Politics, Memory, and Dissent: May Fourth, June Fourth & Beyond

A workshop exploring calls for democracy, political dissent, public remonstrance, memory, and violence in modern China.

This workshop, held on the 90th anniversary of the May Fourth movement and twenty years after Tiananmen, aims to explore the ways in which calls for democracy, political dissent, public remonstrance, memory, and violence have played out over the 20th century and into the 21st century.

8:30 - 8:45: Coffee and Registration

8:45 - 9:00: Opening Remarks
*Alison Bailey, Centre for Chinese Research, UBC
*Christopher Rea, Asian Studies, UBC

9:00 - 10:00: Crisis, Reform, and Revolution: A Dialogue on China's Long
Twentieth Century (1898-2008)
*Wu Guoguang,* Centre for Asia-Pacific Initiatives, Departments
of Political Science & History, University of Victoria
*Tim Cheek*, Centre for Chinese Research, UBC

10:00 - 10.15: Coffee / Tea Break

10:15 - 12.15: Returning to the Square: Reinterpreting Political Culture

*Ban Wang, East Asian Languages and Cultures / Comparative
Literature, Stanford, "Understanding Political Theater in Tiananmen"
* Josephine Chiu-Duke, Asian Studies, UBC,"Rupture or Continuity?--Continued Reflections on June Fourth
1989"
* Timothy Brook, St. John's College, UBC,"1989: The Problem of Historical Redress"
* Pitman Potter, Institute of Asian Research, UBC, "Charter '08 and the 1989 Student Movement: Comparisons"
*Moderator: Diana Lary, Professor Emeritus, History, UBC

12:15 - 1.15: Lunch

1:15  2:45: Science, Technology and Modern China from May Fourth to June Fourth
* David Luesink, History, UBC,"Revisiting Science and Medicine in the May Fourth era in the
Thought of Wang Hui and Yang Nianqun"
* Leon Rocha, Cambridge University,"The Many Faces of 'Mr Sai' in China: Democracy, Scientism,Science and Philosophy of Life Debate"
* Robert Brain, History, UBC,"Media and Communications Before the Great Firewall:
Reflections on 'Calling Beijing'"
*Moderator: Fan Fa-ti, History, SUNY Binghamton

2:45 - 3:00: Coffee / Tea Break

3:00 - 4:30: History, Trauma, and Memory: The Politics of Remembering
and Forgetting
* Tsao Hsingyuan, Art History, UBC,"History and Amnesia at Tiananmen Square: The Curse of the Auspicious Number Nine Since 1919"
* Kong Shuyu, Humanities and Asia Canada Program, Simon Fraser
University,"The Politics of Remembering: History, Memory and Social Changes in Ma Jian's 'Beijing Coma'"
*Alison Bailey, Centre for Chinese Research, UBC,"History, Trauma,& Evasion: The Politics of Forgetting in 'The Knot' & 'Summer Palace'"
*Moderator: Richard King, Centre for Asia-Pacific Initiatives, Department
of Pacific and Asian Studies, University of Victoria

4:45 - 6:00: Roundtable: What are Anniversaries for?
*Ban Wang, Asian Languages and Cultures / Comparative Literature,
Stanford University
*Diana Lary, Professor Emeritus, History, UBC
* Fan Fa-ti, History, SUNY Binghamton
*Alexander Woodside, Professor Emeritus, History, UBC
*Leo Shin, History, UBC
*Wu Guoguang, Centre for Asia-Pacific Initiatives, Departments of
Political Science & History, University of Victoria
*Moderator: Tsering Shakya, *Contemporary Tibetan Studies Program, UBC

Sponsors:

Centre for Chinese Research, UBC
Institute of Asian Research, UBC
St. John's College, UBC
History Department, UBC

Organizing Committee:
Alison Bailey, Christopher Rea, Tim Sedo

Please confirm attendance to abailey@interchange.ubc.ca by Tuesday, April 27th for catering purposes