Lane J Harris

Lane Harris

Professor and Chair, History

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After growing up in Minnesota, Lane J. Harris attended Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, where he received a B.A. in History. Upon graduation, Harris was selected by the United Board for Higher Education in China to teach English at Northeast Normal University in Changchun, Jilin, China for a year. Returning to the United States, Harris attended Washington University in Saint Louis where he earned a Master's degree in East Asian Studies with a concentration in Republican era (1911-1949) Chinese history. For his Ph.D., Harris attended the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. His research focused on late imperial and Republican Chinese postal history. After spending a year in Nanjing researching postal history at the Second Historical Archives of China, Harris returned to the United States and moved to Ellensburg, Washington where he taught World History. He was hired by Furman University in 2009.

Honors

  • History Department Fellowship, University of Illinois, 2007-08.
  • Social Science Research Council (SSRC), International Dissertation Field Research Fellowship, Fall 2006-Summer 2007.
  • Institute for International Research at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center, Nanjing, People's Republic of China, Junior Fellow (Dissertation Research), Fall 2006.
  • Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship from the Center for Global Studies of International Programs and Studies, University of Illinois, 2005-2006.
  • Pre-Dissertation Research Fellowship from the Department of History, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Summer 2005.
  • Named to "Incomplete List of Excellent Teachers" at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Spring 2005.
  • Named to "Incomplete List of Excellent Teachers" at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Spring 2004.
  • History Department Fellowship, University of Illinois, 2002-2003.
  • Dean's Award for Teaching Excellence, Washington University in Saint Louis, 2001-2002.

Education

  • Ph.D., University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
  • M.A., Washington University
  • B.A., Drake University

Experience in Asia

  • Taught English as a Second Language at Northeast Normal University (東北師範大學), 1998-1999.
  • Junior Fellow at the Institute for International Research at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center (南京大学-约翰斯·霍普金斯大学中美文化研究中心), Nanjing, People's Republic of China, Fall 2006.
  • Archival Research at the Second Historical Archives of China (第二歷史檔案館), Nanjing, 2006-07.
  • Co-led the Summer in China Experience, Summer 2011.
  • Led the Fall in China Study Abroad Semester Program, Suzhou, China, 2012.
  • Various other short trips in China

Current Research Projects

  • Revising manuscript, "The Post Office and State Formation in Modern China, 1896-1949," for publication.
  • From Official Gazette (官報) to Public Report (公報): The Evolution of Government Publications in Late Qing and Republican China, 1890-1937.

Publications

  • Translations of the Peking Gazette: A Reader in Nineteenth-Century Chinese History (Leiden: Brill, 2018).
  • Serving the National Interest: The Qiaopi Industry, the Chinese Post Office, and the Transnational Practices of the State, 1937-1945,” in The Qiaopi Trade and Transnational Networks in the Chinese Diaspora, edited by Gregor Benton, Liu Hong, and Zhang Huimei (New York: Routledge, 2018). 
  • "Stumbling towards Empire: The Shanghai Local Post Office, the Transnational British Community, and Informal Empire in China, 1863-1897," Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, Spring 2018.
  • Translations of the Peking Gazette Online. Brill, 2017.
  • Aina the Layman 艾衲居士, "Jie Zhitui Sets Fire to His Jealous Wife" 介之推火封妒婦 & "On Shouyang Mountain, Shuqi Became a Turncoat" 首陽山淑齊變節, translated with Mei Chun, in Idle Talk Under the Bean Arbor 豆棚閒話, edited by Robert E. Hegel, 9-22, 101-116 (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2017).
  • "What Happened to the Jianwen Emperor?: An Introduction and Translation of Chapters 2 & 29 of Illustrious Heroes, A Sequel 續英列傳." Co-authored with Mei Chun.  Renditions 86 (Autumn 2016): 74-90.
  • "Into the Frontiers: The Relay System and Ming Empire in the Borderlands, 1368-1449," Ming Studies 72 (November 2015): 3-23.
  • "The 'Arteries and Veins' of the Imperial Body: The Nature of the Relay and Post Station Systems in the Ming Dynasty, 1368-1644." Journal of Early Modern History 19: 4 (2015): 287-310.
  • "Overseas Chinese Remittance Firms, the Limits of State Sovereignty, and Transnational Capitalism in East and Southeast Asia, 1850s-1930s." Journal of Asian Studies 74: 1 (February 2015): 129-151.
  • Translated with Mei Chun: Luo Zhitian. Inheritance Within Rupture: Culture and Scholarship in Early Twentieth Century China (裂变中的传承——20世纪前期的中国文化与学术).  Leiden: Brill, 2015.
  • "Baojia," "New Life Movement," "Postal and Post Station Systems," and "Romanization of Language" in Michael Dillon, ed. Encyclopedia of Chinese History.  New York: Routledge, forthcoming.
  • "From Democracy to Bureaucracy: The Baojia in Nationalist China, 1927-1949." Frontiers of History in China 8: 4 (Winter 2013): 517-557.
  • "The 1876 Chinese Post Office Riot in Singapore." International Institute for Asian Studies Newsletter 63 (Spring 2013): 5.
  • "Defining the Nationalist Party Center: The Text and Context of Gan Naiguang's Outline of Sun Wenism." Southeast Review of Asian Studies34 (2012): 87-113
  • "Baojia," "Green Gang," and "New Life Movement" in Cheng Linsun, ed. Berkshire Encyclopedia of China. Great Barrington, MA: Berkshire Publishing Group, 2008, pp. 158-60, 938-39, 1594-97.
  • "A 'Lasting Boon to All': A Note on the Postal Romanization of Place Names, 1896-1949." Twentieth-Century China 34: 1 (November 2008): 96-109.
  • "Standard Messages: Institutional Identity and Symbolism in Chinese Postal Flags, 1896-1949." Raven: A Journal of Vexillology 15 (2008): 81-106.
  • "Modern Times: The Meaning of Dates and Calendars in Modern China, 1895-1935." International Institute for Asian Studies Newsletter 49 (Summer 2008): 20.
  • "Filmography." In Poshek Fu, ed. China Forever: The Shaw Brothers and Diasporic Cinema. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2008, p. 255-56.
  • "'Recycling' the Baojia in Republican China: A Study of the Baojia under the Guomindang, 1927-1949. East Asian Studies Occasional Papers Series 6 (Spring 2002): 46-79.

Reviews

  • Government, Imperialism and Nationalism in China: The Maritime Customs Service and Its Chinese Staff.  New York: Routledge, 2013.  China Review International 20: 3/4 (2013): 297-301.
  • David Kenley, Modern Chinese History.  Ann Arbor: Association for Asian Studies, 2012.  American Review of China Studies 15: 2 (Fall 2013): 78-80.
  • Eugenia Lean, Public Passions: The Trial of Shi Jianqiao and the Rise of Popular Sympathy in Republican China. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007. China Review International 17: 3 (2010): 343-347.
  • Madeleine Zelin, The Merchants of Zigong: Industrial Entrepreneurship in Early Modern China. New York: Columbia University Press, 2005. The Historian 69: 2 (Summer 2007): 365-366.
  • Donna Brunero, Britain's Imperial Cornerstone in China: The Chinese Maritime Customs Service, 1854-1949. New York: RoutledgeCurzon, 2006. China Review International 13: 2 (Fall 2006): 366-370.
  • Scott Simon, Tanners of Taiwan: Life Strategies and National Culture. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2005. Pacific Affairs 79: 3 (Fall 2006): 533-535.
  • Sun Lung-kee, The Chinese National Character: From Nationhood to Individuality. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe Incorporated, 2002. China Review International 10: 2 (Fall 2003): 460-464.
  • Henrietta Harrison, The Making of the Republican Citizen: Political Ceremonies and Symbols in China, 1911-1929. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. British Columbia Asian Review 13 (Fall 2001): 143-144.

Conference Presentations

  • "The Peking Gazette: A Source for Nineteenth-Century Chinese History," 56th Annual Meeting of the Southeast Conference of the Association for Asian Studies, University of Mississippi, 13-15 January 2017.
  • "The Overseas Chinese State: Wartime Emergencies and the Transnational Practices of the Nationalist State," Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference, Seattle, 31 March-3 April 2016.
  • "'A Godsend to the Treaty Ports': The Municipal Council Local Post Office System, 1863-1897," 64th Annual Midwest Conference on Asian Affairs, October 16-18, 2015.
  • "Serving the National Interest: The Qiaopi Industry, the Chinese Post Office, and the Transnationalization of the State, 1937-1945," at the Conference on the Qiaopi Industry in China and Overseas at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 9-10 October 2015.
  • "The Post Office and State Formation in World Historical Time," at the International Communication Association Preconference "Communications and the State: Toward a New International History," San Juan, Puerto Rico, 21 May 2015.
  • "Moving into the Frontier: The Relay System and Ming Empire in the Borderlands, 1368-1449," Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference, Chicago, 26-29 March 2015.
  • "The Subao 蘇報 Case, Sir Robert Hart, and the Origins of Modern Censorship in China," International Communication Association National Conference, Seattle, 22-26 May 2014.
  • "Post Imperial: The Creation and Abolition of 'Alien Post Offices' in Treaty-Port China, 1843-1923," Southeast Conference of the Association for Asian Studies, Durham, NC, January 2014.
  • "'The Comity of Nations': The Chinese Post Office, International Law, and the Universal Postal Union, 1896-1923," ASIANetwork Conference, 12-14 April 2013.
  • "Networking Empire, Nation, and Colony: The Qiaopiju Business Firm and Its Transnational Remittance Network, 1870-1950," Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference, San Diego, 21-24 March 2013.
  • "Spreading the Word: Postal Subsidies of Newspapers, Magazines, and Books." Southeast Conference of the Association for Asian Studies, 51st Annual Conference, January 13-15, 2012.
  • "Modern Mail Bodies: Uniforms and Behavioral Regulations for Chinese Postal Workers, 1896-1949." Bodies Conference, University of South Carolina, February 25-27, 2010.
  • "Interstate Commerce: The Qiaopiju, Transnational Networks, and Colonial Modernity." Mid-Atlantic Regional Association for Asian Studies 38th Annual Conference, October 31-November 1, 2009.
  • "Language, Prestige, and Power: Debates about Romanization Systems for Chinese, 1860-1940." American Association for Chinese Studies 51st Annual Conference, October 16-18, 2009.
  • "Refuse to Deliver: Postal Censorship of Foreign Media in Republican China, 1911-1937." Asian Studies on the Pacific Coast (ASPAC), June 13-15, 2008.
  • "Shanghai Identities: Picture Postcards of Republican Shanghai, 1890-1950." Nanjing-Hopkins Institute for International Research, December 26, 2006.
  • "Chinafication: The Deployment of a Discursive Stratagem in the Guomindang's Baojia Discourses, 1927-1949." Association of Asian Studies National Conference, March 4-7, 2004.
  • "Western Scopic Regimes in Action: Representing Us/Them in Picture Postcards of Shanghai, 1890-1930." Midwest Conference on Asian Affairs, October 10-12, 2003.

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