SEAA News Blog: Conferences

Familiarity with unearthed materials has become the norm among scholars of early China across the world. The field has come to re‐examine narratives of early Chinese history in a more nuanced way, moving beyond questions of “doubting” or “verifying antiquity” to detail how the situation on the ground in early China related to its representation in traditional historical constructs. The fruits of this process are undeniable. Confronting entrenched historical narratives through archaeology, however, has widespread methodological and epistemological implications. Unquestioned, traditional narratives can distract scholars from the motivations of ancient actors; moreover, they can limit the broad humanistic value of early China scholarship and its reception outside the field. Unchecked, however, the incautious deconstruction of such narratives can cast pointless doubt on well-founded networks of knowledge. Further, deploying unearthed material in historiography brings the narratological habits of history into contact with the customs of field archaeology, raising both practical problems of data management and theoretical issues about the production of knowledge about the past.  

Understanding Authenticity in China’s Cultural Heritage

Conference at the University of Oxford, 16-20 March, 2021

Organized by Christopher Foster and Anke Hein

Contact: understandingauthenticity@gmail.com

What we deem to be genuine or fake is not an objective determination, but something that we agree upon as communities. Debates about authenticity, moreover, are often intimately bound to question who owns the past and its representation. The “Understanding Authenticity in China’s Cultural Heritage” conference this March will explore these issues and more. From contesting narratives about the mother trees of Big Red Robe tea, to the restoration of Qin terracotta soldiers; from the experience of visiting a replica Eiffel Tower in Hangzhou, to US-China diplomatic tensions over "originality" and "shanzhai 山寨 (imitation)” – "Understanding Authenticity in China's Cultural Heritage” brings together specialists from a broad range of fields and backgrounds, to explore how questions about “authenticity” impact their work on objects, texts, and intangible cultural heritage in China.

Please join us online March 16^th- 20^st, 2021, for a discussion on the construction of “authenticity,” both historically and today, in relation to China’s cultural heritage. Registration is free, attendance is open to all, via submission of a short survey at the following link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/X8T7T2C

Seminar Series jointly organized by Oxford University and SOAS

Everyone is welcome to attend the following sessions: 

Wednesday, 21 October 2020, 11:00 BST
Zhang Lisheng and David Francis (UCL): Re-evaluating authenticity: Creativity in contemporary craft making in China

Wednesday, 28 October 2020, 12:00 BST
David Lebovitz (HKBU Jao Tsung-I Academy of Sinology): Was it really so, royal uncles? Notions of authenticity in the reception, redaction and reconstruction of some avuncular remonstrations.

What we deem to be genuine or fake is not an objective determination, but something that we agree upon as communities. Debates about authenticity, moreover, are often intimately bound to question who owns the past and its representation. Please join us at Oxford on March 18^th- 21^st, 2021, for a discussion on the construction of “authenticity,” both historically and today, in relation to China’s cultural heritage.