Research

August 23, 2019 at 11:33 am

Hill Spends Summer Fellowship at Collaborative Innovation Center of Confucian Civilization in China

Dr. Joshua Hill, standing at the front of a classrom with his arms folded.

Dr. Joshua Hill

Dr. Joshua Hill, Associate Professor of History at Ohio University, was named a Fellow at the Collaborative Innovation Center of Confucian Civilization at Shandong University in the People’s Republic of China, where he spent three months this past summer.

He gave a talk at Shandong University on “Voting for Sages? The Historical Significance of Voting in Late Qing and Early Republican China.”

Abstract: In the first two decades of the 20th century, voting became a common political activity in China. In practical terms, these elections were failures. Elected representatives, faced with foreign threats and domestic instability, never produced a stable national government. Thus, this election system is often forgotten by historians today. Yet, in terms of the history of ideas, these elections represent a fascinating attempt to blend Confucian political concepts with democratic political methods. Examining popular and elite reactions in late Qing and early Republican China to these elections provides a useful case study for rethinking questions of “Confucian democracy” in the 21st century world.

Flier that has Chinese art and says "Voting for Sages? The Historical Significance of Voting in Late Qing and Early Republican China" in English and Chinese.

For more on Hill’s research and teaching interests, visit his department profile.

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