Three international guest lectures at the HCTS this week

On July 17, Prof. Joseph Dennis, historian of late imperial China from the University of Wisconsin-Maison, will talk about "Songs to Encourage the Cessation of Litigation," the so called xisongge (息訟歌). By focusing on this genre, Prof. Dennis first will argue that xisongge were an important way for magistrates to shape public discourse over the role of law in Chinese society. Second, he will discuss the role of ligitation to the operation of Chinese society and government. The lecture is organized by the Professorship of Intellectual History.

For July 19, the Professorship of Buddhist Studies organised a lecture by Prof. Ben Brose from Michigan University. Prof. Brose is specialised in the history of religion in China and will talk about "Modern Reinterpretations of the Journey to the West," one of the best known early Chinese novels. This talk will reconsider basic assumptions about the history and function of this book to argue that the Journey to the West served an important ritual and liturgical function before and after it was reconceived as a work of secular literature.

On July, 20, Prof. Sheldon Garon, historian from Princeton University and currently Humboldt Fellow in Germany, will give the guest lecture "On the Transnational Destruction of Cities: What Japan and the U.S. learned from the Bombing of Britain and Germany in the Second World War." The event is organized by the Professorship Cultural Economic History. The focus of the lecture lies on the aerial bombardment of Britain, Germany, and Japan in 1940-45. Thereby, Garon will spotlight the role of transnational learning in the construction of the “home front” among all the belligerents. The event is organised by the Professorship of Cultural Economic History.