China Seminar | 9 March 1995

An End of the Century View of China: 1895-1995

Daniel W. Y. Kwok

In 1895 Sun Yat-sen founded China’s first revolutionary organization, the Xingzhonghui (Revive China Society). The year 1895 saw China’s defeat by Japan. The multitudinous events during the final decade of the 19th century conditioned China’s entry into the 20th century and colored its disposition thereafter. In 1995 China finds itself not only looking toward the 21st century but also assessing the past century. Daniel Kwok, who has attended a number of recent conferences on the theme of retrospection and China’s future, will share with China Seminar members and guests some of his reflections on the topic.

Professor Kwok is a member of the history department at the University of Hawai’i, where he teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on Chinese History, Chinese Intellectual History, and World Civilizations. He has concurrently served in numerous administrative posts, including chair of Asian Studies, chair of History Department, director of Council of Chinese Studies, and director of Center for Chinese Studies. Among his writings are Scientism in Chinese Thought, 1900-1950; Cosmology, Ontology, and Human Efficacy: Essays in Chinese Thought (with Richard J. Smith), and numerous articles. In press are three books: two are translations of works by the Han dynasty scholars Jiayi and Lu Jia; the third is a translation of The Ten-Year History of the Cultural Revolution by Yan Jiaqi and Gao Gao.