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Interdisciplinary Lunchtime Seminar
Crane Diplomacy: Auspicious Gifts of a Species on the Brink of Extinction
Dr. Janet Borland
(Department of Japanese Studies, HKU)
Date/Time: November 16, 2021 12:00 nn – 1:00 pm (HK time)
Venue: Conducted via Zoom
Enquiry: ihss@hku.hk
Interdisciplinary Lunchtime Seminar
Crane Diplomacy: Auspicious Gifts of a Species on the Brink of Extinction
Dr. Janet Borland
(Department of Japanese Studies, HKU)
Date/Time: November 16, 2021 12:00 nn – 1:00 pm (HK time)
Venue: Conducted via Zoom
Enquiry: ihss@hku.hk
Title:
Crane Diplomacy: Auspicious Gifts of a Species on the Brink of Extinction
Speaker:
Dr. Janet Borland (Department of Japanese Studies, HKU)
Date/Time:
November 16, 2021, 12:00 nn – 1:00 pm (HK time)
Language:
English
Enquiry:
Title:
Crane Diplomacy: Auspicious Gifts of a Species on the Brink of Extinction
Speaker:
Dr. Janet Borland (Department of Japanese Studies, HKU)
Date/Time:
November 16, 2021, 12:00 nn – 1:00 pm (HK time)
Language:
English
Enquiry:
The Red-crowned Crane is well-recognised as an auspicious symbol of longevity and happiness in East Asia. Admired for its beauty and grace, the crane also represented the ultimate gift in early twentieth century Japan. The more rare it became in the wild, the more prized and valued the bird became within elite political and diplomatic circles. Who gifted cranes and why? Once given, what was expected in return? What does the giving of cranes reveal about the interrelationship between power, politics, and nature in Japan? In this talk, Janet Borland explores the significance of giving cranes as gifts both within Japan and overseas, a practice that continued well into the postwar period.
Janet Borland is an award-winning historian of modern Japan whose research focuses on fundamental relationships between people and the natural and built environment. Her first book, Earthquake Children: Building Resilience from the Ruins of Tokyo (Harvard University Asia Center, 2020), won the Hong Kong Academy of the Humanities First Book Prize for 2020, and the prestigious 2020 Grace Abbott Book Prize for the best book published in English on the history of children, childhood, or youth. Janet’s second book, Endangered Icon: Japan’s Quest to Save the Red-crowned Crane, is a social, cultural and environmental history covering the twentieth century. This work is supported by two research grants: a twelve-month Japan Foundation Fellowship held at the University of Tokyo covers the prewar component, and a three-year grant awarded by the Hong Kong Research Grants Council General Research Fund covers the postwar component.
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