History of China

Address for Visitors

Universitätsstr. 134
3rd Floor
D-44799 Bochum, Germany

How to get here

Postal address

Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Faculty of East Asian Studies
Department for History of China
Uni 134 (3.12)
Universitätsstr. 150
44801 Bochum
Germany

Contact

Prof. Dr. Moll-Murata
E-mail: Christine.Moll-Murata@ruhr-uni-bochum.de
Consultation hour: By arrangement
Universitätsstrasse 134, Room 3.13

Administration

Scarlett Leonow
scarlett.leonow@rub.de
Universitätsstraße 134, Room 2.13

Phone +49 (0)234 32-21855
Fax: +49 (0)234 32-14747

Faculty

Research

Current Projects

• Wuliao jiazhi zeli Databases: Prices and Wages in Public Construction in the Qing Dynasty (1769)


• Suwenxue congkan – Index to the Collectanea for Chinese Folk Literature


• Global Collaboratory on the History of Labour Relations, 1500-2000 (gefördert von der Gerda Henkel Stiftung, Düsseldorf)


• Käte Hamburger Kolleg, Dynamiken der Religionsgeschichte zwischen Europa und Asien

Current Dissertations

• Wu Kuan-Wei 吳冠緯, M.A.



In Meditation of a Small State: Joshua Wen-Kwei Liao (廖文奎, 1905-1952) And His Reflection on Statehood

Abstract

In this dissertation project, I will study the intellectual history (Ideengeschichte) of Joshua Wen-Kwei Liao (廖文奎, 14 November 1905–25 June 1952). Joshua Wen-Kwei Liao was a founding theorist of post-war Taiwan independence, however, his multifaceted social and political thought was the primary concern of my research.

Joshua Wen-Kwei Liao was the first Taiwanese doctor of philosophy in the United States. He studied at the University of Chicago under the guidance of the pragmatists George Herbert Mead (1863-1931), Edwin Arthur Burtt (1892-1989), and James Hayden Tufts (1862-1942). His publication The Individual and the Community (1933), was selected by the British publisher Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co to be included in the International Library of Psychology, Philosophy and Scientific Method. In addition to American Pragmatism, Joshua Wen-Kwei Liao’s thought system entailed Neo-Confucianism, Sun Yat-sen’s political doctrines, life philosophy, and behaviorism of social sciences. His numerous publications included The Individual and the Community (1933), Studies in the Philosophy of Life (人生哲學之研究, 1936) and Comparison of Civic Training (比較公民訓練, 1936), and translations of A Discourse on Political Psychology (政治心理論, 1937) and Complete Works of Han Fei Tzu: A Classic of Chinese Political Science (vol. I, 1937; vol. II, 1959). The different intellectual trends of Joshua Wen-Kwei Liao’s political and social thought formulated how intellectuals consolidated community-building.

In addition to his intellectual writings, Joshua Wen-Kwei Liao’s political writings Quo Vadis Formosa (1946) and Imperialism vs Nationalism in Formosa (1947), and Formosa Speaks (1950) put emphasis on the self-determination of Taiwanese people and the undetermined status quo of Taiwan sovereignty. Although the secondary literature focused on the identity ambivalence of Chinese and Taiwanese of Joshua Wen-Kwei Liao, this dissertation project focuses on the consistent and vehement reflection on statehood and how Joshua Wen-Kwei Liao formulated his ideal statehood of western liberalism and eastern Neo- Confucianism.

In this dissertation project, I will systemize the multifaceted political and social philosophy of Joshua Wen-Kwei Liao while studying his biographical sketch. Joshua Wen-Kwei Liao shared western and eastern intellectual traditions while holding liberal and nationalistic characteristics.

Keyword Taiwanese philosophy, Taiwanese history, intellectual history, pragmatism, Neo-Confucianism, Sun Yat-sen’s political doctrines.



• Rau Anna-Maria Rau 饒安娜, M.A.



Modern Chinese Music and the Nation.

Abstract

In the wake of the Republican Period (1912–1949) the contact with European, or more broadly, Western music began to increase and with its growing presence musicians in the Chinese cultural context began to incorporate and infuse those foreign styles with elements of Chinese culture. This in turn brought up questions about the place of foreign, native and fused forms of music in the Chinese cultural sphere and made room for discussions on new Chinese music. It is of interest to examine which ideas of political, ideological or artistic nature were expressed in the writings of members within music circles. The regional focus is on the cities Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong as these were the major cities in which the examined phenomena of music occurred and discourse took place. Examining this should give answers to why this synthesis was created, as well as provide helpful insights to the following questions: Why was it deemed necessary to modernise this area of culture within national music circles and how did they argue in favour of these changes? What were the intentions, how were they realised and how did professional circles respond? Were there any counter currents? To further discuss and answer these questions a selection of primary sources will be examined. The sources for this study can be divided into four categories, namely newspapers and magazines, texts from and about influential figures, texts from and about institutions of the music industry, and records of music. Especially journals specialised on music allow for tracing strands of arguments within the discourse. Further sources are biographies and collected writings (such as reports, prose works, diaries, and letters) by the discourse’s participants. The participants in question were not only notable figures working in the creation and reproduction of music, but also working in distributive and commercial functions in the music industry. Thereby the dissertation will offer new perspectives on the art of sound and the meanings attached to it in times of competing political stances.

Completed Projects

• Data Infrastructure for Guilds and Other Forms of Institutions for Collective Action (2008-2012)


• Die Logik des japanischen buddhistischen Scholastikers Gomyō 護命 (749?-834) (2012-2015)


• Kulturübergreifende Bioethik (DFG-Forschergruppe) (2002-2007)


• Das Buch Mengzi im Kontext der Menschenrechtsfrage. Marksteine der Rezeption des Textes in China, Japan und im Westen (gefördert von der Fritz-Thyssen-Stiftung)    (2003-2006)