Public lecture: Kevin Bockholt (FAU Erlangen), "Chinese Reporting on the First World War (1914-1919)" (18.06.)

The Department of Sinology welcomes all students as well as everybody who is interested to this term's third public lecture. Kevin Bockholt (FAU Erlangen) will hold a lecture on "Chinese Reporting on the First World War (1914-1919)".

The lecture will be held on June 18th (18:00 st) in room 17 (Philosophiegebäude).

Abstract

This talk examines the circumstances and main characteristics of Chinese reporting on the First World War from 1914 to 1918 and the subsequent Peace Conference in 1919. First, it situates Chinese war reporting within its broader historical context and traces the information channels through which news traveled from Europe to China, highlighting the diversity of international actors involved in transferring and disseminating wartime information to the Chinese press.

Second, this presentation explores how war-related materials were presented and discussed in Chinese newspapers and journals. This analysis reveals the challenges posed by reliance on biased international news sources and investigates the varied strategies Chinese journalists employed to uncover the “truth.” In doing so, it demonstrates how their efforts not only enabled Chinese audiences to better comprehend the conflict, but also made China a more active participant in the global discourse on the war.

Finally, this talk sheds light on China’s first foreign correspondent, Hu Lin, who traveled to Paris in 1919 to report on the peace negotiations. It argues that Hu Lin’s mission marked a significant turning point in Chinese foreign reporting, representing a shift from dependence on overseas news agencies to proactive engagement in international journalism and direct management of information flows.