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How did students at the Imperial University (taixue太學) comment on politics in response to political crises incurred by the Jurchen invasion in 1126? Through an analysis of the networks of students who prostrated in front of the imperial palace to express their opinions and a comparison of fourteen memorials submitted by students to the emperor in the first half of 1126, I aim to discuss the extent to which students’ background and social networks relate to their participation in collective actions and diverse political agendas. A close examination of the memorials also reveals that students were highly responsive to the rapidly changing political environment. Such responsiveness, I would argue, owes much to the prevalence of different communication channels that facilitated the circulation of political information among the literati circle.

 

‪面對女真人入侵所引發的政治危機，太學生在靖康元年如何議論朝政？通過分析‬‬‬參與伏闕上書的太學生之人際網絡，以及比較太學生在靖康元年上半葉向欽宗皇帝呈上的十四通書，本講演探討學生的背景和人際網絡與其參與集體行動及其不同的政治理念有何種程度的關連。在仔細考察十四通太學生上書後，可發現太學生對急劇轉變的政治環境高度敏感。講者認為這種敏感度很大程度歸因於當時盛行的各種傳播渠道，而這些渠道促進了政治信息在士人群體中的傳播。‬

 

Dr. Chu Ming Kin is Assistant Professor in the School of Chinese, HKU. Before joining the School in 2017, he had been a Research Assistant Professor in The Jao Tsung-I Academy of Sinology at Hong Kong Baptist University, a lecturer in the Department of History at Hong Kong Shue Yan University and a postdoctoral research associate at King’s College London and Leiden University. His research interests include political, educational, institutional, social and cultural history in Middle-period China (Five Dynasties, Song and Yuan) and Chinese historiography.