EACS-2016. Book of Abstracts

Section 13 21st Biennial Conference of the European Association for Chinese Studies 149 (1992), photography is ‘no mere handmaid of empire, but a shaping dimension of it’, while Sontag (1971) alerts us to the use of military terms — load, shoot, etc. — in the photographic vocabulary. In a Chinese context, practitioners such as Milton Miller (1830–1899), Felice Beato (1832–1909) and John Thomson (1837–1921) have all been implicated in the creation of ‘imperial’ images to various degrees. But while the vast majority of images of nineteenth-century China were purchased — rather than produced — by travellers, the role of these consumers in the construction of empire has seldom been examined. This paper moves away from the content of the imperial image and considers instead the materiality of the photograph — a physical object that could be sold, bought, displayed, hidden, stored, carried, sent, given away or discarded. Many of these photographs were carefully collated into albums, a process of selection and organisation that has the potential to create multiple competing narratives that go far beyond the intentions of their original photographers. What is the role of such narratives in the creation of shared colonial memory, and how does the placement of tourist images within the context of the modern museum or archive alter their meanings? These questions are addressed with reference to several albums in Brit- ish archival collections. Menegon Eugenio (Boston University) Taking Sides: European Interests in Guangdong and Fujian during the Ming-Qing Transition Key words: Zheng Zhilong; Zheng Chengong; François Rougemont; European sources; Three Feu- datories; loyalty Europeans residing, traveling, or trading in China at the time of the Ming-Qing transition had to navigate the new political and military context of this time of turmoil, and declare, in words and deeds, their allegiance to one of many regimes fighting for supremacy, including a handful of Southern Ming claimants; the new Qing dynasty; and several local warlords, from Zheng Chenggong in Fujian and Taiwan, to Zhang Xianzhong in Sichuan, to the Three Feudatories across south and southwestern China. European and Chinese records offer complementary narratives of European involvement in the “Chi- nese civil war” of the Ming-Qing transition, especially in the fractious South, and show how military, economic, and social issues internal to China, as well as European power struggles, determined new loyalties, with political (Ming vs. Qing monarchy) and racial (Chinese vs. Manchus) ideologies playing a secondary role. Mitchell Alexandra Lily (Birmingham City University) The Other Stage: Curating Chinese Contemporary Art in the UK Key words: art, curating, contemporary, translation, exhibition How have UK art institutions adapted curatorial approaches to the re-contextualisation and discourse of Chinese and Chinese diasporic artistic practices? The paper will discuss the following challenges surrounding the research and curation of Chinese contemporary art in a western context, using a case study of the Centre for Chinese ContemporaryArt (CFCCA) in Manchester, UK. The main research question I will be exploring during the research project is: How has the CFCCA adapted its curatorial approaches regarding the defini- tion, re-contextualisation, commission and discourse of contemporary Chinese and Chinese diasporic artistic practices? This can lead to a range of challenges including and questioning of the definition of 'contemporary Chinese art' and 'Chineseness' within a wider international context. The impact of the international artistic practices and curatorial strategies within the CFCCA both in the UK art world and local audiences. To be able to analyse the strengths and shortcomings of the curatorial and translational strategies used by CFCCA by situating the interpretation of contemporary Chinese art in a critical framework drawing on transcultural curatorial studies. The study will also analyse CFCCA's relationship and engagement between the curato- rial team, contemporary artists and audiences. The paper will explore and examine the current definitions of contemporary Chinese art and its cultural value in the UK's art communities, review the significance of