Lecture by Asst. Prof. Dr. En Li in the twenty-ninth talk of the “Tan Lark Sye Lecture Series”
The 29th session of the "Tan Lark Sye Lecture Series," organized by the Institute of International Education, New Era University College (IIE, NEUC) and the Tan Lark Sye Institute, was held on 29 May. The guest speakers for this event was Asst. Prof. Dr. En Li from the Department of History at the University of Texas at Dallas. It was attended by more than 110 people.
Dr. Li graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a degree in History and is currently an Assistant Professor in the History Department at The University of Texas at Dallas. Her research interests focus on the social and cultural history of modern China. She is the author of Betting on the Civil Service Examinations: The Lottery in Late Qing China (Harvard University Asia Center, 2023). In 2021, she received the Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award from the College of Arts and Sciences at Drake University.
This lecture was titled “Betting on the Civil Service Examinations: The Lottery in Late Qing China”. “Wei Xing” was a highly organized gambling activity in 19th-century China, where players bet on the surnames of scholars participating in the imperial civil service exams. The imperial examination system, which began in the Tang Dynasty and ended around 1905, was the primary means for selecting new officials. Dr. Li explained the betting process of "Wei Xing" and placed the history of lotteries within the broader context of late Qing China. She outlined how a civic community centered around lotteries developed, with the lottery also serving as a link between regions such as Guangdong and Chinese immigrants in Southeast Asia and North America. Through this lens of exams and gambling, the lecture provided a fresh perspective on late Qing society. The event was moderated by Assistant Professor Dr. Lew Siew Boon from NEUC. It received enthusiastic feedback, with the audience actively participating in the Q&A session and eagerly engaging in discussions.
