For our March “Vortex” series, we have designed an intensive program featuring two inspiring events, each exploring a different facet of a geographical concept that is familiar to us all: “Jiangnan”, or “River South”—the lands south of the Yangtze River. Our first guest, Shao Yi from Xiaoshan district of Hangzhou city, embodies dual identities as both artist and practitioner pursuing religious and spiritual beliefs. When confronting the “places” he has experienced, he simultaneously acts upon and observes them. His profound, intuitive life experience becomes the perfect testament to a philosophy—“the terroir constrains him, yet he, in turn, constrains the terroir.” This “circular limitation” reveals itself in an unselfish and serene self-discovery, coalescing into what he terms a “historical body.” Our other guest, Dr. Bian Kaiwen from Xinghua county in Taizhou, Jiangsu, illuminates the fissures within the dominant historiographical frameworks of China’s major rivers and seas. Through these overlooked spaces, he returns to and reconstructs “Jiangnan” by following the lifeways of those dwelling along inland waters. Scheduled one week apart, these complementary sessions hosted by the two guest speakers will present us a speculative, imagined picture of “Jiangnan.” 

Since the 1990s, Chinese intellectual circles have witnessed the emergence of narratives surrounding the rise of great powers, particularly emphasizing early modern Western European nations’ prioritization of maritime development while simplistically categorizing mainland China as a continental civilization. However, this dichotomous narrative of maritime/continental civilizations overlooks inland riverine populations. Distinct from registered households in traditional society, these waterborne communities exhibited high mobility and inherent commercial orientation. Existing scholarship combined with my fieldwork experience reveals remarkably diverse living patterns among aquatic populations across different regions. These heterogeneous experiences can renew our comprehensive understanding of Chinese history. Beyond the established framework of dynastic institutional history, there persists a vibrant human history more closely connected to contemporary life. The excavation of such histories may reshape our imagination of humanity’s future.

——Bian Kaiwen 

About the Speaker: Bian Kaiwen

Bian Kaiwen holds a bachelor's degree in history from Central China Normal University, a master's degree in history from Fudan University, and is currently a doctoral student in the Department of History at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. His research focuses on the social and economic history of the Ming and Qing dynasties. He is also interested in the intangible cultural heritage and folk customs of Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions, as well as the history of the New Fourth Army. He has published several popular history articles in media such as The Paper's "Private History" and the official WeChat account of Zhonghua Book Company. His lifelong aspiration is to have a deeper understanding of the land beneath his feet.