Presented By: Confucius Institute at the University of Michigan
Global Geography in Early Modern China (16th-17th Centuries): The Entry of Yaxiya/Asia
By HE Yumin, Professor, Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of California, Davis
The notion of “Asia”/”Yaxiya,” which has now become a reflexive part of the way we imagine the landmasses of the globe, was introduced into the Chinese vocabulary by the Jesuits and their Chinese collaborators in the late sixteenth century. Taking the entry of Yaxiya/Asia into Chinese vocabulary as emblematic of the changing conceptual lenses through which the earth and the human realm became legible and organized for and by early modern Chinese as well as people in other regions of the world, this talk attempts to capture these changing terms and the historical experience of spatial cognition and imagination of this era.
Assistant professor at UC Davis, Yuming He received her B.A. and M.A. from Peking University, China, and Ph.D. from UC Berkeley. She has held appointments at Reed College and the University of Chicago. Her research areas include late-imperial Chinese literature and culture, history of Chinese theater and performance, and Chinese book history.
Assistant professor at UC Davis, Yuming He received her B.A. and M.A. from Peking University, China, and Ph.D. from UC Berkeley. She has held appointments at Reed College and the University of Chicago. Her research areas include late-imperial Chinese literature and culture, history of Chinese theater and performance, and Chinese book history.