The seminar is an intergenerational meeting of European sinologists. This year, its participants will focus on the issues of ethnic minorities. It will take place two years after the opening of the Taiwan Resource Centre for Chinese Studies at the JU Faculty of Philology.

The series of lectures by Dr Ondrej Klimes entitled: Ethnicity in modern China in the historical and political perspective with a focus on Xinjiang will be the main part of the academic event addressed to sinology students as well as the wider audience.

The lecture series discusses ethnicity in the context of historical and political identity of modern China, particularly the People´s Republic of China from 1949, taking Xinjiang as a case study. It focuses on the process of Uyghur nation-building, formulation of China’s ethnic policies, political developments in the People's Republic of China and in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous region, the role of ideology, propaganda and political discourse in contemporary China as well as their relation to the PRC's contemporary cultural diplomacy and international image-building.

Themes:

• Ethnic minorities in China
• History of Xinjiang
• Contemporary Xinjiang politics
• Propaganda and ideology in China
• Elite politics of China
• China’s cultural diplomacy

The lectures will be accompanied by MA/BA/PhD panels for students who would like to share their passion for the Chinese language and culture and present their academic papers in the fields related to China and Taiwan.