Synopsis of the lecture on 8 October 2010

Transcription

1 Synopsis of the lecture on 8 October 2010 China s Forgotten Bridges Among the least known and understood of China's many wonders, bridges are in fact extraordinary feats of building prowess that reveal pragmatic solutions to what often appear to be impossible challenges. Drawing from Knapp's recent book on the subject, this illustrated talk will focus on an exceptional collection of recently 'discovered' covered bridges, many of which have structures once thought to have been lost in the 12th century and known only through a depiction in a Song dynasty scroll preserved in Beijing's Palace Museum. His talk will situate these bridges within the full range of bridge structures built throughout China, including some exceptional stone bridges found today in remote areas that seem to be improbable sites for such structures Among the questions raised is, "in what ways can bridges as material objects provide insights into China's historical development."

2 RONALD G. KNAPP 那仲良 SUNY Distinguished Professor Emeritus Department of Geography State University of New York at New Paltz New Paltz, New York l256l Mailing Address: PO Box 365, New Paltz, NY USA Homepage: EDUCATION PhD 1968 University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Geography BA 1962 Stetson University, Deland, Florida Geography/History Chinese Language 1963-l965, l University of Pittsburgh Training l965-l966 (part time) Mandarin Training Center Taiwan Provincial Normal University Language Center 1971-l972 (part time) Nanyang University, Singapore Jan.-July 1978 (full time) Inter-University Program National Taiwan University TEACHING EXPERIENCE SUNY Distinguished Professor Emeritus, SUNY New Paltz Adjunct Professor, Teachers College, Columbia University SUNY Distinguished Professor, State University of New York, New Paltz Professor, State University of New York at New Paltz Associate Professor, State University of New York at New Paltz SUNY Exchange Professor, Nanyang University, Singapore Assistant Professor, State University of New York at New Paltz ADMINISTRATIVE EXPERIENCE Chairman Department of Geography SUNY New Paltz ; Acting Chairman, Spring 1990 Coordinator Asian Studies Program SUNY New Paltz 1978-l984 Interim Coordinator, Fall 1997; Spring 1999 Director Office of International Education SUNY New Paltz l982-l983 Resident Director SUNY/Nanyang University Singapore Program 1971-l972 OTHER RELATED EXPERIENCE Executive-Secretary New York Conference on Asian Studies President, Board of Directors, Mohonk Preserve Board member since 1987 Organizer/Scholar Escort Study Tours to China (various)

3 Regular Lecturer and Presenter at Teacher Workshops and Seminars China Institute; East Asia Curriculum Project, Columbia University; American Forum for Global Education; Primary Source; Japan Society; among others PUBLICATIONS BOOKS Author. CHINESE THINGS. Photographs by Michael Freeman. Singapore: Tuttle Publishing. Forthcoming Author. CHINESE HOUSES OF SOUTHEAST ASIA: The Eclectic Architecture of Sojourners and Settlers. Photographs by A. Chester Ong. Foreword by Wang Gungwu. Singapore: Tuttle Publishing Co-editor with Haiyang Yuan, Margot E. Landman, and Gregory Veeck. THIS IS CHINA: The First 5000 Years. Berkshire MA: Berkshire Publishing Author. CHINESE BRIDGES: Living Architecture from China s Past. Photographs by A. Chester Ong. Foreword by Peter Bol. Singapore: Tuttle Publishing Author. CHINESE HOUSES: The Architectural Heritage of a Nation. Photographs by A. Chester Ong. Foreword by Jonathan Spence. Singapore: Tuttle Publishing Co-Editor with Kai-Yin Lo and Contributor. HOUSE HOME FAMILY: Living & Being Chinese. Author of China s Houses, Homes, & Families, In Search of the Elusive Chinese House and Situating the Dwelling: Fengshui, House-Building Rituals, & Amulets. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press in cooperation with China Institute (Chinese language edition 家屋家居家庭 -- 中國人的居住文化 forthcoming) Editor and Contributor. ASIA S OLD DWELLINGS: Tradition, Resilience, and Change. Hong Kong and New York: Oxford University Press Author of Asia s Diversity & Asia s Dwellings: Tradition, Resilience, and Change. Author. CHINA S OLD DWELLINGS. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, Author. CHINA S WALLED CITIES: Then and Now. Hong Kong and New York: Oxford University Press Author. CHINA S LIVING HOUSES: Folk Beliefs, Symbols, and Household Ornamentation. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1999 Author. CHINESE BRIDGES. Hong Kong & New York: Oxford University Press, Editor and Contributor. CHINESE LANDSCAPES: The Village As Place. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, Author of "Village Landscapes" and "Cangpo Village, Zhejiang: A Relict With A Future" chapters; coauthor with Shen Dongqi of "Changing Village 2

4 Landscapes" chapter. Author also of "Tradition: Introductory Perspectives" and "Transition: Introductory Perspectives Author THE CHINESE HOUSE: Craft, Symbol, And The Folk Tradition. Hong Kong & New York: Oxford University Press, Translated into Japanese as CHŪGOKU NO SUMAI. Tokyo: Gakugei Shuppan-sha Co. Ltd., Translated by Hirotsuga Kanno. Author. CHINESE VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE: House Form And Culture. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, l989 Author. CHINA'S TRADITIONAL RURAL ARCHITECTURE: A Cultural Geography Of The Common House. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, l986. Editor and Contributor. CHINA'S ISLAND FRONTIER: Studies In The Historical Geography Of Taiwan. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, l980. Author of Introduction, and chapters titled Land Tenure and Frontier Settlement, and Push Car Railways and Taiwan's Development. Joint Editor with Benjamin Wallacker, Arthur J. Van Alstyne, and Richard J. Smith. CHINESE WALLED CITIES. Hong Kong: Chinese University of Hong Kong Press, l979. CHAPTERS IN BOOKS (Selected): Contributing Author. Berkshire Encyclopedia of China. Great Barrington, MA: Berkshire Publishing Author of the following chapters: Courtyard Houses, Hutong, Monument to the People s Heroes, Pingyao City, Shikumen, Yangzi (Chang Jiang) Bridge, Zhaozhou Bridge. Contributing Author. CHINA: People-Place-Culture-History. London: DK Publishing, Author of Landscapes section and Architecture section (with Nancy Steinhardt) Village Transformation In Taiwan and Fujian. In Max Lu and Chiao-min Hsieh, eds. CHANGING CHINA: A Geographical Appraisal. Westview Press Asia s Diversity and Asia s Dwellings: A Geographer s Perspective. In SUNKYUN JOURNAL OF EAST ASIAN STUDIES. Vol 3, No. 2 (September 2003): At Home In China: Domain of Propriety, Repository of Heritage. In Kai-Yin Lo and Puay-peng Ho, ed. LIVING HERITAGE: Vernacular Environment In China. Hong Kong: Yunmingtang, Pp The Shaping of Taiwan's Landscapes. In Murray A. Rubinstein, ed. TAIWAN: A HISTORY M.E. Sharpe, Pp Second Expanded Edition, Geographical Approaches, China, North, China, South, as well as secondary entries Jiangxi, Shandong, and Zhejiang. In Paul Oliver, ed. ENCYCLOPEDIA OF VERNACULAR 3

5 ARCHITECTURE OF THE WORLD. London: Cambridge University Press, Chinese Villages as Didactic Texts. In Wen-hsin Yeh, ed. LANDSCAPE, CULTURE, AND POWER IN CHINESE SOCIETY, Berkeley: Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley, Pp Zhongguo de jiaodao xing jingguan--minsu chuantong he jianzhu [China's didactic landscapes: the folk tradition and the built environment], in Lu Yuanding, ed., MINJU SHILUN YU WENHUA [History and culture of vernacular Architecture]. Guangzhou: South China University of Technology, pp (translated by Liu Meng-chou and Chiu Weichih) Popular Rural Architecture. In Wu Dingbo and Patrick Murphy, eds. HANDBOOK OF CHINESE POPULAR CULTURE. Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group, pp China Perceived, Perceiving China: American Perceptions and Realities of the People's Republic. In Clifton W. Pannell, editor. EAST ASIA: GEOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL APPROACHES TO FOREIGN AREA STUDIES. Dubuque: Kendall Hunt, l983. pp ARTICLES, TRANSLATIONS, REVIEWS, PROFESSIONAL PRESENTATIONS (Selected) Rainbows and Centipedes: 20 th Century Discoveries of China s Lost Bridges ORIENTATIONS (Hong Kong). 39.4: (May 2008): Asia s Diversity and Asia s Dwellings: A Geographer s Perspective. In SUNKYUN JOURNAL OF EAST ASIAN STUDIES. Vol 3, No. 2 (September 2003): Chinese Villages as Didactic Landscapes in CHINA S TRADITIONAL VERNACULAR DWELLINGS AND CULTURE, VOL. 7, Yan Jichen, ed. Beijing: Zhongguo jianzhu gongye chubanshe. (in Chinese) 1999 but published in 2000 Pp Guest Editor s Message for special issues on Teaching the Geography of Asia EDUCATION ABOUT ASIA 3.1(Spring 1998) 2-5. Geographical Approaches to the Study of Folk Architecture PROCEEDINGS, INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF ETHNIC ARCHITECTURE OF THE WORLD. Beijing: (1997): Rural Housing and Village Transformation in Taiwan and Fujian THE CHINA QUARTERLY, 147(September 1996): Chinese Villages as Didactic Narratives 作为叙述的教化式中国村落 ], English/Chinese text THEORIES OF VERNACULAR ARCHITECTURE. Hong Kong: Department of Architecture, Chinese University of Hong Kong (1995): (+ 6 page Translated by Vivian Lai). 4

6 中国的教导性景观 民俗传统和建筑 [China's didactic landscapes: the folk tradition and the built environment], in Lu Yuanding 陆元鼎, ed., MINJU SHILUN YU WENHUA 民居史论与文化 [History and culture of vernacular Architecture]. Guangzhou: South China University of Technology, pp (Translated by Liu Meng-chou and Chiu Wei-chih) China's Didactic Landscapes: The Folk Tradition and the Built Environment [PROCEEDINGS, INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CHINESE TRADITIONAL HOUSES. (1993): China's Bridges: Craft and Symbolism, PROCEEDINGS, INTERNATIONAL HISTORIC BRIDGES CONFERENCE. (1992): Politics and Planning: Rural Settlements and Housing in Contemporary China, TRADITIONAL DWELLINGS AND SETTLEMENTS WORKING PAPER SERIES, (1991): 1-45 (with Shen Dongqi). Bridge over the River Xiao, ARCHAEOLOGY. XL.1 (January/February, 1988): (Reprinted in SIRS APPLIED SCIENCE #44). Chinese Bridges, ORIENTATIONS (Hong Kong). XIV.6 (June l984): Chinese Rural Dwellings in Taiwan, THE JOURNAL OF CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY. 3.1 (Winter l982-l983): Chinese Vernacular Burial, ORIENTATIONS (Hong Kong). XIII.7 (July l982): Taiwan's Rural Architecture, ORIENTATIONS (HONG KONG). XII.4 (April l981): Civilization over Savagery: The Japanese, The Formosan Frontier, and United States Indian Policy, l895-l914, PACIFIC HISTORICAL REVIEW (November l980): (with Laurence M. Hauptman). Chinese Walled Cities, ORIENTATIONS (Hong Kong). XI.11 (November l980): The Geographer and Taiwan, THE CHINA QUARTERLY. (London). 74 (June l978): Dutch-Aboriginal Interaction in New Netherland and Formosa: An Historical Geography of Empire, AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY PROCEEDINGS. 121 (April l977): (with Laurence M. Hauptman). The Changing Landscape of the Chinese Cemetery, THE CHINA GEOGRAPHER. 8 (Fall 1977):

7 How the East Was Won?, COMPARATIVE FRONTIER STUDIES: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY NEWSLETTER. 9 (Winter l977): 2-3. Chinese Frontier Settlement in Taiwan, ANNALS, ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN GEOGRAPHERS. 66 (MARCH 1976): The Frontiers of China, COMPARATIVE FRONTIER STUDIES: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY NEWSLETTER. 4 (Fall l976): 3-4. Land Tenure in Eighteenth Century Taiwan, THE CHINA GEOGRAPHER. 2(Fall l975): Marketing and Social Patterns in Rural Taiwan, ANNALS, ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN GEOGRAPHERS. 61 (March l971): Itinerant Merchants in Taiwan, THE JOURNAL OF GEOGRAPHY. LXIX (September l970): The Direction of Methodology in Political Geography, CH'U-PAN YUE- K'AN (Taipei). XII (April, l966): TRANSLATIONS LAO FANGZI GUIZHOU MINJU 老房子 贵州民居 [Old Dwellings Vernacular Dwellings of Guizhou]. Nanjing: Jiangsu Arts Press 江苏美术出版社, Pp LAO FANGZI YUNNAN MINJU 老房子 云南民居 [Old Dwellings Vernacular Dwellings of Yunnan]. Nanjing: Jiangsu Arts Press 江苏美术出版社, Pp TANGYUE VILLAGE 棠樾 in the Ancient Architecture of Huizhou Series 徽州古建筑丛书. Nanjing: Southeast University Press 东南大学出版社, (Book co-translator with Liu Jie 刘捷 ) ZHIFENG VILLAGE 豸峰 in the Ancient Architecture of Huizhou Series 徽州古建筑丛书. Nanjing: Southeast University Press 东南大学出版社, (Book co-translator with Wang Haofeng 王浩峰 ). Timbered Structures of the Dong Minority Nationality by Chen Shouxinang 陈. 绶祥 In LAO FANGZI DONGZU MULOU 老房子 侗族木楼 [Old Houses--Timbered structures of the Dong nationality]. Nanjing: Jiangsu Fine Arts Publishing House 江苏美术出版社, pp

8 PROFESSIONAL PAPERS, WORKSHOPS, PRESENTATIONS (More than 100; not listed) PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS: Association of American Geographers Association for Asian Studies Vernacular Architecture Forum International Association for the Study of Traditional Environments New York Conference on Asian Studies (NYCAS) FELLOWSHIPS/AWARDS/ACADEMIC HONORS/GRANTS (selected): Korea Society Fall Fellowship 1998 Distinguished Service Award, Association of American Geographers Asian Geography Specialty Group 1996 and 2002 Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation 1996 National Geographic Society Committee for Research Exploration 1987, 1990 National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship 1984, 1993 ACLS/Mellon Foundation Post-doctoral Fellowship January-July 1978 State University of New York Research Foundation Fellowships 1970, 1971, 1977, 1979 American Philosophical Society 1970 National Defense Foreign Language Fellowship (Chinese) l , , Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship 1962-l963 BIOGRAPHY LISTED IN: Who s Who in the World Millennium Edition 2000; 2010 Who s Who in America, 63 rd edition, 2009 Dictionary of International Biography, 23rd edition Who's Who in Science and Engineering, 1st edition/ th edition 2009 Who's Who in American Education ; 7 th edition 2006; 8 th edition 2008 Who's Who in the East, 23rd edition/1990; 24th edition/1993 Contemporary Authors--112/1985; Revision Series 30/1990 American Men and Women of Science, 12th edition/ COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY SERVICE/PUBLIC SERVICE Not Listed October