Announcement: 06.06.2025 – Online Lecture by Hanli Zhou: "The Survival Politics of Three Tai Nüa Polities in the Upper Mekong Basin: A Study of 18th–19th Century Relations between Southeast Asia and China"

6. Juni 2025, 14:00 Uhr, von AAI Webmaster

Foto: Hanli Zhou, cropped

We kindly invite you to this online lecture in English language on Friday, June 6th, 2025, at 14:00–16:00 h (CEST/MESZ) = 19:00–20:00 h (Thai time).

Topic:
    "The Survival Politics of Three Tai Nüa Polities in the Upper Mekong Basin: A Study of 18th–19th Century Relations between Southeast Asia and China"

Speaker:
    Assoc. Prof. Hanli Zhou (PhD)

Affiliation:
    Pu’er University, China

Date/Time:
    June 06^th, 2025 (Friday), 14:00 – 16:00 (CEST/MESZ) = 19:00 – 20:00 (Thai time)

Language:
    English

Zoom Link:
    https://uni-hamburg.zoom.us/j/64563521222?pwd=OEdSbENCOUV2Ynl5ZUdnNG5mM1pwQT09

Zoom Meeting-ID:
    645 6352 1222

Zoom Passcode:
    hgtlecture

About this lecture:

This lecture will examine how the three major Tai Nüa polities in the Upper Mekong River region maintained their autonomy through survival politics and cultural negotiation strategies during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

By analyzing the historical cases of Moeng Laem, Küng Ma, and Moeng Bò, the lecture will demonstrate how these polities navigated external pressures within the Qing dynasty's frontier governance framework, employing diplomacy, cultural identity, and local governance approaches.

Special attention will be given to the roles of the Mandala system and the Chinese imperial tusi system in shaping political interactions in the region and influencing relationships with China and Southeast Asian neighbors.

By analyzing the cultural and political interactions of these polities, the lecture aims to provide deeper historical insights reflecting on the relevance of these experiences for contemporary frontier governance and the construction of cultural identity.

Brief profile:

Hanli Zhou is an Associate Professor at Pu'er University, China, specializing in Southeast Asian history, with a particular focus on the political and cultural interactions of Tai ethnic groups with China.

She holds a PhD in Southeast Asian History from the University of Hamburg, where her research concentrated on the survival politics of Tai Nüa polities in the Upper Mekong Basin during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Her work integrates history, political science, and ecology, and she has led a national project on Tai Nüa regions under Qing rule and their relationships with mainland Southeast Asia.

Hanli is committed to interdisciplinary teaching and research, with expertise in local history, political systems, and cross-cultural exchanges.

We would like to thank the Hamburg Society for Thai Studies for the cooperation. 

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