Conference on Tang-Song Transitions

Call for papers for Conference on Tang-Song Transitions, June 2022

Since 2015, the annual Workshop on Tang-Song Transitions has been the venue for innovative and interdisciplinary work on the multiple changes encompassing the eighth through thirteenth centuries in China. For June 16-18, 2022, we plan a larger three-day conference at Princeton University to deepen our discussions and extend them in new directions. We envision as many as eight topical panels, typically of four papers each, ranging across multiple fields, comprising scholars of all ranks including advanced PhD students, and scheduled sequentially so that all Conference participants are present at every panel.

Topics on which we would welcome contributions include: literary culture; society and social change; religious culture and practice; institutions and institutional history; art and architecture; regional differences and dynamics; interactions with or among border states and peoples; historiography and the problem of “transition.” On these or other pertinent topics we invite individual-paper abstracts or whole-panel proposals (in the latter case with abstracts of all included papers), with individual papers to be assembled into panels by the organizers. Panels will not include dedicated discussants, as on the model of the Workshop we expect discussion to come from the whole group of participants. Because the focus of the Conference is on the problem of change from Tang through Song, each paper should draw on sources from at least two of three historical periods: Tang, tenth century, and Song.

The Conference will continue the practice of the Workshop, which has been to require papers and relevant primary texts to be submitted to the Conference website for circulation a month before we meet; panel time will thus be dedicated to the discussion of papers rather than their presentation. Transportation, lodging, and meals will be covered for all accepted panelists. We also welcome attendance by interested guests of all academic ranks, space allowing. Please send individual-paper or panel proposals by October 1, 2021, to the organizers, Professors Anna Shields and Robert Hymes, at ctst2022@princeton.edu. For information on a sample past meeting of the Workshop, see https://tang-song-workshop.princeton.edu/.