Professor Hans van de Ven visits Peking University
May 10, 2019
Peking University, May 9, 2019: Invited by Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences (IHSS), Hans van de Ven, a notable historian and professor from the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Cambridge visited Peking University from March 27 to April 19. During his visit, he delivered several speeches relevant to modern Chinese history.
Professor Hans van de Ven is a globally renowned historian. He majored in Sinology during his undergraduate studies at Leiden University. Later, he went to Harvard University to study modern Chinese history and earned his Ph.D. degree in History and East Asian Languages.
Professor van de Ven
On March 30, “The May Fourth Movement and Modern China” Forum was held, aiming to bring together great minds in relevant fields at home and abroad and review the important influence the May Fourth Movement exerted on Chinese society and ethics. Professor Hans van de Ven attended this forum and delivered a speech titled “The May Fourth Movement as Realpolitik”. He drew upon the concept of “realpolitik” proposed by Political Philosopher Raymond Geuss to highlight the constitutional significance of the May Fourth Movement. One hundred years ago, when political system could not provide acceptable solutions to political differences, the May Fourth Movement broke out. What followed were the stronger attitudes of imperial power towards China and the increasing importance of public opinion to Chinese politics, which reflected the great influence of this movement.
Professor Hans van de Ven at “The May Fourth Movement and Modern China” Forum
On April 11, Professor Hans van de Ven delivered another speech titled “Battle of Henan-Hunan-Guangxi: The Turning Point of World War II”. Before the speech was given, Director of IHSS Deng Xiaonan awarded Professor Hans van de Ven the Certificate of Honorary Visiting Professor. During the speech, he pointed out that the academia did not pay much attention to the later periods of World War II in China and Battle of Henan-Hunan-Guangxi. Similar situation also exists in studies in the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. Therefore, Professor Hans van de Ven hopes the academia can further their studies in relevant fields.
On April 15, Professor Hans van de Ven gave another speech titled “China outside Battlefields in World War II: The Daily Life during the War”. He emphasized that war cannot be separated from society outside the battlefield. The relationship between elites and war was also demonstrated through some diaries and memoirs written at that time. What’s more, Professor Hans van de Ven pointed out that public opinion can be known through social surveys in Europe and the United States. However, similar surveys were hard to conduct in China considering the inferior educational level of the public. Materials from religious institutions and statistics held by Japan about Chinese economy during World War II should also be taken into consideration when doing relevant studies.
During Professor Hans van de Ven’s stay in China, he also visited some other academic institutions and gave speeches. He highly valued the academic atmosphere created by IHSS.
Written by: Liu Danyang
Edited by: Ma Yaoli
Source: PKU News (Chinese)
