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Saturday, March 7, 2026, 9:30 am
A Chinese Reformer in America: Kang Youwei and the
Chinese Empire Reform Association in North America, 1899-1911
by Jane Larson @ Reed College
| | Jane Larson will give an overview of her 2025 co-authored book, A Chinese Reformer in Exile, which examines Kang Youwei’s travels in North America and leadership of the Chinese Empire Reform Association between 1899 and 1911, during his exile from China after the failed Hundred Days’ Reform of 1898. She will explore how Kang mobilized overseas Chinese communities to support a constitutional monarchy, modern education, and political reform in China. By tracing his activities between 1899 and 1911, she will highlight the global dimensions of this pioneering Chinese reform movement and its impact on overseas Chinese communities, including Portland, one of the most active chapters of the reform association. | |
| |  | Bio: Jane Leung Larson is an independent scholar whose studies of Kang Youwei and the Chinese Empire Reform Association began in 1985. Her interest in this topic evolved from deciphering the papers of her grandfather, Tom Leung, Kang’s student in Guangzhou and his host, travel companion, and confidant in North America. Since that time, she has presented papers in the United States, Canada, Singapore, and China. In 2010, she began a blog for sharing and collaboration on this research, Baohuanghui Scholarship. Professionally, she has worked in the China field since 1978. From 1980 to 1995, she was the founding Executive Director of the Northwest China Council in Portland, Oregon, one of 12 regional China Councils sponsored by the national China Council of the Asia Society. From 2000 to 2013, she was an editor with the China Institute and the Committee of 100, both in New York. Her B.A. in Anthropology (1967) is from Reed College. In 2025, A Chinese Reformer in Exile: Kang Youwei and the Chinese Empire Reform Association in North America, 1899–1911 was published as an Open Access book by Brill (Leiden, The Netherlands), co-authored with Robert L. Worden, who wrote the 1972 Georgetown University dissertation, “A Chinese Reformer in Exile: The North American Phase of the Travels of K’ang Yuwei.”
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[CLICK Here to Register]
Date: Saturday, March 7, 2026
Cost: Free, and open to the public
Check in: 9:15 am
Presentation and Q&A: 9:30 - 11:00 am
No Host Lunch: 11:30 am -- location TBA
Location: Reed College, Psychology Building, Room 105
3203 SE Woodstock Blvd.
Portland, OR 97202
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The large East Parking Lot (free) is conveniently located near the Psychology Building, adjacent to the neighboring ETC (Educational Technology Center) and Biology Building, see campus map [here]
Map to Reed College [here]
Public transportation is available - Bus #19 stops just at the East Parking Entrance,
plan your TriMet trip [here]
| | For those interested in continuing the conversation, there will be a no host lunch, family style, at a Chinese restaurant afterwards with the speaker. Please let us know if you are joining when you register for the program so that we can make the proper arrangements. For ease of payment, cash is preferred. | |  | | | Established in 1980, the Northwest China Council's mission is to promote a deeper understanding of Chinese history, culture, business, and contemporary affairs. | | | | |
