16.06.2023

Lecture: Hu Xiaobai, "The Rise of a Mountain King: Religion, Lordship and Tributary Practices in the 15th Century Sichuan-Tibetan Borderland"

Prof. Dr. Hu Xiaobai (Nanjing University), "The Rise of a Mountain King: Religion, Lordship and Tributary Practices in the 15th Century Sichuan-Tibetan Borderland", a lecture in the colloquium "History and Culture of China"

Dienstag (Tue), 20 Jun 2023, at 4:15 pm in room 30 of the Department of Chinese and Korean Studies in Tübingen, Wilhelmstraße 133, and online:
Meeting Link: https://zoom.us/j/93345592085?pwd=a1k0Z1FleC96WlpUdWltTjc0N3k1UT09
Meeting ID: 933 4559 2085
Passcode: 746602

Abstract This talk charts the development of the Dongbuhanhu (董卜韓胡) regime in the Sichuan-Tibetan borderland and how it created the biggest crisis in the Ming’s western frontier in the 15th century. Instead of understanding the rise of Dongbuhanhu from the central government’s perspective, this talk adopts an ontological angle to rationalize the regime’s social-economic development, military agenda, and geopolitical engagement. This talk will first draw the connection between the rise of Dongbuhanhu and the binary social structure in the borderland region, and then scrutinize the significant role of religion in constructing political authority in a borderland world. By examining the on-the-ground connotation and ramification of the tributary system from a material culture standpoint, this talk intends to deepen our understanding of geopolitics, lordship, and livelihood in the Ming’s western frontier.

Bio HU Xiaobai is currently associate professor at Nanjing University, History department. He received his M.Phil from HKUST and Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, and has worked at City University of Hong Kong and Haverford College briefly. Focusing on frontier history of Ming China as well as the history of Sino-Tibetan interaction, Xiaobai’s dissertation “Unruly Mountains: Competing Visions for China’s Inner Asian Highland, 1368-1600” examines how the Ming China grappled with a place with dense Inner-Asian characteristics and attempted to bring it into the Chinese imperial orbit. This dissertation has received financial support from Henry Luce Foundation, Geiss-Hsu Foundation, and has won the China Times Young Scholar Award.