Events
Faculty of Arts: Faculty Colloquium (Term 1, 2019-20) – Professor Poo Mu Chou on “Experience, Imagination, and the Body of the Ghost in Ancient China”
18 Oct 2019
4:00pm-6:00pm
Arts and Humanities Hub, G24, Fung King Hey Building
Professor Poo Mu Chou
Prof. Poo Mu-chou received a B.A. in History from National Taiwan University in 1975 and Ph.D. in Ph.D. in Near Eastern Studies from The Johns Hopkins University in 1984. He is a Professor of History and director of the Centre for the Comparative Study of Antiquity at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. His research interests include society and religion in ancient Egypt and China. His major publications include Burial and the Idea of Life and Death: Essay on Ancient Chinese Religion, Wine and Wine Offering in the Religion of Ancient Egypt, In Search of Personal Welfare: A View of Ancient Chinese Religion, Enemies of Civilization: Attitudes toward Foreigners in Ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt and China and Daily Life in Ancient China.
Tel: 3943 7107 (Ms Sonia Yip)
One of the interesting and challenging aspects of cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary study is to try to find appropriate terms to express some fundamental conceptions or phenomena to be compared. In the study of death, netherworld, and concepts related to the idea of an afterlife, the term ghost is probably the most important key to all discussions. But what is a ghost, and whether every cultural or religious system would have the same concept, is a complicated question that defies a simple answer. This talk tries to analyze the records about ghosts in early China and discuss how people perceived the presence of ghosts, whether real or imagined, and why.
