From June 23 to July 2 2018, “The 8th Summer program in Studies of East Art, Religion and History” organized by the National Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies of Fudan University and the Institute of Oriental Culture of Tokyo University was held at Fudan University. A total of 34 students were admitted to the program, who came from Fudan University, Tongji University, East China Normal University, Shanghai University, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, Shanghai University, Taiwan Mingdao University, Chinese University of Hong Kong, and other domestic universities. Many students came from foreign universities, which included University of Tokyo, Kyoto University, Korea University, Seoul National University, Princeton University, Chicago University, University of California San Diego, University of Arizona, New York University, State University of New York (Binghamton), Rice University, University of Oxford, University of London School of Oriental and African Studies, University of Ankara, University of Alberta, and University of Heidelberg.

The students' majors covered the fields of history, religion, archaeology, art and literature. Lectures were given by six instructors, including Tsukamoto Maromitsu from the Institute of Oriental Culture, University of Tokyo; Professor Yeh Wen-hsin from the University of California, Berkeley; Professor Benjamin A Elman from Princeton University; Professor Suzuki Yoichi from Kanagawa University; Professor Axel Schneider from the University of Göttingen and Professor Ge Zhaoguang from the National Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies of Fudan University.

At 3 pm June 23, the opening ceremony and the presentation of instructors and students were held in the lecture hall 2801 of West Guanghua Building. Professor Li Xingming, vice-director of the the National Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies, made the welcome speech for the instructors and students. He also introduced the research specialties of the instructors and the arrangement of lectures and summer seminars. Then, Professor Elman, Professor Ōki Yasushi and Professor Ge Zhaoguang reviewed their participation in the past summer programs, and put forward expectations and prospects for the program this year. Professor Elman attended this program for the eighth time. He emphasized that the students should play the leading roles in the program, and exchange opinions without reservation. Professor Ōki Yasushi appreciated the students and professors’ high degree of enthusiasm in the past programs, and noted that he had gained a lot from each lecture. On behalf of the Institute of Oriental Culture, University of Tokyo, he also wished this program to continue every year. Professor Ge Zhaoguang put forward expectation that the program would help students to form common comprehension and learn more from the other. In his words, “the lectures may not be completely relevant to the research field of each student, but I hope that you will listen to the voices from other fields, and make more comparisons between professors from different countries and different academic sectors”.

Later, Liao Jianlan, the librarian from the Fudan University Library, gave a detailed introduction to the basic information and usage methods of the resources in the Library. She specifically explained the use of databases in the National Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies, answered students’ questions about data retrieval and literature search, which allowed students to write reports with the use of Fudan's rich database resources. Finally, the students made self-introductions.

Professor Li hosted the lectures on June 24, with the general topic of “Art History and Cultural History”. In the morning, Tsukamoto Maromitsu, the associate professor from the Institute of Oriental Culture of the University of Tokyo, gave a lecture on ‘The Formation of Modern Japanese collections of Chinese Painting and Calligraphy’. He argued that the Chinese paintings have undergone some changes in the Japanese collections. In the study of these works, the methodology of style history, commonly used in art history research, is invalid. The Japanese have changed Chinese painting and calligraphy in various aspects such as appreciation space, composition, and resizing. The way of mounting was changed to adapt to the Japanese people's living space, and the changes in composition and mounting were also closely related to Japanese politics. For these reasons, studying the spread of Chinese painting in Japan requires attention to the paintings as well as understanding of Japanese society, politics and culture. The study of art history does not express taste and aesthetic sense of a certain country, but pursues the richness of "object" itself.

In the afternoon, Professor Ge gave a lecture with the topic "How to cultivate savage to aboriginal tribes - the study of Chinese ethnic history from different versions of Miao Pictures Albums." Linking his earlier experience of living in the Miao nationality surroundings in Guizhou province to his long-term concern and research on ethnic history and visual materials, Professor Ge posed the questions about Miao culture: Is Miao an ethnicity? How was the history of the Miao ethnicity constructed? The blank inside the "Complete Maps of the Imperial Realm" and the "Great Wall" inside the "Complete Maps of the Miao Border" all suggest the imperial discourse of "Miao Pictures Albums". The Qing Empire’s policy of bureaucratizing of native Miao chieftans has also been accompanied by the reconciliation, conquest and massacre. At the beginning of the 20th century, scholars' attention to the ethnic history, like the history of Miao, was accompanied by a series of basic presuppositions, which became the bottleneck of the current research of ethnic history.

The lectures on June 25 were hosted by Associate Professor Zhu Lili, with the topic of “The intersections in East Asia in the Qing Dynasty/ Tokugawa period”. In the morning, Professor Yeh Wen-hsin from the University of California Berkeley gave the lecture "Drawing Taiwan – the story of a shipwreck in the mid-19th century". Professor Yeh approached the topic from the introduction to the pictures of Taiwanese ethnic customs in the late Qing Dynasty and then analyzed a series of political, military and diplomatic incidents caused by the American ship Rover’s shipwreck in the open sea near southern part of Taiwan island. The incident involved the native tribes of Taiwan, but did not call Qing court’s attention to the international order. The modern descriptions of Taiwan and dissemination of knowledge about Taiwan greatly intensified after this incident. The construction of the concept of Taiwanese “aborigines” and differentiation from the  Han/Huaxia ethnicity took place in the long historical process. Professor Yeh’s research not only emphasizes the role of the historical contingency through the description and interpretation from multi-dimensional perspective, but also enlarges the spatial background of history without taking time as main axis of narrative.

In the afternoon, Prof. Suzuki Yoichi from Kanagawa University gave a lecture “West Lake in Hangzhou and A Stone Stele in Japan: A Case Study of Sino-Japanese Cultural Exchange in the Tokugawa Period”. Professor Suzuki talked about his experience of visiting the tomb of Mori Ōgai (もりおうがい) in Yomei-ji Temple, Tsuwano a decade ago. He found there many artworks related to China. In this period, many artworks related to the West Lake in Hangzhou were brought by the Ming migrants from China. They represented Japan’s willingness to study the Ming culture during the Shogunate period. After the fall of the Ming Dynasty, Japanese intellectuals’ interest in Chinese culture was still strong, and they especially valued scenery of the West Lake. Professor Suzuki believes that the Japanese daimyos imitated the scenes of the West Lake in their own gardens, as the result, the Eight Views Garden in Kanazawa is the combination of the Ten Views of the West Lake and the Eight Views of Xiao and Xiang Rivers. This phenomenon was not only inseparable from the Japanese emphasis on cultural symbols such as poems by Su Shi and Bai Juyi, but also was influenced by the image of the West Lake in the novels like "West Lake Story".

The lectures on June 28 were hosted by the Associate Professor Rostislav Berezkin, with the topic ‘The Knowledge and Concepts of Pre-modern and Modern China’. In the morning, Professor Benjamin Elman of the East Asian Department, Princeton University gave a lecture on “The New Solution to Old Problem: The current affairs in Wanli period and the Imperial Examination of discourse on politics”. This lecture centered around the text of Imperial Choice of Policies discovered by Professor Elman in Japan, which reflected the social ideas closely related to the state examinations, specially focusing on the Wanli-period scholars’ comprehension of different types of classics / historical problems. These examinations were divided into topics, different from year to year, including political practice, national defense, hydraulic management, economics, study of Confucius classics, local situation, etc. Most of the scholars did not succeed in the examinations. Their thoughts and concerns outlined the appearance of the state and society. This is the most important value of such examinations materials.

In the afternoon, Professor Axel Schneider of the Göttingen University gave a lecture ‘The Acceptance of the Concept of Progress in Modern China’. Firstly, he outlined the conceptual history of the word "history" in Europe. The meaning of ‘history’ evolved from an idea of moral standard and a repetitive history in ancient Greece to a modern concept that emphasizes the universal historical process as well as historical particularity, contingency and discontinuity. Professor Schneider further demonstrated how scholars like Fukuzawa Yukichi, Liang Qichao and Chinese native Darwinists interpreted the concept of “progress”. He also analyzed the changes these concepts brought to the understanding of Chinese tradition. In his opinion, the concept of “progress” has led to China’s tension and some reaction in modern time.

In addition to the lectures, the summer program also included field trips to Shaoxing and Songjiang.
On 26 June, instructors and students visited Lanting pavilion and Lu Xun's former residence in Shaoxing. Lanting is the memorial place of famous calligrapher Wang Xizhi’s of the Eastern Jin period. It consists of several historical sites, like the Pavilion of ‘floating wine cup along the winding water’, the memorial temple of Wang Xizhi and the collection of ancient stele inscriptions. Then the participants visited Lu Xun’s former residence and the Study of Three Tastes, filled by the well-known cultural symbols, such as Shaoxing yellow wine and the story of Kong Yiji. Although the sun was scorching, the participants kept high interest during the visit.

It was extremely hot on June 27, but instructors and students divided into two groups o visit the Kuaiji Mountain and Shaoxing Museum. There are many historical relics of different dynasties on the Kuaiji Mountain, which make it a cultural landscape. The most famous one is the Mound of Great Yu where is said to be the place of ancient King Yu’s tomb. It is decorated by stele inscriptions and pavilions of different dynasties. Shaoxing Museum exhibits unearthed cultural relics of the Zhejiang area from the early Spring and Autumn Period to the modern times, and focus on the display of early artifacts, which are numerous, well preserved and beautiful.

On June 29, participants set off for Songjiang District. In the morning, they visited the Garden of Drunken Bai’s Pond. The Garden of Drunken Bai’s Pond is a famous classical garden in the regions south of the Yangtze River, which is filled with different traditional elegant buildings. There are so many relics in the garden, and the most famous one is ‘The Portraits of Famous Songjiang Literati’. Then participants visited the Temple of Eastern Peak and Songjiang Museum for field investigation of local Taoist rituals and folk beliefs.

On the morning of July 1, the students were divided into three groups. With the organization of three instructors, Rostislav Berezkin, Zhu Lili and Li Xingming, three groups of students presented their research papers, and received instructors’ suggestions. The atmosphere during the report kept warm and high, and many students further discussed their topic after the report. At 2 pm, the graduation ceremony of the program started; it was hosted by Professor Li Xingming. The participants talked about the feelings and gains in the program, expressed their gratitude to the organizers, and also provided suggestions for the further improvement of the program. Professors Ye Wenxin, Benjamin Elman and Ge Zhaoguang all delivered speeches, affirming the achievements of the students in the ten-day program, and encouraging everyone to continue the endeavor in the future. Finally, Professor Elman awarded a certificate of program participation to each student.