May 6th, 2014 - TAO Demin, “Naito Konan and the Kyoto School of Sinology” (Si-mian Lectures on Humanities No. 197)

Title: Naito Konan and the Kyoto School of Sinology

Lecturer: TAO Demin (Kansai University, Japan)

Chairperson: XU Jilin (Fellow of Si-mian Institute for Advanced Studies in Humanities and Professor of Department of History, East China Normal University)

Date: 3 pm, May 6th, 2014 (Tuesday)

Venue: Room 5303, Building of School of Humanities, Minhang Campus, ECNU

Sponsor: Si-mian Institute for Advanced Studies in Humanities, ECNU

Abstract of the Lecture:

During the Cold War years, Euro-American scholars of Chinese literature and history couldn’t visit the mainland China, and thus Kyoto University became the major base for their study of China in East Asia. Because the Kyoto School of Chinese studies founded by Naito Konan (1866-1934) carried on the excellent scholarly tradition of both China and the West, made solid research accomplishments, and put forth such creative hypotheses as “China’s modern period started from the Song Dynasty.” The present lecture will introduce the pioneers and successors of the Kyoto School and analyze their characteristics and major contributions.

Brief Introduction of the Lecturer:

TAO Demin earned his MA and PhD degrees in Japanese history from Fudan University and Osaka University, respectively, and was a Postdoctoral Fellow at E. O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies, Harvard University. He has worked at the Institute of History of Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, Fudan University, Bridgewater State University of Massachusetts, USA, and Kansai University, Osaka, Japan, and served as the Director of the Institute for Cultural Interaction Studies at Kansai University, a Global COE (Center of Excellence) program in Japan, and as the founding President of the Society for Cultural Interaction Studies in East Asia.