This event will be held via Zoom. Please register to attend.  

Seungkyoo (Peter) Han (MA candidate, Theological Studies, Duke Divinity School) Children of the Holy Land of Confucianism: The Violent Conflict in Qufu from the Maoist Siege

This thesis focuses on the violent conflict in Qufu, the Holy Land of Confucianism in Shandong province, especially the tension between the youths of the Maoist siege (i.e., anti-Confucians) and Pro-Confucians during 1966 and 1967. While scholarships have been accumulating, especially regarding violence and chaos during this period, the case in Qufu, however, shows a lack of study about the conflict between the Red Guards and local resistance. This study addresses the puzzle of (1) how aggressive the Red Guards were, and why, in destroying Qufu's Confucius relics? (i.e., Anti-Confucian), (2) who were the ones in Qufu trying to protect the Confucius Temple, and why? (i.e., Pro-Confucian), and (3) what was the aftermath of the siege, and what did it reveal about the tension during the Cultural Revolution between the anti-Confucians and the pro-Confucians? This paper examined different types of empirical data, including mortality rate, demographics, interviews, and other studies of the Cultural Revolution. The study finds that although the Red Guards burned most Confucian relics, no casualties in Qufu have been recorded. Also, the violence against the Qufu was a new type of brutality from outside Red Guards as active agents of the campaign against the Four Olds for political reasons. The crises in Qufu, from 1966 to 1967, give a new framework for a distinction between Anti-Confucianism and the Cultural Revolution. The study concludes that the case in Qufu shows a unique tension between the Maoist siege and Pro-Confucian, which led to introducing a notion of 'Qufu Exceptionalism,' namely, presents an ability to survive in a series of crises in China and provides reasons why this case shows an extension of Qufu Exceptionalism.   

Li Jiang (Sanford School of Public Policy) High-Skilled Engineer Shortages in China: Analyzing the Education and Training of Engineers in China