Should Children be Carefree? A Chinese and Global Debate

Prof. Hsiung Ping-Chen (Secretary General, CIPSH)

PH 20. Hörsaal der Philosophischen Fakultät, Humboldtallee 19/21

 6. May (Tuesday), 18:15-19:45

Abstract: 

Recognized as signs of modernity, children, free roaming, have been referred to as a best representatives for a progressive society.  Historically in China, however, as early as the Song Dynasty, unique attention to children at play in arts and children’s health in traditional pediatrics prevailed, as Neo-Confucian philosophers continued to debate whether they ought to be left carefree. Illustrated with Chinese paintings and medical texts, this lecture will trace a thousand years of ebbs and flows of such concerns and interests on the nature of childhood. To reflect also on a contention and obsession with how to lessen burdens for today’s schoolers too, in creating a child friendly environment that connects contemporary China with the rest of the world. The talk intends to offer a public occasion to argue and deliberate on this never-ending tug of war over whether or how children should be set free.

Speaker:

Professor Hsiung Ping-chen is a distinguished scholar and academic leader in the humanities, with a multifaceted career across renowned international institutions. She holds a PhD in History from Brown University and an MSc from the Harvard School of Public Health. Her research spans childhood studies, gender and family history, and health humanities, with a particular focus on Late Imperial and Modern China. She also engages with comparative cultural and social history, public health, and the intellectual history of Russia. Professor Hsiung has published extensively on the history of Chinese pediatrics, the cultural memory of childhood, and the evolution of health practices in Chinese society. Since 2020, Professor Hsiung has served as Secretary-General of the International Council for Philosophy and Human Sciences (CIPSH), and she was re-elected to this position in 2023. Among other academic distinctions, she also holds the UNESCO Co-Chair in “Global Asia” at McGill University and the CIPSH Chair in “New Humanities” at the University of California, Irvine. She is also the founder of the Asian New Humanities Network and has held key leadership positions at institutions such as the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where she served as Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Director of the Research Institute for the Humanities.

Organizer:

Prof. Dominic Sachsenmaier, University of Göttingen

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