China Seminar | 9 September 1993

Unity and Division in Chinese History: Reflections of Recurrent Themes with a Report on a Recent Constitution-Drafting Conference

Daniel W. Y. Kwok

Please join us for a consideration of the themes of division and unity in Chinese history in as much as such themes impinge upon political. economic, and cultural alternatives for a China facing change at the threshold of a new century. In July, 1993, at the invitation of Yan Jiaqi. former President of the Federation for a Democratic China based in Paris, Professor Kwok attended the inaugural conference for the drafting of a constitution for a “federal republic of China” held in Honolulu. It was, for a non-specialist in constitutionalism and constitution writing, a rare experience in witnessing history in the making.

Professor D. W. Y. Kwok, the founding convener of the China Seminar, is professor of history at the University of Hawaii. where he has served as Director of Asian Studies. Chairman of the Department of History and Director of the Center for Chinese History. His major field is Chinese intellectual history.