BICC Public Event, Manchester- The Bellot Collection. Public event, 12th February 3-5pm.

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Thomas Bellot

Born in Manchester (1806), Thomas Bellot served in the Royal Navy as a surgeon during and after the first Opium War in China. He acquired a collection of Chinese bronzes, coins, books and manuscripts which are now deposited in the Manchester Museum, Manchester City Library and the John Rylands Library.

These objects have recently been examined by the British Inter- University China Centre (BICC). This public event will showcase some of his collections and discuss their significance to Manchester and the study of Britain and China.

– Collecting on Campaigns – Britains China Eye Poster

Call for Papers: “China in Britain 1760-1860

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Call for Papers

China in Britain: 1760 to 1860

A conference organised by British Inter-university China Centre (BICC) and the Centre for Chinese Studies (CCS) and to be held at the University of Manchester 12-13 May 2016.

2016 marks the bicentenary of Lord Amherst’s embassy to China. This episode of history seems to have been largely forgotten by historians of Britain and China, and has generated little scholarship. But the embassy is important because the delegates saw – in their eyes – a different China to that which had been described before: “Dirt, squalidness, and extreme poverty were as usual their leading characteristics. Their inhabitations were miserable beyond anything which England can exemplify … they looked more like the dens of beasts than the habitations of men” (Clarke Abel, 1819). The British were changing their opinion about, and soon their policy towards, the Middle Kingdom. Chinoiserie would soon lead to the “scramble for China”. Although historians have studied “Britain in China”, they have largely ignored China in Britain after the heyday of eighteenth century Sinophilia, and before the darker turn in relations in the mid-nineteenth century. Tea gave rise to and also saw the decline of the Honourable Company. What is the social life of tea in the United Kingdom? How did increasing dependence on the China trade and the ascend of the “private English” lead to a change in public opinion and ultimately policy? What does this change tell us about British polity and society? We welcome historians/scholars of Britain and China to a debate that addresses the following issues in an effort to promote Anglo-Chinese, some might say Sino-British, studies.

Chinoiserie and allure of the Middle Kingdom in Britain
China trade and its impact on British economy and society
Changing public opinion about and policy towards China
Individuals and institutions that emerged during the change

Inquiries and abstracts of no more than 150 words and 5 lines of biographical information should be sent to: sarah.coakley@manchester.ac.uk before 30 January 2016. Those accepted to present at the conference will be notified by 29 February. Accommodation and food will be provided during the conference. There is a modest budget for travel but priority will be given to PhD students.

PG Course in Chinese for Academic Purposes with BICC Manchester

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BICC Manchester is pleased to announce that there will be an opportunity for PG students in the China field to take part in a one week Chinese for Academic Purposes course in Manchester April 2016. The course aims to further practical applications of Chinese language in academic work and is open to students who have a good level of Chinese, or who work in the China field.

The funding has been made available thanks to SOAS and its application for HEFCE funding, in partnership with Manchester University. Due to the funder’s requirements, the course is open to UK/EU students. The bursary covers travel and accommodation and the course itself is free of charge to all PG students who fit the criteria.

PG students who are interested or who would like further information should apply to sarah.coakley@manchester.ac.uk and request a leaflet to be sent electronically with the details and application prodecure. The deadline is the 30th January 2016.

The Launch of Disasterhistory.org

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Disasterhistory.org

Pierre Fuller

Web searches remain the predominant avenue for non-academic researchers seeking historical data or contextualisation. Yet online searches on the major topics that I have been researching and publishing on for years – famine, earthquakes and other types of disaster in East Asia – continue to produce next to nothing of much value or depth when performed by the general user (outside, that is, the subscription-walls of Jstor and other academic platforms). So a couple of years ago I held a workshop at Manchester where about a dozen historians from several continents were able to attend. What came out of it was the goal of making up-to-date and reliable information on the subject of disasters in Chinese history, currently beyond the reach of many outside academia, freely available online. We designed and built the site over the year, and a couple of us flew to a conference of anthropologists of disaster in Chengdu last month to formally launch DisasterHistory.org.
Some users have described the site to me as a welcomed public service, but all involved also stand to benefit: making the research conducted here at Manchester and by colleagues around the world more easily accessible simply makes our work more relevant. That can only be a good thing. As for how soon the site will be high in Google hits? That’ll come with time.

More than any other academic project I’ve worked on, DisasterHistory.org is all about colleagues volunteering their time and work. It grew out of a research network funded by the British Inter-University China Centre, and for the moment, the team of historians contributing are limited to those who have worked on disasters in Chinese history, but we hope to soon expand our content to cover other parts of the globe, to include other disciplines, and to use other languages, Chinese especially – although each of these (considering the complexity they add to site construction and functionality) might have to wait until a second stage of funding. For now I’m hugely grateful for colleagues, currently spread out in the UK, the US, Finland and China, for their ideas and contributions.

But there is another added dimension that I’m particularly excited out. With additional financial support from the University’s Learning Enrichment Fund, last spring I incorporated an optional disaster research project into the course work for my first year module Modern China, with the idea that, subject to review by an expert in the field, student work could help populate the site with articles on more obscure disasters; the work of six UG (plus 2 PG) students now appears on the site, which is a great chance for students to showcase their work online, and for the site to broaden its coverage.

As it grows in time as an informational platform and collaborative space, DisasterHistory.org should facilitate scholarly engagement with journalists and other professionals, possibly policymakers and practitioners, and the general public, while helping to shape future research questions and fostering projects that will meet practical and pressing needs beyond the academic world. We hope to build collaborative, data-pooling and data-mapping features into the site in order to foster opportunities for co-production of research by scholars worldwide, for example, on death counts and mortality rates, which in the case of famine are notoriously unreliable.

Better not to end on that depressing note, though. I encourage anyone with work that might be related to disasters (broadly-defined) in any discipline, or who might know a colleague-friend who does, or anyone with ideas on any type of collaboration, to be in touch as we move into our next stage!

Britain and China, 1840-1970: new book from BICC researchers

Posted on 20 July 2015 by Robert Bickers

Just published by Routledge, and very much a BICC volume, Britain and China, 1840-1970: Empire, Finance and War, is co-edited by Robert Bickers and Jonathan J. Howlett. The volume presents some of the research first aired at BICC’s August 2011 conference ‘Britain and China, pasts, presents and futures’. Held at the University of Bristol this event brought together over 30 speakers from across the globe.

The collection presents 11 essays, outlining the results of research into new archives, or exploring new paradigms for understanding the course of Britain-China relations.

Contributors include BICC researcher Isabella Jackson, and essays by Paul Bailey, John Carroll, Chen Qianping, Koji Hirata, Sherman Xiaogang Lai, Benjamin Mountford, Stephen R. Platt and Hans van de Ven. The cover photograph shows the pipes of the Shanghai Scottish Company of the Shanghai Volunteer Corps in action on a Shanghai street in 1924: source, Hutchinson collection, Historical Photographs of China project (C) Barbara Merchant.

‘Picturing China’ on film, and in Shanghai

Posted on 20 February 2015 by Robert Bickers

As part of a series of events and films marking its tenth anniversary year, the AHRC, which funds the BICC though its LBAS scheme, has made a short film about the ‘Historical Photographs of China‘ project at the University of Bristol. The project has received a lot of support from BICC and the AHRC, and is also being showcased on 2-4 March at the government’s UK Trade & Investment’s ‘GREAT Festival of Creativity’ in Shanghai.

BICC Cultural Engagement Partnership @ the University of Bristol

Posted on 23 January 2015 by Robert Bickers

Applications are invited for this short-term post, to commence at a mutually agreed date in the first half of 2015 under the direction of Professor Robert Bickers, at the University of Bristol. The aim of this initiative is to support individuals working on three-month ‘Cultural Engagement projects’ with a non-university partner, allowing early career researchers who have just completed a PhD in a Chinese studies field to gain experience of working in or in collaboration with a non-university partner. This could involve working on a discrete research project, or outreach initiative, preparing some work to support a forthcoming, or on-going exhibition etc.

The post would formally be held at the University of Bristol, and the post-holder would be styled as a BICC Early Career Researcher but could be physically based anywhere in the UK. There is a modest budget for travel. Applicants should provide a c.v., as well as an expression of interest including an outline project description, and a letter of support from the identified cultural sector partner. ‘Cultural sector’ is very broadly conceived, and could include museums, libraries, creative sector SMEs, or other public or third sector cultural or civic organisations, etc. The post is likely to be restricted to areas that fall within the purview of the British Inter-university China Centre, that is, that require Chinese language skills and Chinese studies training.

Duration: Three (3) months full-time or six (6) months at .5 FTE
Salary: £30,424, pro-rata.
Start date: to be agreed.

How to apply: An expression of interest (including an outline of the proposed project), letter of support, and c.v., should be emailed to Professor Robert Bickers, University of Bristol, by 16 February 2015: hums-bicc@bristol.ac.uk

One reference in support of the applicant should also be received by the same date by email. A completed PhD is preferred, but applicants who have submitted their thesis for examination will also be considered.

Applicants may be called for interview in late February.

Exceptionally, two of these short-term appointments may be made should there be sufficiently strong proposals.

For China and the World: Sir Robert Hart

Posted on 27 March 2014 by Robert Bickers

http://vimeo.com/87855511

In the winter of 2012-13 BICC collaborated with Dr Weipin Tsai (Royal Holloway University of London), and Professor Hans van de Ven (Cambridge) on a project to restore the decrepit gravestone of Sir Robert Hart and Hester, Lady Hart. The Harts are buried in Bisham, near Marlow, yards from the bank of the River Thames. The initiative culminated in a rededication ceremony held in the churchyard on a cold February day in 2013.

A new 31 minute film, ‘For China and the World’, documents this process, and explores the story and legacy of Robert Hart, who for six decades led China’s Imperial Maritime Customs service. With narration by Tim Pigott-Smith, the documentary assess the private and public worlds of this enigmatic figure. The film gets its world premiere on Saturday 29 March during the Asian Film Expo at the 2014 annual meeting of the US Association for Asian Studies in Philadelphia. You can catch the trailer here, and copies of the DVD can be purchased here.

Director Jeremy Routledge, from Calling the Shots, and co-producer Robert Bickers, will be on hand for a Q & A after the film screening: 2:10pm room 309/310, Marriott Downtown Philadelphia. The film will be shown at Queen’s University Belfast this coming May, and in London, on 12 June.

China Dreams: The Debate

Posted on 27 March 2014 by Robert Bickers

China Dreams: The Debate , Directed by Bill Callahan.

Bill Callahan’s film gets a screening as part of the AAS Film Expo, followed by a Q & A with the director himself. When: Saturday, 03/29/14, 2:50pm 

Since Chinese President Xi Jinping made the ‘China Dream’ his official slogan, many people inside and outside the PRC have been asking ‘What is the China Dream?’ Is it for national greatness or for a comfortable life? This 11 minute video’s provocative approach will inspire student discussions of Chinese identity, politics and international relations.

Next month Bill is presenting another film he has directed at the Ethnografilm Festival in Paris: “Border Crossings”. Time: Friday April 18, 2014, 3:00pm. Venue: Cine 13, 1 Avenue Junot, 75018 Paris, France

Borders not only separate things, but are the place where people come together. “Border Crossings” (10 min.) examines how Chinese and non-Chinese people experience their encounters with the Other (and thus with their Self) at the Lo Wu Bridge, the iconic border between Hong Kong and mainland China.

BICC HEFCE Scholarship opportunities

Posted on 27 March 2014 by Robert Bickers

Two BICC scholarships are available for study on the M.Phil. Modern Chinese Studies course at the University of Oxford, commencing in October 2014. Both scholarships provide £20,000 p.a. towards fees and maintenance. One scholarship is for the full two years of the course. The second scholarship is for one year only. These scholarships will be awarded on the strength of each candidate’s academic background and on the quality of a proposal for doctoral study. The scholarships are funded by the HEFCE Postgraduate Support Scheme award to the ‘Sustainable Funding for Language-based Area Studies’ initiative, led by SOAS, University of London.

Who can apply?

To be eligible to apply, applicants must:

Either qualify for UK or EU fee status or be ordinarily resident in the UK or EU.
Have submitted an application to the M.Phil. in Modern Chinese Studies and expect to start the course in October 2014
Intend to continue to a doctoral degree after completing the M.Phil.

Students who have not yet applied to the M.Phil. in Modern Chinese Studies at the University of Oxford should do so using the application code 2014/MCS/BICC no later than 20 April 2014. Your scholarship application will not be considered until you have submitted a full graduate application. Further details about making a graduate application are available at http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/postgraduate/apply. Receipt of one of these scholarships will be dependent upon the applicant meeting all requirements for admission to the M.Phil. in Modern Chinese Studies, and taking up a place on this course for 2014/15.

Application Process

The deadline for applications is 20 April 2014.

Applications should include:

A copy of the application materials submitted to the University of Oxford for entrance to the M.Phil. in Modern Chinese Studies
A statement outlining how undertaking the MPhil in Modern Chinese Studies would prepare the applicant for doctoral study and provide an indication of the applicants’ research interests for doctoral study.

Applications should be submitted by email to hums-bicc@bristol.ac.uk

All applicants will automatically be considered for both scholarships.

For more information on the M.Phil. in Modern Chinese Studies at the University of Oxford see: http://www.orinst.ox.ac.uk/ea/chinese/mph_modchst.html