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CCS 2009 Noon Lecture Series: "A Sea Change in Chinese Printing and Book Culture: Chinese Books and Printing in Early Spanish Philippines "
November 10, 2009
12:00 PM - 01:00 PM,
Room 1636 School of Social Work Building,
1080 South University
Host Department: Center for Chinese Studies (CCS)
Lucille Chia, Associate Professor of History, University of California at Riverside
Further Information
This talk concerns the diffusion of printing in Chinese across the sea in Southeast Asia in the early modern period. Given the vital involvement of the Chinese settlers and sojourners in the commerce and service industries of the Spanish Philippines, it is no surprise that some of them were instrumental in developing the earliest printing and publishing enterprises of the colony in the late sixteenth century. They produced books in Chinese, Japanese, Tagalog, Spanish, and Latin, including religious works published under the auspices of Catholic missionary institutions. Furthermore, books were printed in China and Japan, sometimes specifically for different groups in the Philippines. In particular, the export of popular works published in Fujian and other parts of southern China represents a significant extension of the dissemination of Chinese books that followed the first large-scale overseas Chinese diaspora. By looking at Chinese works printed in or for readers in the Spanish Philippines, we can begin to understand how Chinese book culture adapted to and developed in the presence of other very different non-Chinese cultures and religions.
Lucille Chia is Associate Professor of History at the University of California at Riverside. Her research interests include book culture and printing in imperial China, and the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia in the early modern period and its impact on China.
