HS12: Legitimating the State: International Orders and Political Imaginations of China, 1300-present
About
This Working Group brings together three historians who study Northeast Asia from the Mongol period to the present, with a particular focus on the changing concept of “China” in the context of political legitimation and international engagement.
Open to New People
Active since: 2021
- Cornell University
- Colgate University
- Skidmore College
Collaborative Goals
We aim to increase understanding of each other's research, organize new events for next year. We also plan to invite an expert whose research speaks to our shared interest, and develop our respective book projects through intellectual exchange with each other and with the invited guest.
For 2021-2022, we had two Zoom meetings to update one another about the latest development of our research. Additionally, we invited Timothy Brook for a public-faced roundtable around the theme of the Corridor Group: Legitimating the State, International Orders and Political Imaginations of China. For 2022-2023, we organized one manuscript workshop at Skidmore College and another at Colgate University to critique chapters of group members' ongoing book projects.
Group Organizers

David Robinson
Robert H.N. Ho Professor in Asian Studies and Professor of History, Colgate University


Activities
Political Crimes and International Law in the Late Qing
Nov. 18, 2022, 2 p.m.
Internal Meeting on Reorienting the Working Group and Funding Application
March 11, 2022, 3:30 p.m.
Peter Zarrow: "Revolution and Museumification: The Forbidden City, 1900-1935"
March 6, 2024, noon
Group Outcomes
Jenny Day was able to workshop the most challenging chapter of her book manuscript with two leading scholars in the field, which was instrumental to the the revision of the manuscript and the positive feedback she received from the press. The workshop also enabled both Jenny and Mara to connect to experts who will be able to help in their academic and career development in the future.
Workshop on Jenny Day's book chapter
On Nov 11, Li Chen (University of Toronto), Jaymin Kim (Rice University), and Mara Yue Du workshopped one of the key chapters of Jenny Day's upcoming book From "Great Abominations” to “Political Offenses”: Political Crimes, International Law, and Regime Changes in Modern China. Based on the feedback, Jenny revised this chapter, and submitted the entire manuscript to be reviewed at Cambridge University Press. She received two positive reports, and is not conducting the post-review revision for the manuscript to be resubmitted in December 2023.