The Aura of Confucius

The Aura of Confucius is a ground-breaking study that reconstructs the remarkable history of Kongzhai, a shrine founded on the belief that Confucius' descendants buried the sage's robe and cap a millennium after his death and far from his home in Qufu, Shandong. Improbably located on the outskirts of modern Shanghai, Kongzhai featured architecture, visual images, and physical artifacts that created a 'Little Queli,' a surrogate for the temple, cemetery, and Kong descendants' mansion in Qufu. Centered on the Tomb of the Robe and Cap, with a Sage Hall noteworthy for displaying sculptural icons and not just inscribed tablets, Kongzhai attracted scholarly pilgrims who came to experience Confucius's beneficent aura. Although Kongzhai gained recognition from the Kangxi emperor, its fortunes declined with modernization, and it was finally destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. Unlike other sites, Kongzhai has not been rebuilt and its history is officially forgotten, despite the Confucian revival in contemporary China.

Assessing Jesuit Intellectual Apostolate in Modern Shanghai (1847–1949)

The various endeavors led by Jesuits under the auspices to the Plan Scientifique du Kiang-Nan (Scientific Plan for the Jiangnan region) constituted a defining moment in the history of their mission in modern China. The Jesuits aimed to found a scientific capital that would also constitute the base of their East Asian mission, a project that led to a far-reaching engagement in education and sciences. The multiple projects they undertook were located within the framework of Western knowledge. The traditional Jesuit strategy adapted itself to a new context by encouraging a constructive and fruitful interaction between religion and science. Jesuit intellectual apostolate included not only research but also the dissemination of technologies and knowledge central to the rise of modernity in China. The entry into this country of well-educated, deeply zealous Jesuit missionaries along with their observations on the social and political changes taking place decisively contributed to the modernization of Shanghai and to the emergence of multi-perspective narratives about the destiny of the city. Assessing the Jiangnan-based Jesuits’ continuous efforts as well as the challenges and contradictions they met with help us to integrate the seemingly conflicting ethos of Christian mission and scientific quest into a reframed perspective of global history.

Defining Local Heritages in Preserving Modern Shanghai Architecture

The notion that local heritage can be defined by the ‘collective memory’ of a city may be considered as being simplistic nowadays. Heritage is increasingly recognised as knowledge, a cultural product or even a political resource set within specific social circumstances. The local heritage underpins various ways of relating our past with our present and future, which are often much more complicated than we can imagine. The evolution of the conservation of Shanghai’s modern heritage architecture shows this complexity. By tracing more than 50 years’ progress in historic preservation, this paper shows how historical buildings from Shanghai’s early modern period were selected as urban heritage in the changing socio-political contexts of different time periods. Starting with how the first modern buildings were listed in a new Chinese narrative in the 1950s, this paper focuses on the great ideological changes and progress Shanghai achieved after China’s reform and opening policy since the 1980s. Emphasising the great significance of the establishment of local legislation for historic preservation as an extension of the national system, examples of the great enrichment of Shanghai’s local heritage are presented through multiple narratives and interpretations of Shanghai’s modern history. In a deeper observation of various practices and complicated contradictions, the historic preservation of Shanghai’s modern heritage architecture is shown to be a process of continuing to reconstruct the relationships between city and the State, the city and the world, as well as the city’s past, present and future in a pluralist society.