On the evening of September 18th, 2020, Prof. Ye Shaofei, Associate Professor at the Vietnam Research Center of Honghe University, gave an online lecture entitled “The Evolution of the View of Modern Vietnamese History and Reconstruction of Sino-Vietnamese Relations”, which is the first session in a series of lectures on “Area Studies Across the Boundaries: Southeast Asian Studies” by Institute of International and Area Studies, Tsinghua University (IIAS-THU). The audience consisted of the faculty and students from Tsinghua University, Peking University, Beijing Foreign Studies University, China Foreign Affairs University, Xiamen University, Guangxi Normal University and other institutions.
In the lecture, Prof. Ye elaborated the background and evolution of the view of modern Vietnamese history, the shift from dynastic state historiography to nation-state historiography and the approach and essence of modern historians’ reconstruction of traditional Sino-Vietnamese relations. With a large number of historical materials and literatures as evidences, he helped the audience to better understand this profound topic.
In the interactive Q&A session, Prof. Ye drilled down Vietnam’s historical records and responded to the questions raised by the audience, including the significance of historical narration to Vietnam’s national construction and the historical relationship between Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries. Later, he also recommended relevant readings to enrich the audience’s understanding of this topic. IIAS faculty and were deeply inspired by the perspective of Vietnamese history research shared by Prof. Ye, and also expected that the series of lectures would bring more cutting-edge views on Southeast Asian studies.
Pro. Ye Shaofei is Associate Professor at the Vietnam Research Center of Honghe University and a doctorate candidate in Han Nom at Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences. Focusing on the study of Vietnamese ancient history and the history of Sino-Vietnamese relations, Prof. Ye led and completed the National Social Science Fund Project “Vietnamese Ancient History Research”. He has presented more than 30 publications on Vietnamese history research in a number of journals, including Chinese Frontier History and Geography Research and Overseas Chinese Studies Collection. Due to his achievements, he won the Third Prize of the 17th Outstanding Achievements in Philosophy and Social Sciences in Yunnan Province.
By: Qin Yi
