ICS Lecture: Don Wyatt, "China's Uneasy History of Foreign Enslavement"

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November 13, 2020
4:00 pm - 5:30 pm
Online (Registration Required)

Date Range
2020-11-13 16:00:00 2020-11-13 17:30:00 ICS Lecture: Don Wyatt, "China's Uneasy History of Foreign Enslavement" The Institute for Chinese Studies presents: Don Wyatt John M. McCardell, Jr. Distinguished Professor of History Middlebury College With Commentator Shao-yun Yang Associate Professor of History Denison University "China's Uneasy History of Foreign Enslavement" Flyer: Wyatt Flyer [PDF] Abstract: The origins of slavery in China are indisputably ancient, dating back to the earliest cultural beginnings of the nation as a civilization. Consequently, the record of slavery in China is exceptionally long, spanning uninterrupted from prehistory up until late imperial times and arguably persisting well beyond its outlawing in the early twentieth century of our Common Era. Throughout its duration, well known is the fact that the Chinese were enslavers of their own indigenous populations, which routinely included members of what emerged as the dominant Han ethnic majority itself. Yet, largely unknown is that, throughout the imperial past, untold numbers of non-Chinese peoples were also consigned to enslavement. In offering answers to how they might ever have come to suffer this fate, this talk endeavors to illuminate crucial aspects of the bondage of these foreigners, framed in relation to the evolving Chinese practice of slavery overall. Online (Registration Required) America/New_York public

The Institute for Chinese Studies presents:

Don Wyatt
John M. McCardell, Jr. Distinguished Professor of History
Middlebury College

With Commentator Shao-yun Yang
Associate Professor of History
Denison University

"China's Uneasy History of Foreign Enslavement"

Flyer: Wyatt Flyer [PDF]

Abstract: The origins of slavery in China are indisputably ancient, dating back to the earliest cultural beginnings of the nation as a civilization. Consequently, the record of slavery in China is exceptionally long, spanning uninterrupted from prehistory up until late imperial times and arguably persisting well beyond its outlawing in the early twentieth century of our Common Era. Throughout its duration, well known is the fact that the Chinese were enslavers of their own indigenous populations, which routinely included members of what emerged as the dominant Han ethnic majority itself. Yet, largely unknown is that, throughout the imperial past, untold numbers of non-Chinese peoples were also consigned to enslavement. In offering answers to how they might ever have come to suffer this fate, this talk endeavors to illuminate crucial aspects of the bondage of these foreigners, framed in relation to the evolving Chinese practice of slavery overall.