New Work in Chinese Buddhist Studies
Panel Discussion on New Work in Chinese Buddhist Studies
(co-organised with the Wan Boo Sow Chinese Library and the Department of History)
Registration Links
In person | Online
This panel highlights exciting new work in Chinese Buddhist Studies by current and recently graduated students at the National University of Singapore. The first presentation looks at the Buddhistic aspect of political legitimation during the early Tang through the lens of imperial prefaces. The second considers how the sacralization of Mount Jiuhua in Chizhou, Anhui Province, was a result of secular activities and strategies of monks, local lineages, and pilgrims. The third explores the overseas missions led by Yuanying (圆瑛, 1878–1953) and Taixu (太虚, 1890–1947) to South and Southeast Asia during the Sino-Japanese War. The fourth recovers the overlooked artistry of migrant Chinese-Buddhist monk Chuk Mor (竺摩, 1913–2002) who has primarily been studied and widely respected for his promotion of modern Buddhism in maritime Southeast Asia. Each panelist will also discuss NUS Libraries’ resources they have used for their research.
Moderator
Jack Meng-Tat Chia is Assistant Professor of History and Religious Studies at the National University of Singapore. He is a historian of religion whose research has focused on Buddhism and Chinese popular religion. He specialises in Buddhism in maritime Southeast Asia and has broader research interests in migration, diasporas, transnationalism, pilgrimage, and religious diplomacy. He is the author of Monks in Motion: Buddhism and Modernity Across the South China Sea (Oxford, 2020), which was awarded the 2021 EuroSEAS Humanities Book Prize. This book was recently translated into Indonesian under the title Kiprah Para Mahabiksu: Agama Buddha dan Modernitas di Asia Tenggara Maritim (Karaniya, 2022), and a Chinese translation is underway. Chia is currently working on two book projects: Sisters in Dharma: A Buddhist Feminist in Postcolonial Indonesia and Diplomatic Dharma: Buddhist Diplomacy in Modern Asia, which is supported by the 2020 Social Science and Humanities Research Fellowship awarded by the Social Science Research Council Singapore. In 2022 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.
Panelists
- Tay Yu Xuan, final-year Master’s student
- Wang Sisi, Postdoctoral Fellow in Buddhist Studies
- Ng Xiang Yun, Honours student
- Tan Guan-Fan, Honours student
