John L. Holden is President and CEO of the US-China Strong Foundation, an NGO dedicated to strengthening American capacity to understand China. Prior to joining US-China Strong, Holden was Associate Dean at Peking University and Professor of Management Practice at the Guanghua School of Management. A veteran China expert, Mr. Holden was President of the National Committee on US-China Relations from 1998 to 2005. In 2017 he received the PRC’s highest honor for a foreigner, its “Friendship Award.” Mr. Holden has served as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the American Chamber of Commerce, and held senior management positions at Cargill, Hill & Knowlton, and BankAmerica World Trade Corporation. Fluent in Mandarin, Mr. Holden lived in Beijing, Hong Kong and Taipei for more than 30 years, is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and is Senior Associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Preceded by Live Public Webcast

Condoleezza Rice, Former U.S. Secretary of State “China and the World”
3:00-3:45 pm, Physics-Atmospheric Sciences (PAS) 224

For more information contact: dpietz@email.arizona.edu or 520-621-1841

Tiexin Liang is the director of the documentary “Indie Game in China.” He is a senior gaming practitioner and researcher. In 2008, he founded the web- site WanGa.me. He played and recommended more than 5000 games through this website. In 2014, he founded his game company MakeBestGame, and his game work Blacksmith Story has repeatedly been recommended by major mo- bile game platforms. In addition, Liang is the judge of many independent game events such as China Independent Games Festival (IGF) and IndiePlay, the initi- ator of the China Independent Game Alliance (CiGA), and game columnist, etc.

Famed Japanese Heikyoku artist Tsutomu Arao will perform the 800-year-old epic tale, accompanied by biwa. The Tale of the Heike is the greatest of all Japanese warrior tales and one of the seminal works that has shaped Japanese literature, theatre, art and film down to the present day. Heikyoku is one of the oldest Japanese traditional musical styles, similar to the troubadour music of medieval Europe. The story is about the battle between the Heike and another powerful clan, the Genji, and it ends with the total defeat of the Heike in the tragic sea battle at Dan-no- ura. Wandering troubadours, blind musicians, chanted the tale, and later poets and playwrights took inspiration from it. Arao is one of few performers who can recite the whole story in the original style from the 13th century and works to preserve the style. He has performed Heikyoku more than 900 times.

FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

This presentation discusses the establishment of literary history (bunga- kushi) as an academic discipline in late nineteenth-century Japan, with special attention to the role of traditional Chinese fiction in defining the contours and content of Japanese “national literature” (kokubungaku). In an academic environment obsessed with the location and description of various racial, cultural, and psychological essences, Japanese histo- ries of Chinese literature were united by the claim that the authentic or “real” China could only be understood through previously marginalized genres such as fiction and drama. By positioning these genres in a bina- ry tension with an autocratic “Confucian ideology”, and by arguing that they could only flourish at moments of foreign invasion and contact, Jap- anese literary historians presented works like The Water Margin (Shuihu zhuan) and Romance of the Western Wing (Xixiang ji) as privileged points of access into the voices and experiences of a putative national people effaced in more elite disciplines like philosophy, ethics, and history.

William C. Hedberg is an assistant professor of Japanese at Arizona State Universi- ty, who specializes in the literature and culture of early modern Japan. His current project centers on the reception of late imperial Chinese fiction during the Edo and Meiji periods (17th-20th c.), with special emphasis on the novel, The Water Margin (Shuihu zhuan).

Live, Work and Discover Japan!

The Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program offers young professionals the opportunity to work in Japan as Assistant Language Teachers (ALTs) or Coordinators for International Relations (CIRs).

Since 1987, more than 68,000 JET Program participants from over 70 countries have lived and worked in cities, towns, and villages throughout Japan. Join JET and become part of this exclusive network of like-minded international enthusiasts!

Learn more

www.jetprogramusa.org
www.facebook.com/jetprogram.usa
 

Practice Mandarin on Wednesdays, from 7:00 - 8:30 pm.

This is a free event near the University of Arizona, sponsored by Duolingo and not associated with the East Asian Studies Department. However, it's a wonderful opportunity for our students to practice their Mandarin.