Dr Thomas Jansen

Thomas Jansen

Contact Details

E-mail: t.jansen@trinitysaintdavid.ac.uk

Campus

Lampeter Campus

Job Title

Lecturer in Chinese Studies

Role in the University

Lecturer in Chinese Studies
Confucius Institute Director
Admissions Tutor Chinese Studies

Background

Dr. phil. University of Munich (1997)
MA University of Munich (1991)

My research interests cut broadly across the fields of history, religion and literature in China. One of my two research foci is court culture in the Six Dynasties Period (AD 220-589), in particular the Southern Dynasties (Nanchao). My interest in this field has been sparked, among others, by the work of German medievalist Gerd Althoff on symbolic communication in medieval Europe. What are the rules, values and forms of communication that govern life at court in early medieval China?

I am also working on sectarian religious texts, “Precious Scrolls” (baojuan 寶卷) from the Ming and Qing dynasties. A monograph with the working title Religious Text Production in Late Imperial China: Social, Religious, and Performative Aspects of Chinese Sectarian Scriptures from the 16th to 19th centuries will explore the manifold interactions between religious texts and their users during that time.

My study of the baojuan has led to my participation in an international network of scholars working on the question of “Globalisation and the Transformation of the Religious Field in China, 1800-Present”

(http://www.uni-leipzig.de/chinesereligions/). I am currently co-editing a conference volume entitled Chinese Religions in the Age of Globalization, 1800-Present (with Thoralf Klein and Christian Meyer) which will be published by Brill USA in 2010.

Areas of MPhil and PhD supervision: my two areas of expertise and cognate areas.

Publications

Hoefische Oeffentlichkeit  I. Monographs

  • Chinese Religions in the Age of Globalization, 1800-Present. Edited by Thomas Jansen, Thoralf Klein and Christian Meyer. [under contract with Brill USA]
  • Höfische Öffentlichkeit im frühmittelalterlichen China. Debatten im Salon des Prinzen Xiao Ziliang [The Courtly Public Sphere in Early Medieval China: Debates in the Salon of Prince Xiao Ziliang]. Freiburg i.Br.: Rombach, 2000. (Rombach Wissenschaft / Reihe Historiae ; 11)

Reviews: Michael Lackner in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Nr. 176 (August 1, 2001), 52; Barbara Hendrischke in Revue Bibliographique de Sinologie (2001), 386-87; Angelika C. Messner in Das Historisch-Politische Buch (2002), No. 1, #114; Barend J. ter Haar in T’oung Pao 89:1 (2003), 197-201; Monique Nagel-Angermann in Early Medieval China 9 (2003), 156-161.

  • China-Literatur in der Universitätsbibliothek Leipzig: 1500-1939. Eine systematische Bibliographie [Books on China in the Leipzig University Library (1500-1939): A Systematic Bibliography]. Vol. 1: Werke in westlichen Sprachen [Works in Western Languages] (With the collaboration of Gabriele Schlesinger, Richard Teschke and Katharina Zinn). Vol 2: Sinica (With the collaboration of Richard Teschke). Leipzig: Leipziger Universitätsverlag, 2003.

Reviews: Martin Kern in Journal of the American Oriental Society 125:2 (2005), 326-28; Monika Lehner in Oriens Extremus 44 (2003/04), 286-290.

 II. Articles

  • China Literature Book Cover 1  “Sacred Text.” In: The Blackwell Companion to Chinese Religions. Ed. by Randall L. Nadeau. Oxford: Oxford University Press, [forthcoming].
  • “Yutai xinyong” 玉臺新詠. Six Dynasties Handbook. Ed. by Albert E. Dien et al. [submitted].
  • “Das China der Nach-Han-Zeit” [China: From the Fall of Han to AD 600]. In: WBG Weltgeschichte [World History]. Vol. 2: Antike Welten und neue Reiche. Ed. by Helwig Schmidt-Glintzer. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 2009, 429-462.
  • “New Tendencies, Religious and Philosophical, in the Chinese World of the Third through Sixth Centuries.” In: Conceiving the Empire: China and Rome Compared. Ed. by Fritz-Heiner Mutschler and Achim Mittag. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008, 397-419.
  • “The Art of Severing Relationships (juejiao) in Early Medieval China.” Journal of the American Oriental Society 126:3 (2006), 347-365.
  • “Beijing Zhong De xuehui zai 1933 nian zhi 1945 nianjian suo congshi gongzuo de jidian shuoming yu zhiyi” 北京中德学会在1933年至1945年间 所从事工作的几点说明与质疑. In: Deguo Hanxue: Lishi, fazhan, renwu yu shijiao 德国汉学：历史·发展·人物与视角. [Chinese translation of Chinawissenschaften — Deutschsprachige Entwicklungen. Geschichte, Personen, Perspektiven]. Ed. by Helmut Martin and Christiane Hammer. Transl. by Zhang Xiping 张西平 and Li Xuetao 李雪涛. Beijing: Dajia chubanshe 大家出版社, 2005, 176-193.
  •  „Der chinesische Kaiser Liang Wudi (reg. 502-549) und der Buddhismus“ [The Chinese Emperor Liang Wudi and Buddhism]. In: Zwischen Säkularismus und Hierokratie. Studien zum Verhältnis von Religion und Staat in Süd- und Ostasien. Ed. by Peter Schalk et. al. Uppsala, 2001, 89-118. (Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis : Historia Religionum ; 17)

III. Reviews

  • Beacon Fire and Shooting Star: The Literary Culture of the Liang (502-557). By Xiaofei Tian. Cambridge/Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2007. Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews 31 (2009), 138-142.
  • Review article “Rhetoric and the Discourses of Power in Court Culture.” Review of David R. Knechtges and Eugene Vance. Seattle (eds.), Rhetoric and the Discourses of Power in Court Culture: China, Europe, and Japan. Seattle: University of Washington Press 2005. Monumenta Serica 55 (2007), 513-526.
  • Leib und Körper: Zum Selbstverständnis im vormodernen China. By Gudula Linck. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2001. (Historisch-anthropologische Studien ; 12). Revue Bibliographique de Sinologie (2003-05), 195-196.
  • Von Rußland über die Mongolei nach China: Berichte aus dem frühen 19. Jahrhundert. Ed. by Hartmut Walravens. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2002. (Orientalistik Bibliographien und Dokumentationen ; 16). Revue Bibliographique de Sinologie (2003-05), 17.
  • Daoism Handbook. Ed. by Livia Kohn. Leiden: Brill, 2000. (Handbook of Oriental Studies : Section 4, China ; Vol. 14). Oriens Extremus 43:1-2 (2002), 294-303.
  • “Integration of the Magical and Cultivational Discourses: A Study on a New Religious Movement Called The True Buddha School.” By Tam Wai Lun. Monumenta Serica 49 (2001), 141-169. Review in: Revue Bibliographique de Sinologie (2002), 397.
  • “From ‘Feudal Superstition’ to ‘Popular Beliefs’: New Directions in Mainland Chinese Studies of Chinese Popular Religion”. By Daniel L. Overmyer. Cahiers d’Extrême-Asie 12 (2001), 103-126. Review in: Revue Bibliographique de Sinologie (2002), 355.
  • China Literature Book Cover 2  Vincenz Hundhausen (1878-1955): Das Pekinger Umfeld und die Literaturzeitschrift Die Dschunke. By Hartmut Walravens. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 2000. (Orientalistik Bibliographien und Dokumentationen 7). Revue Bibliographique de Sinologie (2001), 40-41.
  • Vincenz Hundhausen (1878-1955): Nachdichtungen chinesischer Lyrik, die Pekinger Bühnenspiele und die zeitgenössische Kritik. By Hartmut Walravens. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 2000. (Orientalistik Bibliographien und Dokumentationen 8). Revue Bibliographique de Sinologie (2001), 41.
  • “Lofty Gates or Solitary Impoverishment? Xie Family Members of the Southern Dynasties.” By Cynthia L. Chennault. T’oung Pao 85:4-5 (1999), 249-327. Review in: Revue Bibliographique de Sinologie (2000), 155.
  • Aus dem Reich der Mitte in die Welt hinaus. Die chinesischen Gesandtschaftsberichte über Europa unter besonderer Berücksichtigung Deutschlands von 1866 bis 1906. By Ying Sun. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 1997. (Studien zur neueren Literatur: Bd. 5). Comparativ. Leipziger Beiträge zur Universalgeschichte und vergleichenden Gesellschaftsforschung 9:1 (1999), 110-114.
  • Meister Lius Traktate zur Erneuerung in Krisenzeiten (Liuzi xinlun). Ein Herrscherspiegel aus Chinas 6. Jhd. By Theresia M. Arndt. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 1994. (Europäische Hochschulschriften: Reihe 27, Asiatische und afrikanische Studien, Bd. 41). Bochumer Jahrbuch zur Ostasienforschung 21 (1997), 173-175.