Seen in Shanghai

Unexpected encounters can take many forms, including finding a familiar face in a foreign locale or spotting a known name in a contemporary work of art!

Shai Ginsburg, an associate professor of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, had just such an encounter in early May 2025 while connecting with alumni in Shanghai. As he wrote in his note to Prasenjit Duara:

I visited the Museum of Art Pudong (MAP) yesterday with a couple of former CAH students, and noticed a painting by Qiu Zhijie, “Map of International Sinology.” We were thrilled to see your name on the map!

—Shai Ginsburg (AMES)

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Truly, Duke faculty make their mark in surprising ways!

Prasenjit Duara is APSI's faculty director and the Oscar Tang Chair of East Asian Studies at Duke University. He was born and educated in India and received his PhD in Chinese history from Harvard University. Duara was a professor and chair of the history department as well as the chair of the Committee on Chinese Studies at the University of Chicago (1991-2008). Before coming to Duke, Duara was the Raffles Professor of Humanities and the director of the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore (2008-2015).

Qiu Zhijie's Map of international Sinology (2019, ink on paper, 5 elements: 1,25 x 3,3m each), uses traditional brush painting techniques to depict a landscape denoted by those who study it.

_{Explore some of the artist's other works>>}