An Informal Discussion with

Lydia Liu

Helmut F. Stern Professor of Chinese Studies at the University of Michigan

Time: April 3 (Monday), 6:00pm-8:00pm

The four long decades of the overlapping reigns of Queen Victoria and the Empress Dowager Cixi saw a number of new social developments and historical events sweeping across the world. These raise some fundamental issues about gender and empire that no serious study of the nineteenth century can afford to downplay. The political and symbolic rivalries between the Qing and British empires, each headed by a powerful female sovereign, suggest that the mode of sovereign thinking in the nineteenth century, religious and secular, could be further investigated with a view to exploring the role of gender "Whistorically understood Win bringing about new ideas concerning political identity, loyalty, gift exchange, femininity, diplomacy, and international politics." --Lydia Liu, The Clash of Empire

"The Secret of Her Greatness",a chapter from Lydia Liu's well-received book, brilliantly integrates historical and literary approaches to explore the gendered subjects in the interstices between imperial powers and their colonies.