As rescue workers desperately search for victims of China’s worst earthquake in three decades, James Miller, Queen’s University professor of Chinese religion is available to discuss the relationship between religion, nature and modernization in China.
Dr. Miller’s research has brought him to the town of Dujiangyan in China, where much of the current reporting originates.
“When the Indonesian Tsunami occurred two years ago, a fierce debate started in China over whether or not it was appropriate to "respect" or "revere" the power of nature,” says Dr. Miller. “The present earthquake also raises the question of the age-old human struggle with nature.”
He can discuss China’s historic struggle with nature, something that Dujiangyan symbolizes because it is the site of one of China's earliest irrigation projects dating back two thousand years (designed to control the spring flooding and irrigate crops in the fertile Sichuan plain).
Dr. Miller has taught courses on Religion and Politics in Contemporary China, Body Mind and Spirit in Chinese Culture, and Religion and the Environment.
To arrange an interview with Dr. Miller, contact Communications Assistants Alissa Clark, alissa.clark@queensu.ca, 613.533.6000 ext 77513, or Molly Kehoe, molly.kehoe@queensu.ca, 613.533.2877, Queen’s News and Media Services.