Gender, Etiquette, and Chinese Diplomacy
On February 27, 2020, Asian Studies, along with help from History and others, will host Dr. Xia Shi from the New College of Florida. She will present a public lecture,"Party, Ball, and Hostess: The Politics of Gender and Etiquette in Late Qing Diplomacy" at 4:00 pm in Lloyd Hall 222.
This paper explores the intersections of gender and diplomacy through the avenue of chahui, a novel format of social gathering that Qing envoys and their family members encountered in European diplomatic circles, including parties, receptions, and balls. Late Qing envoys noticed that women were omnipresent in Western diplomatic circles. Hence, even just to accomplish their official duties, they frequently had to deal with gender related issues, including not only learning how they themselves should interact with Western women in public, but also, more sensitively, deciding if they should follow Western etiquettes and allow their own wives, who were used to gender separation and domestic seclusion, to attend these events to shake hands with men, and/or converse with them over dinner table, and/or even dance with them.
For more on Prof. Shi and her research (as well as an opportunity to meet her), see the right column.
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Lunch discussion "Future Opportunities in Asian Studies"
Please join us on Thursday, Feb. 27 from 12:30-1:30 for a lunch with Dr. Xia Shi at Manly Hall.
Dr. Xia Shi is our visiting lecturer (see announcement in the left column), and over lunch (provided by Asian Studies) she will share with interested UA undergraduates about her research experiences and answer any questions about future opportunities in Asian Studies, including study aboard, research, graduate school, and future jobs. If you are interested in attending, please RSVP to Dr. Luo (dluo10@ua.edu) no later than Friday Feb. 21. Spaces are limited and will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.
For more on Prof. Shi and her research, see below.
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Introducing Dr. Xia Shi
Dr. Shi is an Associate Professor of History and International and Area Studies at New College of Florida, where she teaches courses on Chinese history, women and gender studies, and environmental history. Her research has investigated traditional China’s encounters with the modern world around late nineteenth to early twentieth century, analyzing the subsequent social and cultural reconfigurations, ruptures, and continuities that a variety of Chinese individuals and groups experienced during this process. She is the author of At Home in the World: Women and Charity in Late Qing and Early Republican China (Columbia University Press, 2018).
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