The emergence of Protestant Christianity introduced by American missionaries in the late 19th century influenced various reform movements aimed at reconstituting Korean society. Today, five of the ten largest Protestant churches as well as the largest mega-church in the world are said to be in South Korea. Professor Park argues, however, that Protestant Christianity appears to have lost its potential for transforming society, and that often the churches are enmeshed in heredity scandals and calumniations. He will examine the causes of these phenomena.

Yong-Shin Park is a professor of sociology emeritus at Yonsei University, Korea. His areas of interest include social theory, historical sociology, and social movements. He directed the Yonsei Institute of Korean Studies, and co-founded an interdiscplinary journal, Hyonsang-gwa-inshik. He takes part in ecological movements as a member of World Without Nuclear Power and Green Korea United where he served as president from 2000 to 2011.

In this lecture, Professor Okimoto explores distinctive and unique aspects of Japan’s history. In addition, he discusses the differences in perception of Japan’s history between scholars from different countries.

Over the last hundred years, the cigarette has become a pillar of consumer life in China and many parts of the world. In 2010, the Chinese tobacco industry produced over two trillion cigarettes, generating over U.S. $90 billion in taxes and profits. Over 300 million Chinese citizens now use cigarettes every day, and tobacco kills 90 times more people each year than HIV/AIDS in China.

How has the cigarette become so integrated into the fabric of everyday life across the People’s Republic of China?

The importance of answering this question is unmistakable, but very little historical research and writing has examined China’s cigarette industry from the mid-20th century to the present. To get to the heart of this question, historians, health policy specialists, sociologists, anthropologists, business scholars, and other experts will meet Mar. 26 and 27 at the new Stanford Center at Peking University for a conference organized by the Asia Health Policy Program. They will examine connections intricately woven over the past 60 years between marketing and cigarette gifting, production and consumer demand, government policy and economic profit, and many other dimensions of China’s cigarette culture.