Daily Life for the Common People of China, 1850-1950
In his talk, Ronald Suleski will introduce daily life for the common people of China in the century from 1850 to 1950. They were semi-literate, yet they have left us written accounts of their hopes, fears, and values. They have left us the hand-written manuscripts ( chaoben 抄本) now flooding the antiques markets in China. These documents represent a new and heretofore overlooked category of historical sources.

He will give an explanation of the interaction of chaoben with the lives of the people. This will include examples of why they were so important to the poor laboring masses: people wanted horoscopes predicting their future, information about the ghosts causing them headaches, a few written words to help them trade in the rural markets.

Bio:
Ronald Suleski did his undergraduate work at the University of Pittsburgh. He received his MA in Chinese Studies and his PhD in Modern Chinese History from the University of Michigan. Ron lived in Tokyo from 1980 to 1997 where he was an executive in international business, working as the managing director in Asia for several US and British professional publishers, dealing with technical, medical and legal journals. In 1997 he returned from Japan to be at Harvard. There he was Assistant Director of the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies until 2009, when he joined Suffolk University in Boston as Professor of History and Director of the Rosenberg Institute for East Asian Studies.