China's History/China's Rise

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

As a make-up assignment for one half of the October 18 session, I attended a fascinating lecture at USC titled "What Does China's History Tell Us About China's Rise" given by Victoria Tin-bor Hui of Norte Dame. Professor Hui began her lecture by introducing herself and how she became interested in the topic of Chinese history, which was actually seen as an unlikely topic of study for her since she was raised Chinese and as she explained, most Chinese students have had enough of history because of the amount of time they spend studying it in school.

She then presented a very condensed and amazingly well flowing history of China from ancient times (214 BC) to the present in about 40 minutes. Covering that much history in that short amount of time AND making it make sense was amazing! I did however find it difficult to follow only because of my limited knowledge of Chinese history. Without the few sessions in this seminar I would have been so lost! She began by discussing the fluidity of China's borders over the centuries. She then explained that chronology of Chinese history is usually divided into 2 columns: the beginning of a dynasty and the end of a dynasty. She proposed adding a third column: the number of years of unification of Chinese heartland (980 years). In her discussion she quoted someone, but I missed the reference: "Unification-- this sacred term--has been repeatedly associated with war." She also mentioned that China's rise combined dynamics of competing logics: logics of balancing and domination. Ultimately, her conclusion to her title question, "What Does China's History Tell Us About China's Rise?" was that history is not a "crystal ball," as she put it. History is not the same as destiny, but it does give us clues, or a guide to trends.

This was followed by a question and answer period in which most of the audience who ventured questions seemed like they thought the title was misleading because she did not venture a forecast to what lies in the future of China. I think people, myself included, were expecting a prediction made, but understandably she hesitated from trying toi tell the future. Overall, the lecture was extremely informative and enjoyable.

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