My China Story: David Goodman (Catch up online)

The event was held on Tuesday 4 April 2023.

My China Story is a distinctive and impactful conversation series hosted by the Institute for Australian and Chinese Arts and Culture (IAC) at Western Sydney University to enable a deeper and wider understanding of the multifaceted and humanised China through sharing lived experiences and knowledge of China by Australian public figures. This new episode featured the established China Studies scholar Professor David S G Goodman, Director of the China Studies Centre, University of Sydney.

Professor Goodman grew up in England. He studied politics and modern history at the University of Manchester, then went on to study Chinese language and Chinese politics at the London School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). He started teaching and researching Chinese politics and society first at SOAS, and then the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in the UK. After moving to Australia, he has taught and researched at Murdoch University, University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), the University of Sydney (twice), Nanjing University and Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University. He first visited China in 1976 and having realised he needed to learn Chinese better and live in China he studied first at the then Beijing Languages Institute (today’s Beijing Language and Culture University) and a postgraduate course in political economics at Peking University.

China has been the focus of Professor Goodman’s activities for over fifty years. He has taught Chinese society, politics, history and literature. His research has focused on centre-local relations and regional development in China; the political and social history of the Communist Party of China; and on social and political change at local levels in China, most especially configurations of class, and the sociology of entrepreneurship in contemporary China. Professor Goodman has also been an advisor in economic and government activities related to China. He has lived in Beijing, Taiyuan, Nanjing, Lanzhou, and Suzhou, and has undertaken research elsewhere in China. Professor Goodman was a PRC Ministry of Education Distinguished Overseas Academic based at Nanjing University, also teaching at Shanxi University, and Northwest Normal University 2012-2016. He worked at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University in Suzhou where he first established the Department of China Studies and was later Vice President for Academic Affairs.

The attraction of China to Professor Goodman has long been its diversity and localism and they are at the centre of Professor Goodman’s presentation in this episode of My China Story, reflected photographically, a unique way of recounting his lived experiences and stories about China.

Chinese Music Appreciation 4:  From Huqin to Hulusi

This Chinese Music Appreciation episode explored what might appear to be an unusual combination: the huqin and the hulusi. Originally 'barbarian' instruments introduced to China from around 700 AD, both instruments have developed in interesting ways over the centuries with the huqin now known internationally through the erhu (a popular variety of huqin), while the hulusi continues to maintain a relatively obscure and niche status.

Part talk and demonstration, IAC Research Fellow Doctor Nicholas Ng uncovered some of the most poignant aspects of these instruments as part of his research-based practice at the conclusion of  Professor Goodman's talk.

Lens: In Meditation 镜头：冥想中 (Jìngtóu: Míngxiǎng zhōng)

Flight of the Dragon 龙的飞行 (Lóng de fēixíng)

More information here

Biographies

Professor David S G Goodman is currently Director, China Studies Centre, at the University of Sydney. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences of Australia; and an Emeritus Professor at each of  Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, The University of Sydney, and the University of Technology, Sydney. Prof Goodman previously worked at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University in Suzhou 2014-2021 where he first established the Department of China Studies and was later Vice President for Academic Affairs. He was a PRC Ministry of Education Distinguished Overseas Academic based at Nanjing University, also teaching at Shanxi University, and Northwest Normal University 2012-2016. He served in the past as Acting Director and Academic Director of the China Studies Centre at the University of Sydney (2010–14), the Director of the Institute of Social Sciences at University of Sydney (2009–2010), Deputy Vice-Chancellor (International) and Vice-President of the University of Technology, Sydney (2004–2008), Director of the Institute for International Studies at the University of Technology, Sydney (1994–2004), Director of the Asia Research Centre at Murdoch University (1991–1993), and Director of the East Asia Centre at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne (1985–1988). Professor Goodman is the author or editor of 51 books and monographs on Chinese politics and society and more than 200 academic journal articles and academic book chapters. His most recent publication is this year’s Handbook of Local Governance in China (with Ceren Ergenc.) Class and the Communist Party of China (2 vols) was published in 2022 (with Marc Blecher, Yingjie Guo, Jean-Louis Rocca, Tony Saich, and Beibei Tang. He is currently engaged in research on the implementation of local social governance in Suzhou, Taiyuan, and Lanzhou, and the consequences for state-building and state-society relations.

Doctor Nicholas Ng 黄建文 is a composer, performer and Research Fellow at the Institute for Australian and Chinese Arts and Culture (Western Sydney University). A former Lecturer (Australian National University) and Research Fellow (Queensland Conservatorium), he began teaching Chinese music and western harmony at Sydney Conservatorium in 2016. On the erhu, Nicholas has toured to festivals around Australia, New Zealand, North America, Canada and Europe such as the KunstenFESTIVALdesarts (Brussels) and Sydney Festival. He has composed for The Song Company, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and other ensembles. Nicholas works closely with William Yang and Annette Shun Wah and appeared in Double Delicious with Benjamin Law. He has produced a book and various articles on Australia-China exchange. Nicholas established the ANU Chinese Classical Music Ensemble (2003) and curated the festival ENCOUNTERS: China (2010). His work has been documented on SBS Mandarin Radio, ABC Music Show, and in the ABC Compass program, Divine Rhythms. www.nicholasng.com.au