We are a group of Chinese history PhD students looking to make Chinese history more accessible to the general public. Our podcast will cover a broad range of topics in Chinese history or topics related to Chinese history in both the premodern and the modern periods. Our content will be composed of both interviews with scholars and individually narrated episodes on selected topics.
https://thechinesehistorypodcast.podbean.com
episode 11: Wang Yangming and the School of Mind: An Interview with Professor George L. Israel
Wang Yangming 王陽明 (born Wang Shouren 王守仁, 1472-1529) is one of the most famous pre-modern Chinese intellectuals and the founder of the School of Mind (心學) of Neo-Confucianism, which was hugely influential in the later half of the Ming Dynasty. In addition to being philosopher, he was also an accomplished statesman, military leader, and calligrapher. In this episode, we speak with Professor George L. Israel, an expert on the study of Wang Yangming, who will introduce us to Wang's life and career, his thoughts and tenants, and his reception in the Ming and the Qing, as well as in neighboring Korea and Japan, and how Wang is viewed in China today.
We apologize for some audio issues with this recording.
Contributors
Professor George L. Israel
Professor George L. Israel is a Professor of History at Middle Georgia State University. His research is primarily on Ming intellectual history and Neo-Confucianism, with a particular focus on the famous Ming Neo-Confucian philosopher Wang Yangming, and he has published extensively about that subject in both English and Chinese.
Yiming Ha
Yiming Ha is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of History at the University of California, Los Angeles. His current research is on military mobilization and state-building in China between the thirteenth and seventeenth centuries, focusing on how military institutions changed over time, how the state responded to these changes, the disconnect between the center and localities, and the broader implications that the military had on the state. His project highlights in particular the role of the Mongol Yuan in introducing an alternative form of military mobilization that radically transformed the Chinese state. He is also interested in military history, nomadic history, comparative Eurasian state-building, and the history of maritime interactions in early modern East Asia. He received his BA from UCLA and his MPhil from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
Credits
Episode no. 11
Release date: May 1, 2022
Recording location: Los Angeles, CA/Macon, GA
Transcript
Bibliography courtesy of Professor Israel
Images
Cover Image: An official portrait of Wang Yangming (Image Source)
Grand Hall of Wang Yangming's former residence in Shaoxing (