Public lecture: Prof. Andrew B. Kipnis, "Ghosts, Urbanization and Strangers in China and Hong Kong" (14.06.)

The Department of Sinology welcomes all students as well as everybody who is interested to this summer term's second public lecture. On June 14th 18:00 in lecture hall 3 (Hörsaal 3, Philosophiegebäude) Prof. Andrew B. Kipnis (CUHK, Hong Kong) will hold a lecture on "Ghosts, Urbanization and Strangers in China and Hong Kong".

Abstract: Belief in ghosts is often thought of as a relic of the past—an outmoded belief linked to the traditional cultures of rural China.  But ghost stories are commonplace in Hong Kong and other large Chinese cities and evidence of the fear of ghosts can be found in the ways that modern urban people treat death, funeral homes, and cemeteries. This talk analyzes belief in ghosts as a facet of modern, urban living. I suggest that traditional Chinese beliefs about ghosts have transformed rather than diminished as China has urbanized, and that modern urbanites may harbor more fear of ghosts than anyone did in the past.