During the Qing dynasty, the Qianlong emperor and his court engaged in a broad range of linguistic and metaphorical translations integral to their statecraft. Just as production of texts in different languages became cultural and territorial markers of the Qing imperial identity, so too did command of materials, technologies, styles and forms become signifiers of the all-encompassing history and geography of the empire. This two-day workshop brings together specialists whose work focuses on different aspects of Qing translation to explore parallels, crossovers, and distinctions between processes of literary, artistic, and technological translation. By examining the multilingual production of texts, the replication of objects in multiple mediums, and the creative adaptations of artistic forms as manifestations of a shared enterprise, this workshop aims to provide a forum for rethinking the culture and politics of the Qing imperium.

Speakers include: Brian Baumann (UC Berkeley), Patricia Berger (UC Berkeley), Wen-shing Chou, (Hunter College, CUNY), Rae Dachille (University of Arizona), Nancy Lin (UC Berkeley), Ellen Huang (Stanford University), Yuhang Li (University of Wisconsin, Madison), Mårten Söderblom Saarela (Max Planck Institute for the History of Science), Weirong Shen (Qinghua University), Jon Soriano (UC Berkeley), Sophie Volpp (UC Berkeley), Yulian Wu (Michigan State University), Yajing Zhang (Palace Museum, Beijing).

Organized by Patricia Berger (UC Berkeley), Nancy Lin (UC Berkeley) and Wen-shing Chou (Hunter College, CUNY).

Sponsored by the History of Art Department at the University of California, Berkeley.