters, Platform 4 of the Exzellenzstrategie program, funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and Ministry of Science Baden-Württemberg.

Prof. Fei HUANG will participate with a lecture on "A Short Global History on the Knowledge Exchange of Medical Springs and Spa between Europe and China in the 16th and 17th Century". (Thursday, 21 Oct, 11:00, https://zoom.us/j/93542042805).

Flyer

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)
Project homepage

The DFG has granted Prof. Hans Ulrich Vogel, History and Society of China, Department of Chinese Studies (Institute of Asian and Oriental Studies, Faculty of Humanities), Tübingen University, a one-year extension of the above-mentioned project. The DFG support started in summer 2018 and thus will continue until October 2022.  

Project Description
The immediate cause for starting this project was the sensational rediscovery in 2015 of the Kunyu gezhi 坤輿格致 (Investigations of the Earth’s Interior; 5 chap., 244 pp., 1640; hereafter KYGZ), a Chinese mining treatise based largely on Georgius Agricola’s (1494-1555) De re metallica (1556). This partial translation, initiated by the Chinese official Li Tianjing李天經 (1579-1659) and carried out by the Jesuit missionary Johann Adam Schall von Bell (Tang Ruowang 湯若望; 1592-1666), was lost for more than 350 years. Involving one of the most significant protagonists and polymaths of the German Renaissance and the most influential China-bound German Jesuit missionary, this text is of extraordinary importance not only for the history of East-West relations, but also for German cultural history. 
In addition, and for comparative reasons, we are investigating another important and largely neglected text, the Taixi shuifa 泰西水法 (Hydromethods of the Great West; 6 chap., 208 pp., preface 1612; hereafter TXSF). The TXSF, mainly composed by the Italian Jesuit missionary Sabatino de Ursis (Xiong Sanba 熊三拔; 1575-1620), contains a systematic discourse on both theoretical and practical aspects of water and water management as well as forays into the medical field. Topically this technological manual differs from the KYGZ by embedding the presented new techniques in a traditional everyday setting, while at the same time it shares commonalities with the KYGZ in the domains of water drainage and natural philosophy.
The targets of this project are systematic, comprehensive as well as paradigmatic. It comprises studies of (甲) the Western books transferred to China, (乙) their selective translation by the Jesuits and their Chinese collaborators, (丙) the terminological and conceptual strategies and choices adopted during such efforts, (丁) the reception and perception of the texts on the Chinese side as well as (戊) the political, social, economic, cultural and ideological backgrounds and intentions of the different historical actors. The final aim of these case studies is (己) to deal with issues of intercivilisational encounters, especially (庚) in the field of useful and reliable knowledge, during (辛) the early period of globalisation, and (壬) to carry out comparisons based on the macro-sociological theory of the “Four Ways of Worldmaking” (power, wealth, meaning, knowledge), thus (癸) arriving at novel conclusions with regard to relevant convergences and divergences between China and Europe as well as the occurrence of the Great Divergence.

More

On the left side: «Kunyu gezhi», manuscript Nanjing Library, ch. 3A, 14b, detail showing hand-made geometrical drawing of the interior of a mine for measuring purposes; photography of Cao Jin, June 2015, by courtesy of Nanjing Library. On the right side: Our modern reconstruction according to the description in the KYGZ text.

Alexander Jost (University of Salzburg) has published a paper in the Chinese Annals of History of Science and Technology, 5.1 (2021): 58-89. His article on the multiple origins of European knowledge in Adam Schall von Bell’s Chinese mining and metallurgy handbook Kunyu gezhi 坤輿格致 (Investigations of the Earth’s Interior; 1640) is an offspring of the Tübingen DFG Research Project “Translating Western Science, Technology and Medicine to Late Ming China”.

Abstract: In 2015, a previously unknown manuscript was discovered in the Nanjing Library. It contained a Chinese mining and metallurgy handbook, and was identified as a copy of the Kunyu gezhi, known as the lost Chinese translation of Georgius Agricola’s (1494–1555) De re metallica (1556) by Jesuit Adam Schall von Bell (1592–1666). A closer look at the text, however, reveals that, besides parts of Agricola’s book, content by at least four other European authors was included: Vannoccio Biringuccio (1480–1539), Modestinus Fachs (?–before 1595), Lazarus Ercker (1528/30–1594), and José de Acosta (1539/40–1599/1600). This study demonstrates how their books became available in China, why they were selected as sources for the Kunyu gezhi, and how they were eventually used and incorporated. From this, it becomes apparent that Schall and his collaborators spared no effort to conduct this ambitious knowledge transfer project, and to present European technology at its best to the emperor.
Article in full

Title page and illustration on page 71 of the book «Beschreibung der allerfürnemsten Mineralischen Erzt und Bergwerksarten» [Description of the Most Prominent Types of Mineral Ores and Mines] by Lazarus Ercker (Edition Frankfurt: Feyerabend 1580) with legends inserted as indicated in the text of the «Kunyu gezhi».

Alexandre Gandil (Centre for International Studies (CERI) at Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po))
"Re-Mapping the Taiwan Strait: Putting the "(Mainland) China / Taiwan" Framework to the Test through the Lens of Kinmen"

Monday, 12 July 2021, 12:30-13:45, online via zoom.us/j/99707781367

The concept of “relations between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait” (Taiwan haixia liang’an guanxi 台灣海峽兩岸關係) implies that the Taiwan Strait acts as a border area which articulates the relations between the two entities delimited by its shores, namely Mainland China and the island of Taiwan. However, political borders are not congruent with these geomorphological limits, since the Republic of China’s (Taiwan) sovereignty spans across the Taiwan Strait: its territory includes Kinmen [金門], a small archipelago (150 km²) located off the coast of PRC’s Fujian province, next to Xiamen city.

Bringing Kinmen back on the map of the Taiwan Strait is a two-fold process: it implies to identify (1) the reasons why it has become a blind spot in regional cartography beyond reasons of mere pragmatism or simplification, and (2) what renewed consideration towards it could bring to the study of cross-Strait relations as a whole. Ultimately, this process boils down to calling into question geographic determinism and favors an “eventialization” (Michel Foucault) of the Taiwan Strait.

Am Montag, dem 05.07.2021, von 18:30 h bis 19:30 h, beschäftigt sich Prof. Dr. Gunter Schubert
in einem moderierten Gespräch bei der Deutschen Atlantischen Gesellschaft e. V. mit dem Thema

„Neoimperiale Politik? Chinas regionale und globale Ambitionen – und wie sich der „Westen“ dazu verhalten kann“

Prof. Dr. Gunter Schubert ist Professor am Lehrstuhl für Greater China Studies am Asien-Orient-Institut der Universität Tübingen. Moderiert wird die Veranstaltung von Christian Gottschalk der Stuttgarter Zeitung. Ausführliche Informationen zu den Referenten und zum Thema des Seminars finden Sie unter folgendem Link:

https://ata-dag.de/veranstaltung/neoimperiale-politik-chinas-regionale-und-globale-ambitionen-und-wie-sich-der-westen-dazu-verhalten-kann/

Im Anschluss an den Vortrag besteht die Möglichkeit, Fragen an den Referenten zu richten und über dieses spannende Thema ins Gespräch zu kommen.

Das Gespräch findet statt im Tübinger Hesse-Kabinett. Die Veranstaltung wird als Online-Seminar via Zoom übertragen. Die Anmeldung ist direkt über den folgenden Link möglich: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_WT3IiTGPSZ6kkuSo9OoSMA

Linh Le-Phuong (Institute for Media Studies of the University of Leiden)
"Female Migration to Taiwan in Vietnamese Online Media: Changing Representation, Changing Society?"

Monday, 5 July 2021, 12:30-13:45, online via zoom.us/j/99707781367

Female migration from Vietnam to Taiwan is not a new topic, but the media representation of this migration route in the Vietnamese online news media and its consequences on the Vietnamese female migrants have not been explored intensively. Using the theoretical frameworks from media, migration and gender studies, I employed a quantitative content analysis approach to comprehend this topic. In this talk at ERCCT, I will present my preliminary findings and discuss if and can the changing representation present meaningful transformations for both the sending and the host society and for the Vietnamese female migrants in particular. Some suggestions for relevant stakeholders are offered and the conclusion will open space for further discussion on the media representation of Vietnamese female migrants and its connection to the New Southbound Policy.

Dr. Anna L. Ahlers, Max Planck Institute für Wissenschaftsgeschichte, Berlin
"Building a 'World Class Science System' in Xi Jinping China"
Thursday, 1 July 2021, 12:30-13:45
Registration: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/chinas-political-system-in-the-xi-era-features-trends-and-developments-tickets-149658429391

WebTalk der Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung, Landesbüro Baden-Württemberg

"Die Welt braucht den Westen"
Gespräch mit Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff und Prof. Dr. Gunter Schubert

Freitag, 18.06.2021, 19:15 - 20:30 Uhr

shop.freiheit.org

Lange machte sich in der politischen Debatte Fatalismus breit: Der Westen sei tot, heißt es, die internationale Ordnung am Ende, Amerika verloren. Wer so argumentiert, ergibt sich kampflos dem nationalistischen Zeitgeist, übersieht die wachsende Gegenwehr und unterschätzt die Reformkräfte, sagt Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff. Er plädiert für eine Umkehr: Statt die Unabwendbarkeit einer antiliberalen Ära zu beklagen, sollten die Kräfte, die sich der liberalen Demokratie verbunden fühlen, Gegenstrategien erarbeiten. Was die Wahl von Joe Biden für die Perspektive der internationalen Politik bedeutet und was es in der Praxis heißt, mit robustem Liberalismus für eine freiheitliche Ordnung zu kämpfen, bespricht er im Dialog mit Prof. Dr. Gunter Schubert.

Die Veranstaltung wird aus Mitteln des Auswärtigen Amtes finanziert.

Sabine Kink has published a paper in L'Idomeneo. Her essay “ "Justifying Collaboration between Chinese Literati and 'Subjects from Afar': The Paratexts of the Taixi shuifa 泰西水法 (Hydromethods of the Great West; 1612)" is an offspring of the DFG Research Project “Translating Western Science, Technology and Medicine to Late Ming China”.

Abstract: Prefaces and other paratexts can serve as platforms not only for advertising the work to which they are attached, but also for self-promotion and the articulation of ulterior aspirations of their authors. The Chinese language treatises on Western sciences and technology written during the Jesuit China mission from the late 16th century onwards were no exception in this regard. This essay takes the altogether five prefaces to the Taixi shuifa (Hydromethods of the Great West; 1612), composed by the Italian Jesuit Sabatino de Ursis with the support of the Chinese official Xu Guangqi 徐光啟, as an example for typical rhetorical strategies implemented in such endeavours at that time. On the Chinese side, these strategies aimed at the introduction of the transmitted knowledge to a learned and in large part sinocentric audience in the Middle Kingdom, and at a justification of the collaboration with these foreign "vassals". The comparison with de Ursis' preface shows that the Jesuit's intentions, however, went in a completely different direction.

Article in full.

Traditional Chinese irrigation devices mentioned in Zheng Yiwei’s 鄭以偉 preface to the TXSF as depicted in Xu Guangqi’s 徐光啟 (1639) «Nongzheng quanshu» 農政全書, juan 17, fol. 9a + 22a (available under CC BY SA license at www.kanripo.org)

Hans Ulrich Vogel, Sabine Kink and Cao Jin have published a paper in L'Idomeneo. Their essay “ "Sabatino de Ursis' Preface to the Taixi shuifa 泰西水法 (Hydromethods of the Great West; 1612): The 'Basic Discourse on Hydromethods' (Shuifa benlun 水法本論)" is an offspring of the DFG Research Project “Translating Western Science, Technology and Medicine to Late Ming China”.

Abstract: This is the first complete translation into a Western language of Sabatino de Ursis' preface to the Taixi shuifa (Hydromethods of the Great West; 1612). After a short summary of its contents and some remarks about the origin of this translation, the annotated text, accompanied by the Chinese transcription of the original, is presented.

Article in full.

Sabatino de Ursis’ ‘Basic Discourse on Hydromethods’ («Shuifa benlun» 水法本論), fol. 1a+b, TXSF edition National Library of China (available in “World Digital Library” at www.wdl.org/en/item/13534/)

Spannungsfelder des Fachs Sinologie / Chinese Studies

Eine interaktive Diskussion zum Spaß an "Exotik" und den Herausforderungen der Realpolitik.

Mittwoch 16. Juni, 15.00 - 16.00 Uhr

Du willst mal in eine ganz reguläre Veranstaltung reinhören oder reinschauen?
Einfach eine Mail and die Fachschaft oder die Studienberatung oder das Sekretariat schreiben.

MENG Ye, M.A. (Universität Tübingen)
"From Resilience to Consolidation: Judicial Reforms and Authoritarian Rule in Xi Jinping China"
Thursday, 16 June 2021, 12:30-13:45
Registration: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/chinas-political-system-in-the-xi-era-features-trends-and-developments-tickets-149658429391

Prof. Alvise Andreose (Associate Professor of Romance Philology and Linguistics, Faculty of Humanities, Department of Humanities, eCampus University, Novedrate, Italy, and Adjunct Professor, Department of Linguistic Sciences and Foreign Literatures, Catholic University of the Holy Heart, Milan, Italy), has started his research project "‘De statu, conditione ac regimine magni Canis’: A Textual and Intertextual Study" with a DAAD scholarship that should have allowed him to visit the Department of Chinese Studies at Tübingen University. Due to the corona crisis, however, this research stay had to be postponed time and again and finally, with the permission of the DAAD, had to start as an online-project.

Information on the project

Prof. Dr. Christian Göbel (Universität Wien)
"Handling Social Protest in Xi Jinping’s China"
Thursday, 10 June 2021, 12:30-13:45
Registration: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/chinas-political-system-in-the-xi-era-features-trends-and-developments-tickets-149658429391

Prof. Dr. Doris Fischer (Universität Würzburg)
"Economic Steering in Xi Jinping China"
Thursday, 6 May 2021, 12:30-13:45
Registration: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/chinas-political-system-in-the-xi-era-features-trends-and-developments-tickets-149658429391

Prof. Dr. Thomas Heberer (Universität Duisburg-Essen)
"A Disciplining Agency: The State in Xi Jinping China"
Thursday, 29 Apr 2021, 12:30-13:45
Registration: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/chinas-political-system-in-the-xi-era-features-trends-and-developments-tickets-149658429391

Mo, 19.4.2021
9:00-10:00 Studierende im Haupt- und Nebenfach B.A., B.Ed. 2. Semester

10:00-11:00 Studierende im Haupt- und Nebenfach B.A., B.Ed. 4. Semester

11:00-12:00 Studierende im Haupt- und Nebenfach B.A., B.Ed. 6. und 8. Semester

12:00-13:00 Studierende im M.A., M.Ed.

We are pleased to announce that the PhD scholarship of the Gerda Henkel foundation for Anna Strob has been officially extended for another year until March 2022. The generous grant of the foundation will allow her to finalize the work on the translation of the first volume of Alfonso Vagnone’s Kongji gezhi 空際格致 (Investigation into Phenomena in the Atmosphere, c. 1633). With the analysis of the Chinese text, she aims to offer an insight into the Jesuit’s attempt to translate Aristotle’s natural philosophy to late Ming thought and to examine the linguistic and conceptual challenges of this early transmission of European scientific tradition. Her doctoral thesis is supervised by Prof. Dr. Hans Ulrich Vogel and Prof. Dr. Achim Mittag.