Zheng He Conference

ZHENG HE'S MARITIME VOYAGES (1405-1433) AND CHINA'S RELATIONS WITH THE INDIAN OCEAN WORLD FROM ANTIQUITY

ZHENG HE CONFERENCE

Centre for Asia-Pacific Initiatives, University of Victoria
Victoria, British Columbia, CA
August 22, 2014 – August 24, 2014


Eighty-seven years before Christopher Columbus’ first transatlantic voyage, another of the world’s greatest navigators, the Chinese admiral Zheng He (Cheng Ho), launched the first of the seven voyages he would lead across the Indian Ocean between 1405 and 1433.
This international conference focuses both on Zheng He’s epic voyages in the early fifteenth century, and on China’s millennia of relations with the Indian Ocean world (extending from East Africa and the Middle East through South and Southeast Asia to the Far East).
Conference themes will include ecological diversity and interconnections, transportation over land and sea, the migration of plants, animals and people, the exchange of goods and gifts, contacts through diplomacy and warfare, the spread of religions and technologies, as well as other forms of interactions between China and the Indian Ocean world from ancient to modern times, especially around Zheng He’s era.

The conference’s working languages will be English and Chinese, and papers can be written and presented in either language.
The Centre for Asia-Pacific Initiatives (CAPI) at the University of Victoria is hosting the conference.

The deadline for submission of abstracts (maximum 300 words) and personal contact information is February 15, 2014. The deadline for submission of papers in English or Chinese (max. 10,000 words in MS Word) is July 31, 2014. To submit abstracts via the website click here, or send a document in MS WORD via email to capi@uvic.ca.

The early registration fee is CAN$100 (CAN$50 for students), payable by May 15, 2014. (The registration fee will be waived for a student presenter of an accepted paper).

The late registration fee (after May 15, 2014) is CAN$150 (CAN$100 for students).

Participants are expected to pay for their own travel and lodgings. We can provide information on travel and lodging in Victoria and have a preferred conference rate with the Inn at Laurel Point.

This conference reflects active participation by the University of Victoria in the international Major Collaborative Research Initiatives program, “The Indian Ocean World: The Making of the First Global Economy in the Context of Human-Environment Interaction.” http://indianoceanworldcentre.com/Team_4

Conference sponsors are: The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and the Indian Ocean World Centre (IOWC), McGill University, Canada.

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