Jakub Otčenášek Presented His Research at the WACS Conference in Hong Kong

Mgr. Jakub Otčenášek, Ph.D., took part in the international conference of the World Association for Chinese Studies (WACS) at the University of Hong Kong in August. His presentation explored how established academic concepts can shape—and sometimes limit—our understanding of premodern China.

The conference, held on August 12–14, 2026, brought together researchers focusing on Chinese “national studies” (guoxue) and representatives of international sinology. One of the participants was also Mgr. Jakub Otčenášek, Ph.D., who presented the results of his research here.

Modern Concepts and Pre-modern China

His paper, Millennialism, Racism, Tianxia, and the Ontological Turn, examined the ways in which modern academic categories can influence how we understand the world of premodern China. Otčenášek argued that concepts such as religion, race, and millennialism can serve as useful analytical tools, but that applying them uncritically may also obscure the specific ways in which people in premodern China understood and shaped the world around them.

This question is closely related to the so-called ontological turn in the humanities and social sciences. Rather than automatically applying categories developed in the modern Western context, scholars associated with this approach seek to understand how different societies themselves conceptualized reality and how their ideas and practices contributed to shaping their worlds.

A Critical View on Chinese National Studies

Otčenášek also addressed several problematic tendencies within Chinese guoxue, or “national studies”. These include attempts to remove elements of the Chinese tradition regarded as “feudal superstition”, as well as the tendency to reduce the diversity of China’s intellectual heritage primarily to Confucianism. He also critically examined the essentialist construction of national identity through selective interpretations of Chinese tradition.

The arguments presented at the conference were illustrated with examples from Otčenášek’s own research. His participation in the WACS conference therefore provided an opportunity not only to present his findings, but also to engage in broader discussions about the concepts and methods used to study the history of Chinese thought while taking its historical and cultural context seriously.

The conference also highlighted the importance of international dialogue between different scholarly traditions—from Chinese guoxue to contemporary Sinology outside China—in developing new perspectives on the study of China.