Fifty years of Qing studies—and Late Imperial China

Fifty years ago, in April 1965, a small group of Qing historians, including John King Fairbank and Mary Wright, gathered informally at the Association for Asian Studies annual meeting in San Francisco. They gave themselves a name—the Society for Qing Studies—and they tasked a junior scholar—Jonathan Spence (Mary Wright’s student, who would receive his PhD from Yale later that spring) with the establishment of a new publication called Ch’ing-shih wen-t’i. They deliberately chose not to configure it as a typical peer-reviewed scholarly journal. Rather, they imagined it as the center of a developing scholarly community, as a place to publish inquiries, research notes, and to float new ideas informally.

Among other things, the irregularly published journal produced a directory of Qing historians working outside of China. In the late 1960s, of course, contact with Qing historians in the People’s Republic was relatively challenging; the list thus featured scholars in Europe, Taiwan, Japan, and Australia, as well as the United States. Ch’ing-shih wen-t’i also announced the (two!) panels on Qing history at the next Association for Asian Studies annual meeting in order to encourage scholars to read the papers in advance.

By the end of its first decade, the journal’s second editor, Ramon Myers, already had begun to question whether the un-translated and thus exotic title of Ch’ing-shih wen-t’i might deter potential readers. He also sought to make the articles more formal and subject to peer review.

In 1979, Susan Naquin, Mary Rankin, and James Cole took over editorial responsibilities, which continued to include managing subscriptions and the Society’s finances. In 1984, Charlotte Furth and James Lee became the co-editors and the journal entered its third decade under a new name —Late Imperial China—and with a new cover design—both still in use now, 30 years later!

Over time, Late Imperial China became a fully peer reviewed academic journal. Memorable special issues included those focused on gender, ethnicity, and print culture. These both reflected and shaped scholarly conversations.

Gradually the research notes and translated bibliographical essays of previous years fell by the wayside. In 1993, in a move facilitated by William T. Rowe, a new co-editor (and later sole editor from 1999—2006), Johns Hopkins University Press took over publication and subscriptions management. Later, this allowed the journal to enter the digital age through Project Muse. In 2007, Janet Theiss and I took over as co-editors; last spring, I became editor-in-chief, with a team of nine associate editors.

Over the past eight years, we have sought to attend to the community building goals that originally inspired the Society and the journal. A website, created by the press, meant that some of the intended communitarian functions of Ch’ingshih wen-t’i could be revived. In the same spirit, the Society for Qing Studies has taken on a more active role at the Association for Asian Studies with topically focused meetings-in-conjunction and sponsored panels.

As Late Imperial China celebrates its 50^th birthday, the editors remain committed to serving the field. We do so by mentoring younger and international scholars publishing for the first time—or for the first time in English. We also do so by seeking out and publishing the best work in our field. We try to shape the field by facilitating conversations about Ming and Qing studies whether at our sponsored panels at the Association for Asian Studies annual meeting or (in a new move) through a series of workshops and lectures to be held at Johns Hopkins over the next three years. We anticipate the addition of new features to the journal—including scholarly conversations about the state of the field. We have also begun to consider ways to make use of new tools. Not only do we envision some imminent updates to our website, but we have created a Facebook Group named for the journal. We welcome all readers and friends to participate in our digital community!

On the auspicious occasion...