Sixteenth Book in the NTU & HYI Academic Book Series published

The Harvard-Yenching Institute is pleased to announce that the sixteenth book in the NTU & HYI Academic Book Series has been published. The monograph, entitled 「平權」的影子──現代早期中國性／別論述 (Spectres of Equality: Early Modern Chinese Discourses on Gender/Sexuality), is by Jen-peng Liu 劉人鵬. The book was published in September 2025. Additional information about the publication is available in Chinese and in English.

About the book: Gender issues have long been primarily imagined through the lens of the pursuit of equal rights. However, the various discourses on sex/gender transformation in the late Qing period were not merely unidirectional movements toward modern equal rights. This book identifies the articulation of a range of Chinese sex/gender/sexuality discourses at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries that moved beyond the framework of equal rights. This analysis shows how the reconfiguration of sex/gender knowledge, as well as the envisioned directions for women’s or sex/gender movements, were intertwined with multiple discursive perspectives around race, nationhood, disability, family and marriage, economic systems, critiques of imperialism, and visions of a global future. This book offers a dynamic interpretation of how such discourses responded to colonial modernity, actively engaged with (broadly defined) socialist thought beyond dominant narratives, and resonated with revolutionary realities. It critically reflects on the limitations of modern frameworks and contemplates visions from the period that went beyond the now ubiquitous equal rights paradigm.

性別議題的核心長久以來被想像為追求「平權」，然而十九、二十世紀之交的晚清性／別轉型相關論述並不僅止於單向度的邁向現代「平權」。本書通過譚嗣同、馬君武、何震、劉師培、章太炎、康有為、《申報》、《啟蒙畫報》、《天義》、《新世紀》、晚清小說等種種論著或報刊材料，析論其中關於性／別知識之重構、婦女或性／別運動方向之設想、帝國主義批判，以及種族、國族、戰爭、殘疾、婚家、經濟體制、全球未來願景等議題。本書試圖提出一個動態的解讀，闡釋這些在視野上超越「平權」的性／別論述，如何回應殖民／現代性，如何與主旋律之外（廣義的）社會主義運動思潮積極聯結，並與「革命」現實相激盪，而對「平權」論的侷限有所批判，展開對於世間福祉更為飽滿的性／別想像。

About the NTU & HYI Academic Series: The book series, published by National Taiwan University Press, is a collaboration between the Harvard-Yenching Institute and the College of Liberal Arts of National Taiwan University. The Series publishes scholarly monographs in Chinese which make a major original contribution to the humanities and social sciences. Interdisciplinary studies are especially welcome. Submissions are encouraged from all Chinese-speaking regions and beyond. For more information about the NTU-HYI series, please visit the NTU Press website.