CCS News and Activities(Vol.38 No.1)

CCS Seminars The Center for Chinese Studies (CCS) held three seminars in December 2006 and January 2007. On December 5, 2006, CCS visiting scholar and assistant professor of history at the University of Calgary, in Alberta, Canada, Dr. David Curtis Wright presented a lecture on 'The Battle of Yashan: A World Class Naval Battle between the Song and Yuan Periods.' The lecture was presided by Huang Kuan-chung, director of the Institute of History and Philology at Academia Sinica. Dr. Wright believes that the naval battle between the Yuan forces under Chang Hung-fan and the Song forces of Chang Shih-chieh in the seas off Yashan Island in southern China on March 10 to 20, 1279, was the largest naval battle in China's history. However, its importance and scale have been overlooked by both Chinese and foreign historians. The battle involved at least 200,000 soldiers and at over 1,500 ships, making it a world-class naval battle. This was the last battle between the Song and Yuan forces, with the final outcome that Lu Hsiu-fu jumped into the sea with the child emperor, killing both and marking the final end to the Song dynasty.