HSTCC November 1997 Newsletter

The 1998 Annual Conference of the American Historical Association, which will be held 8-11 January 1998 in Seattle will present a Roundtable co-sponsored by the HSTCC, along with two National Endowment for the Humanities and Social Sciences Online Affiliated Groups - H-Asia and H-France. The Roundtable, which is also sponsored by the AHA Teaching Division is entitled, ACommunity, Pedagogy and the New Learning Technologies.@ The Roundtable will attempt to raise some key questions in the application of new learning technologies and the future of history as a discipline which includes both research and pedagogy.

HSTCC Vice-President, Ka-che Yip will deliver a paper, AWhose History? Historians, Community and Historical Knowledge in the Curriculum@ and HSTCC President Marilyn Levine will speak on APromise and Paradox: The Challenge of New Technology - A Renaissance for the 21^st Century?@ Other participants include Frank C. Conlon, a founder and co-editor of H-Asia and Bertram G. Gordon, a founder and co-editor of H-France. HSTCC Members are encouraged to attend the Roundtable. Please look in the AHA Program or the AHA Web site at:

A HSTCC meeting and panel have been proposed for the 26-29 Meeting at the national Association for Asian Studies Conference. The Panel, entitled, AThe Female Ideal? Empresses and Foreign Women in China,@ has been organized by Chia-lin Pao Tao, Connie Orliski, Hsieh Bao Hua and Qian Nianxiu. We are requesting a time slot for Friday night, 7-9:00 p.m.

The Business meeting has been requested for the time of Saturday, 1:00-2:30 p.m. The main agenda items will include election of new officers and board; the upcoming symposia in the Netherlands and Italy, and a joint Conference with the Southwest Conference of Asian Studies in San Marcos, Texas; A proposal for an Electronic Journal in modern Chinese history; A proposal for an HSTCC Endowment Campaign; and a discussion of expanded Public Services.

A detailed announcement of the panel and meeting will be mailed to members before the Conference.

HSTCC Roundtable to be held at the International Convention of Asia Scholars

The HSTCC will hold both a Roundtable and an Informal Business Meeting at the International Convention of Asia Scholars in Noordwijkerhout, The Netherlands, 25-28 June 1998. Our proposal was accepted by the Programme Committee. It was entitled, AChanging Perceptions of the Sino-Japanese War, 1937-1945 - a Roundtable Discussion.@ Papers include:

Susanne. Weigelin-Schwiedrzik (University of Heidelberg), AA German Perspective: When did World War II Really Begin?@

Roger B. Jeans (Washington & Lee), "Americans and the Sino-Japanese War: The View from Peking, 1937-1941."

Yu Shen (Indiana University Southeast), " Post-1980 US Views on China's War Effort in WWII.@

Richard Yungdeh Chu (Rochester Institute of Technology), "Assessing China's Contribution to Allied Victory in WWII."

Larry N. Shyu (University of New Brunswick), "Taiwan Scholars' Changing Views of the Sino-Japanese War."

David Barrett, McMaster University, ASoviet Perspectives on the Sino-Japanese War.@

Guido Samarani, (University of Venice) AItalian Perspectives on the Sino-Japanese War.@

Professor Richard C. Kagan, (Hamline University), AUnfinished business: Sakhalin and Taiwan--the Peace Treaty of 1951.@

In addition to the Roundtable, the HSTCC will be holding a meeting to discuss the Venice symposium and to recruit more colleagues from Europe.

Report: Coeur d=Alene Symposium on 20^th Century Chinese Culture and Politics

The HSTCC Symposium was held at the Coeur D=Alene Resort in Coeur d=Alene, Idaho on 1-2 October. The theme of the symposium was AChinese Culture and Politics in the 20^th Century.@ There were five sessions with over thirty participants, over one-third of whom come from outside North America. Over 80 people registered for the conference. An outreach campaign that gave information on the symposium in the Coeur d=Alene/Spokane area was expanded with public lectures and newspaper articles in the local press. Thus, attendees included business people, a logger from St. Maries, high school teachers, travel agents among others. One attendee brought some rare film footage from the 1920s in China (her father had been an engineer for 15 years in Shanghai); another brought photos collected by his famous relative, Cordell Hull.

A full program as well and link with sponsors of the Conference can be seen at the Conference Web site:

The HSTCC Web Site has pioneered several new uses of the internet for a professional society:

To have your research or teaching highlighted on your HSTCC Member Homepage send:

3. A representative book or article, (with, if relevant, some publishing information such as a phone # and if possible email or URL of the publisher) and/or relevant syllabi. Graduate students can send a 400-500 word precis of your graduate work for your homepage. Links to Institutional Homepages can easily be placed in your HSTCC Homepage.

4. Send your materials (and a floppy disk with any text in WordPerfect or Word would be appreciated) to:

Dr. Marilyn Levine, Division of Social Sciences, Lewis-Clark State College, 500 8th Ave., Lewiston, Idaho 83501, USA. If you have any questions, email: mlevine@lcsc.edu

Winberg Chai (University of Wyoming) has become an executive editor of AAsian Affairs.@ The Summer 1997, 24:2 edition contains several articles, including one by Professor Chai, of a ASymposium: China After Deng Xiaoping.@

Timothy Brooks (University of Toronto), has accepted a senior historian position at Stanford University.

Caroline Hui-yu Tsai (Institute of Taiwan History, Academia Sinica) has been granted a national science grant to conduct a three year study of Japanese colonialism in Taiwan. She has just published a major work on oral history and will be convening a national conference in December, 1997 on Oral History.

We sadly report the tragic death of Professor Hsieh Pei-chih. The following is a remembrance by Professor Pei Huang of Youngstown State University, Youngstown, Ohio.

Dr. Pei-chih Hsieh, Professor of History at the University of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, died unexpectedly of injuries sustained from an automobile accident in Taiwan on 8 June,1997.

Professor P.C. Hsieh (seated, far right) next to Professor Pei Huang
Born in Shantung province, China, October 16, 1930, Dr. Hsieh began his academic career at National Taiwan University. After obtaining his B. A. degree in history inl954, he worked as a teaching assistant in the history department, Tunghai University, Taichung, Taiwan. In 1959 he enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania, majoring in Asian history, from where he earned his Ph. D. degree. Under the guidance of Professor Hilary Conroy, he wrote a dissertation on the Sino-French War, 1883-1885, with emphasis on its diplomatic front. He began to teach before completing his dissertation in 1968. The first institution he taught was Bates College, Lewiston, Maine. Since 1965 he had taught Asian history at the University of Regina until his death.

Professor Hsieh was a good scholar. In addition to teaching, he worked hard to stimulate Regina's interest in Chinese affairs. As a result, there were many exchange programs between the University of Regina and institutions in the People's Republic of China. From academic relations came educational, cultural, and economic programs. His effort greatly contributed to the Canadian-Chinese relations. He won appreciation from many scholars and officials both in Canada and in China. Recently he served as a special advisor to the president of Royal Roads University, Victoria, British Columbia.

Hsieh was a nice person and a good conversationalist. He will be missed by many friends, Chinese, American, and Canadian. He leaves his father, wife, two sons, a daughter, and two grandchildren.

As I near the end of my term as President, I thought I would make some observations on the HSTCC, and the profession of modern Chinese history. I feel both honored and fortunate to have served as President of the HSTCC during these past two years. I am honored as the first non-Chinese to serve in this position, particularly given the quality and dedication of the leadership within the HSTCC. In all sincerity, I suspect it will be a permanent mystery to me - why - I was pushed forward to this position by my HSTCC colleagues. It certainly will remain one of the highest honors of my life. In addition, I would like to say that I feel particularly fortunate to have served during this phase of dynamic growth for the HSTCC. It is not just that the membership has doubled during the past four years, but that the nature of that membership puts the HSTCC in a unique position to provide some leadership in the profession of Chinese studies. I would like to discuss some of these trends and their implications.

First, our formal membership equals 94, with a mailing list of over a hundred people and institutions. Of that number, one of the biggest increases has been in the number of graduate students who have enrolled and comprise between 12-15% of our membership. They have particularly taken advantage of our online registration.

Secondly, one of the key trends about our numbers and expansion has been that the geographical distribution of the membership has been significant. Below in Table 1, we can see that members are beginning to join from Europe, Asia and Australia, as well as our traditional North American membership. The invitation from the University of Venice has been followed by other invitations that have exemplified the HSTCC reputation for scholarly study of China.

HSTCC Profile

Table 1 - Geographical Distribution of Membership

Country/Region

# of Members

% of Membership

Australia

2.13%

Canada

7.45%

Europe

4.26%

Japan

4.26%

PRC

9.57%

Taiwan

6.38%

United States

65.96%

Total

100.00%

Thirdly, a major change in the HSTCC has been the growth of non-Chinese in the organization. From very few non-Chinese members, the membership now includes 40% non-Chinese scholars (see Table 2). The HSTCC, founded to provide a non-political scholarship of China during the strident atmosphere of the Cold War was a refuge for many eminent Chinese Sinologists in North America. Currently, the nature and activities, even the name, has changed and many of us have been discussing a new role for the HSTCC.

	HSTCC Profile
Table 2 - Chinese and Non-Chinese Membership
Membership Group	# of Members	% of Membership
Chinese	56	59.57%
Non-Chinese	38	40.43%
Total	94	100.00%

Some Implications and Directions for the HSTCC

I would like to discuss some of the implications and directions for the HSTCC, based on the trends that we have developed in our scholarly and wider society.

When asked why they wanted to invite us to the University of Venice, Professor Samarani responded that the HSTCC provided a model of scholarly unity and purpose. I think we need to reflect on these words and ask how can we live up to their import? Through the ICAS (this June) and the 1999 Venice conference we hope to expand our European participation. But we must first have a better sense of some objectives and the ethos of our society as we approach some major turning points in our global civilization. Therefore, I would like to make some suggestions as to how we may proceed with what is called, AThe responsibility of the intellectuals,@

Create an Endowment Campaign - This is a key area for consideration. If we want to accomplish objectives of any kind, we are at the stage where we must think about a foundation of funding, whether we just want to hold symposia or initiate other projects such as electronic journals, scholarships and public dialogues. We must have a strategy and raise enough funds to have an annual budget of between $35,000-50,000 depending on our objectives. We will then be in a position to not have to write annual grants that make planning activities based on contingency. I think we ought to particularly look at the overseas Chinese community. However, we must not only have articulated reasons and a planned campaign, our spirit must incorporate the principle of ren, the idea that there should be a mutuality in the relationship. That is why I think we ought to articulate what the HSTCC can do with the strengths of our unique membership and talents.

An Articulation of Purpose - I think the standard practices of academe must be reconsidered in light of the realities of our growing world community. China, its history and culture are particularly distorted in the modern media presentation and self-interested political atmosphere that has afflicted most countries. If we allow platforms such as the History channel to represent Chinese history as a main arena of public discourse, we abrogate our responsibility as historians. My thinking isn=t that we should not publish our symposia papers or have refereed journals, but that we should think how to serve as a bridge between these traditional modes of activity and the much needed gap of truth that exists in our world. Thus we must think about areas of expansion with self-conscious reflection and articulation of purpose. I would like to suggest a few areas where we could make a difference.

Symposia, Unity, and Globalization - If we had an annual budget we could better plan our symposia to serve as bridges to non-North American countries. We must continue to actively incorporate the principles of diversity of view and the joining of senior and junior scholars in our symposia. This is our model of symposia and can hopefully unite a fragmented and often exclusive world of academics.

An Electronic Journal - We have been urged in recent years to develop a journal or even take over other journals. I think we can develop our own electronic journal, and can use it to expand our intellectual capabilities by: a). Displaying alternate languages, which is becoming increasingly easy to do in the new browsers; b).include multimedia and quality photos and other plug-ins, even video clips, sound clips, and feedback capabilities. c). Developing active linkages with scholarly and teaching resources, and d). Developing the idea that the knowledge presented in the journal can be diversified, perhaps even expanded to the concept of active pedagogy - providing teaching exercises and dynamic scholarly moderated aid to graduate research.

Expanded Outreach and Public Service - The growing fragmentation, ignorance and incivility in our current world make it imperative that we rethink how we want to handle our public service responsibility. We need to become true scholar-leaders in the sense that we share more of our knowledge in innovative and relevant formats. As education in general loses its place in society, both in terms of public funding and public regard, we must seriously think about how we relate to the broader society and how we can provide a forum for information, education, and dialogue. For example, why not engage real citizens in the preservation of historical information? Why not have a major part of our web site devoted to public discussions on current issues of Chinese history? A public dialogue on the legacy of Deng Xiaoping could incorporate history, philosophy, economics and political science among other dimensions. This was done recently in a magnificent way for the American Revolution series presented on PBS and mirrored in a very well-crafted web site.

In conclusion, I believe that the HSTCC is poised to really become a major force in the world of Asian studies and maybe beyond the borders of academe. How far it will expand is up to the membership, and I do not mean to imply that I have most, much less, all of the answers. I merely wanted to raise these issues and perhaps begin the dialogue. Thank you for your patience and support..

News, Nominations & Dues Forms

News & Nominations Form

Historical Society for 20th Century China

Please write and tell us your latest news and make a nomination for President, Vice-President, and Executive Board Members

Send to: Dr. Marilyn Levine, 2228 West View Drive, Moscow, ID 83843 USA

OR Email: mlevine@lcsc.edu



	Pictures Clockwise From Top Left: 1) Susanne Weigelin-Schwiedrzik, University of Heidelberg delivers her paper on Historiography and the Impact of the Market Economy. 2). A View of theAudience 3). Guido Samarani and some new friends, Nikki & Sakura Liu 4). A post-conference trip to Yellowstone Park (Bk Row: L-R: Justin Dart, Liu Guisheng, Zhu Yuhe, Chen San-ching; Front, L-R: Xu Chengye, Caroline Tsai, Lin Hsia-yu) 5). Lunch at the Coeur d'Alene Resort (L-R: Zhu Yuhe, T.K. & Sharon Tong, M. Levine, Liu Guisheng, Ka-che Yip)