人文科学研究所附属現代中国研究センター
Research Center for Modern and Contemporary China, 现代中国研究中心

Research Themes & Members

Research Themes, Spring 2012 – Spring 2016

Multilayered Structure of Modern and Contemporary Chinese History 

Chinese historical studies generally assume China to have entered “modernity” in 1840, during the First Opium War, and to have entered the “contemporary” period at the outbreak of the May Fourth Movement in 1919, a period deemed to have lasted until the establishment of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1949. Now that over 60 years have passed since its establishment, the PRC, which can be seen quite literally as representing “present” China, is itself becoming an object of full-scale historical investigation both in and outside of China. 

Our studies broadly define Chinese history after the turn of the 19th century as “Modern and Contemporary Chinese History”. This term reflects, firstly, the attention we pay to recent academic trends concerning the PRC, and secondly our desire to avoid the conceptual confusion that can arise when using “modern”, “contemporary”, and “present” as terms to refer to recent Chinese history. We aim to comprehend and understand various aspects of contemporary China through a long-term vision, while at the same time examining how “Modern and Contemporary” Chinese history has a multilayered structure of two-way exchange between the past and the present. This means that the two directions—that looking from the past toward the present and that looking the other way—must both be considered.  

Needless to say, it is essential to recognize the fact that today’s China has been formed gradually over its long history. In other words, it is through the concept of a multi-layered structure that we see the present as a product of the past, a structure in which both modern and pre-modern times are included, and it is this concept that enables us to understand present-day China. The other direction signifies that under the present regime of the PRC, the very act of historical research, together with the compiling of historical sources, has itself been an important factor in the history of the PRC, which we can alternatively designate “Chinese contemporary history”, not only in terms of its academic value but also because of the political significance of such acts. As a general surveyor or judge of history, the government of the PRC and the governing Chinese Communist Party have always been strongly aware of the past. In this sense, it is possible to say that present-day China defines the past in the same way as the past simultaneously defines the present.         

     As a result, it is clear that the conventional static approach to restore or investigate Chinese history, where it is confined to the “modern” or “contemporary” age, will no longer be productive. We need to pay close attention to the dynamic and multilayered construction of Chinese history; on the one hand by excavating the historical accumulations that have piled up continuously from the past to the present, and on the other by revealing retroactive activities that seek to utilize the past for the purposes of the present. As researchers in the discipline of humanities, specializing in the field of historical studies, we will comprehensively analyze the multilayered structure of Chinese history in our aim to give a clear picture of the interexchange between the Chinas of the past and the present.


    Two research projects have been organized in Kyoto University under the umbrella of the “Multilayered Structure of Modern and Contemporary Chinese History” research theme: “Study on Mao Zedong: from the viewpoint of humanities (Coordinator: ISHIKAWA Yoshihiro)” and “Social and Economic Institutions in China during the Period of Transition (Coordinator: MURAKAMI Ei)”. Both projects are being conducted in close cooperation in order to collect related materials and otherwise share findings.

 

Research Members in Kyoto University

Representative:
ISHIKAWA, Yoshihiro : Pres. and Prof., Research Center for Modern and Contemporary China, Institute for Research in Humanities

Responsible Members:
MURAKAMI, Ei : Chief of the Center; Assoc. Prof., Institute for Research in Humanities
IWAI, Shigeki : Prof., Institute for Research in Humanities
HIRATA, Shoji : Prof., Graduate School of Letters
LIU, Deqiang : Prof., Graduate School of Economics
KIN, Bunkyo (KIM, Moonkyong) : Prof., Institute for Research in Humanities
INAMI, Ryoichi : Prof., Institute for Research in Humanities
DANTSUJI, Masatake : Prof., Academic Center for Computing and Media Studies
EDA, Kenji : Prof., Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies
HORI, Kazuo : Prof., Graduate School of Economics
SHIOJI, Hiromi
: Prof., Graduate School of Economics

TERADA, Hiroaki : Prof., Graduate School of Law
KOJIMA, Yasuo : Prof., Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies
KAGOTANI, Naoto : Prof., Institute for Research in Humanities
IKEDA, Takumi : Prof., Institute for Research in Humanities
TAKASHIMA, Ko : Assoc. Prof., Graduate School of Letters
YANO, Go : Assoc. Prof., Graduate School of Economics
ONODERA, Shiro : Ass. Prof., Research Center for Modern and Contemporary China, Institute for Research in Humanities
HAZAMA, Naoki : Prof. Emeritus
MORI, Tokihiko : Prof. Emeritus
TAKEGAMI, Mariko : Researcher, NIHU; Visiting Assoc. Prof., Institute for Research in Humanities

Foreign Partner:

YUAN, Guangquan : Assoc. Prof., Jiangsu Normal Univ., China


Organization

Research Center for Modern and Contemporary China (A Subdivision of NIHU’s Contemporary Chinese Area Studies in Kyoto University) for FY 2013

* Representative for the Center

ISHIKAWA, Yoshihiro : President for the Center; Prof., Institute for Research in Humanities and the Center

* Members of the Center

IWAI, Shigeki : Prof., Institute for Research in Humanities and the Center

LIU, Deqiang : Prof., Graduate School of Economics and the Center

HIRATA, Shoji : Prof., Graduate School of Letters and the Center

EDA, Kenji : Prof., Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies and the Center

IKEDA, Takumi : Prof., Institute for Research in Humanities and the Center

MURAKAMI, Ei : Chief of the Center; Assoc. Prof., Institute for Research in Humanities and the Center

ONODERA, Shiro : Ass. Prof., Institute for Research in Humanities and the Center

TAKEGAMI, Mariko : Researcher, NIHU; Visiting Assoc. Prof., Institute for Research in Humanities

 

About Us

    The Research Center for Modern and Contemporary China is affiliated to the Institute for Research in Humanities at Kyoto University. It was established on April 4, 2007 with the joint objectives of promoting study on contemporary China and of creating a research center where Kyoto University scholars can engage in continuous and cooperative research in the field of contemporary Chinese area studies. The Center’s first president was Professor MORI Tokihiko, who served from FY2007 to FY2010. He was succeeded in FY2011 by Professor IWAI Shigeki, and by Professor ISHIKAWA Yoshihiro in FY2013.   

    The Center is a cooperative research center for contemporary Chinese area studies with the National Institutes for the Humanities (NIHU) and Kyoto University. It is organized with the above-mentioned members and accepts scholars from associate faculties in Kyoto University, including the Graduate School of Economics (Center for East Asian Economic Studies), the Graduate School of Letters, the Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies, the Graduate School of Law, and the Academic Center for Computing and Media Studies. It also is one of nine research centers in Japan engaged in Contemporary Chinese Area Studies and conducting joint projects in a network system, alongside centers in Waseda University (leading center), Keio University, The University of Tokyo, the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Toyo Bunko, Hosei University, Aichi University, and Kobe University. For more information about the Contemporary Chinese Area Studies project, click here.   




Copyright (C) 2007-2012, Research Center for Modern and Contemporary China, All Rights Reserved.