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Susan Naquin is an American
historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...
. She is a professor emerita at
Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...
. Naquin's research centers on the social and cultural history of late imperial and early modern
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
(1400-1900), focusing on topics such as
millenarian Millenarianism or millenarism () is the belief by a religious organization, religious, social, or political party, political group or Social movement, movement in a coming fundamental Social transformation, transformation of society, after which ...
peasant uprisings, families, rituals, pilgrimages, temples, the
history of Beijing The city of Beijing has a long and rich history that dates back over 3,000 years. Prior to the unification of China by the First Emperor in 221 BC, Beijing had been for centuries the capital of the ancient states of Ji and Yan. It was a prov ...
, and
Qing The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...
material culture Material culture is culture manifested by the Artifact (archaeology), physical objects and architecture of a society. The term is primarily used in archaeology and anthropology, but is also of interest to sociology, geography and history. The fie ...
. She has authored and co-authored research articles and five books including ''Millenarian Rebellion in China: The Eight Trigrams Uprising of 1813'', ''Shantung Rebellion: The Wang Lun Uprising of 1774'', ''Chinese Society in the Eighteenth Century'', ''Peking: Temples and City Life, 1400-1900'' and ''Gods of Mount Tai: Familiarity and the Material Culture of North China, 1000-2000'' and is a co-editor of the book ''Pilgrims and Sacred Sites in China''. She is the recipient of Princeton University's 2009 Graduate Mentoring Award and the 2010
American Historical Association The American Historical Association (AHA) is the oldest professional association of historians in the United States and the largest such organization in the world, claiming over 10,000 members. Founded in 1884, AHA works to protect academic free ...
Award for Scholarly Distinction. Naquin is an elected member of the
American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...
and the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...
.


Education

Naquin earned a bachelor's degree in
History History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...
from
Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...
in 1966, a master's degree in
East Asian Studies East Asian studies is a distinct multidisciplinary field of scholarly enquiry and education that promotes a broad humanistic understanding of East Asia past and present. The field includes the study of the region's culture, written language, histo ...
in 1968 and a Ph.D. in history in 1974, both from
Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
.


Career

Naquin began her academic career as an assistant professor of history at the
University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...
in 1977, and was promoted to associate professor in 1981 and professor in 1988. In 1993, she joined
Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...
as a professor of History and East Asian Studies and has been professor emerita since 2013. Between 1978 and 1984, Naquin was a co-editor of the journal '' Ch’ing-shih wen-t’i 清史問題'' (now called ''Late Imperial China''). In 2012, she joined the Elling Eide Foundation Board of Directors, concurrently serving on the Geiss-Hsu Foundation Board of Trustees until 2018. Naquin was a Faculty Fellow of Princeton University's Society of Fellows from 2000 to 2003, while serving as the Chair of the East Asian Studies Department from 2001 to 2005 and as Acting Chair in 2007.


Research

Naquin has contributed to the field of history by studying the social and cultural life of late imperial and early modern
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
, especially
north China North China () is a list of regions of China, geographical region of the People's Republic of China, consisting of five province-level divisions of China, provincial-level administrative divisions, namely the direct-administered municipalities ...
, including
millenarian Millenarianism or millenarism () is the belief by a religious organization, religious, social, or political party, political group or Social movement, movement in a coming fundamental Social transformation, transformation of society, after which ...
peasant uprisings,
sectarian Sectarianism is a debated concept. Some scholars and journalists define it as pre-existing fixed communal categories in society, and use it to explain political, cultural, or religious conflicts between groups. Others conceive of sectarianism a ...
organizations,
pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a travel, journey to a holy place, which can lead to a personal transformation, after which the pilgrim returns to their daily life. A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) w ...
and temple organizations, the
history of Beijing The city of Beijing has a long and rich history that dates back over 3,000 years. Prior to the unification of China by the First Emperor in 221 BC, Beijing had been for centuries the capital of the ancient states of Ji and Yan. It was a prov ...
, and the
material culture Material culture is culture manifested by the Artifact (archaeology), physical objects and architecture of a society. The term is primarily used in archaeology and anthropology, but is also of interest to sociology, geography and history. The fie ...
of the
Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...
. Her source material has included Qing archives, stone
stele A stele ( ) or stela ( )The plural in English is sometimes stelai ( ) based on direct transliteration of the Greek, sometimes stelae or stelæ ( ) based on the inflection of Greek nouns in Latin, and sometimes anglicized to steles ( ) or stela ...
, local histories, and religious paraphernalia.


Works

Naquin has authored five books, focusing on Chinese history, especially the religious and cultural practices of imperial China from 1400 to 1900. Her work has been translated into Chinese under her Chinese name, Han Shurui 韓書瑞. In her books ''Millenarian Rebellion in China: The Eight Trigrams Uprising of 1813'' and ''Shantung Rebellion: The Wang Lun Uprising of 1774'', she used newly accessible Qing dynasty archives, including testimonies from captured rebels, to analyze sectarian networks, millenarian beliefs, and how they led to violence in 1813 and 1774. In his review of the book for ''
The Historian ''The Historian'' is the 2005 debut novel of American author Elizabeth Kostova. The plot blends the history and folklore of Vlad Țepeș and his fictional equivalent Count Dracula. Kostova's father told her stories about Dracula when she was ...
'', Robert Kapp wrote, "With the aid of this extraordinary material, she has constructed an absorbing narrative not only of the founding of the rebel movement and the planning of the uprising but also of the attack on the Forbidden City...". In the book ''Chinese Society in the Eighteenth Century'', Naquin and her co-author Evelyn S. Rawski took a regional approach to China. They highlighted the increasing commercial activity and economic development in the 18th century. In 2000, she published ''Peking: Temples and City Life, 1400-1900'', a study of the function of religious institutions as important public spaces in the capital city and city life. About this book, Michael Dillon remarked, "A book of extraordinary complexity and comprehensiveness that contains insights on all aspects of the life of the city... This monumental memorial to the monuments of imperial Peking will become a standard text." In addition, she co-edited the book ''Pilgrims and Sacred Sites in China'' with Chün-fang Yü, which was a collection of essays on sacred sites in imperial and modern China. Robert Ford reviewed the book for the ''
Journal of Asian Studies ''The Journal of Asian Studies'' is the flagship journal of the Association for Asian Studies, publishing peer-reviewed academic scholarship in the field of Asian studies. Its acceptance rate is approximately 6%. Each issue circulates over 8,200 ...
'' and commented, "This collection of nine essays, prefaced by a substantial introduction by the editors, is the most important and broad-ranging book on its subject ever published." Her 2022 work, ''Gods of Mount Tai: Familiarity and the Material Culture of North China, 1000-2000'' was an exploration of the transformations of the Lady of Mount Tai, North China's most important female deity, through a visual history of overlooked statues, prints, murals, and paintings. In a review published in the '' Journal of Chinese Religions'', Vincent Goossaert wrote "Naquin's book, in the making for some fifteen years and long awaited by the scholarly community, is as towering, rock-solid, impressive, and memorable as its subject."


Religious history

Naquin has explored many facets of the religious history of imperial China, particularly during the Qing dynasty. In books and articles, she discussed the emergence and endurance of the White Lotus religion, a sect that originated from Buddhist and Daoist traditions in 16th-century China, with a primary focus on its central figure, the Eternal Mother, and its growth over the subsequent four centuries. In addition, she demonstrated how the rebellions in North China in the Qing dynasty were connected and stemmed from this White Lotus religion. Using media from the 17th to the 20th century, she also showed how the Tanzhe Monastery and Mount Miaofeng in Beijing's suburbs, each sustained a local reputation through their history, pilgrims, and landscapes.


Imperial China history

Naquin has also studied late imperial China, especially the Qing dynasty. In an article in the ''Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies'', jointly written with Thomas Shiyu Li, Naquin researched the historical significance of Beijing's Baoming temple in terms of both the religion and court politics of Ming and Qing China. She has written on collectors and collecting, and in 2004 she examined how the Palace Museum in Beijing presented itself and its collections as "treasures of the Forbidden City" in exhibitions sent abroad, and helped shape the global understanding of Chinese art and history.


Material culture of the Qing dynasty

Naquin's research has provided insights into the material culture and artisanal technologies of late imperial China. She highlighted the significance of non-luxury material culture in the Ming and Qing periods, particularly that of the Greater North China Plain, and advocated for a regional perspective as a frame for lesser-known sources. Additionally, in a book chapter, she analyzed the technologies behind temple culture in late imperial China, focusing on the town of Shouzhou in northern Anhui province, and argued that temples were not only social centers, but also required a complex assemblage of technologies to construct and maintain.


Awards

*1991 – Fellowship Award,
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation is a private foundation formed in 1925 by Olga and Simon Guggenheim in memory of their son, who died on April 26, 1922. The organization awards Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Gr ...
*2008 – Fellow,
American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...
*2009 – Graduate Mentoring Award, Princeton University *2010 – Scholarly Distinction Award,
American Historical Association The American Historical Association (AHA) is the oldest professional association of historians in the United States and the largest such organization in the world, claiming over 10,000 members. Founded in 1884, AHA works to protect academic free ...
*2014 – Fellow,
American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...
*2024 – Recipient,
Joseph Levenson Prize Joseph Levenson Book Prize is awarded each year in memory of Joseph R. Levenson by the Association for Asian Studies to two English-language books, one whose main focus is on China before 1900 and the other for works on post-1900 China. According to ...
,
Association for Asian Studies The Association for Asian Studies (AAS) is a scholarly, non-political and non-profit professional association focusing on Asia and the study of Asia. It is based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. The Association provides members with an Ann ...


Bibliography


Books

*''Millenarian Rebellion in China: The Eight Trigrams Uprising of 1813'' (1976) ISBN 9780300018936 *''Shantung Rebellion: The Wang Lun Uprising of 1774'' (1981) ISBN 9780300026382 *''Chinese Society in the Eighteenth Century'' (1987) ISBN 9780300046021 *''Pilgrims and Sacred Sites in China'' (1992) ISBN 9780520075672 *''Peking: Temples and City Life, 1400-1900'' (2000) ISBN 9780520219915 *''Gods of Mount Tai: Familiarity and the Material Culture of North China, 1000-2000'' (2022) ISBN 9789004504257


Selected articles

* *Naquin, S. (1992). The Peking pilgrimage to Miao-feng Shan: Religious organizations and sacred site. Pilgrims and sacred sites in China, 333–377. *Naquin, S. (1998). Sites, saints, and sights at the Tanzhe Monastery. Cahiers d'Extrême-Asie, 183–211. *Naquin, S. (2004). The Forbidden City goes abroad: Qing history and the foreign exhibitions of the Palace Museum, 1974–2004. T'oung Pao, 341–397. * *


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Naquin, Susan Princeton University faculty Stanford University alumni Yale University alumni Members of the American Philosophical Society Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American women historians Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters