Historical Anthropology and the Regional Studies of South China: Toward a Rethinking and Reconstruction of Some Theoretical Paradigms

This paper was originally presented as a speech on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangzhou. In this paper I do not attempt to offer a paradigm of regional study, nor do I presume to give a comprehensive review of past researches. Rather, my purpose is merely to express my main concern with cross-regional study and historical anthropology in the context of the location and academic development of Sun Yat-Sen University. In addition, I try to maintain that only through the perspectives of cross-regional study and historical anthropology will we be able to grasp the fundamental traits of Chinese culture and society and the diversity of Chinese across time and space.