Prof. Dr. Daniel Leese

Daniel Leese studierte Geschichte, Sinologie und Volkswirtschaft in Marburg, Peking und München und wurde 2007 mit einer Arbeit über den kulturrevolutionären Kult um Mao Zedong an der International University Bremen promoviert. Im Anschluss war er Akademischer Rat an der LMU München, bevor er 2012 eine Professur für Sinologie an der Universität Freiburg übernahm. Für seine Forschungen wurde er vielfach ausgezeichnet, unter anderem mit dem ICAS Best Book Award 2021 und der Nominierung (Shortlist) für den Deutschen Sachbuchpreis 2021 für Maos langer Schatten. Chinas Umgang mit der Vergangenheit (München 2020).

Books

Maos langer Schatten. Chinas Umgang mit der Vergangenheit [Mao’s Long Shadow: How China Deals with its Past], München: C.H. Beck 2020. (English and Chinese translations in production)

Die chinesische Kulturrevolution, 1966-1976 [The Chinese Cultural Revolution, 1966-1976], München: C.H. Beck 2016.
Turkish translation: Çin Kültür Devrimi (1966-1976), translated by İclal Cankorel
Istanbul: Runik Kitap 2021.

Mao Cult. Rhetoric and Ritual in China’s Cultural Revolution, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2011 (paperback 2013).
Chinese translation: 崇拜毛. 中國文化大革命中的言辭崇拜與儀式崇拜, translated by Tang Shaojie, Hong Kong: Chinese University of Hong Kong Press 2017.

Edited volumes

Justice after Mao. The Politics of Historical Truth in the People’s Republic of China, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2023 (with Amanda Shuman).

Chinesisches Denken der Gegenwart. Schlüsseltexte zu Politik und Gesellschaft [Contemporary Chinese Thought: Key Texts on Politics and Society], München: C.H. Beck 2023 (with Shi Ming).

Das Strafrechtssystem der VR China. Historische Wurzeln und künftige Herausforderungen [The Criminal Justice System of the People’s Republic of China: Historical Roots and Future Challenges], Baden-Baden: Nomos 2019 (with Michael Pawlik).

Victims, Perpetrators, and the Role of Law in Maoist China. A Case-Study Approach, Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter Oldenbourg 2018 (with Puck Engman).

Brill’s Encyclopedia of China, Leiden: Brill 2009.

Recent book chapters and articles

“The CCP Information Order in the Early People’s Republic of China: The Case of Xuanjiao Dongtai,” Modern China 49.2 (2023), 135-158.

“The Chinese Communist Party’s Politics of Historical Justice in Perspective,” in Daniel Leese and Amanda Shuman (eds.), Justice after Mao. The Politics of Historical Truth in the People’s Republic of China, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2023, 325-340.

“Introduction,” in Daniel Leese and Amanda Shuman (eds.), Justice after Mao. The Politics of Historical Truth in the People’s Republic of China, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2023, 10-32.

„Politik und Gesellschaft Chinas im Spiegel aktueller Kontroversen“ [Chinese Politics and Society as Reflected in Current Controversies], in Daniel Leese and Shi Ming (eds.), Chinesisches Denken der Gegenwart, München: C.H. Beck 2023, 11-42.

„Auf dem Sprung. Die dritte Geschichtsresolution der Kommunistischen Partei Chinas“ [On the Move: The Chinese Communist Party’s Third Resolution on History], in Daniel Deckers (ed.), Facetten der Gegenwart, Paderborn: Schöningh 2023, 41-50.

„Wang Huning: Meiguo fandui Meiguo“ [Wang Huning: America against America], in Jonathan Beck (ed.), Eine andere Welt. Bücher, die in die Zukunft weisen, München: C.H. Beck 2023, 386-389.

„Mao Zedong und Jiang Qing: Macht, Moral und Geschlechterrollen in der chinesischen Politik“ [Mao Zedong and Jiang Qing: Power, Morality, and Gender Roles in Chinese Politics], in André Krischer and Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger (eds.), Tyrannen. Eine Geschichte von Caligula bis Putin, München: C.H. Beck 2022, 195-209.

“Case Files as Source of Alternative Memories from the Maoist Past,” in Sebastian Veg (ed.), Popular Memories from the Mao Era, Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press 2019, 199-219.

„Recht und Gerechtigkeit im Gefolge der Kulturrevolution“ [Law and Justice in the wake of the Cultural Revolution], in Daniel Leese and Michael Pawlik (eds.), Das Strafrechtssystem der VR China. Historische Wurzeln und künftige Herausforderungen, Baden-Baden: Nomos 2019, 191-217.

„Einleitung“ [Introduction], in Daniel Leese and Michael Pawlik (eds.), Das Strafrechtssystem der VR China. Historische Wurzeln und künftige Herausforderungen, Baden-Baden: Nomos 2019, 7-18.

“Politics and Law in the Early People’s Republic of China,” in Daniel Leese and Puck Engman (eds.), Victims, Perpetrators, and the Role of Law in Maoist China. A Case-Study Approach, München/Boston: De Gruyter 2018, 1-24.

„Mao Zedong. Worte des Vorsitzenden Mao Tse-tung (1964)“ [Mao Zedong: Words of Chairman Mao Tse-tung (1964)], in Manfred Brocker (ed.), Geschichte des Politischen Denkens. Das 20. Jahrhundert, Berlin: Suhrkamp 2018, 459-474.

„Sinologie in Deutschland: Transregionale Fragestellungen bleiben auf die Qualität regionaler Forschung angewiesen“ [Sinology in Germany: Transregional Issues Remain Dependent on the Quality of Regional Research], in Martin Baumeister, Andreas Eckert and Klaus Günther (eds.), Reimers Konferenzen Revisited. Zum Verhältnis von Disziplinen und Regionalstudien, Bonn: Max Weber Stiftung 2018, S. 18-23.

„Der Weg des Wiederaufstiegs – Geschichte Chinas seit 1949“ [The Road to Rejuvenation – Chinese History since 1949], in Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung,Themenheft China, Berlin 2018, 6-12.

“Mao Zedong as a Historical Personality,” in Norman Naimark, Silvio Pons, and Sophie Quinn-Judge (eds.), The Cambridge History of Communism, vol. 2, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2017, 269-290.

„Nationale Identität im Wandel: Außenpolitik in der Ära Xi Jinping“ [National Identity in Transition: Foreign Policy in the Xi Jinping Era], in Politische Studien 467 (2016), 42-50.

“Revising Verdicts in Post-Mao China. The Case of Beijing’s Fengtai District,” in Jeremy Brown and Matthew Johnson (eds.), Maoism at the Grassroots. Everyday Life in China’s Era of High Socialism, Cambridge (Mass.): Harvard University Press 2015, 102-128.

“Rituals, Emotions and Mobilization,” in Paul Corner and Jie-Hyun Lim (eds.), Palgrave Handbook of Mass Dictatorships, Houndmills: Palgrave 2015, 217-228.

“Between Socialist Futures: Mao Zedong on the ‘Ten Major Relationships’,” in Rachel Hammersley (ed.), Textual Moments in the History of Revolutionary Thought, London: Bloomsbury 2015, 159-166.

• The CCP Information Order (DFG, 2022-2025)
• The Maoist Legacy Project (ERC Starting Grant, 2014-2019)

• 2023 – Present: Dean, Faculty of Philosophy
• 2023 – Present: Head of the Board of Examiners of the Faculties of Philosophy and Philology
• 2022 – Present: Steering Committee, Cluster of Excellence Initiative “Constitutions as Practice” (CONTRANS)
• 2020 – 2023: Member of the Directorate of the Internal Accreditation Council
• 2018 – Present: Co-editor Transformations of Modern China (De Gruyter Oldenbourg)
• 2017 – 2023: Member of the Selection Committee for stipends to China, German Academic Scholarship Foundation
• 2016 – Present: Mentor, German Academic Scholarship Foundation
• 2014 – Present: Co-editor Cambridge Studies in the History of the People’s Republic of China (Cambridge University Press)

laufend:

• Cheng Di, “Creating a National Image: Chinese Museums and Memorial Halls”
• Sirui Liu, “The Relationship between Political Movement and Economic Production in Rural Areas during the Cultural Revolution”
• Tabea Mühlbach, “Transitional Justice in Taiwan: Recent Policies and Historical Legacies”
• Seonmin Park, “Mobilization Strategies and Migration Tactics during the Third-Front Movement in Ningxia”
• Jiayu Shi, “A Social History of a Third Front Industrial Complex in Yinchuan, Ningxia”

abgeschlossen:

• Puck Engman: Shanghai’s Dispossessed. The Capitalist Problem in Socialist Transition, 1956–1981 (2020)
• Song Guoqing: ‘Healing the Wounds’? Redressing State Crimes in Guangxi after the Cultural Revolution (2020)
• Zhang Man: Ending Political Violence. Making and Unmaking Perpetrators of the Cultural Revolution in Post-Mao China (2021)