ZhangZuocheng, Professor in the Department of History at Northeast Normal University (China), will lead a series of guest seminars titled “New Approaches to History in a Changing World: A View from China” scheduled for Monday-Thursday, March 3-6, 2025. The seminars will take place at the Faculty of History, Adam Mickiewicz University, ul. Uniwersytetu Poznańskiego 7 (Morasko).
New Approaches to History in a Changing World:
A View from China
Abstract
This mini-course explores the evolution of Chinese world history writing, its methodological transformations, and its engagement with contemporary theoretical debates in historiography. It aims to provide BA and MA students with a deeper understanding of the intellectual development of world history studies in China and its relationship with both Chinese historical traditions and global historiographical discourse. This course challenges students to think beyond conventional Eurocentric or Sinocentric frameworks by engaging directly with Chinese historiographical sources, theories, and approaches. It encourages students to critically reflect on how historiography is shaped by social, political, and intellectual contexts and how Chinese historians contribute to global historical discourse. Through a combination of theoretical reflection and comparative historiography, students will gain a nuanced understanding of how history is written, debated, and conceptualized in China.
This course will be particularly beneficial to students interested in historiography and the philosophy of history, comparative history and cross-cultural academic exchange, theoretical developments in world history writing, and Chinese intellectual history and historical methodology. Through close reading of key English and Chinese historiographical texts, this course offers a critical framework for understanding the evolution of world history writing in China and its broader implications for global historiography.
Program
1. Monday, March 3, 10:45-12:15 (room 3.68)
The Process of World History Writing in Early Modern and Modern China
This seminar will focus on the basic development process of Chinese world history writing. The relevant research of the international academic community generally focuses on the research results of Chinese scholars on China’s own history, ignoring the understanding of the world and the basic attitude of Chinese scholars towards world history. Through diachronic combing, students can identify the basic stages of development that China has gone through in writing world history. In terms of the dynamic mechanism of historiography, the development of Chinese world history writing has always been related to the objective conditions of Chinese history in different periods, the historical cognitive needs of Chinese society, and the introduction of foreign historiographic theories and methods. Taking the writing of Chinese world history as the center of examination, we can see that the attitudes of Chinese world history scholars in different periods towards traditional Chinese historiography have changed—from spontaneous use to conscious criticism, and then to conscious reflection and inheritance. Chinese world history scholars have different attitudes towards the themes of the times and foreign historiographic resources in different periods. Under the influence of these multiple factors, the writing of Chinese world history has contributed to shaping the pattern and level of Chinese historiography in different periods.
Required readings:
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Susanne Weigelin-Schwiedrzik, “Chinese Historical Writing since 1949”, in A. A. Schneider & D. Woolf eds., The Oxford History of Historical Writing, vol. 5: Historical Writing since 1945, Oxford University Press, 2011, pp. 615-636.
2. Wednesday, March 5, 10:45-12.15 (room 3.44)
Key Controversies in Contemporary Chinese World History: Theoretical Debates
The aim of this seminar is to provide students with an understanding of the major theoretical controversies that have taken place in Chinese world history since 1978. These theoretical controversies show that the field of world history research in China pays attention to and attaches great importance to theory of history and historiography. Although these controversies may not have a unanimous conclusion or a majority agreed solution, they have promoted the awakening of theoretical consciousness in the Chinese world history community. The rise in theoretical awareness coincides with the renewal of historical research methods and the expansion of the field of historical research. Therefore, some Chinese historians have put forward the academic proposition that “without theory, there is no history”. As for the question of what kind of theories are needed for historical research and how to apply theories in historical research, Chinese world history scholars are constantly exploring in their respective fields of research. The presentation of this course will help students understand the progress of theoretical exploration in the field of Chinese world history.
Required readings:
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Dong Lihe, Jin Qianwen, “The Study of Western Postmodern Philosophy of History in China in the Four Decades of Reform and Opening Up.” Frontiers of Philosophy in China, vol. 13, no. 2, June 2018, pp. 254-264.
3. Thursday, March 6, 12:30-14:00 (room 3.68)
Historical Responsibility: A Comparative Perspective of Chinese and Western Historiography
This session will focus on understanding historical responsibility from the perspective of comparative historiography. I would like students to recognize that close reading and objective academic analysis of original-language texts are fundamental principles of comparative historiography. Comparative historiography is a significant topic and academic field in both international and Chinese scholarly circles, with many excellent research contributions from scholars worldwide. However, it cannot be overlooked that comparative historiography in the international academic community often replaces comparative analysis with mere description, primarily due to the lack of direct engagement with Chinese historiographic texts. In Chinese academia, comparative historiography generally emphasizes differences while overlooking commonalities between Chinese and foreign historiography. This status quo results from linguistic barriers, cultural perspectives, and ideological frameworks that limit mutual understanding. In any case, these obstacles should be addressed to foster a genuine academic exchange between foreign and Chinese scholars in the field of historiography.
Required readings:
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Yu Pei, “The Social Responsibility of Chinese Scholars of World History: Zhongguo Shehui Kexue and the Study of World History in the New Era.” Social Sciences in China, vol. XXXII, no. 3, August 2011, pp. 38-46.
On Wednesday March 12, at 15:00-16.30, Professor ZhangZuocheng will give a guest lecture for the Department of Oriental Studies AMU entitled:
Brief Description of Japan's History in Contemporary Chinese World History Writing
The lecture will take place at the Department of Oriental Studies, ul. Grunwaldzka 6 (Collegium Heliodori Święcicki), Aula im. Hrynakowskiego. All interested participants are warmly invited to attend this insightful discussion.
ZhangZuocheng
ZhangZuocheng, Ph.D. in History, graduated from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in 2009, his doctoral supervisor is Professor YuPei. He is a professor in Department of History at Northeast Normal University, visiting scholar in Department of History at University of Virginia (2016-2017), history editor of the journal The Northern Forum (2019-2021), with research interests in Western historical theory and historiography, comparison of Chinese and foreign historiography. His publications include the academic monograph The Research on R.G. Collingwood’s Historical Theory (2015) and academic papers on the Anthropocene and historical time, among others. [academia.edu]
©ed | 2025
