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The 22nd International Congress of Historical Sciences
Held in Jinan, China
LIU Jiafeng*

The 22nd International Congress of Historical Sciences was held in Jinan
between the 23rd and 29th of August, 2015. This was the first time in its
115-year history that the Congress was held in Asia, outside of Europe or theso-called “Europeanized world.” The Congress dates back to the International
Congress of Comparative History held in Paris in 1900. Since then, theCongress has been held every five years (except during World Wars I and II);
it is organized by the International Committee of Historical Sciences (CISH),
which was founded in Geneva in 1926. The CISH is a non-governmentalorganization, established as an association for the promotion of the historicalsciences through international cooperation. Being composed of 56 National
Committees and more than 40 International Affiliated Organizations (e.g., theInternational Economic History Association and the International Federationfor Research in Women’s History), the CISH is the world’s largest and mostrepresentative international academic organization in history. In 1938,
Academia Sinica applied to join the International Committee of Historical
Sciences as the Chinese National Committee, and sent Hu Shi to attend the8th Congress in Zurich that same year. The Association of Chinese Historians
officially became a National Committee of the CISH in 1982. The Congress
was held in China in 2015 because Chinese historians have striven manyyears for dialogue and communication with academics from around theworld. At the same time, the CISH has endeavored for many years to avoid
Eurocentrism. As Robert Frank, Secretary-General of the CISH and Professorof Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, said, the Congress showed “howsuccessful are the recent efforts of the historians to avoid Eurocentrism, toescape from a research too much centered on the Western point of view, topromote the Global and Transnational Turn… all issues very well represented
in its programme.” As one of the local organizers of Shandong University, I’dlike here to make a brief sketch of the Jinan Congress.
* Liu Jiafeng 劉家峰 is head professor of Global History in the College of History andCulture, Shandong University.

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Ranking in the top 15 universities of China and continuously excellingin the fields of literature and history, Shandong University made considerable
contributions to the preparatory work as the host of the Jinan Congress. All
information was updated in time on the website: http://ichschina2015.org/cms/, including applications and registration information. Never have so many
participants attended a Congress: 2,765 people registered on the website;
2,077 actually participated in the Congress in Jinan, including 785 foreignscholars from 76 countries and regions in Europe, America, Asia, Africa, andOceania. Admirably, the host university provided accommodation for 124
scholars and plane tickets for 69 scholars, including junior scholars andscholars from developing countries.
The Congress consisted of different types of sessions: 4 Major Themes,
27 Specialised Themes, 18 Joint Sessions, and 19 Round Tables. In addition,
19 International Affiliated Organizations held their own special sessions, and3 Evening Sessions and a Graduate-Student Poster Session were also
included. Each session having been organized by scholars from at least twocountries and papers presented by scholars from four or five different countries, the Congress was clearly international in reality as well as in name. The
2015 Joint Conference of the Committee of Teaching Guidance on History,
under the Ministry of Education and Chairmen of History Departments inChina, and The National Forum of the Post-Doctor of History, were parallel
conferences also held in Jinan. Satellite conferences focusing on research ofthe Qilu Culture were held at six cities in Shandong Province. Totaling about
185, these sessions were grand in scope, rich in content, and diverse in form.
The Chinese Government and the Shandong Provincial Government
attached great importance to the Jinan Congress and provided generous
financial support for it. Vice Premier Liu Yandong attended the opening
ceremony and read the Congratulatory Message from President Xi Jinping.
Chinese historians agreed with what Xi said in the message, “Historicalstudies lay the foundation for all social sciences,” which also conveyed thevalue that Chinese people have traditionally placed on historical study.
Marjatta Hietala, President of the CISH, delivered the opening speech, inwhich she reviewed the process and channels of knowledge transmission andcultural communication between China and the world. She also outlined therole of the CISH in transnational cultural communication and responded to thechallenges facing contemporary historians, such as competition, media, andthe Internet. At the opening ceremony, professors and students fromShandong University performed traditional Chinese music, which was met
with a standing ovation by Congress participants.
The theme of the Opening Speeches was “Nature and Human History.”
The Congress invited three distinguished scholars from Europe, Africa, andInternational Conferences in East Asia

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Asia to speak on this topic: Andrea Giardina (Italy), Mamadou Fall (Senegal),and Xia Mingfang (China). Having conducted research from different
perspectives, the speakers elaborated upon the relationship between theenvironment and the development of human society.
Traditionally, the CISH designs the topics of the Major Themes to focus
on the latest historical research trends; therefore, the Major Themes weregiven priority in scheduling—up to a single day for each theme—with top
historians representing each field contributing their ideas. That the Congress
was held in Jinan is witness to China’s growing influence in recent years.
That is also why the subject of Major Theme 1 was designated as “China
from Global Perspectives.” Major Theme 1 was organized by Wang Jianlang(Chinese Academy of Social Sciences) and María Dolores Elizalde (CSIC,Madrid) and discussed by Kenneth Pomeranz from the University of Chicago.
Fourteen scholars from China, the US, France, Italy, Russia, Switzerland,Canada, Spain, Japan, and Bangladesh expressed their views on the connection and interaction between China and the world, the role China has played,and how much China has influenced the history of globalization since the 15thcentury. The paper of Wan Ming (Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)indicated that the link between domestic and foreign markets was promoted
and strengthened as a result of silver monetization in the Ming Dynasty,
thereby facilitating China’s participation in the early stages of globalization.
Professor Paul A. Kramer from Vanderbilt University looked into the historyof Chinese exclusion in the United States from 1868 to 1910. He focused on
exceptions to anti-Chinese sentiment, finding that some Chinese in the welleducated elite class were actually welcomed in the US. Pierre Singaravélou(Université de Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne) focused on Tianjin, the largest port
city of northern China, describing the city as an energetic laboratory ofglobalization. Professor Kawashima Shin from the University of Tokyo
discussed internationalism and nationalism in modern Chinese diplomatic
history, and suggested that past evaluations of the tributary system wererelated to national humiliation in modern Chinese history.
Major Theme 2 centered on historicizing emotions. For the first time in
the history of the Congress, research on emotional history was designated asa major theme. World historians showed great interest in the objects andmethods of emotional history. Chaired by Ute Frevert and Andrew Lynch, 11scholars from France, Britain, Germany, Australia, and other countries delivered speeches. This Major Theme included four sessions: “Emotions,Capitalism and the Market,” “Emotions and the Creation of ‘Others’,”“Emotions in Bodies and Spaces,” and “Historicizing Emotions: Theories andMethodologies.” Attendees exchanged views in the fields of politics,
economy, life, the art of music, and death. From the scholars’ remarks, it is228

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clear that there is increasing academic interest in the history of emotions. The
research methodology of the history of emotions emphasizes interdisciplinary
approaches including psychiatry, literature, economics, and business.
Specialized research institutes have been established in Germany andAustralia and publications in this field are growing. Does this indicate that anemotional turn has emerged in modern historical science? The Jinan Congresscontributed to the promotion of emotional history studies, which is an interesting field deserving more attention and research.
Major Theme 3, “Revolutions in World History: Comparisons andConnections,” was convened and hosted by Alan Forrest from the Universityof York, Mitani Hiroshi from the University of Tokyo, and Pierre Serna fromUniversité Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. Anna-Maria Rao and Mitani Hiroshi
commented on the speeches from 11 scholars. Four topics were covered infour sessions: “Revolutions in the Atlantic World,” “Revolutions in TwentiethCentury Europe,” “Revolutions in Modern Africa and the Middle East,” and“Revolutions in Modern East Asia.” The scholars discussed revolutions indifferent regions. Scholars could compare and connect with each other usingtransnational perspectives; they came to enlightening conclusions thanks tothese exchanges. Victoria Zhuravleva displayed political cartoons on theRussian revolution published in the US, using historical materials such asarchives, books, and cartoons. Joanna De Groot compared indigenous andtransnational elements in the Iranian revolutions of 1905-1911 and 19771982. Park Hun indicated that the Meiji Restoration should be re-conceptualized in the East Asia context, while attention should be given to the emergence of a “literati political culture.” Wang Qisheng stated that the 1911
Republican Revolution, the Nationalist Revolution, and the Communist
Revolution were three interlinked phases in the progressive trajectory of theChinese revolution; each left enough room for the next revolution to advanceon the basis of the previous one.
Major Theme 4, Digital Turn in History, was organized and reviewed byTom Dublin from State University of New York. Twelve scholars delivered
speeches during two sessions. The first session in the morning was “DigitalHistory: Challenges and Possibilities.” Incorporating the session topic of“challenges,” scholars argued that the digital turn signifies that historians
must confront the challenge of the internet, adapt to new approaches and tothe construction of databases, and fully utilize them. Professor Serge Noiret,
President of the International Federation for Public History, began his presentation by discussing the role digitization has played in the construction of thememory of public history. He appealed to historians to take part in thisconstruction proactively. The second session in the afternoon focused on“New Tools, New Narratives, New Histories.” Speakers at the session empha-International Conferences in East Asia

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sized the adaption and applications of new tools in historical research. The
evening session was designed around the topic, “Promoting Digital HistoryInternationally.” The presenters intrigued and stimulated the audience byexplaining how history is constructed. The Technology and Humanities Camp
was a successful experiment that created new ways to make historical scienceavailable to the public. Major Theme 4, “Digital Turn” and “Big Data,”
reflected the themes of our era, and the fact that there is need for ongoing andprofound research on their influence on historical science.
Owing to the scope of the conference, this author is not able to provide
a more comprehensive introduction here to the Specialised Sessions, Joint
Sessions, Round Tables, and sessions organized by International Affiliated
Organizations. I will limit my discussion to my impressions of the Jinan
Congress in general. Subjects of the papers were diverse, while their global
or transnational perspectives showed the similarity of the attendees. This iswhat the ICHS has always encouraged in order to avoid conducting researchthat is too centered on the nation-state narration and to use global or transnational narratives instead. Some new subjects—or subjects that are new tosome while familiar to others—were represented in the programme: thechange of natural environment, the spread of species and technologies, thespread of infectious diseases, mass migration, empire expansion, transregional trade, and the transmission of religion and cultural ideas; all of theabove global phenomena or processes were discussed at the Congress. Inaddition, traditional topics or approaches—national, regional, political,gender, labor, and public histories—were addressed from new perspectives ofglobal history, and attracted the participation of many researchers. Reviewing
how these sessions were organized or what the papers discussed, we could
conclude that despite “global history” not being one of the major themes of
the Jinan Congress, never have previous Congresses been characterized somuch by “global history ” or “globalization” as this one was.
Two new academic awards also stand out as special innovations of theJinan Congress. One is the International Prize of History, the CISH/JaegerLeCoultre History Prize. This prize honors a historian who has distinguishedhimself or herself in the field of history by his or her works, publications orteaching, and has significantly contributed to the development of historicalknowledge. There are no individual applications. Only the collective membersof the CISH—its national committees or its international affiliated organizations—may present candidates and vote. The prize is sponsored by Swiss
watch manufacturer Jaeger-LeCoultre. The first laureate of the prize, Serge
Gruzinski (Senior Professor of the School of Advanced Studies of SocialSciences, Invited Professor of Princeton University) is a specialist on thehistory of Latin America in the 16th 18th centuries and a pioneer in the230

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development of global history and transnational history, which currentlyrepresent the main trends in the historical sciences. Serge Gruzinski doesn’t
simply aim to de-westernize history; he wants to globalize it. If the world isto be taken globally, the approach has to be global, too. The issue is toexamine how cultures and countries are brought into mutual contact, how
they meet, face, and appreciate or dislike each other. In his latest book, “TheEagle and the Dragon: Globalization and European Dreams of Conquest in
China and America in the Sixteenth Century,” he states that the history ofEuropean expansion in the 15th and 16th centuries may be written in parallelwith the history of success in America and failure in China. Actually, whatwe know about early globalization in the 16th century is simple; only a global
history is able to restore the historic landscape in all its depth, complexity,diversity, and ambiguity. Until the 19th century and often long after that,countries in the Americas were considered only as appendages, or as products
or bad replicas of Western Europe. Serge Gruzinski has contributed significantly to profoundly rethinking this concept. The second award, theCISH-SDU prize, sponsored by Shandong University and proposed by its
president, Zhang Rong, was established to cultivate and encourage the next
generation of historians. Six PhD students from China, Germany, and Canada
became the first laureates from more than seventy candidates in the General
Poster Session. These two prizes will continue to be awarded regularly in later
world Congresses.
Since China hosted the Congress, there was broader participation ofChinese historians and more dialogue between Chinese and non-Chinese
historians than had ever been possible at previous Congresses. Of the many
topics discussed at the Jinan Congress, ten were designed and recommended
by the Association of Chinese Historians. Chinese scholars chaired 16
primary and affiliated sessions, and 80 Chinese scholars delivered speeches orserved as discussants. The broad degree of participation by Chinese scholars
in preparing for and attending the Jinan Congress far exceeded that of any
previous Congress; this level of Chinese participation demonstrated theextraordinary achievements of Chinese historical studies in the last threedecades. However, it cannot be denied that studies by Chinese historians infields such as emotional history, the digital turn, and the theory of global
history are still scant; also, Chinese scholars’ competence in English and otherforeign languages is lacking. The next ICHS (the 23rd) will be held inPoznan, Poland in 2020. This writer is looking forward to seeing more
Chinese historians actively participate in the world Congress, communicate
with scholars from around the world, and learn from each other to become
more integrated with other historians in the ICHS, the “global community ofhistorians” (Karl Dietrich Erdmann).

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The opening ceremony of the 22nd International Congress ofHistorical Sciences Held in Jinan, China. Photo by Li Huayang

Professor Serge Gruzinski, the first winner ofCISH-Jaeger LeCoultre International History Award231