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School of Chinese Seminar

State Ideology and Social Tensions in the Qin Empire, 221-207 BCE

秦帝國的意識形態與社會張力

Dr. Chun Fung Tong (Heidelberg University)

唐俊峰博士 (海德堡大學)

日期 Date: 6 June 2024 (Thursday)

時間 Time: 11:00-12:30 pm

地點 Venue: CPD-7.30, 7/F, Run Run Shaw Tower, Centennial Campus, The University of Hong Kong

語言 Language: English

Abstract:

This talk delves into the lives of the Qin Empire’s subjects—especially those of the low-level officials—by studying their tensions with the state. First, it explores the emergence of a universal ruling class featuring literate administrators, and how this progress temporarily discontinued after the collapse of Qin’s political organization. Second, it examines the negative effects of the Qin’s difficult and uncompassionate “moral-legalist supremacism” ideology, which might have discouraged Qin officials from being committed to their duties and counteracted the very purposes of Qin’s sociopolitical reforms. These phenomena demonstrate the insufficient power of the Qin regime.

本次講座將透過討論秦帝國治下民眾（特別是低層官吏）與國家的張力，探究他們在帝國治下的生活狀況。首先，講座將揭示一個以具讀寫素養之行政官僚為中心的統治階級，在秦帝國時代如何逐漸興起，以及此階級的形成如何在秦政治組織崩潰後一度中斷。其次，講座將討論秦政府嚴峻且缺乏同理心的意識形態之負面影響，認為它可能導致秦官吏無心克盡己職，使秦統治者的政治、社會改革無法取得預期成果。這些現象表明秦政權的國家力量相當不足。

Speaker:

Chun Fung Tong is a postdoctoral researcher at Heidelberg University. He studied history at the Chinese University of Hong Kong for his BA and MPhil degrees before completing a PhD in Sinology at Heidelberg in 2020. His research focuses on the social, political and institutional history, historiography as well as manuscript culture of early China. His first monograph, State Power and Governance in Early Imperial China: The Collapse of the Qin Empire, 221–207 BCE, will be published by State University of New York Press in September 2024.

唐俊峰現任海德堡大學博士後研究員，其研究興趣集中於中國古代的社會、政治、制度與史學史以及寫本文化。他此前在香港中文大學取得文學士與哲學碩士學位，並於2020年在海德堡大學取得哲學博士學位（漢學）。他的首部專著，State Power and Governance in Early Imperial China: The Collapse of the Qin Empire, 221–207 BCE（早期帝制中國的國家力量與治理：秦帝國的崩潰），將於2024年9月由紐約州立大學出版社出版。

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