Dan Knorr
@dknorr.bsky.social
Assistant Professor of East Asian history at Illinois State University. Research focuses on urban China, place, empire, and state-making during the Qing (1636–1912).
You can take the historian out of Hopkins but not the Hopkins out of the historian?
February 4, 2026 at 5:32 PM
You can take the historian out of Hopkins but not the Hopkins out of the historian?
This week in my Empire and Nation in Modern China class, we're reading parts of Millward's Beyond the Pass, Zhang's Timber and Forestry in Qing China, Herman's "From Land Reclamation to Land Grab," and Jenco and Chappell's "Overlapping Histories, Co-produced Concepts." Should be fun!
January 31, 2026 at 2:19 PM
This week in my Empire and Nation in Modern China class, we're reading parts of Millward's Beyond the Pass, Zhang's Timber and Forestry in Qing China, Herman's "From Land Reclamation to Land Grab," and Jenco and Chappell's "Overlapping Histories, Co-produced Concepts." Should be fun!
“What does ‘had no union with her’ mean?”
Not the sort of Christmas morning excitement I need!
Not the sort of Christmas morning excitement I need!
December 25, 2025 at 5:00 PM
“What does ‘had no union with her’ mean?”
Not the sort of Christmas morning excitement I need!
Not the sort of Christmas morning excitement I need!
The thrill of something you spent a lot of time working on being useful for another task. Merry Christmas to me!
December 23, 2025 at 3:45 PM
The thrill of something you spent a lot of time working on being useful for another task. Merry Christmas to me!
Reposted by Dan Knorr
My first public talk in 2026 will be at Northwestern on February 4, on Orwell & China planitpurple.northwestern.edu/event/637043
"Reading Nineteen Eighty-Four in Beijing" 2/4/2026
Reading Nineteen Eighty-Four in Beijing This presentation will look at how the last and most influential book written by George Orwell (1903-1950) has been received…
planitpurple.northwestern.edu
December 19, 2025 at 3:08 AM
My first public talk in 2026 will be at Northwestern on February 4, on Orwell & China planitpurple.northwestern.edu/event/637043
Final exam was a mix of low-stakes take-home short answers (requiring students to provide references to course materials) and an in-class essay. One positive takeaway is that quite a few students carried over citations from the take-home part into the essay even though I didn't require this.
December 15, 2025 at 5:57 PM
Final exam was a mix of low-stakes take-home short answers (requiring students to provide references to course materials) and an in-class essay. One positive takeaway is that quite a few students carried over citations from the take-home part into the essay even though I didn't require this.
Preferred utensil for eating cranberry sauce from the can?
December 5, 2025 at 2:45 AM
Preferred utensil for eating cranberry sauce from the can?
With this semester wrapping up, I've got to tie up syllabi for new classes on Civil War and Reconstruction in Nineteenth-Century China (a historiography class for majors) and Empire and Nation in Modern China (for MA students). Should be fun!
December 1, 2025 at 9:35 PM
With this semester wrapping up, I've got to tie up syllabi for new classes on Civil War and Reconstruction in Nineteenth-Century China (a historiography class for majors) and Empire and Nation in Modern China (for MA students). Should be fun!
E (7) to D (4): One of the things I’m most thankful for is my family. And you’re part of my family.
November 27, 2025 at 10:48 PM
E (7) to D (4): One of the things I’m most thankful for is my family. And you’re part of my family.
Personnel Management and Political Reform in Early Nineteenth-Century China - myself, Amy Gordanier, and Hou Yueran presenting, with David Porter @dcporter.bsky.social offering comments. 10:30 am on Saturday 3/14.
The #AAS2026 preliminary conference program is online ... start browsing the nearly *600 sessions*, planning your schedule, and seeing all that our gathering in Vancouver has to offer!
buff.ly/gItXtM1
buff.ly/gItXtM1
November 24, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Personnel Management and Political Reform in Early Nineteenth-Century China - myself, Amy Gordanier, and Hou Yueran presenting, with David Porter @dcporter.bsky.social offering comments. 10:30 am on Saturday 3/14.
My object lesson for Cambridge students when demonstrating the importance of adhesion when writing a comparative essay.
November 19, 2025 at 5:20 PM
My object lesson for Cambridge students when demonstrating the importance of adhesion when writing a comparative essay.
Invulnerability rituals!
A List of Things Said to Have Been Ruined by Women
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November 6, 2025 at 11:14 PM
Invulnerability rituals!
Reposted by Dan Knorr
A List of Things Said to Have Been Ruined by Women
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November 6, 2025 at 8:43 PM
A List of Things Said to Have Been Ruined by Women
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Reposted by Dan Knorr
Historians here: Anyone up for joining a panel on early modern translation practices in science and medicine with me and the wonderful Sare Arıcanlı? It’ll be for the 2026 ESHS–HSS Joint Meeting in Edinburgh. Let me know!
November 6, 2025 at 9:28 PM
Historians here: Anyone up for joining a panel on early modern translation practices in science and medicine with me and the wonderful Sare Arıcanlı? It’ll be for the 2026 ESHS–HSS Joint Meeting in Edinburgh. Let me know!
Reposted by Dan Knorr
I love to see stuff like this because it helps explain to people trapped in tech-sponsored information bubbles the actually obvious fact that universities teach people to know & think things, and AI is a way to produce the effect of knowing & thinking things w/o actually knowing & thinking them.
Opinion | Why Even Basic A.I. Use Is So Bad for Students
www.nytimes.com
October 31, 2025 at 11:13 AM
I love to see stuff like this because it helps explain to people trapped in tech-sponsored information bubbles the actually obvious fact that universities teach people to know & think things, and AI is a way to produce the effect of knowing & thinking things w/o actually knowing & thinking them.
What a time to be working on Qing salt merchants...
This is obviously illegal. It is also very stupid. An unconstrained executive will quickly learn that the best way to pay for the government is to call together all of the billionaires and ask them who wants to demonstrate their patriotism the most
Donor Who Gave $130 Million to Pay Troops Is Reclusive Heir to Mellon Fortune
www.nytimes.com
October 25, 2025 at 2:30 PM
What a time to be working on Qing salt merchants...
Reposted by Dan Knorr
@umich.edu faculty call for an honorary degree for Trump
“We have proven that we have no hard moral principles and no hill on which we will die.”
www.michigandaily.com/opinion/op-e...
“We have proven that we have no hard moral principles and no hill on which we will die.”
www.michigandaily.com/opinion/op-e...
Why Trump would be perfect for an honorary U-M doctoral degree
Awarding Trump an honorary doctoral degree would be an opportunity to recognize the long way the University has walked in less than two years. U-M juniors may still remember times when the campus code...
www.michigandaily.com
October 24, 2025 at 1:06 PM
@umich.edu faculty call for an honorary degree for Trump
“We have proven that we have no hard moral principles and no hill on which we will die.”
www.michigandaily.com/opinion/op-e...
“We have proven that we have no hard moral principles and no hill on which we will die.”
www.michigandaily.com/opinion/op-e...
Subheaders are the new m-dash.
October 22, 2025 at 8:14 PM
Subheaders are the new m-dash.
Very disappointed to realize that Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce's restraurant 1587 Prime is an homage to neither mathematics nor late Ming history.
October 21, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Very disappointed to realize that Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce's restraurant 1587 Prime is an homage to neither mathematics nor late Ming history.
Onto unit three of History of East Asia: Brave Neo-Confucian Worlds.
October 14, 2025 at 4:49 PM
Onto unit three of History of East Asia: Brave Neo-Confucian Worlds.
Qing documents hypothesis: the enjoyment derived from reading an imperial edict is directly proportional to the number of rhetorical questions it contains.
October 9, 2025 at 2:32 PM
Qing documents hypothesis: the enjoyment derived from reading an imperial edict is directly proportional to the number of rhetorical questions it contains.
When you've decided this will be the morning you start drafting this section, but you've also arranged for tree work to happen right outside your office window.
elmo from sesame street is standing in front of a brown wall and says welp .
Alt: Elmo from Sesame Street is standing in front of a brown wall and says welp while shrugging his shoulders.
media.tenor.com
October 3, 2025 at 1:49 PM
When you've decided this will be the morning you start drafting this section, but you've also arranged for tree work to happen right outside your office window.
If a censor was demoted four ranks but left in post, does that mean his reports would/should be taken more or less seriously?
October 2, 2025 at 2:56 PM
If a censor was demoted four ranks but left in post, does that mean his reports would/should be taken more or less seriously?