Aymeric Xu
Ricercatore in tenure track
- GSD 14/GSPS-04; SSD GSPS-04/D
- a.xu@ssmeridionale.it
- Via Mezzocannone, n.4-80134 (NA)
- Area Interdisciplinare Umanistico-Giuridica
Bio
Aymeric Xu (PhD, History, École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris, 2018) is a historian of modern China specializing in the intellectual and political history of the late Qing and Republican eras. His research examines how conservatism, secularism, and cultural critique evolved within transnational and domestic debates on modernity, moral order, and state formation in East Asia.
Ricerca
Xu’s research focuses on the intellectual and political history of modern China and East Asia. His work explores the evolution of conservatism and right-wing ideologies, the interplay of state formation, nationalism, and citizenship, and the shifting relationship between religion and politics. He examines how these developments shaped processes of secularization and ideological governance across China and the wider Sinophone world, including Hong Kong, Macao, Manchuria, and Taiwan.
Publications
Monographs:
- From Culturalist Nationalism to Conservatism: Origin and Diversification of Conservative Ideas in Republican China . Berlin: De Gruyter Oldenbourg, 2021. DOI: 10.1515/9783110740189.
Articles:
- “Discovering and Disciplining Religion in Manchuria and Taiwan under Japanese Rule.” History of Religions 65, 1 (2025): 28–58. DOI: 10.1086/736107.
- “Atheist Religion and Worldly Redemption in China: The 1922 Anti-Christian Movement.” Journal of Chinese Religion 52, 2 (2004): 203–228. DOI: 10.1353/jcr.2024.a945577.
- “Typologies of Secularism in China: Religion, Superstition, and Secularization.” Comparative Studies in Society and History 66, 1 (2024): 57–80. DOI: 10.1017/S0010417523000348.
- “Criminalization of Abortion in Late Qing and Republican China.” Past & Present 258, 1 (2023): 151–80. DOI: 10.1093/pastj/gtab044.
—Translated into Chinese by Huang Y. in Legal History Studies, Vol. 12, edited by Zhu T., 368–387. Shanghai: Zhongxi Book Company.
- “Neither Traitor nor Nationalist: Zheng Xiaoxu’s Intellectual Trajectory.” Global Intellectual History 7, 5 (2022): 909–28. DOI: 10.1080/23801883.2021.1883456.
- “Mapping Conservatism of the Republican Era: Genesis and Typologies.” Journal of Chinese History 4, 1 (2020): 135–59. DOI: 10.1017/jch.2019.35.
- “What Made Chinese Conservatism a Cultural Movement – A Case Study of the Southern Society.” Twentieth-Century China 45, 3 (2020): 331–350. DOI: 10.1353/tcc.2020.0028.
Chapters:
- “Collaboration and Confucianism in Manchukuo and in China under the Wang Jingwei Regime.” In Confucianism at War, 1931-1945 , edited by S. O’Dwyer, 173–191. London: Routledge, 2025. DOI: 10.4324/9781003569183-10.
- “Gendered Independence and Submission: Wang Fengyi’s Moral Philosophy of Education and Manchukuo” (With W. Zhao). In Confucianism at War, 153–172. DOI: 10.4324/9781003569183-9.
- “Western Conservative Ideas and Politics in China from the 1910s to the 1930s.” In Cosmopolitan Conservatisms. Countering Revolution in Transnational Networks, Ideas and Movements (c. 1700‒1930) , edited by M. Lok et al., 375–396. Leiden: Brill, 2021. DOI: 10.1163/9789004446731_017.
- “L’Appropriation du neo-humanisme en Chine – le groupe de Critical Review et le Mouvement de la nouvelle culture .” In (Ré)appropriation des savoirs. Acteurs, territoires, processus, enjeux, edited by M. Chaosson et al., 285–310. Paris: Les Presses de l’Inalco, 2021. DOI: 10.4000/books.pressesinalco.43480.
Other:
- “New Secular Formations.” Comparative Studies in Society and History . May 28, 2024. https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/cssh/2024/05/28/new-secular-formations-a-conversation-with-isaac-friesen-aymeric-xu-usmon-boron-and-gregory-starrett/.
Corsi
2025–2026:
I corsi di quest’anno si concentrano sullo scambio intellettuale e sulla rivalità politica tra la Cina e il Giappone.
- Crossing Empire (Allievi ordinari)
- Knowledge, Imitation, and Rivary (Dottorandi)
News
