Letter from the Editor of The Chinese Historical Review

Letter from the Editor of The Chinese Historical Review

The Chinese Historical Review has begun the second year of its partnership with Maney Publishing. The first year of the partnership proved very successful. Worldwide distribution in print and online has brought an unprecedented visibility to the journal. Feedback received from old and new readers confirms that the journal has evolved to a new and more professional level in content and form.

We are please to announce our Spring 2013 issue (Vol. 20, No. 1), published in May, a special symposium on “Christianity and China,” featuring four original research papers by both established and emerging scholars that address various aspects of Christianity and its ramifications in early modern and modern Chinese history. We are particularly grateful to Prof. Xi Lian for his profound intellectual insights and impeccable organizational skills. We do hope CHUS members enjoy this symposium. In case your hard copy has not reached you yet, here are the highlights:

Symposium on Christianity and China (CHR, May 2013)
“Introduction: A New Journey in the Study of Christianity in China,” by Xi Lian
“Reflections on Protestantism and Modern China: Problems of Periodization,” by Daniel H. Bays
“Chinese Christian Virgins and Catholic Communities of Women in Northeast China,” by Ji Li
“The Church as a Protector: Anti-Christian Cases and Resource Conflicts in Post-Boxer Chaozhou,” by Joseph Tse-Hei Lee
“‘Wants Learn Cut, Finish People’: American Missionary Medical Education for Chinese Women and Cultural Imperialism in the Missionary Enterprise, 1890s-1920,” by Connie Shemo
“Cultural Christians” and the Search for Civil Society in Contemporary China, by Xi Lian

The issue also includes Alan Baumler’s interview with R. Keith Schoppa, a highly-regarded China specialist and a prolific author on China. In “From Texas to Zhejiang: The Intellectual Journey of a China Scholar,” Prof. Schoppa generously shares how he became a China historian and how he envisioned and produced his impressive body of scholarship.

Our Fall 2013 issue (Vol. 20, No. 2), scheduled to appear in print in October, will bring out another symposium, this time, on “Family in Chinese History.” This symposium was organized by Prof. Cong Ellen Zhang of the University of Virginia, with the advice and consultation of Prof. Ping Yao, a member of CHR editorial board. The four original research articles in the symposium examine issues of family in various periods of Chinese history. Again, this is a new frontier that we try to take a leading role to explore, very much like we did with the Christianity symposium and the frontier symposium (which was organized by Prof. Patrick Fuliang Shan and published in 2012).

As readers might realize, CHR’s recent and upcoming symposia have been organized by CHUS members. We reiterate this point not just to show our appreciation to our fellow members – Profs. Patrick Fuliang Shan, Xi Lian, and Cong Ellen Zhang – but to stress that constant and enthusiastic support of members is vital to the success of the journal. As always, we welcome ideas, suggestions, and critiques from the CHUS community about how we can improve the journal. We want to extend our invitations once again to all CHUS members to submit your best original research results to the journal. We will get them peerreviewed, edited, and published.

Respectfully,
Xi Wang
Editor, CHR

CHUS President’s Letter

Greetings from the New President

April 27, 2013

Dear Colleagues and CHUS Members,

On behalf of the new board, I wish to thank all of you for trusting me to be the president of CHUS and for offering the new board members a chance to serve our organization for the next two years. I also wish to thank Dr. Xiaoping CONG and the previous board for their hard work during the past two years and for their collegial and selfless efforts to help the new board with the leadership transition process.

Please allow me to introduce to you the newly-elected board members and the division of labor among us: Dr. Chunmei Du (Western Kentucky University) will be the new secretary and membership director; Dr. Qiang Fang (University of Minnesota, Duluth) the treasurer; Dr. Margaret Kuo (California State University, Long Beach) the newsletter editor and website manager; and
Dr. Danke Li (Fairfield University), who has been serving as the organizational coordinator on the previous board for the past two years will continue to serve in the same capacity for one more term. I am extremely privileged to have this group of talented colleagues working with me for the next two years and CHUS is blessed to have their dedicated service.

In keeping with CHUS’ mission statement, the new board will continue the tradition of serving members, promoting historical scholarship and academic exchange, and developing CHUS into a vibrant academic community. To that end, in addition to continuing to sponsor panels for members at the AHA’s annual conference and working with the editorial board of The Chinese Historical Review to ensure the continuous publication of the journal, the new board will launch a number of new initiatives that focus on membership expansion, website management, and international conferences and exchange programs with China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.

Needless to say, the board’s success in achieving these goals will in part depend on the support and cooperation of CHUS’ members. We will count on that support and cooperation and hope the collective wisdom of CHUS’ members and the high ideals embodied in our organization’s mission will carry us forward.

Once again, thank you all for your trust and support and I wish everyone a successful conclusion of the academic year.

Sincerely,
Zhiwei Xiao