Wilson Chan
@levilivy.bsky.social
Early modernist of China. History of science, material culture & intellectual history. Fond of Chinese calligraphy and painting.
Reposted by Wilson Chan
A number of paintings depicting Jesuit missionaries to Ming and Qing China, as well as Xu Guangqi 徐光啟, were returned to the Institute from the Asian Civilisations Museum in Singapore, where they had been on loan. The paintings were made at the T'ou-sè-wè 土山灣 orphanage in Shanghai before 1915.
June 9, 2025 at 4:29 PM
A number of paintings depicting Jesuit missionaries to Ming and Qing China, as well as Xu Guangqi 徐光啟, were returned to the Institute from the Asian Civilisations Museum in Singapore, where they had been on loan. The paintings were made at the T'ou-sè-wè 土山灣 orphanage in Shanghai before 1915.
Reposted by Wilson Chan
A meme for the modern university...
September 29, 2025 at 8:44 PM
A meme for the modern university...
Reposted by Wilson Chan
In other news, I'll be talking about #earlymodern news media next week in Copenhagen. This is the first workshop of the new "Objects of Knowledge" network, organized by @lauraskouvig.bsky.social and @mariasimonsen.bsky.social
comm.ku.dk/research/inf...
#histknow meeting #newshistory, #skystorians
comm.ku.dk/research/inf...
#histknow meeting #newshistory, #skystorians
September 10, 2025 at 1:06 PM
In other news, I'll be talking about #earlymodern news media next week in Copenhagen. This is the first workshop of the new "Objects of Knowledge" network, organized by @lauraskouvig.bsky.social and @mariasimonsen.bsky.social
comm.ku.dk/research/inf...
#histknow meeting #newshistory, #skystorians
comm.ku.dk/research/inf...
#histknow meeting #newshistory, #skystorians
Reposted by Wilson Chan
This shit is happening in Florida, too, only more quietly. Deans are regularly strangling readings, grants, entire courses. They do it all verbally. No paper trail, no policies cited, just vague threats about the need to "follow the laws." Colleagues in China report less surveillance over teaching
Texas A&M’s President just removed a dean and department head from their positions after they supported a professor whose lesson on gender was challenged by a student. www.kbtx.com/2025/09/09/a...
A&M Dean removed following student complaints over curriculum
The Department of Justice has also acknowledged the situation and said it would be investigating.
www.kbtx.com
September 9, 2025 at 1:38 PM
This shit is happening in Florida, too, only more quietly. Deans are regularly strangling readings, grants, entire courses. They do it all verbally. No paper trail, no policies cited, just vague threats about the need to "follow the laws." Colleagues in China report less surveillance over teaching
Reposted by Wilson Chan
L'histoire politique est aussi une histoire de l'arpentage et des pratiques matérielles de mesure et cartographie ...
Quand les Britanniques et les Français ont tracé la frontière libano-palestinienne en 1923 ils n'ont vraiment pas lésiné sur le niveau de détail topographique !
Document fascinant rencontré sur wiki commons
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/co...
Document fascinant rencontré sur wiki commons
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/co...
September 6, 2025 at 10:11 AM
L'histoire politique est aussi une histoire de l'arpentage et des pratiques matérielles de mesure et cartographie ...
Reposted by Wilson Chan
This and the 379 USB-sticks with pdfs you once collected.
#skystorians at work in the weeks before Christmas (and in every other week, tbh). 🗃️
July 22, 2025 at 2:17 PM
This and the 379 USB-sticks with pdfs you once collected.
Reposted by Wilson Chan
Issue 47.13 is now online, featuring:
Adam Shatz on the Israel-Iran war
Jackson Lears on the legacy of the war on terror
Barbara Everett says farewell to 𝘏𝘢𝘮𝘭𝘦𝘵
Huw Lemmey: Who’s afraid of Palestine Action?
Anthony Grafton on libraries
a poem by Kathleen Jamie
Read online at www.lrb.co.uk
Adam Shatz on the Israel-Iran war
Jackson Lears on the legacy of the war on terror
Barbara Everett says farewell to 𝘏𝘢𝘮𝘭𝘦𝘵
Huw Lemmey: Who’s afraid of Palestine Action?
Anthony Grafton on libraries
a poem by Kathleen Jamie
Read online at www.lrb.co.uk
July 16, 2025 at 1:04 PM
Issue 47.13 is now online, featuring:
Adam Shatz on the Israel-Iran war
Jackson Lears on the legacy of the war on terror
Barbara Everett says farewell to 𝘏𝘢𝘮𝘭𝘦𝘵
Huw Lemmey: Who’s afraid of Palestine Action?
Anthony Grafton on libraries
a poem by Kathleen Jamie
Read online at www.lrb.co.uk
Adam Shatz on the Israel-Iran war
Jackson Lears on the legacy of the war on terror
Barbara Everett says farewell to 𝘏𝘢𝘮𝘭𝘦𝘵
Huw Lemmey: Who’s afraid of Palestine Action?
Anthony Grafton on libraries
a poem by Kathleen Jamie
Read online at www.lrb.co.uk
Reposted by Wilson Chan
Review of my book in the American Historical Review: "The Gift should serve as a model for how to center material culture objects in the cross-cultural nodes of Atlantic slavery while also placing material culture at the center of Atlantic slavery studies."
doi.org/10.1093/ahr/...
#slaveryarchive
doi.org/10.1093/ahr/...
#slaveryarchive
June 13, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Review of my book in the American Historical Review: "The Gift should serve as a model for how to center material culture objects in the cross-cultural nodes of Atlantic slavery while also placing material culture at the center of Atlantic slavery studies."
doi.org/10.1093/ahr/...
#slaveryarchive
doi.org/10.1093/ahr/...
#slaveryarchive
Reposted by Wilson Chan
This.
Apposite as I work on the LLM paragraph for next term's syllabi.
I teach writing and journalism. So...no AI allowed in the writing process.
My problem: how to discuss search.
Apposite as I work on the LLM paragraph for next term's syllabi.
I teach writing and journalism. So...no AI allowed in the writing process.
My problem: how to discuss search.
Chatbots — LLMs — do not know facts and are not designed to be able to accurately answer factual questions. They are designed to find and mimic patterns of words, probabilistically. When they’re “right” it’s because correct things are often written down, so those patterns are frequent. That’s all.
June 19, 2025 at 4:32 PM
This.
Apposite as I work on the LLM paragraph for next term's syllabi.
I teach writing and journalism. So...no AI allowed in the writing process.
My problem: how to discuss search.
Apposite as I work on the LLM paragraph for next term's syllabi.
I teach writing and journalism. So...no AI allowed in the writing process.
My problem: how to discuss search.
Reposted by Wilson Chan
The Robert van Gulik Archive at Leiden University Libraries is now fully described and accessible online: edu.nl/d7p3m
June 19, 2025 at 1:08 PM
The Robert van Gulik Archive at Leiden University Libraries is now fully described and accessible online: edu.nl/d7p3m
Reposted by Wilson Chan
📢Registrations open📢
Excited to share our programme with a diverse range of papers on histories of South China - looking forward to seeing everyone at Christ Church College, @ox.ac.uk on 4 July!
📅Full programme and registration: bit.ly/HistoryofSou...
Excited to share our programme with a diverse range of papers on histories of South China - looking forward to seeing everyone at Christ Church College, @ox.ac.uk on 4 July!
📅Full programme and registration: bit.ly/HistoryofSou...
June 10, 2025 at 8:08 PM
📢Registrations open📢
Excited to share our programme with a diverse range of papers on histories of South China - looking forward to seeing everyone at Christ Church College, @ox.ac.uk on 4 July!
📅Full programme and registration: bit.ly/HistoryofSou...
Excited to share our programme with a diverse range of papers on histories of South China - looking forward to seeing everyone at Christ Church College, @ox.ac.uk on 4 July!
📅Full programme and registration: bit.ly/HistoryofSou...
Reposted by Wilson Chan
Not all the holdings are so finely-made! We also have a copy of the Three Character Classic, an essential primer for learning Classical Chinese. These were mass produced and produced cheaply. www.digitalcollections.manchester.ac.uk/view/PR-CHCR...
June 17, 2025 at 9:07 AM
Not all the holdings are so finely-made! We also have a copy of the Three Character Classic, an essential primer for learning Classical Chinese. These were mass produced and produced cheaply. www.digitalcollections.manchester.ac.uk/view/PR-CHCR...
Reposted by Wilson Chan
Next Monday at Academia Sinica, an IHP-EFEO talk (in Chinese) on how 9 Dunhuang geographical documents can help us understand knowledge production and practices in Central Asia before the age of print. All welcome
June 17, 2025 at 10:21 AM
Next Monday at Academia Sinica, an IHP-EFEO talk (in Chinese) on how 9 Dunhuang geographical documents can help us understand knowledge production and practices in Central Asia before the age of print. All welcome
Reposted by Wilson Chan
JOB> Lecturer in Chinese Studies, one year fixed term. Looking for someone to cover research leave in my programme www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...
Lecturer in Chinese Studies:Oxford Road
www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk
June 6, 2025 at 8:28 AM
JOB> Lecturer in Chinese Studies, one year fixed term. Looking for someone to cover research leave in my programme www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...
Reposted by Wilson Chan
Feel great about being part of this strong June line up at JF Books in DC, with my pub date launch of my new @columbiagr.bsky.social book on June 10, falling in between (among other events) Rowena He on Tiananmen on June 3 and @stephenplatt.bsky.social on The Raider on June 17
May 28, 2025 at 5:26 AM
Feel great about being part of this strong June line up at JF Books in DC, with my pub date launch of my new @columbiagr.bsky.social book on June 10, falling in between (among other events) Rowena He on Tiananmen on June 3 and @stephenplatt.bsky.social on The Raider on June 17
Reposted by Wilson Chan
Mark your calendars! 📅
I'm thrilled to share the line-up for the fall 2025 Science and Technology in Asia online seminar series.
Hope you'll be able to join us for one or more of these sessions!
seow.scholars.harvard.edu/STinAsia
#histstm #histsci #histtech #histmed #sts #envhist #envhum 🧪
I'm thrilled to share the line-up for the fall 2025 Science and Technology in Asia online seminar series.
Hope you'll be able to join us for one or more of these sessions!
seow.scholars.harvard.edu/STinAsia
#histstm #histsci #histtech #histmed #sts #envhist #envhum 🧪
May 8, 2025 at 2:06 PM
Reposted by Wilson Chan
The original Mongolic text of The Secret History of the Mongols is lost. The only surviving version 元朝秘史 from the Ming era is itself a fascinating work using Chinese characters to transcribe the Mongolic pronunciation, with annotation on the meaning
「成吉思皇帝的根源 上天處命有的 生了的蒼色狼 有妻他的慘白色鹿 有來騰汲思(水名)渡著來了」
「成吉思皇帝的根源 上天處命有的 生了的蒼色狼 有妻他的慘白色鹿 有來騰汲思(水名)渡著來了」
May 7, 2025 at 8:14 PM
The original Mongolic text of The Secret History of the Mongols is lost. The only surviving version 元朝秘史 from the Ming era is itself a fascinating work using Chinese characters to transcribe the Mongolic pronunciation, with annotation on the meaning
「成吉思皇帝的根源 上天處命有的 生了的蒼色狼 有妻他的慘白色鹿 有來騰汲思(水名)渡著來了」
「成吉思皇帝的根源 上天處命有的 生了的蒼色狼 有妻他的慘白色鹿 有來騰汲思(水名)渡著來了」
Reposted by Wilson Chan
Free translation tip: You can save a lot of trouble by periodically asking yourself "does this make any sense at all."*
* unless you are reading Daoist scriptures
* unless you are reading Daoist scriptures
plarf rockets weren't full of water; somebody mistranslated a term for over-inflating your budgets so you can embezzle money that means "fill with water".
i've been saying for a very long time that China itself is acting like it is nowhere near ready for military action against Taiwan, and this recent purge again illustrates that in spades (and I'll remind everyone that the "PLARF rockets were full of water" incident was just a year ago)
May 6, 2025 at 8:50 PM
Free translation tip: You can save a lot of trouble by periodically asking yourself "does this make any sense at all."*
* unless you are reading Daoist scriptures
* unless you are reading Daoist scriptures
Reposted by Wilson Chan
“Massive numbers of students are going to emerge from university with degrees, and into the workforce, who are essentially illiterate…Both in the literal sense and in the sense of being historically illiterate and having no knowledge of their own culture, much less anyone else’s.”
Everyone Is Cheating Their Way Through College
ChatGPT has unraveled the entire academic project.
nymag.com
May 7, 2025 at 11:08 AM
“Massive numbers of students are going to emerge from university with degrees, and into the workforce, who are essentially illiterate…Both in the literal sense and in the sense of being historically illiterate and having no knowledge of their own culture, much less anyone else’s.”
Reposted by Wilson Chan
Be my colleague at the Harvard-Yenching Library! We just opened our search for the next Librarian for #JapaneseStudies, who will become a core member of our small but mighty team. As with every job, you don't need to satisfy every qualification to apply. www.eastasianlib.org/newsite/harv...
Harvard-Yenching Library : Librarian for Japanese Studies – CEAL: Council on East Asian Libraries
www.eastasianlib.org
January 12, 2025 at 1:40 AM
Be my colleague at the Harvard-Yenching Library! We just opened our search for the next Librarian for #JapaneseStudies, who will become a core member of our small but mighty team. As with every job, you don't need to satisfy every qualification to apply. www.eastasianlib.org/newsite/harv...
Reposted by Wilson Chan
Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica, is recruiting a researcher specializing in Ming-Qing history! Application instructors in the link below #🀄️📚 #sinology #sinologists #history #chinesehistory
Full-Time Research Fellow Position in Ming-Qing History
1. Rank: Assistant Research Fellow, Associate Research Fellow or Research Fellow
(positions roughly correspond to assistant professor, associate professor and professor at the university level in t...
www1.ihp.sinica.edu.tw
January 7, 2025 at 5:02 AM
Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica, is recruiting a researcher specializing in Ming-Qing history! Application instructors in the link below #🀄️📚 #sinology #sinologists #history #chinesehistory
Reposted by Wilson Chan
New issue of Ming Studies is out! Featuring two articles, one interview, and four book reviews #🀄️📚
Ming Studies
Volume 2024, Issue 90 of Ming Studies
www.tandfonline.com
December 17, 2024 at 2:53 AM
New issue of Ming Studies is out! Featuring two articles, one interview, and four book reviews #🀄️📚
Reposted by Wilson Chan
R. Kent Guy's THREE IMPEACHMENTS is a rich and enticing probe into a key moment in late imperial Chinese history. Now available in print and #OpenAccess, made possible by a grant from the James P. Geiss and Margaret Y. Hsu Foundation. Learn more: uwapress.uw.edu/book/9780295...
December 19, 2024 at 12:29 AM
R. Kent Guy's THREE IMPEACHMENTS is a rich and enticing probe into a key moment in late imperial Chinese history. Now available in print and #OpenAccess, made possible by a grant from the James P. Geiss and Margaret Y. Hsu Foundation. Learn more: uwapress.uw.edu/book/9780295...
Reposted by Wilson Chan
Yes, 6 century Chinese people were taking Uranium and Strontium to prolong their lives......
December 15, 2024 at 9:51 AM
Yes, 6 century Chinese people were taking Uranium and Strontium to prolong their lives......