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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

Understanding Authenticity in China’s Cultural Heritage

Conference at the University of Oxford, 28-30 May, 2020

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 May 28^th-30^th, 2020, for a discussion on the construction of “authenticity,” both historically and today, in relation to China’s cultural heritage. 

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. 

Oxford University and SOAS will jointly organize Understanding Authenticity in China’s Cultural Heritage Seminar Series via Zoom from January 27 to February 24, 2021. To receive the links for the talks, please register by sending an email to Drs Chris Foster & Anke Hein at: understandingauthenticity@gmail.com

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.

Understanding Authenticity in Chinese Cultural Heritage explores the construction of "authenticity" and its consequences in relation to Chinese cultural heritage—those objects, texts, and intangible practices concerned with China’s past.

The Department of Asian Studies at the University of Texas at Austin invites applications for a faculty position in Asian Humanities at either the assistant (tenure-track) or associate (tenured) level with a regional specialization in either China or Japan, to begin August 2020. We seek applicants with research interests in literature, intellectual history, visual culture, or other fields in the humanities, focusing on premodern, modern, or contemporary periods. The successful candidate will be expected to engage in scholarly research, to teach two courses per semester, to supervise students at the undergraduate, M.A., and Ph.D. levels, and to contribute to the intellectual life and service needs of the department and the university.

Upcoming public lecture at the UCL Institute of Archaeology by Shan Huang, Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

North China in the sixth century AD saw a major transformation of glazed ceramic technology from dark glazed terracotta wares towards translucent white porcelain. But the process of this dramatic transformation is unclear, due to insufficient understanding of the archaeological material. The lecture will focus on the typo-chronology of three major categories of glazed ceramic discovered in sixth century North China and their manufacturing technologies. Chemical and mineralogical compositions of the body and the glaze, glazing method, firing temperature and atmosphere were studied by optical microscopy, scanning electronic microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometer (SEM-EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and thermal expansion measurement. These provide insights into the pathways of innovation of lead-glazed wares, of the transfer of ash-glazed stoneware technology from the South and the emergence of the earliest white porcelain. On this basis, the social dynamic that drove the transformation of the ceramic technology and its impact on the succeeding period are discussed.