Calvin Seminar Focuses on History Between U.S. and China

Scholars from all over the United States are at Calvin College this week discussing and learning about the last 150 years of history -- and the ramifications of that history -- between the U.S. and China.

Funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the program runs for the next three weeks and focuses, among other things, on misunderstandings the countries have had about one another.

“This is an important relationship, but there have been many missed signals between the countries,” said Daniel Bays, former director of Calvin’s Asian Studies program.

“There has been a superficial understanding of both governments and the people. It has been like two ships passing in the night.”

Bays, co-director of the seminar, said the 2015 NEH Summer Seminar at Calvin College, “America and China: 150 Years of Aspirations and Encounters,” aims to expose 14 college and university faculty and two advanced doctoral students—in history and other disciplines in the humanities and social sciences—to cutting-edge research issues and up-to-date scholarship on U.S.-China relations.

“The general purpose is to bring together people from all kinds of fields in the area of Chinese studies,” said Bays.

“We want to give these early and mid-career faculty members a chance to network freely with their peers and with older scholars who can pass on knowledge that they can in turn pass down to ongoing generations.”

The seminar, said Bays, seeks to respond to the demand for a full, holistic perspective on public debate surrounding China and the United States across the Pacific through the reflection of history.

By looking at the last 150 years, they will go back to the Opium Wars of the mid 1800s in which world powers invaded and came to power for a time in China.

There also was a period in the 1870s, said Bays, “when there were lots of U.S. missionaries in China, which is something that significantly impacted the relationship between the countries.”

Then there was the era starting in the 1880s when Chinese immigration to the U.S. was made illegal.

In the 20th Century, China was one of the allies of the U.S. during World War II. But then relations changed and China played a key role in fighting against the U.S. during the Korean War, said Bays.

Currently, as China has become a world power, it is important to look at the history between the countries and pay attention to how history has shaped approaches and attitudes between the countries, he said.

“As we look back on the last 150 years, we see the threads of history that are yet with us today,” Bays said.

The historical episodes and processes that the seminar will address also include examples of popular culture, with, for instance, excerpts of Hollywood films as well as Chinese films being screened and then given short written reviews by the seminar participants. Bays said he has traveled many times to China and finds the country a fascinating place, especially in recent years as it has undergone a series of economic and political changes while at the same time holding onto many of the family traditions of the past.

“Visiting China is a wonderful experience. It gets in your blood,” he said.