Willard J. Peterson | |
---|---|
Nationality | American |
Occupation(s) | University professor and historian |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | University of Rochester (B.A.) School of Oriental and African Studies, London University (M.A.) Harvard University (Ph.D.)Contents |
Academic work | |
Discipline | World history and Sinology |
Willard J. Peterson is an American historian and sinologist. He is Gordon Wu '58 Professor of Chinese Studies,Emeritus,and Professor of East Asian Studies and History,Emeritus at Princeton University. [1] [2] His research specialties include early Chinese philosophy and Chinese intellectual history and history of science during the Ming and Qing dynasties.
Peterson received his training as a sinologist from D. C. Lau and A. C. Graham in London in the 1960s. He went on to earn his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1970 and began teaching at Princeton University.
Peterson's early works focus on prominent Chinese intellectual figures in the seventeenth century such as Gu Yanwu and Fang Yizhi by placing their writings in the context of new trends of Neo-Confucian philosophy after Wang Yangming as well as the Ming-Qing transition. [3] In the 1980s,he published some of his most influential works in the Sinology circle,including his original annotation on the classical Chinese text The Book of Change,and a series of seminal papers on the Jesuit missionaries and their role in facilitating interactions of scientific knowledges between the East and West in early modern global history. Later,he became an important contributor and editor of the renowned The Cambridge History of China. He was the head editor of its two-part volume 9 on history of the first half of the Qing dynasty,published in 2002 and 2016,respectively. [4]
At Princeton University,Peterson taught a wide range of classes on Chinese philosophy and Chinese history before his retirement in 2020.
The Qing dynasty, officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last imperial dynasty in Chinese history. The dynasty, proclaimed in Shenyang in 1636, seized control of Beijing in 1644, which is considered the start of the dynasty's rule. The dynasty lasted until 1912, when it was overthrown in the Xinhai Revolution. In Chinese historiography, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the Ming dynasty and succeeded by the Republic of China. The multi-ethnic Qing dynasty assembled the territorial base for modern China. It was the largest imperial dynasty in the history of China and in 1790 the fourth-largest empire in world history in terms of territorial size. With over 426 million citizens in 1907, it was the most populous country in the world at the time.
Zhang Xianzhong, courtesy name Bingwu (秉吾), art name Jingxuan (敬軒), was a Chinese peasant leader who led a peasant rebellion from Yan'an wei, Shaanxi during the Ming-Qing transition. He conquered Sichuan in 1644, and named himself king and later emperor of the Xi dynasty. His rule in Sichuan was brief, and he was killed by the invading Qing army. He is commonly associated with the massacres in Sichuan that depopulated the region. However, the extent of his killings is disputed.
A queue or cue is a hairstyle worn by the Jurchen and Manchu peoples of Manchuria, and was later required to be worn by male subjects of Qing China. Hair on top of the scalp is grown long and is often braided, while the front portion of the head is shaved. The distinctive hairstyle led to its wearers being targeted during anti-Chinese riots in Australia and the United States.
The Bordered Blue Banner was one of the Eight Banners of Manchu military and society during the Later Jin and Qing dynasty of China. It was one of the lower five banners. According to the general annals of the Eight Banners, the Bordered Blue Banner was one of the banners located on the south right wing.
The Korean–Jurchen border conflicts were a series of conflicts from the 10th century to the 17th century between the Korean states of Goryeo and Joseon and the Jurchen people.
The Cambridge History of China is a series of books published by the Cambridge University Press (CUP) covering the history of China from the founding of the Qin dynasty in 221 BC to 1982 AD. The series was conceived by British historian Denis Twitchett and American historian John King Fairbank in the late 1960s, and publication began in 1978. The complete History will contain 15 volumes made up of 17 books with volumes 5 and 9 consisting of two books each.
The history of the Qing dynasty began with the proclamation of the Qing dynasty by the Manchu chieftain Hong Taiji in 1636, but the year 1644 is generally considered the start of the dynasty's rule in China. The dynasty lasted until 1912, when Puyi abdicated the throne in response to the 1911 Revolution. The final imperial dynasty of China, the Qing dynasty reached heights of power unlike any of the Chinese dynasties which preceded it, engaging in large-scale territorial expansion which ended with embarrassing defeat and humiliation to the foreign powers whom they believe to be inferior to them. The Qing dynasty's inability to successfully counter Western and Japanese imperialism ultimately led to its downfall, and the instability which emerged in China during the final years of the dynasty ultimately paved the way for the Warlord Era.
Teng Ssu-yü was a Sinologist, bibliographer, and professor of history at Indiana University. Born in Hunan Province, Qing China, he died in Bloomington, Indiana, after being struck by a car. Teng was trained in China in both the traditional skills of the Confucian scholar and contemporary historical attitudes and techniques. When he came to the United States in 1937, he became a member of the founding generation of American China studies. He wrote not only specialized monographs and bibliographical tools for academics but also such broad studies for introductory students as China's Response to the West.
The Peking Field Force was a modern-armed military unit that defended the Chinese imperial capital Beijing in the last decades of the Qing dynasty (1644–1912).
Andrew Henry Plaks is an American sinologist who specializes in the study of the vernacular fiction of the Ming and Qing dynasties. From 1973 to 2007, he taught at Princeton University, becoming full professor in 1980. He moved to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2007, where he became Professor of East Asian Studies.
Peter Kees Bol is an American historian and sinologist. He is the Charles H. Carswell Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations of Harvard University. Since 2013, he has been a Vice Provost of Harvard with oversight of HarvardX and the Harvard Initiative in Learning and Teaching (HILT). He is the founding director of the Harvard Center for Geographic Analysis, and also directs the China Historical Geographic Information System (CHGIS) and the China Biographical Database (CBDB) project.
This bibliography covers the English language scholarship of major studies in Chinese history.
Events from the year 1667 in China.
Events from the year 1677 in China.
Events from the year 1680 in China.
Events from the year 1685 in China.
The Jurchen unification were a series of events in the late 16th and early 17th centuries that led to the unification of the Jurchen tribes under the Jianzhou Jurchen leader Nurhaci. While Nurhaci was originally a vassal of the Ming dynasty who considered himself a local representative of imperial Ming power, he also had a somewhat antagonistic relationship with the Ming due to Ming's involvement in events early on in his life that led to the death of his father and grandfather combined with his own increasing ambition.
Liu Kwang-ching, who sometimes published under the name K.C. Liu, was a Chinese-born American historian of China. He taught at University of California-Davis from 1963 until his retirement in 1993. He is best known for his scholarship in late-Qing history, astute bibliographical work, and edited volumes, including co-editing Cambridge History of China volumes.