Hengstberger International Symposium: Before the Silk Road: Eurasian Interactions in the First Millennium BC

Hengstberger International Symposium

Before the Silk Road: Eurasian Interactions in the First Millennium BC

Internationales Wissenschaftsforum Heidelberg (IWH), Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg,

Hauptstr. 242, 69117 Heidelberg

October 28-29, 2019

Organized by Dr. Lianming Wang, Institute of East Asian Art History, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg

Sponsored by:

the Klaus-Georg and Sigrid Hengstberger Award,

the Geschwister-Supp Stiftung,

and the German Research Foundation (DFG)

Program

Day 1  Monday, October 28

9:00 am                       Welcoming remarks

                        Prof. Dr. Peter Comba, Director of IWH, and Mr. Klaus-Georg Hengstberger, Sponsor of the Klaus-Georg and Sigrid Hengstberger Award

9:15 am            Keynote speech:

The Steppe, the Mountains, the Arc and Central China, Interactions and Resistance

Prof. Dr. Dame Jessica Rawson, University of Oxford

Panel I: Connectivity and Interactions

Chair: Prof. Dr. Enno Giele, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg

9:55 am           Interaction between China’s Great Wall Area and the Steppe in the First Millennium BC 

Prof. Dr. Jianhua Yang, Jilin University, Changchun; with English translation by Lokman Yang, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg

10:35 am         Inner Asia and China – Tracing Connectivity in the First Millennium BC

Dr. Ursula Brosseder, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn 

11:00 am                                                        Coffee break

11:30 am         Nomads of the Steppe Zone of Eurasia and Northern China at the End of the Second and

the Beginning of the First Millennium BC

Dr. Konstantin Chugunov, The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg; with English translation by Dr. Maxim Korolkov, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg

12:10 am         The Southern Contact Zone, Empire-Building, and Economic Change in China’s Early

Imperial Era: Some Preliminary Observations

                        Dr. Maxim Korolkov, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg

12:35 am         Discussant: Prof. Dr. Anke Hein, University of Oxford

1:15 pm           Lunch break, IWH, Hauptstr. 242, 69117 Heidelberg               

Panel II: Entangled Materialities and Living Legacies

Chair: Senior Prof. Dr. Lothar Ledderose, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg

2:15 pm           ʻGanbeiʼ Along the Eastern Rim of the Tibetan Plateau: Double-handled Jars and Their

Uses in Bronze Age Western China

Prof. Dr. Anke Hein, University of Oxford

2:40 pm           The Silk Road Fashion: Cultural Transmission and the Exchange of Textile Ornaments 

Xuansu Zhang, Freie Universität Berlin

3:05 pm            Leather-working in Iron Age China and Inner Asia in Light of the Latest Archaeological Research and the Artificers’ Record (Kaogong-ji)

Dr. Annie Chan, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, and the Centre de Recherche sur les Civilisations de l'Asie Orientale, Paris

3:30 pm                                                          Coffee break

4:00 pm           Was There A ‘Bamboo Route’ Before Zhang Qian Arrived in Bactria? 

Dr. Shengguang Tan, Tsinghua University Art Museum, Peking

4:25 pm           Metalwork with Fluted Decoration from the Warring States to the Middle Western Han

Dynasty

Dr. Jie Yin, Nanjing University

4:50 pm           Discussant: Prof. Dr. Alain Thote, École pratique des hautes études, Paris

5:30 pm           End of discussion & short break

6:00 pm           Welcome dinner, IWH, Hauptstr. 242, 69117 Heidelberg                     

7:30 pm           Special Evening Lecture

                        Beyond the Central Plains: Reflections on Dynamics of Chinese Civilization

                        Prof. Dr. LaoZhu (Qingsheng Zhu), Peking University; followed by a conversation with

Prof. Dr. Sarah E. Fraser, Senior Prof. Dr. Lothar Ledderose

Day 2  Tuesday, October 29

Panel III: Parallels and Divergences

Chair: Prof. Dr. Sarah E. Fraser, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg

9:00 am                       Imported or Indigenous? The Earliest Forged Tin Foil Found in China

Prof. Dr. Jianjun Mei, Needham Research Institute and Churcholl College, University of

Cambridge

9:25 am           Finds from the Burial Site in Nalingaotu and Their Analogies in Altai

Prof. Dr. Alexey A. Tishkin, Altai State University, Barnaul; with English translation by Dr. Nikolai Seregin, Altai State University, Barnaul  

10:05 am         Archaeological Evidence of Contacts between Altai Nomads and China in the First

Millennium BC: Results and Prospects of Research

Dr. Nikolai Seregin, Altai State University, Barnaul  

10:30 am                                                        Coffee break

11:00 am         Beasts Made of Gold: The Majiayuan Cemetery and its Central Eurasian Context

Prof. Dr. Petya Andreeva, Parsons School of Design, The New School, New York

11:25 am         The Construction and Expansion of Nomadic Kingdoms: The Sites of Arzhan and

Sandaohaizi  

Prof. Dr. Wu Guo, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Peking; with English translation by Lokman Yang, Ruprecht-Karls-Universit Heidelberg

12:05 am          Horses on a Box. Steppe Motifs on Lacquer Objects from Burials in Chaohu, Anhui Province

Dr. Margarete Prüch, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg

12:30 pm         Lunch break,  IWH, Hauptstr. 242, 69117 Heidelberg              

1:50 pm           Discussant: Prof. Dr. Lukas Nickel, Universität Wien

Panel IV: China and the Near East: Remote Contacts

Dr. Annette Kieser, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster

2:30 pm           The Earliest Use of Greek Letters in China  

Prof. Dr. Lukas Nickel, Universität Wien

2:55 pm           Traces of Artistic Conventions from the Near East and the Achaemenid Empire

in the Art of the Late Bronze Age China  

Prof. Dr. Alain Thote, École pratique des hautes études, Paris

3:20 pm           Zouyu, the Lion: Animal Encounters in the Warring States

Dr. Lianming Wang, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg

3:45 pm                                                          Coffee break

4:15 pm           Non-Chinese Sculpture and Achaemenid Art: A Specific Case Study of Cross-Cultural Interaction Between Nomads and Sedentary People

Hua Xia, Hebrew University Jerusalem

4:40 pm           Discussant: Prof. Dr. Jianjun Mei, Needham Research Institute and Churcholl College,

University of Cambridge

5:20 pm           Final remarks

Prof. Dr. Thomas O. Höllmann, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München

5:45 pm                                               Refreshments & farewell

Notices:

Participation at the event is free of charge, but registration is compulsory. Due to the limitation of space, the number of external guests is limited to 30 per day. For registration please contact Mrs. Giulia Pra Floriani (pfgiulia3@gmail.com), and c.c. Dr. Lianming Wang (lianming.wang@zo.uni-heidelberg.de) by October 15, 2019.

Please be advised that only active participants (chairs, discussants, speakers, interpreters, and staffs) are provided with meals and accommodation.