Global Multi-Year Partnerships

Peking University (PKU)

The Institute continued its partnership with Peking University in 2019 after the advanced training program held in 2015 and 2016.

Prof. Angela Ki Che Leung worked with Prof. Xiaonan Deng, Dean of the Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences at Peking University, to organize an intensive course titled “Methodology and Practice in History of Material Culture” in Beijing from December 9 to 20, 2019. Two area experts from America and Europe, Prof. Dorothy Ko from Barnard College of Columbia University and Prof. Dagmar Schäfer from the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin, joined Prof. Leung to lead the course. Some 25 undergraduate and graduate students, and teachers from Peking University and other universities in Beijing were selected to participate in this ten-day workshop, consisting of three open lectures — “Changing Values of a Daily Food: the History of Soy Sauce Making in China” by Prof. Leung, “The Inheritance and Innovation of Craftsmanship: Legends of Craftsmen in Jingdezhen” by Prof. Ko, and “Disasters and Digital Humanities” by Prof. Schäfer, group presentations and discussions, and field visits to a molasses workshop, and a soy sauce manufacture. Trainees were offered opportunities to learn more about the cross-disciplinary area of the history of material cultures, and to re-think Chinese history and cultures using new approaches. In addition to the trainees, the open lectures drew a large enthusiastic audience from Peking University.

(Clockwise from top left) Leung, Ko and Schäfer in discussion with trainees; craftsman of a traditional molasses workshop presenting a finished product

(From top) Professors Leung, Ko and Schäfer in discussion with trainees; craftsman of a traditional molasses workshop presenting a finished product