The recent academic workshop “Knowing Hands: Chinese Hand-Memory Techniques in Situ, Comparison, & Contact”, held 12–14 September 2025 at the Centre for Advanced Studies in the Humanities in Erlangen, met with great interest within the Knowing Hands academic network and beyond. As the inaugural event of the next phase of the Knowing Hands project, this workshop brought together scholars to examine the role of hand gestures and tactile memory in divination, musicology, healing, and religious studies.
We are pleased to present a summary of the event provided by Huang Qiansheng. The summary highlights key discussions on divination, music(ology), medicine and healing, spirituality, contemplation, mnemonics, calculation, etc. across various cultures, offering insights into the global spread of these practices. The project will continue with a follow-up event, “Handy Knowledge,” scheduled for fall 2026 in Paris.
