Events

Past Event

Life Along the River: Interactions between Human Societies and Valley Environments in the Convergence Zone of the Inner Asian Highlands, 1600s–1950s

July 22, 2021 - July 23, 2021
9:00 AM - 1:30 PM
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Online

The convergence zone of the Inner Asian Highlands lies at the intersection of the Himalayan, Mongolian, Loess and Yun-Gui plateaus, where the upper Yellow, Yangtze, Mekong and Salween rivers and their tributaries flow among towering mountains and segment the region into countless long valleys. Historically, these valleys sat on the overlapped margins of dominant centers of power. They have been the homelands of many remarkably distinct ethnic groups and also served as political, economic and cultural corridors between China proper and Inner Asia. The conference aims to explore how the riverine communities of different ethnic groups in these corridors have adapted to, negotiated with, transformed and interpreted their natural surroundings.

Conference Opening
(9:00–9:10 AM EST, Thursday, July 22)
Gray Tuttle, Leila Hadley Luce Professor of Modern Tibetan Studies, Columbia University

Keynote Speech: “East Asian Monsoon Variability and the ‘Northern Frontier’ in Chinese and Inner Asian History”
(9:10–10:20 AM EST, Thursday, July 22)
Nicola Di Cosmo, Henry Luce Foundation Professor of East Asian History, Institute for Advanced Study; Associate Member at the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University

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Session I: Narratives along the Rivers
(10:30 AM–1:00 PM EST, Thursday, July 22)
1. Dechen Palmo: New Light on the Sources of the Four Great Rivers
2. Gillian G. Tan: Complex River(s): Names, Narratives, and Connections in the Upper Reaches of the Yangzi
3. Hannibal Taubes: “They Told us that Rivertown was the Ends of Heaven”: The Upper Yellow River in the Chinese Literary-Cosmological Episteme, beginnings to 1750 CE
4. Liu Yuyuan Victoria: Filling the “Blank Lands”: Zhuang Xueben and His Photography along the Sino-Tibetan Frontiers
5. Monia Chies: Crossing the Upper-Yangtze River near Jyekundo between 1700s and 1950s

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Session II: In-between Heaven and Netherworld along the Rivers
(5:30 PM–7:30 PM EST, Thursday, July 22)
1. Hanung Kim: A Study of the Transmission of Buddhist Rain-controlling Rituals along the Sino-Tibetan Corridor
2. Marnyi Gyatso: Bon Zombie, Chinese Rainmakers, Tibetan Raiders and Muslim Traders: A Drought at the Multicultural Crossroad of the Inner Asian Highlands, 1900–1907
3. Naljor Tsering: The Invention of Bsang lnga: A Bon Ritual Text in the ’Phan chu and the ’Brug chu Valleys
4. Qi Guijuan: The Dragon Gods in the Huangshui Valley

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Session III: Ecology, Ethnicity and Economy along the Rivers
Part A (8:30 AM–10:00 AM EST, Friday, July 23)
1. Jack Patrick Hayes: Rhapsodizing Nature and Society on the Zung chu: Social and Ecological Interactions and Descriptions of the Upper Zung chu/Min jiang River System in Early Modern History
2. Hannah Theaker: Rafting Down the Yellow: The Late Qing Wood Rush and the Uplands of the Yellow River
3. Paul Nietupski: Life along the River in Dngul rwa: Economic, Ethnic, and Ecological Interactions

Part B (10:10 AM–11:40 AM EST, Friday, July 23)
1. Mark Frank: 3600 Meters: The Grain Line as a Lens on the History of Han-Tibetan Relations
2. Wang Guangrui: Ecology, Trade and Yi People’s View of Wealth in Deer Village along the Yalong River
3. Yao Wuyutong: Controversial Mountains: Medicinal Production, Local Communities, and the River Valleys in Western Sichuan, 1937–1940

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Session IV: Politico-Religious Landscapes along the Rivers
(11:50 AM–1:20 PM EST, Friday, July 23)
1. A. Orkhonselenge: Orkhon and Tuul River Valleys in Mongolian Plateau: Geomorphic, Historical, and Cultural Landscapes
2. Hu Xiaobai: Contesting the Turquoise Sea: Environmental Perception, Transregional Movements, and Geopolitical Change in the 16th-century Qinghai Highland
3. Uudam Baoagudamu: Mongols in Tsongchu and Sangchu Valleys

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NOTE: You must register for each session above individually.  After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining each meeting.

Contact Information

Gyatso Marnyi