BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk//
X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:Knowledge across Borders: The Early Communication of Evolutionism 
 in China - Dr. Yang Haiyan\, Associate Professor\, Department of Medical H
 umanities at Peking University\, Visiting Scholar at the Department of His
 tory and Philosophy of Science\, University of Cambridge.
DTSTART:20110518T120000Z
DTEND:20110518T130000Z
UID:TALK31373@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:ed299
DESCRIPTION:New communication technologies and material forms of knowledge
 -exchange\, particularly mass-circulation periodicals\, played a huge part
  in the active introduction\, appropriation and discussion of Darwin and e
 volutionism in China\, from the turn of the twentieth century to the first
  decades of Republican China. This talk will first consider the Chinese en
 counter with Darwin and evolutionism at the turn of the twentieth century\
 , and show how overwhelming concerns with the problems of human physical a
 nd social evolution shaped the earliest translation and interpretation of 
 evolutionary texts\, and how new ways of communication conveyed those conc
 erns through evolutionary slogans. Second\, it will illustrate how discuss
 ions and debates about evolutionism were carried on during the first decad
 es of Republican China\, through a flourishing and modernized journalism. 
 In this period the transmission of knowledge and opinion was characteristi
 cally prompt (e.g.\, the coverage of the Scopes Trial in 1925) and diversi
 fied (e.g.\, the discussions of alternative mechanisms to Darwin’s selec
 tion theory)\, and reflected the position and judgment of Chinese themselv
 es. An effort is made to portray the Chinese experience as one of active d
 iscussion and creative debate within the fabric of global communications a
 bout Darwin and evolutionism. This experience not only demonstrates the in
 adequacy of the view that China was a static\, passive recipient of impact
  from a dynamic West\; it also reminds us that Chinese agencies of change 
 must be located and understood within a global context. 
LOCATION:Combination Room\, Wolfson College
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR