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東文研セミナー「Lecture Series on Chinese Muslims by Prof. Hille (EHESS)」開催のお知らせ
The Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, the University of Tokyo, is pleased to announce a two-part lecture series by Dr. Marie-Paule Hille, an internationally renowned anthropologist known for her research on Muslim communities in China.
We apologize for the short notice, but we would be delighted if you could join us. Partial attendance at either the morning or the afternoon lecture is also welcome. The event will be held in a hybrid format combining in-person and online participation.
Lecture Series Details
Speaker
Dr. Marie-Paule Hille (Associate Professor, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales [EHESS]; visiting the Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia in summer 2026 under the cooperation agreement between the two institutions)
For details: https://ccj.ehess.fr/membres/marie-paule-hille
Lecture Titles
Lecture 1: The Golden Age of a Chinese Sufi Socio-Economic Organisation. From Local Economic History to Interconnected Networks (19th–21st Centuries)
Lecture 2: Writing and Telling Miracles: Esotericism in Xidaotang Hagiographic Culture between Orality and Textuality (Gansu, 1910s–1950s–1980s)
Date
Tuesday, July 28, 2026
Lecture 1: 10:30–12:00 JST
Lecture 2: 14:30–16:00 JST
Venue
Room 304 (First Conference Room), 3rd Floor, Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, the University of Tokyo (Hongo Campus), and via Zoom.
How to Participate
Registration Form: https://forms.gle/fFFMoagLtzjv4hx18
Online participation: Please complete the registration form by the end of July 26 (JST). The Zoom link will be sent to registered participants on July 27.
In-person participation: Advance registration is not required. However, we would greatly appreciate it if you could also register in advance, as this will help us estimate attendance.
Abstracts
Lecture 1
This talk examines the economic organisation of Xidaotang 西道堂, a Chinese Muslim Sufi brotherhood founded by Ma Qixi 马启西 (1857–1914) in Old Taozhou (present-day Lintan, southern Gansu), a small trading town on the cultural border between China and Tibet. From its origins, Xidaotang was conceived as a collective enterprise in which economic, cultural, and religious life were closely intertwined, laying the foundation for activities spanning forestry, manufacturing, animal husbandry, agriculture, and trade.
The talk first turns to the Early Republican period, examining Xidaotang's trading network in Tibetan regions, shaped by long-distance caravan routes and political alliances. Central to this network was the trading company Tian Xing Long 天兴隆, a key broker of goods—wool in particular—positioning Xidaotang merchants as intermediaries between the Tibetan periphery and urban centres on the east coast.
It then turns to the late 1970s, when trading activities resumed after a period of interruption, establishing a new monopoly on "silks and satins" through the reopened Tian Xing Long. I will explore how this socio-economic model and its political alliances made the emergence of this golden age possible.
Lecture 2
This talk draws on the textual productions of the Xidaotang, a Sino-Muslim religious movement that emerged in Northwest China at the end of the nineteenth century, at a time when the Islamic religious landscape in China was being reconfigured by reformist, fundamentalist, and millenarian currents. It is based primarily on written hagiographies produced within the group, complemented by oral accounts collected during fieldwork. The written sources date from the 1910s, 1950s, and 1980s, while the oral investigation was conducted in the 2010s.
The miracles examined concern three saintly figures who succeeded founder Ma Qixi (1857–1914). These events, said to have taken place in Beijing, were recorded by Ma Qixi's son-in-law, who was both an eyewitness and the principal hagiographer—texts occupying an intermediate position between testimony, devotion, and doctrinal elaboration.
The talk focuses on esoteric modes of expression through the study of miracles, examining their transcultural dimensions, shared patterns with other Sufi confraternities, and the narrative construction of sainthood and charismatic authority. These miracles played a central role in asserting union with God and legitimising the community's rebirth amid political upheaval and religious repression. Finally, the talk considers the relationship between textuality and orality, showing that the esoteric dimension of miracles is often explicit orally, while remaining partially coded in written texts.
Contact
Kazuo Morimoto (morikazu@ioc.u-tokyo.ac.jp)
登録種別：研究会関連
登録日時：FriJul1715:40:352026
登録者 ：森本・神林
掲載期間：20260717 - 20260728
当日期間：20260728 - 20260728
