"Science in Nationalist China: A Confrontation between Academia Sinica and Dr. Kishinouye’s Biological Expedition Along the Yangzi River" at Pitt, April 14.

The University of Pittsburgh's Department of East Asian Languages & Literatures will present its final colloquium of the semester on April 14, with M.A. candidate Aijie Shi and her talk "Science in Nationalist China: A Confrontation between Academia Sinica and Dr. Kishinouye’s Biological Expedition Along the Yangzi River".

My study addresses the institutionalization of science in the nation-building era of China through the establishment of Academia Sinica, the national academy of China, founded by the Nationalist Government in Nanjing in 1927. My presentation will focus on a confrontation between Academia Sinica and a Japanese biological expedition along the Yangzi River in 1929. As a result of the confrontation, Academia Sinica, a research institute, was empowered to promulgate scientific laws regulating foreign-funded research trips in China. The empowerment of Academia Sinica, I argue, was jointly shaped by four interrelated factors: the Japanese scientific expedition in Chinese territory, China’s nationwide anti-imperialism movements, Academia Sinica’s monopoly on representing the Nationalist government in the scientific realm of China, and the emergence of a new ideology of science in connection with modernity.

The talk starts at 12:00 pm in 4130 Posvar Hall (map) and is free and open to the public.