Jon Howlett
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jonhowlett.bsky.social
Jon Howlett
@jonhowlett.bsky.social
230 followers 420 following 43 posts
Senior Lecturer in Chinese and Colonial History at the University of York.
Research and teaching website: jonhowlett.com
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jonhowlett.bsky.social
My daughter Emily (7) is raising money for youth homelessness charity Centrepoint. Please support her if you can!
www.justgiving.com/page/howlett...
Emily's Cycle for Centrepoint
Help Jon Howlett raise money to support Centrepoint
www.justgiving.com
October 20, 2025 at 6:32 AM
jonhowlett.bsky.social
If your Thursday needs a boost, can I recommend the delightful Jin Shengtan's 金聖嘆 "Thirty-three Nice Things", translated by @bokane.org?

www.burninghou.se/p/whats-good

— if that’s not nice, what is?
What's Good? A Collection of Small Nice Things
Everything is awful, the dynasty is collapsing, and the vibes are fucked. Other people have been here before. Here's a few of Jin Shengtan's favorite things to distract you.
www.burninghou.se
October 9, 2025 at 12:18 PM
Reposted by Jon Howlett
bokane.org
For the Mid-Autumn Festival, I translated the 17th century failson, epicure, and memoirist Zhang Dai's account of the annual Mid-Autumn singing competition on Tiger Hill in Suzhou. www.burninghou.se/p/mid-autumn...
Mid-Autumn, Tiger Hill, Late Ming
"Everyone was perfectly silent, even the mosquitoes."
www.burninghou.se
October 6, 2025 at 5:43 AM
jonhowlett.bsky.social
Brilliant new research from York's @mrmhurst.bsky.social on the 88,000 Hong Kong colonial government records that remain at Hanslope Park, contributing new insights on how outgoing colonial officials handled records towards at end of the British Empire. #history

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Hong Kong Colonial Government Migrated Archives at Hanslope Park
Following the revelation in 2011 that the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office was sitting on the migrated archives of dozens of colonial governments, almost 20,000 files were transferred from s...
www.tandfonline.com
October 1, 2025 at 7:07 PM
jonhowlett.bsky.social
Brilliant to see York PhD student @mrmhurst.bsky.social win the @chinesestudies.bsky.social Early Career Researcher Prize last week for his work on the Hong Kong colonial government migrated archives at Hanslope Park - huge congrats Matthew!
Matthew Hurst presenting a keynote speech in front of a powerpoint presentation reading Hong Kong Colonial Government Migrated Archives at Hanslope Park
September 8, 2025 at 12:26 PM
jonhowlett.bsky.social
Great to be welcomed so warmly in Whitehall at the Treasury today putting Uk-China relations in historical perspective (not my usual Tuesday!)
July 1, 2025 at 4:48 PM
jonhowlett.bsky.social
Monday's third annual York Asia Research Network PhD Conference was brilliant - we had 16 speakers from across ten different departments and centres. Their exciting work took us from conserving ponds in northern India to Shakespeare in China and melon seeds in medieval Merv. Thanks everyone!
June 25, 2025 at 12:28 PM
Reposted by Jon Howlett
hollysnapewang.bsky.social
The British Association for Chinese Studies has announced the call for its 2025 Early Career Researcher Prize

www.facebook.com/bacsuk.org.u...
British Association for Chinese Studies
𝗕𝗔𝗖𝗦 𝗘𝗖𝗥 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝘇𝗲 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱 𝗘𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝘇𝗲 The British Association for Chinese Studies (BACS) invites early career researchers to submit an original research paper for consideration for the.....
www.facebook.com
May 9, 2025 at 1:01 PM
Reposted by Jon Howlett
damiandamiani.bsky.social
In 1981, the Chinese science-fiction monthly 奥秘 (Aomi) featured Russ Manning’s first run of Star Wars comic strips. Collected and re-arranged to fit a fullpage format, the comics remained virtually identical to their American original—if not for one key difference. Let’s look at one exemplary strip.
Two first pages from a 1981 Chinese version of Russ Manning's Star Wars comic strip from 1979.
March 13, 2025 at 9:11 PM
jonhowlett.bsky.social
Join us at the University of York on 2 April for a research seminar by @viviankonghk.bsky.social with the intriguing title 'In and Out of Marginality: An Anglo-Chinese 'Brothel Keeper' in Cornwall, Hong Kong, and London, 1889-1942'.
www.york.ac.uk/history/abou...
#York #history #chinesehistory
March 7, 2025 at 11:34 AM
jonhowlett.bsky.social
74 years ago, in March 1951, ‘Rose, Rose I Love You’ (玫瑰玫瑰我愛你), sung by Yao Lee (姚莉, pictured) became the first Chinese record to become a hit in Britain and America. (1/8)
March 4, 2025 at 10:25 AM
jonhowlett.bsky.social
Great to be back at @uobrishistory.bsky.social yesterday to talk to the wonderful Asian History Seminar Group about decolonisation, refugees, Hong Kong and even Tom Hanks at one point... Thanks @bickers.bsky.social, @viviankonghk.bsky.social and @sulinlewis.bsky.social
February 19, 2025 at 12:52 PM
Reposted by Jon Howlett
wordsfromtaiwan.bsky.social
The National #Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts (NTMoFA) holds an annual open call for #zodiac prints. Here are this year's winning #snake art 🐍

首獎 蘇宜琳 〈蛇彩繽紛〉: Colorful
優選 黃昱慈〈蛇麼都順〉: May Things Go (Slither) Your Way

* homophonous play on words for 蛇: 色 and 什
首獎 蘇宜琳 〈蛇彩繽紛 優選 黃昱慈〈蛇麼都順〉
January 3, 2025 at 3:00 PM
jonhowlett.bsky.social
Opportunity at the University of Glasgow, historians of China particularly encouraged to apply:
www.jobs.gla.ac.uk/job/lecturer-in-asian-history-c-1500-2000-focussing-on-either-east-asian-history-slash-history-of-china-or-history-of-the-indian-ocean-world-r-and-t-track
Lecturer in Asian History (c. 1500-2000), focussing on either East Asian History/History of China or History of the Indian Ocean World (R&T Track)
College of Arts & HumanitiesSchool of Humanities Lecturer in Asian History (c. 1500-2000), focussing on either East Asian History/History of China or History of the Indian Ocean World (R&T ...
www.jobs.gla.ac.uk
January 17, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Reposted by Jon Howlett
qiaoj.bsky.social
After 3 years and multiple job/country changes for us all, THRILLED to announce that the conference of the China Academic Network on Gender is back for a 4th edition! ✨

Join us on 17-18 June in lovely Paris with fab keynote speakers (Howard Chiang and Rachel Harris 💫 ) for "Voicing Gender in China"
Voicing Gender in China Fourth Conference of the China Academic Network on Gender Dates: 17-18 June 2025 Location: Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris (France) Deadline for abstracts (300 words): 1 February 2025 Send to: voicinggenderinchina@gmail.com We are pleased to announce that the Fourth Conference of the China Academic Network on Gender will be hosted by the Université Sorbonne Nouvelle on 17-18 June 2025. Titled 'Voicing Gender in China, the conference seeks to explore the multiple sites of intersection between voice and gender in Chinese society, past and present. Within Chinese studies, fruitful articulations between voice and gender studies have drawn from studies of women's political activism in history and sociology, exploring the ways in which activists and organisers have articulated new political identities in rallying cries and everyday protest. Literary scholars have looked at the shaping of gendered subjectivities through self-narratives and autobiographies, paying close attention to dialogue, orality and the mechanisms of silencing within literary establishments. In recent years, an explosion of sensory histories have explored how gender is enacted and defined through music, opera, dance and song. In parallel, sound studies scholars have brought to life the gendered soundscapes of modern and contemporary China in considering, for instance, the production of socialist state-sponsored music as well as the aural experiences of everyday life. Drawing from these multivocal approaches, this conference seeks to explore ways of rewriting into academic scholarship previously silenced minority voices, paying attention to the affective and political resonances of voicing out gender issues in different spaces, academic and public-facing. Interdisciplinary at heart, the conference aims to bring together scholars (including doctoral, postdoctoral, early, mid and advanced career researchers) from the humanities and social sciences working on gender and China. W… as discussants in each panel session. Outstanding papers will be considered for publication in an edited volume. Participating scholars The opening keynote speaker, Prof. Howard Chiang (University of California, Santa Barbara), is a historian of queer Asian Pacific history, the author of several books, including After Eunuchs: Science, Medicine, and the Transformation of Sex in Modern China (Columbia UP, 2018) and Transtopia in the Sinophone Pacific (2021). Prof. Rachel Harris (SOAS), who is an ethnomusicologist and has worked extensively on the soundscapes of Uyghur islam in China, will also present her latest research in the closing keynote. Dr Jennifer Bond (University College London), Dr. Chang Liu (Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen), Dr Coraline Jortay (CNRS UMR 7172 Thalim Sorbonne Nouvelle/ENS), Dr. Beatrice Zani (CNRS, LISE UMR 3302) will also participate as panel discussants. Submission Please send a 300 word abstract to voicinggenderinchina@gmail.com, including your full name, institutional affiliation, email address, and a short bio before 1 February 2025. Applicants will be notified of the outcome by mid-February 2025, and successful applicants will need to submit full papers two weeks prior to the conference (1 June 2025). We are currently in the process of exploring options for providing funded on-site childcare for conference participants. If you would be interested in this option, please indicate the age, languages spoken, and specific needs (if applicable) of any children travelling with you in your submission email. For further information, please contact the workshop committee at the above email address. Calendar - Deadline for abstract: 1 February 2025 - Notification of acceptance: mid-February 2025 - Deadline for full submission: 1 June 2025 Organisers China Academic Network on Gender & Université Sorbonne Nouvelle Organising committee: Jennifer Bond (UCL), Chang Liu (CUHK Shenzhen), Coraline Jortay (CNRS) Scientific committee: Jennifer …
January 8, 2025 at 10:25 AM
jonhowlett.bsky.social
A great read to shake off the Xmas-New Year torpor:
January 2, 2025 at 10:17 AM
jonhowlett.bsky.social
A Christmas thread featuring Shanghai, Communists, Christmas trees, and Ded Moroz:
--
I was surprised to see this heavily decorated Christmas tree in this collection of New Year posters from 1950s socialist Shanghai: chineseposters.net/posters/d85-...
Celebrate the new year
From poster series "Children's pictures - Joyous holidays".
chineseposters.net
December 20, 2024 at 4:41 PM
Reposted by Jon Howlett
zevhandel.bsky.social
Here's the unlikely century-long story of how a non-gendered pronoun became gendered, and then got itself re-de-gendered.

This one's got everything! Poetry! Grammar! Love songs! Queer communities! Unicode! and ... Y.R. Chao!

What more could you want?

#langsky 🀄️📚
1/
A brush-written Chinese character composed of 㐅 and 也, a gender-neutral way of writing tā. A brush-written Chinese character composed of 男 and 也, a way of writing tā with male reference.
November 25, 2024 at 6:06 AM
Reposted by Jon Howlett
bickers.bsky.social
My new favourite historic form: do you exist? Can you prove it? Do you have a form to say so signed by a church minister, magistrate, doctor or banker?
November 21, 2024 at 12:59 PM
jonhowlett.bsky.social
New blog post by York PhD student Yutong Wang on slums and policing in Shanghai
vischina.bsky.social Visualising China @vischina.bsky.social · Nov 18
A new post on our blog from Yutong Wang at the University of York on informal settlements and policing in 1930s Shanghai
t.co/LEpBFHw0og
A policeman supervises labourers demolishing an illegally-build hut in 1930s Shanghai
November 18, 2024 at 6:55 PM
Reposted by Jon Howlett
bickers.bsky.social
New to Bluesky: @Vischina -- Historical Photographs of China at the University of Bristol hpcbristol.net
November 18, 2024 at 4:49 PM
jonhowlett.bsky.social
I've put together a list of resources available in English for teaching and research on the People's Republic of China - designed with undergraduate dissertation students in mind: jonhowlett.com/resources/
resources
resources
jonhowlett.com
November 15, 2024 at 4:11 PM
jonhowlett.bsky.social
Finding a new home for another ♻️'d #history thread from THAT PLACE... (original stuff from here on - promise...)

Introducing Communist China’s first English-language daily, the Shanghai News #china
November 15, 2024 at 12:55 PM
jonhowlett.bsky.social
Please excuse the recycled content from THE OTHER PLACE but my blank Bluesky wall needs some content. And it is #strictly season again, so why not?

Revisiting a book market find: ‘Concise Social Dancing for Beginners, an instructional pamphlet published in Shanghai in 1953: #china #history
November 15, 2024 at 11:57 AM