The Backgrounds of The Chinese Maps: Their Reading and Understanding Public Lecture Series – Prof. Radu Leca: “Orankai and the Geographical Imaginary of the Qing in Early Modern Japan”
Co-organized by Institute of Chinese Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, École française d'Extrême-Orient, and The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Library
The relationship of early modern Japan to the Qing empire was complex. In some cases, the legitimacy of the Qing was rejected and Ming-era cartographies continued to be used. In other cases, the Ming and the Qing were part of a historical presentation of “then and now”, configuring a triangulation where Japan was the enlightened reign inheriting the Sinocentric paradigm.
This talk focuses on another triangulation between Japan, the Qing empire and Orankai, a specific Japanese concept of the territories of origin of the Manchus. Maps and popular illustrations featuring Orankai shed an alternative light on the Japanese geographical imaginary of continental Asia.
Speaker:
Prof. Radu Leca (Hong Kong Baptist University)
After completing a BA in Japanese Literature at Kanazawa University, Radu Leca undertook a MA and PHD in art history at SOAS. He is currently an Assistant Professor of the theory and history of art at the Academy of Visual Arts, Hong Kong Baptist University. Radu Leca is a historian of visual, scribal and cartographic culture in Japan. Among forthcoming publications is “Fluttering Ambition: Heteroglossic Geographic Knowledge on a Sixteenth-Century Folding Fan.” In: Michael Zimmerman et al. (eds.), Dialogical Imaginations. Zürich: Diaphanes.
Date：30 April 2025 (Wednesday)
Time：4:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. (Tea reception starts at 4 p.m.)
On-site participation: Activities Room, 2/F, Art Museum East Wing, CUHK
Online broadcasting: ZOOM
Online Registration: Click here
Language: Conducted in English.
All are welcome!
Enquiries: 3943 5976 /
