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Mic Drop: A Night at HUM Space
Part of the Humanities Research Center’s 2025 Spring Conference
Get ready to have an amazing night! The Humanities Research Center is throwing an epic karaoke night at HUM Space, and you’re invited to join in the fun. Whether you’re ready to belt out your favorite tunes or simply cheer on your friends, this is the perfect chance to let loose and make some unforgettable memories.
Here’s what you need to know:
• What: Karaoke Night – Show Off Your Talent and Have a Blast!
• When: April 18 at 19:30
• Where: HUM Space (AB1075A)
Imagine an evening filled with great music, contagious laughter, and the perfect vibe to end your day. We’ll have plenty of opportunities for solo performances, group sing-alongs, and even a few friendly competitions to spice things up!
Don’t miss this exciting opportunity to relax, have fun, and connect with fellow students in a vibrant atmosphere. Bring your friends, your best song requests, and your energy—it’s going to be a night to remember!
Looking forward to seeing you there and making some great memories together.
Light refreshments and beverages will be provided.
Gambling and Early Modern Vernacular Stories: Feng Menglong 馮夢龍 (1574-1646) and Li Yu 李漁 (1611-1680)
Guest Talk for LIT 217/CHINESE 417 Li Yu and Seventeenth-century Chinese Pop Culture.
When: Apr. 16 (W) 12:00-1:30 pm
Location: CCT E1012
Abstract
This talk examines representations of gambling in the late Ming and early Qing vernacular stories (huaben 4). Focusing on two stories by Feng Menglong 馮夢龍 (1574-1646) and Li Yu 李漁 (1611-1680), I show how the game, which usually starts as a trivial everyday activity, can be aggravated into a gamble on life and death.
These early modern literary imaginations were realized by the authors’ deft treatment of the narrative: inventing the supernatural characters or developing a particular episodic narrative structure. Through these narrative strategies, they negate an explicit moral message on the page. Rather, these authors invite the readers to experience a metagame of gambling: it is the uncertainty about the precise message that entices the readers to continuously flip over the pages, hoping that at some moment they could discover the truth left by the authors. In sum, I argue that the vernacular stories offer the authors an innovative and ideal testing ground to explore both the theme of gambling and the nature of vernacular stories as a literary genre, revealing through their interplay the complex tensions between money and fate, chance and retribution, the ordinary and the extraordinary.
Speaker
Jiayi Chen (cjiayi@wustl.edu), Assistant Professor Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures @ Washington University in St. Louis.
Jiayi Chen is an assistant professor of East Asian Languages and Cultures at Washington University in St. Louis. She works on early modern Chinese literature and culture. Her current book project, tentatively titled The Early Modern Ludic: Gaming and Literary Culture in China studies how authors, playwrights, publishers, and readers from the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries leveraged the critical potential of games to model reading, learning, and thinking, thereby cultivating new epistemological perspectives for navigating reality.
Scan to read the story by Li Yu.
Screening of Journey of the Universe
Join Us for a Special Film Screening and Q&A with Yale Professors Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim!
Date & Time: Monday, April 14
6:00 – 7:00 PM: Screening of Journey of the Universe
7:00 – 7:30 PM: Q&A Session
Location: IB Lecture Theater
We are excited to invite you to a special screening of Journey of the Universe, an Emmy Award-winning documentary that explores the profound connections between humanity and the cosmos. The film weaves together scientific discoveries and cultural narratives to offer a fresh perspective on our place in the universe.
Following the screening, Yale University Professors Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim will lead an engaging discussion, offering insights into the making of the film and its broader implications for our world today.
Don’t miss this unique opportunity to experience an inspiring cinematic journey and engage with distinguished scholars in an intimate Q&A session!
Joking, Swearing, Translating: Two Days on Intercultural Translation
Have you ever wondered why some jokes don’t translate well into another language? Or how profanity in different languages and dialects can impart incisive wisdom or even express poetic beauty? Two Days on Intercultural Translation opens the gateway to the hilarious, tricky, and thought-provoking world of cross-cultural storytelling.
Two Days on Intercultural Translation invites you into the fascinating, hilarious, and sometimes tricky world of cross-cultural storytelling. Featuring award-winning translators and poets Jessica Cohen, Jennifer Kronovet, Ken Liu, Austin Woerner, and Jenny Xie, this two-day event explores the challenges and artistry of translating humor, swearing, and everything in between.
Get ready for insightful discussions where language gets messy, witty, and wonderfully complex!
Event Details
Day 1: March 28 | 10:00 – 11:00 AM (BJT) | Zoom
Zoom ID: 382 860 0131
A roundtable discussion featuring:
- Jessica Cohen – Hebrew literary translator, International Booker Prize winner (2017), Guggenheim Fellow (2021).
- Jennifer Kronovet – Translator of Chinese and Yiddish poetry, Editor of Circumference Books.
Moderated by Professor Yitzhak Lewis.
This is a great opportunity to gain insight into the world of intercultural translation from some of the most accomplished professionals in the field. Stay tuned for more details on Day 2!
Hope to see you there!
Navigating China’s Archives: A Hands-On Guide for Emerging Researchers
We are excited to invite you to an upcoming event hosted by DKU HRC and the Archives and History Initiative, titled “Navigating Textual Sources and Digital Databases.”
As an emerging researcher, you are wondering: where can I find material in China? How do I begin my research? The presentation introduces samples of archives and hands-on exercise of exploring digital databases in China that help you navigate in the world of mass-produced data.
Date: March 19, 4pm-5:15pm
Location: DKU Library Teahouse
Mark your calendars and be part of this engaging discussion that promises to enrich your academic journey. We look forward to seeing you there!
RAS Art Focus March 16 – China’s Arts and Aesthetics of the Past: Art, Display and Performance in Prehistoric China
When
Mar 16, 2025
(3:00 PM - 5:00 PM) (GMT+8)
Curated and moderated by RAS Art Focus Convener and Art Historian Julie Chun, we continue our studies in the 2024-2025 series China’s Arts and Aesthetics of the Past as we delve into the material culture of the recent and distant history to assess how objects ranging from imperial patronage to utilitarian handicrafts have shaped China’s aesthetics through the ages.
Material records of art and display are a sure sign of human presence. This lecture by Ed Allen, Postdoctoral Researcher of Chinese Archeology at Fudan University, will take us back 30000 years, to China’s earliest known excavated adornments. We will follow this through the emergence of settled agriculture in the Chinese heartland, the rise of complex societies across China and emergence of the traditional Chinese state. We will examine how art, display and society variously intertwined across these separate phases. The lecture will serve as an introduction to the riches of archaeology in China and how archaeology can impact how we think about art and display even in the Instagram Era.
SPEAKERS
Ed Allen – Postdoctoral Researcher at Chinese Archeology at Fudan University
Register here.
DKU Film Society Presents: The Best of Sofia Coppola
This Thursday at CCTE Theatre, we’re thrilled to present a screening of The Virgin Suicides (“处女之死,” 1999) as part of our “The Best of…” series. This hauntingly poetic debut by Sofia Coppola is a mesmerizing exploration of memory, desire, and the unknowable depths of adolescence.
Set in suburban 1970s America, The Virgin Suicides follows the tragic and mysterious lives of the five Lisbon sisters, whose beauty and isolation captivate the neighborhood boys who narrate the film. Through dreamlike visuals, an ethereal score by Air, and Coppola’s signature delicate touch, the film weaves a melancholic tapestry of youth, repression, and the fleeting nature of innocence.
Time & Location:
Professor Stephanie Anderson featured in Publishers Weekly with her new volume: Women in Independent Publishing: A History of Unsung Innovators, 1953-1989
On February 17th 2025, DKU Assistant Professor of Literature and Creative Writing Dr. Stephanie Anderson was featured in American magazine Publishers Weekly for her new edited volume: Women in Independent Publishing: A History of Unsung Innovators, 1953-1989.
Hot off the press with the University of New Mexico Press, Dr. Anderson’s work showcases an intimate yet thorough oral history that includes interviews with women and nonbinary editors, all of whom injected new voices and perspectives into the literary landscape and approached the publishing process on their own terms. See full details of the interview here.
Purchase the book here.
We are incredibly proud of Dr. Anderson’s achievement and thrilled to see her work receive such well-deserved recognition. We eagerly anticipate the ongoing influence of her scholarship within both academic and literary communities. Let’s all take a moment to celebrate her remarkable accomplishments.
The LilyPad is Recruiting
Gain experience in news writing, editing, interviewing, graphic design, social media marketing, and more. Join the team of DKU’s only student-led newspaper!
Open Positions:
- Associate Editors
- Staff Writers
- Social Media and Design
Applications open until February 28.
Apply here!
Unbound: A Journey Through Flow and Resistance
By Chengxi Yin, class of 2026, Photo by Ruixiang Hu, class of 2027
On December 3, 2024, Duke Kunshan University Humanities Research Center, Gender Studies Lab, Dr. Crystal Kwok, and her students unveiled their collaborative exhibition, Unbound: Flow and Resistance, in the HUM Space. The event was a landmark occasion for the university, blending art, activism, and academic inquiry into a thought-provoking exploration of the human body and its intersections with gender, vulnerability, and resistance.
The ceremony began with welcome speeches from HRC Co-director Dr. Selina Lai-Henderson and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Dr. Scott MacEachern. Both leaders emphasized the importance of interdisciplinary initiatives like Unbound, celebrating the dedication of all who contributed to the exhibition’s realization. Gender Studies Lab Co-directors Dr. Hyun Jeong Ha, Dr. Megan Rogers, and Dr. Jesse Olsavsky also delivered opening remarks, reflecting on the exhibition’s capacity to inspire deeper conversations about gender, identity, and societal expectations.
Student curators Sue Wang and Davit Kavkasyan provided an overview of the exhibition’s concept, highlighting its focus on the body as a site of perpetual transformation and tension. Through multimedia works featuring symbols like eyes, hands, and faces, the exhibit delves into themes of perception, identity, menstruation, fluidity, and healing. It reflects on the body’s role as a battleground shaped by personal struggles and societal forces, celebrating its resilience and capacity for change. The exhibition invites viewers to reconsider their relationship with their bodies and the world.
A major highlight of the exhibition opening was the screening of The Stain: Unshaming Menstruation, a short documentary by Dr. Crystal Kwok and her students. Dr. Kwok, an award-winning filmmaker, actress, writer, and academic, is renowned for her work addressing socially sensitive topics surrounding women, sexuality, and the body. Her previous documentary, Blurring the Color Line, has received numerous accolades, including Best Documentary at the Silicon Valley Asian Pacific Film Festival. Speaking about The Stain, Dr. Kwok elaborated on her inspiration for the project: “Menstruation is a universal experience, yet it is often shrouded in shame and secrecy. The film confronts deeply ingrained cultural stigmas around menstruation, challenging taboos and amplifying voices that are often silenced.” By normalizing the conversation, this documentary seeks to create a space for healing and empowerment.
The Stain weaves together intimate interviews, modern dance, music, and poetry, exploring diverse experiences with menstruation. From the anxiety of staining clothing to the stigma of discussing menstruation openly, the documentary sheds light on the complex emotions and societal pressures surrounding this natural process. Stories range from a participant recalling the embarrassment of staining a white prom dress to reflections on intergenerational taboos and cultural misconceptions. One particularly striking moment in the film features a modern dance sequence symbolizing the pain and resilience of menstruating bodies.
The exhibition also included a live poetry reading by members of the DKU Poetry Club, whose works echoed the themes of stain, vulnerability, and resilience. Their performances added another layer of emotional depth, creating a multisensory experience that resonated with attendees.
Through its combination of visual art, film, and live performance, Unbound underscores the potential of creative expression to challenge societal norms and foster understanding. The success of Unbound: Flow and Resistance reflects the power of interdisciplinary collaboration at Duke Kunshan University. This exhibition is not just an end, but a beginning. It exemplifies what can be achieved when students, faculty, and researchers come together to address critical issues through the lens of art and scholarship.
The clip for The Stain: Unshaming Menstruation, a short documentary by Dr. Crystal Kwok and her students, is available here:
