The Institute for Chinese Studies presents:
"A Sacred Capital for the Empire: Tibetan Buddhism in Qing’s Mukden"
Nianshen Song
University of Maryland, Baltimore County
With Discussant:
Christopher Atwood
University of Pennsylvania
Flyer: Song Flyer [PDF]
Abstract:
Many scholars talk about the Inner Asian nature of the Qing Empire, which was partially evidenced by Qing’s patronage of Tibetan Buddhism. But how did this patron-priest relationship start, construct and manage? This talk provides an answer by investigating the very first royal temples built in Mukden, the Qing capital before its conquest of inner China. Memories constructed by both the state and local people suggested that Mukden temples predicted the “great unity” of the Qing empire, and shaped Mukden into a mandala, an Esoteric Buddhist symbol that represented the universe. But why were they established? Who designed them? What did they symbolize? How were they institutionalized and mythicized? How did the Qing government support and supervise these temples? Locating the Mukden monasteries in Qing’s overall Buddhist network, this talk examines the interactions between multiple ethnic groups and between the state, lamas, and local society.
Nianshen Song is an Associate Professor in History Department at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Graduated from the University of Chicago in 2013, he published Making Borders in Modern East Asia: The Tumen River Demarcation, 1881-1919 (Cambridge University Press) in 2018. He is also the author of a bestselling Chinese book, Discovering East Asia, which was published in Beijing, Hong Kong and Taiwan in 2018 and 2019 and was just translated to Korean. His articles appeared on The American Historical Review, The Journal of Asian Studies, The Oxford Encyclopedia of Research, etc. His research and teaching focus on late imperial and modern China, with special interest in China’s ethnic frontiers, East Asian trans-regional networks, historical geography, and international relations. His current book project is a 400 years’ history of an urban neighborhood in Shenyang, China.
Christopher Atwood is professor of Mongolian and Chinese Frontier & Ethnic History at the University of Pennsylvania. Professor Atwood received his Ph.D. from Indiana University’s Central Eurasian Studies Department, where he worked with György Kara, Lynn Struve, Elliot Sperling, and Jeff Wasserstrom. His research has centered on the relation of culture (especially history writing and religion) and the formation of political power among the Mongols.
Another major area of interest is developing materials for academic and popular teaching about Inner Asia and Mongolia. Publications in this area includes the Encyclopedia of Mongolia and the Mongol Empire, and the translation of Chinese and Mongolian source for class use. Professor Atwood plans to complete a Source of Mongolian Tradition reader (with Johan Elverskog) and a new translation of the Secret History of the Mongols.
Free and Open to the Public
If you require an accommodation, such as live captioning, to participate in this event, please contact Stephanie Metzger at metzger.235@osu.edu or 614-247-4725. Requests made at least two weeks in advance of the event will generally allow us to provide seamless access, but the university will make every effort to meet requests made after this date.
This event is supported by a U.S. Department of Education Title VI grant to The Ohio State University East Asian Studies Center.
