Connecting the Silk Road: Trade, People & Social Networks (400-1300 AD)

Posted by: mchu in conference member presentations chinese history comparative history eurasian history networks 7 years, 4 months ago

Team members Hilde De Weerdt and Julius Morche served as session chairs at the conference “Connecting the Silk Road: Trade, People & Social Networks (400-1300 AD)”, which was held at Leiden University and Hermitage Amsterdam on May 17 and 18. The presented papers covered a  wide range of periods, regions, objects and disciplinary specializations and highlighted the complexity and dynamics of interactions of social groups, objects and architectural structures through and between the networks created along the Silk Road. Linking China and Europe through different land routes across Eurasia, the Silk Road offers  an opportunity to historians with a regional focus to frame their research questions in a global perspective. 

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“Networks and Interactions” graduate conference

Posted by: mchu in conference member presentations chinese history comparative history european history networks 7 years, 4 months ago

Team members Hilde De Weerdt, Julius Morche and Ming-kin Chu participated in the “Networks and Interactions” graduate conference at Leiden University (May 9-11, 2014). Hilde served as a discussant for the panel “Social and Economic Networks in Texts”, in which both Julius and Ming-kin as well as Silke Vanbeselaere (KU Leuven) presented papers. In his paper “An Economic Model of Political Communication: Informational Networks in Venetian Long-Distance Trade, 1350-1500”, Julius showed how economic network theory can be used to evaluate both the commercial links between Venetian patricians and the transmissions of political information enabled through these interconnections, and argued that the extent to which commercial and communication networks were mutually embedded necessitated a new model to capture the dynamics of the transmission of political information in early modern long-distance trade. Ming-kin offered a case study of the relationship between early Southern Song literati and the chief councilor Qin Gui through an analysis of Zheng Gangzhong’s epistolary writings in his presentation “Epistolary network in Middle Period China: the Case of Zheng Gangzhong 鄭剛中 (1088-1154)”. He showed how Zheng Gangzhong attempted to build a good rapport with the people surrounding the councilor Qin Gui in order to maintain the former’s position in Sichuan, discussing in particular the relationship between Zheng’s epistolary network and Qin’s long tenure as chief councilor. In her discussion, Hilde highlighted the panel contribution’s distinct conceptual use of “networks”, namely as a particular kind of interpersonal relationship, a philological tool, and a theory of relationships, flows and interactions.

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Automating Data Extraction from Chinese Texts

Posted by: Hilde de Weerdt 7 years, 4 months ago

 

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ESSHC 2014: Analysing Networks of Communication: China and Europe in Comparative Perspective (800-1600)

Posted by: julius in member presentations conference comparative history networks 7 years, 5 months ago

Team members Hilde De Weerdt and Julius Morche as well as Francisco Apellaniz (European University Institute) will form a panel at the European Social Science History Conference in Vienna (23-26 May 2014). The meeting will be chaired by Peter Stabel (University of Antwerpen), while Johannes Preiser-Kapeller (Austrian Academy of Sciences) will act as discussant.

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Two frameworks for understanding spatial control and political integration in Chinese history

Posted by: Hilde de Weerdt in chinese history networks digital humanities 7 years, 6 months ago

Two frameworks for understanding spatial control and political integration in Chinese history

Hilde De Weerdt

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