SEUNGHYUN HAN
Department of History
Konkuk University
Seoul, Korea
05029
Email: bossfo at konkuk dot ac dot kr
FIELD OF INTEREST
Ming émigré families in Chosŏn Korea
Diplomatic relations and cultural exchanges between Chosŏn Korea and Ming-Qing China
Social and cultural history of late imperial China
EDUCATION
Ph.D. History Department, Harvard University (2005)
Dissertation Topic: “Re-inventing Local Tradition: Politics, Culture, and Identity in Early Nineteenth Century Suzhou”
Dissertation Advisors: Philip Kuhn (Chair), Peter Bol, Peter Perdue, Mark Elliott
General Examination Fields: Pre-modern China (Bol), Modern China (Kuhn), Renaissance and Reformation (Steven Ozment), Historical Theories and Comparative History (Perdue)
MA Asian History, Seoul National University (1998)
BA Asian History, Seoul National University, summa cum laude (1995)
ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT
2020 to date Professor, Department of History, Konkuk University, Seoul, Korea
2015 to 2020 Associate Professor, Department of History, Konkuk University, Seoul, Korea
2011 to 2015 Assistant Professor, Department of History, Konkuk University, Seoul, Korea
2008 to 2011 Assistant Research Fellow, Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica, Taiwan
2007 to 2008 Lecturer, Underwood International College, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea
2006 to 2007 Lecturer, Department of History, Boston University
2005 to 2006 Visiting Fellow, Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, Harvard University
2005 Postdoctoral Fellow, Center for Chinese Studies, University of California, Berkeley
2004 (Spring) Lecturer, MIT
2004 (Fall) Teaching Fellow, Harvard
PUBLICATIONS
In English
Book
After the Prosperous Age: State and Elites in Early Nineteenth Century Suzhou (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Asia Center, 2016).
Book Chapter
“Changing Roles of Local Elites from the 1720s to 1830s,” Willard Peterson, ed., Cambridge History of China Volume 9, Part. 2 (Cambridge University Press, 2016).
Journal Articles
“Royal Authority, Ritual, and the Bureaucratic Career of the Descendants of Li Rusong and Rumei in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-
Century Chosŏn,” Sungkyun Journal of East Asian Studies 24.1 (2024).
“Competing Discourses on Three Ming Emperors and the Significance of Their Canonization in Late Chosŏn Korea,” Acta
Koreana 26.1 (2023).
“The Mangbaerye Examinations: Ming Loyalist Court Rituals and Royal Authority in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Chosŏn, Journal of Korean Studies 27.1 (2022).
“Recent Korean Scholarship on Sino-Korean Relations During the Ming-Qing Period,” Late Imperial China 41.2 (2020)
“Ming Loyalist Families and the Changing Meanings of Chojongam in Early Nineteenth Century Chosŏn,” Acta Koreana 21.1 (2018).
“"We Want to Be Recorded": Market Town Elites and Town Literature in Late Qing and Early Republican Jiangnan,” Sungkyun Journal of East Asian Studies 15, no. 2 (2015).
“Punishment of Examination Riots in the Early to Mid-Qing Period,” Late Imperial China 32, no. 2 (2011).
“Shrine, Images, and Power: The Worship of Former Worthies in Early Nineteenth Century Suzhou,” T’oung Pao 95, series.1-3 (2009).
“Bandit or Hero? Memories of Zhang Shicheng in Late Imperial and Republican Suzhou,” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 68, no.2 (2008).
Book Reviews
Wu Yulian, Luxurious Networks: Salt Merchants, Status, and Statecraft in Eighteenth-Century China, American Historical Review 123, no. 3 (2018).
Lee Ji-Young, China's Hegemony: Four Hundred Years of East Asian Domination, Sungkyun Journal of East Asian Studies 17.2 (2017).
Joseph R. Dennis, Writing, Publishing, and Reading Local Gazetteers in Imperial China, 1100-1700, American Historical Review 121, no. 3 (2016).
Ong Chang Woei, Men of Letters within the Passes: Guanzhong Literati in Chinese History, 907-1911 (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Asia Center, 2008), Chinese Historical Review 16, no.2 (2009).
In Chinese
Journal Articles
“Wenzhi zhixia de kangyi: Jiaqing 4 nian Suzhou shiren de jiti kangyi yu huangdi de fanying” (Protest under the Rule by Culture-Collective Protest of Suzhou Literati in 1799 and the Imperial Response). Translated by Liao Zhenwang, Zhongyang yanjiuyuan Jindaishi yanjiusuo jikan (Bulletin of the Institute of Modern History) 75 (2012).
In Korean
Journal Articles
"Ch'ŏngdae Simyang munansa chŏptae ŭirye ŭi hyŏngsŏng kwa pyŏnhwa" (Formation and Transformation of the Reception Rituals for Munansa (Envoys of Greetings) in Shenyang During the Qing Dynasty), Yŏksa munhwa yŏn'gu 93 (2025).
"Ch'ŏng Ongjŏng yŏn'gan Chosŏn sasin sogyŏn kwa 't'ŭksa' oegyo" (Imperial Summons of Chosŏn Envoys and the Diplomatic Policy of ‘Special Gift Bestowal’ during the Yongzheng Period ), Myŏngch'ŏngsa yŏn'gu 62 (2024).
"Ch’ŏng Kanghŭi nyŏn’gan ŭi Chosŏn sasin chŏpkyŏn: Wŏndan chohagŭi, Wŏndan’yŏn, Sangjo, Sogyŏn ŭl chungsim-uro" (Meetings with Chosŏn Envoys during the Kangxi Era of the Qing Dynasty : New Year’s Day Ceremonies, New Year’s Day Banquets, Regular Court Audiences, and Summonings), Yŏksa-wa kyŏnggye 129 (2024).
“Chŏngjo chŭgwi ch'ogi tae Ch'ŏng oegyo chŏngch'aek kwa chojŏng ŭi tae Ch'ŏng insik” (King Chŏngjo’s Diplomatic Policy toward the Qing during the Early Years of His Reign and the Court Officials’ View of the Qing), Han'guk munhwa 96 (2021).
“18 segi-19 segi chŏnban'gi ŭi Ch'ŏng kwa Chosŏn: Pigyosajŏk siya robut'ŏŭi chŏpkŭn” (Qing China and Chosǒn Korea in Eighteenth- and Early Nineteenth-Century: A Comparative Perspective), Yŏksa wa hyŏnsil 117 (2020).
“Chosŏn hugi Myŏng yumin udaech'aek kwa Chenam Wangssi ŭi kwanjik chinch'ul” (The Policies Toward the Ming Loyalist Descent Groups and the Bureaucratic Advancement of the Chenam Wang in the Late Chosŏn Period), Korean Culture 86 (June 2019).
“19 segi chŏnban’gi Myŏng yumin ŭi chŏngchesŏng kwa kubyŏlchitki: Wang Tŏgil, Tŏkku ŭi sarye rŭl chungshimŭro” (The Identity of Ming Loyalist Families and Their Strategy for Distinction during the First Half of the Nineteenth Century: A Case Study of Wang Tŏgil and Tŏkku of the Chenam Wang), The Korean History Education Review 146 (2018).
“19 segi ch'o ŭi hyangjin- Kangso sŏng T'aechang chu, Chinyang hyŏn sarye rŭl chungsim ŭro” (Local Relief in the Early Nineteenth Century: A Case Study of Taicang Department and Zhenyang County), Journal of Ming-Qing Historical Studies 45 (2016).
“Ch’ŏngdae Chungguk ŭi chibu wa chibang haengjŏng- 19 segi chungyŏp Hanam-bu chibu Ka Jin ŭi hwaltong eŭl chungsim ŭro” (Prefect and Local Administration: A Case Study of Jia Zhen, Henan Prefect in the Mid-19th Century), The Journal of Korean Studies 169 (2015).
“Ch’ŏngjo ŭi nambuk’in kwallyo imyong chŏngch’aek (1644-1795)” (The Patterns of Political Advancement of Northerners and Southerners [1644-1795]), The Korean Historical Review 221 (2014).
“Ch’ŏngdae Kŏnnyung-Kagyŏng yŏn’gan migyŏl sosong chŏkch‘e hyŏnsang kwa kŭ taech’aek” (The Problem of Unresolved Legal Cases during the Qianlong-Jiaqing Period), Korean Studies Quarterly 37, no. 1 (2014).
“Ch’ŏngchunggi pŏmnyul munsŏ e nat’anan hach‘ŭng yŏsŏngdŭl ŭi saenghwal” (The Lives of Lower-class women revealed through the Legal Documents of the Mid-Qing Period), Journal of History and Culture 45 (2013).
“Chungguk ŭi 18 segi-Sŏyurŏp kwaŭi pigyo rŭl chungsim ŭro” (China in the Eighteenth Century: A Comparison with Western Europe and Chosŏn Korea), The Korean Historical Review 213 (2012).
“Chŏnjaeng, kukka kŏnsŏl, sinwha mandŭlgi” (War, State-building, and Myth-making), The Korean Historical Review 216 (2012).
“18 segi Ch’ŏngjo ŭi chibangji, chibang munhŏn t’ongjech’aek kwa Chang Haksŏng ŭi pangjiron” (State Control of Local Gazetteers and Local Histories during the Eighteenth Century and Zhang Xuecheng’s Views on Gazetteers),” The Korean Historical Review 192 (2006).
“Myŏng Ch’ŏng sidae ŭi myŏnghwan, hyanghyŏn ipsa yangsang ŭi pyŏnhwa wa kŭ ŭimi” (Changing Pattern of the Enshrinement of Eminent Officials and Local Worthies in Late Imperial China),” Journal of Chinese Studies 54 (2006).
“Ch’ŏngdae ‘naksŏn hosi’ chŏngp’yo, ŭisŏ chedo ŭi sŏngnip- Kŏnnyung yŏn’gan eŭl chungsim ŭro” (The Establishment of the State Reward System for Elite Contributions during the Qing: A Focus on the Qianlong Period), Journal of Ming-Qing History 26 (2006).
“19 segi ch’o ‘naksŏn hosi’ changnyŏ chedo ŭi pyŏnhwa wa kŭ ŭimi” (Changing Patterns of Elite Contribution and Its Significance in Early Nineteenth Century China),” Journal of Asian Historical Studies 95 (2006).
“17 segi Pokkŏn esŏŭi chŏnggisi paltal kwa hangjo” (The Rent-Resistance Movement and the Development of Periodic Markets in Seventeenth Century Fujian), Seoul National University Papers on Asian History 18 (1995).
Book Chapter
“Chibang amun kwa chibang haengjŏng (Local Government and Local Administration),” in Oh Keum-sung et al. eds., Myŏng Ch’ŏng sidae sahoe kyŏngjesa (Socio-economic History of the Ming-Qing Period), (Seoul: Isan, 2007).
Book Review
Review, Dru C. Gladney, Muslim Chinese: Ethnic Nationalism in the People’s Republic (Cambridge, Mass.: Council on East Asian Studies, Harvard University, 1991), Seoul National University Papers on Asian History 20 (1996).
Review, Yamane Yukio, Minshin Kahoku Teikishi no Kenkyū (Study of Periodic Markets in North China during the Ming-Qing Period) (Tokyo: Kyūko shōin, 1995), Journal of Ming-Qing History 4 (1997).
Review, Richard Belsky, Localities at the Center-Native Place, Space, and Power in Late Imperial Beijing (Cambridge: Mass., Harvard University Asia Center, 2005), Journal of Chinese History 43 (2006).
ACADEMIC HONORS AND FELLOWSHIPS
Faculty Research Grant, 2024-2025, Konkuk University
Faculty Research Grant, 2022-2023, Konkuk University
Faculty Research Grant, 2020-2021, Konkuk University
Faculty Research Grant, 2019-2020, Konkuk University
Konkuk University Best Scholarly Achievement Award, May 2019
Faculty Research Grant, 2018-2019, Konkuk University
Faculty Research Grant, 2016-2017, Konkuk University
Faculty Research Grant, 2015-2016, Konkuk University
Research Grant for Junior Faculty, National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF), 2014-2015
Faculty Research Grant, 2014-2015, Konkuk University
Faculty Research Grant, 2013-2014, Konkuk University
Faculty Research Grant, 2011-2012, Konkuk University
Research Grant, 2009-2010, National Science Council, Taiwan
Research Grant, 2005, 2007, Center for Chinese Studies, Taiwan
Postdoctoral Fellowship, March, 2004, Center for Chinese Studies, University of California, Berkeley (accepted)
Postdoctoral Fellowship, March, 2004, Center for East Asian Studies, Stanford University (declined)
Sinclair Kennedy Traveling Fellowship, 2002
Weatherhead Center for International and Area Studies Pre-dissertation Grant, summer, 2002
Harvard University Asia Center Fellowship for Summer Travel, 1999, 2001, 2002
Harvard University History Department Travel Fellowship, 2000, 2001
Harvard-Yenching Institute Doctoral Fellowship, 1998-2001
Korea Foundation for Advanced Studies Doctoral Fellowship, 1998-2003
Dean’s Award for the Highest Honor, Seoul National University, 1995
Best Undergraduate Thesis Prize in the Department, Seoul National University, 1995
PAPER PRESENTATIONS AND DiSCUSSIONS
"Royal Authority, Ritual, and the Descendants of the Ming Émigrés during the Eighteenth- and Nineteenth Century Chosŏn," presentation given for the Aftermath of the East Asian War Webinar series, October 18, 2023.
"Ruler’s Diplomatic Activism and the Shifting Chosŏn-Qing Relations in the Early Nineteenth Century," paper delivered at the 2023 AAS-in-ASIA meeting held in Daegu, Korea, June 24-27, 2023.
Discussant, Adam Bohnet's Turning toward Edification: Foreigners in Chosŏn Korea, Book Talk Series, International Center of Korean Studies, Kyujanggak Institute for Korean Studies, May 26, 2023.
“Evaluating Emperors in Korea: Competing Discourses on Three Ming Emperors in Late Chosŏn Korea,” paper delivered at the 2022 Association for Asian Studies annual meeting, Honolulu, Hawaii, March 24-27, 2022.
Panel Organizer, “Revisiting Ming Loyalism in Late Chosŏn Korea,” for the 29th AKSE (Association for Korean Studies in Europe) Conference, Rome, Italy, Apr. 11-14, 2019.
“Descendants of Ming Émigrés and the Ming Loyalist Court Rituals in Chosŏn during the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries,” paper delivered at the 29th AKSE (Association for Korean Studies in Europe) Conference, Rome, Italy, Apr. 11-14, 2019.
“The Descendants of Ming Émigrés and the Late Chosŏn Military Examination: A Case Study of the Nongsŏ Yi during the Eighteenth Century,” paper delivered at the 2019 Association for Asian Studies annual meeting, Denver, Colorado, March 21-24, 2019.
“Ming Migrant Families and the Changing Meanings of Chojongam in the Early Nineteenth Century Chosŏn,” paper delivered at the 28th AKSE (Association for Korean Studies in Europe) Conference, Prague, Czech Republic, April 20-23, 2017.
“We Want to Be Recorded”: Market Town Elites and Market Town Literature in Nineteenth-Century Jiangnan,” paper delivered at the 2011 Association for Asian Studies annual meeti9ng, Honolulu, Hawaii, March 31-April 3, 2011
“Tufei huo yingxiong: Ming Qing zhi minguo shiqi Suzhou diqu dui Zhang Shicheng de lishi jiyi” (Bandit or Hero: Historical Perception of Zhang Shicheng in the Suzhou region from Ming-Qing to the Republican Period), paper delivered at the International Conference on the Historical Transformation of the Jiangnan Culture, Nanjing, September 2-5, 2011.
“Wenzhi zhi xia de bakao: Jiaqing 4 nian Suzhou shiren de bakao ji huangdi de fanying” (Protest under the Rule by Culture: 1799 Literati Protest in Suzhou and the Imperial Response), paper delivered at the International Conference on Urban Development and Cultural Exchanges in Jiangnan from the Ming-Qing Period, Fudan University, Shanghai, August 14-16, 2010.
“Literati Protest and Ascendant Literati Political Activism in Early Nineteenth Century Suzhou,” paper delivered at the 2010 Association for Asian Studies annual meeting, Philadelphia, March 25-28, 2010.
Discussant, The Second UC Berkeley–Academy of Korean Studies Workshop, Korea University, Korea, June 22–23, 2009.
Participant, 2009 Berkeley-Korea University Forum on East Asian Cultural Studies, Korea University, Korea, June 24-26, 2009.
Discussant, International Conference on the Environmental History of Late Imperial China, organized by the Association of the Ming-Qing Historical Society, Cheongju, Korea, June 29-30, 2007.
“The State and Local Elites in Mid-Qing China,” talk at the Division of Chinese, Nanyang Technological University in Singapo88+re, March 30, 2007.
“The Cult of Local Worthies in Late Imperial China,” talk at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, England, February, 2006.
Panel Organizer, “The Problem of North and South in Middle and Late Imperial Chinese Politics,” for the 2005 Association for Asian Studies annual meeting, Chicago, March 31-April 3, 2005.
“‘Unavoidably of the Suzhou Clique’: The Politics of North and South in the mid-Qing Central Bureaucracy,” paper delivered at the 2005 Association for Asian Studies annual meeting, Chicago, March 31-April 3, 2005.
“Re-inventing Local Tradition: Politics, Culture, and Identity in Early 19Th Century Suzhou,” talk at the Center for Chinese Studies, U.C. Berkeley, February 4, 2005.
Panel Organizer, “State Activism from a Cultural Perspective: Qianlong and Jiangnan Society in 18th Century China,” for the 2004 Association for Asian Studies annual meeting, San Diego, March 4-7, 2004.
“Production of Local Histories in Suzhou during the Mid-Qing Period,” paper delivered at the 2004 Association for Asian Studies annual meeting, San Diego, March 4-7, 2004.
“Contested Histories: Memories of Zhang Shicheng in Late Imperial Suzhou,” paper delivered at the 3rd International Convention of Asia Scholars(ICAS), Singapore, August 19-22, 2003, and at the New England Association for Asian Studies Conference, Boston, October 25, 2003.
“The Cult of Former Worthies in Early 19th century Suzhou,” paper delivered at the 2003 Association for Asian Studies annual meeting, New York, March 27-30, 2003.
“Recent Scholarship on Qing China in America,” talk given at the Institute of Modern Chinese History of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, December, 2002 (in Chinese).
“Reinventing Local Tradition: Politics, Culture, and Identity in Suzhou ca.1800,” doctoral thesis proposal presented and discussed at the Association for Asian Studies Dissertation Workshop, Washington D.C., April, 2002.