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Beijing Forum 2009: Nov 7 Panel
Session on Nation-building, National
Security and World Order in Historical
Crises
PKU NEWS 2009--11—10
http://ennews.pku.edu.cn/news.php?s=257867170
Peking University, Nov. 10, 2009: At 2 p.m. on Nov. 7th, the History panel session of
Beijing forum 2009 started discussions with the theme of "Nation-building, National
Security and World Order in Historical Crises." Focusing on this theme, eight
scholars from different countries and areas gave inspiring presentations with heated
discussions in four hours.
After chair Richard Whiting opened the session with a brief introduction, Professor
Antonnia M. Finnane from Melbourne University gave a presentation of "Letters from
a Crisis Zone: Jesuit Correspondence from Haimen and Chongming in the Late Qing
Era." Professor Finnane emphasized the importance of the Jesuit letters from
nineteenth-century China as historical sources that can help us know much about the
history at that time; for example, northern Jiangsu Province suffered catastrophic
effects from the Opium Wars. Professor Finnane concluded that the "eyewitness
accounts by missionaries in the region provide an unusual first-hand account of a
society in crisis."
Then Professor Wang Lixin from Department of History of Peking University gave a
speech with the title of "Christianizing of International Relations: Reflections on the
Great War and the Rise of Internationalism in American Missionary Groups." His
presentation focused on two aspects: one is the reflection of roles on the courses to
prevent war at that time and the other is about the solution. Professor Wang first
described the wrong conception about this issue held by people and then he pointed
out the situation of Christianizing international relations and some countries filled
their own nations with the spirit of Christ.
Next, Mr. Hsieh Kuo-hsing talked about Taiwan Strait Crisis by giving the
presentation of "The Knot of Nationalism and the Taiwan Strait Cirsis". He argued
that the ties of economic interests and cultural communication are the two main
directions of the relation between mainland China and Taiwan. Besides, he claimed
that mainland China plays the most important role in the relation.
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