Ming Studies Evening Meeting, March 10, 2000, AAS Conference, San Diego, CA
The meeting was called to order by President Ken Hammond.
- Jiang Yonglin, Hsiung Ping-chen, and Sarah Schneewind were elected to the Board of Ming Studies.
- Ted Farmer led a discussion on the status of the journal, announcing that Katy Carlitz will take on the role of editor, and that the journal would be recruiting associate editors from various disciplines. He also announced that Issue #42 would be coming out this spring, and that work on Issue #43 is underway. The floor was opened for suggestions for the journal.The following suggestions were made:
a. The lists of Chinese publications should be continued.
b. The journal should consider some articles on the state of the field in different areas.
c. The journal should publish necrologies.
d. The journal should increase the involvement of East Asian scholars.
e. Review essays on publications in East Asia would be useful.
f. The journal should be accessible as a place to publish for both beginning and advanced scholars.
g. Speeding up the publication of the journal will make it a more attractive place to publish.
h. Research notes should be included.
i. The lists of recent dissertations should be continued.
j. The journal should publish reports of recent conferences and other events, such as the recent production of Peony Pavilion in New York, art exhibits, etc.
- Ted Farmer and Ken Hammond reported on their recent trips to China. Ted commented on the need to increase the participation of American scholars in the international conferences held in China, such as the Annual International Ming History Conference, and the conference last year at Nankai University on Ming and Qing history. Ken noted that foreign scholars in China now have considerable freedom to travel and do their research and that there are increasing opportunities for scholarly cooperation.
- There was a discussion of the life and career of Ray Huang, who died this past year. Joseph Lam spoke about the dramatic effect of the book 1587. Willard Peterson gave a summary of Ray’s career. Jiang Yonglin commented on Ray’s impact upon Chinese readers, and his broad recognition among Chinese scholars of various fields. Tsing Yuan commented on the breadth of Ray’s erudition.
Respectfully submitted,
Peter Ditmanson, Secretary for the Society of Ming Studies