"New Thinking on the Old Empire: Recent Trends in Qing History"

Presented by: Mark Elliott, the Mark Schwartz Professor of Chinese and Inner Asian History, Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, Harvard University

The Center for Asian and Pacific Studies (CAPS) 25th Anniversary Speaker Series features prominent scholars of East Asian studies. Lectures will be held through November 2012.

Last year marks a century since the fall of the Qing dynasty and the establishment of the first Chinese republic.  The passage of time, however, has done little to resolve lingering questions about the nature of Manchu rule in the Qing (166–1911).  Questions over the role and fate of the Manchus, the meanings of empire, and the writing of history have surfaced with new intensity in recent years in books, journal articles, academic conferences, and various online discussion forums in China.  What is at stake in these controversies?  This talk focuses on the so–called "New Qing History" in the US and the state–sponsored "Qing History Project" in the People's Republic of China to provide a glimpse of the connections between history and politics in contemporary China.

Mark Elliott is Mark Schwartz Professor of Chinese and Inner Asian History at Harvard University. He earned his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, specializing in the history of the last imperial dynasty, the Qing. He has published several books on Manchu empire and its connection to modern China.