Dear members of SSJ-Forum, 

We cordially invite you to GAS Lecture Series on April 25 (Fri), 2025. This event will be held both online and in-person and please register the form below.

GAS Lecture Series "The Remarkable Commissioner Lin Zexu: An Old Tale Retold" 

Date and Time: April 25 (Fri), 2025, 10:00-11:30 (JST)

Venue: The 1st Conference Room, 3th Floor, Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, Utokyo / ZOOM

Title: The Remarkable Commissioner Lin Zexu: An Old Tale Retold

Speaker: David G. Atwill, Professor of History, New York University Shanghai

Discussant: Sebastian Veg, Professor, Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia (IASA), University of Tokyo

Moderator: Pattajit Tangsinmunkong, Assistant Professor, IASA, University of Tokyo

Abstract: The Remarkable Commissioner Lin Zexu: An Old Tale Retold Hand-picked by the emperor from among the empire's best and brightest officials, Lin arrived in the southern coastal city of Guangzhou in March 1839 to serve as Imperial Commissioner on Opium Affairs. Within three months, he confiscated and destroyed nearly 3 million pounds of opium and by the end of the year persuaded the emperor to issue an edict renewing the ban on all opium trade and production in China. And yet most accounts suggest, Lin was "conservative," "antagonistic," and hopelessly unworldly. In this talk, Professor. Atwill (NYU Shanghai) explores the ways Lin's tactics to end the opium trade, the ways the British attempted to justify their actions, and the manner in which Lin was unceremoniously banished to Xinjiang have often obscured and twisted the historical treatment of the man himself.

About the Speaker: David G. Atwill is Dean of Arts and Sciences and Professor of History at New York University Shanghai. A historian of 19th and 20th China, Tibet and Islam in Asia, Dr. Atwill's work examines the complex intersection of ethnicity, religion and politics. He has carried out oral and archival research across three continents in five languages, and the recipient of numerous fellowships, including the Wilson Center for Scholars, the Mellon Foundation, and twice served as a Fulbright scholar.

Registration:  https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScjH90z5E_RyNvx8MTE4kU-qnxMIElC3ZZFuR3vcQu-QexRng/viewform

* If you will join online, please also finish registering for the Zoom link in Google form. 

Language: English

 

Organizer: GAS Initiative, Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, The University of Tokyo

Contact: gas[at]ioc.u-tokyo.ac.jp

Best Regards,

Global Asian Studies (GAS) 

https://gas.ioc.u-tokyo.ac.jp

Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia (IASA) at the University of Tokyo

https://www.ioc.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/

https://www.ioc.u-tokyo.ac.jp