Academic Lecture by Professor Yongqi Shang: Identity Construction and Ethical Significance of Ancient Animals

　　On November 13th, 2020, at the invitation of the Department of Ancient and Medieval History, IWH, Professor Yongqi Shang, Department of History, School of Humanities and Media, Ningbo University, delivered an online lecture entitled “Identity Construction and Ethical Significance of Ancient Animals”.

　　At the beginning of the lecture, Professor Shang introduced the basic points of research on social identities of ancient animals. Subsequently, he analyzed the identity construction and ethical significance of ancient Chinese animals from three aspects: first, ancient societies could obtain the sacredness and legitimacy of the origin of their ancestors through animals; Second, the relationship between animals and ancient social hierarchies could demonstrated the construction of a ruling order. Third, animal ethics is neither a definite ancient consciousness nor a natural modern concept.