Talk on suicide in ancient China with Kathrin Leese-Messing.

A guest lecture titled "Doing things with suicide in ancient China" at the University of Zurich. The speaker is Dr. Kathrin Leese-Messing of the Universität Freiburg i. Br., organized by the Institute of Asian and Oriental Studies - Chinese Studies. The talk addresses the subject of suicide in ancient China, asking how historians can approach it through ancient sources and whether the modern concept of suicide is applicable to ancient contexts at all. It looks at what, according to ancient Chinese sources, people were "doing" with suicide, and how comparisons with other ancient cultures can help grasp the subject.