Date and time:
2018-04-30 17:00 - 2018-05-02 18:30
Location:
VU Azijos ir transkultūrinių studijų institutas, Universiteto g. 5, Vilnius
Vilnius University Institute of Asian and Transcultural Studies invites you to the public lectures by Dr. Feyza Görez:
April 30th, 2018, 5:00 P.M.: “Chinese and Other Civilizations Practices of Castration”.
Eunuchism is an interesting phenomenon, which could be observed in almost every culture throughout the ages, in different forms and function. The practice was observed in many different cultures with different methods, and for different reasons. In old times, they were influential in private lives, bureaucracy, religious orders, politics, judiciary system, art, and other various parts of social life. Eunuchs still exist and even today, they are officially considered as the third gender in various countries. It will be covered, in this presentation, the physical and characteristic traits and the tragic lives of eunuchs, who can’t be ignored due to their numbers and the roles they played in society, and were sometimes humiliated, in other times feared or respected. It will also cover the castration methods in China, India, Europe, Russia and Ottoman Turkey, from antiquity to the 18th century which were performed on them, and how those methods evolved in time.
May 2nd, 2018, 5:00 P.M. “Chinese Pirate Zheng Shi and Her Extraordinary Life Story”.
The Presentation will discuss illegal maritime activities in the Canton region during the Qing Dynasty and the extraordinary life of Zheng Shi, the only female pirate of Asian history. Chinese piracy, whose origins go back to Annam, which lies within the borders of Vietnam today, had been continuing since the ancient times in the South Sea of the Canton area. While the pirates had appeared and disappeared since the era of Qianlong, the successful Qing emperor, they had never been as powerful as they were during the era of Jiaqing. It was never easy to knock down the Red Flag Fleet, led by Zheng Shi who was terrorizing the sea and the coast, at that time. Joining as the captive of a pirate and rapidly adapting to this life, Zheng Shi took the control of the fleet upon the death of her husband and ruled the whole South China Sea for ten years via the Sea Acts she enacted. Considering several platforms whereon the woman actually existed in a patriarchal society, woman involvement in such a male-dominated act as piracy, wherein even their presence on the sea was regarded as misfortune will be discussed within the historical framework.