◆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.
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