2015-16 Annual Report
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Dressing for the Times: Fashion in Tang Dynasty China (618-907)
Dressing for the Times: Fashion in Tang Dynasty China (618-907) BuYun Chen Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2013 © 2013 BuYun Chen All rights reserved ABSTRACT Dressing for the Times: Fashion in Tang Dynasty China (618-907) BuYun Chen During the Tang dynasty, an increased capacity for change created a new value system predicated on the accumulation of wealth and the obsolescence of things that is best understood as fashion. Increased wealth among Tang elites was paralleled by a greater investment in clothes, which imbued clothes with new meaning. Intellectuals, who viewed heightened commercial activity and social mobility as symptomatic of an unstable society, found such profound changes in the vestimentary landscape unsettling. For them, a range of troubling developments, including crisis in the central government, deep suspicion of the newly empowered military and professional class, and anxiety about waste and obsolescence were all subsumed under the trope of fashionable dressing. The clamor of these intellectuals about the widespread desire to be “current” reveals the significant space fashion inhabited in the empire – a space that was repeatedly gendered female. This dissertation considers fashion as a system of social practices that is governed by material relations – a system that is also embroiled in the politics of the gendered self and the body. I demonstrate that this notion of fashion is the best way to understand the process through which competition for status and self-identification among elites gradually broke away from the imperial court and its system of official ranks. -
Dissertation Section 1
Elegies for Empire The Poetics of Memory in the Late Work of Du Fu (712-770) Gregory M. Patterson Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2013 ! 2013 Gregory M. Patterson All rights reserved ABSTRACT Elegies for Empire: The Poetics of Memory in the Late Work of Du Fu (712-770) Gregory M. Patterson This dissertation explores highly influential constructions of the past at a key turning point in Chinese history by mapping out what I term a poetics of memory in the more than four hundred poems written by Du Fu !" (712-770) during his two-year stay in the remote town of Kuizhou (modern Fengjie County #$%). A survivor of the catastrophic An Lushan rebellion (756-763), which transformed Tang Dynasty (618-906) politics and culture, Du Fu was among the first to write in the twilight of the Chinese medieval period. His most prescient anticipation of mid-Tang concerns was his restless preoccupation with memory and its mediations, which drove his prolific output in Kuizhou. For Du Fu, memory held the promise of salvaging and creatively reimagining personal, social, and cultural identities under conditions of displacement and sweeping social change. The poetics of his late work is characterized by an acute attentiveness to the material supports—monuments, rituals, images, and texts—that enabled and structured connections to the past. The organization of the study attempts to capture the range of Du Fu’s engagement with memory’s frameworks and media. It begins by examining commemorative poems that read Kuizhou’s historical memory in local landmarks, decoding and rhetorically emulating great deeds of classical exemplars. -
The Local in the Imperial Vision: Landscape, Topography, and Geography in Southern Song Map Guides and Gazetteers
The Local in the Imperial Vision: Landscape, Topography, and Geography in Southern Song Map Guides and Gazetteers Fan Lin, Leiden University Abstract This article examines the generation of topographic maps and geographical writings about local regions of the Southern Song (1127–1279). It identifies two distinct yet interrelated models in the making of local regions in maps and writings: first, map guides (tujing ), which were produced and updated regularly at different tiers of local government for administrative purposes; second, a growing number of monographs, some of them also named “map guides” (tujing) and others “gazetteers” (zhi or difang zhi ), which were compiled by local literati scholars. Upon close examination of these two models, one finds that the local consciousness and identity voiced by the provincial elite were congruous with centralist sentiment and discourse at this time. Specifically, the literati described features of local topographies within an imperial context and in the language of the authorities. Moreover, the wide circulation of these writings also contributed to the collective imagining of a Song Empire in the daily life of the society. In sum, this article argues that there was a close relationship between cartographic discourse and the production of empire at the local level. On the one hand, the state of the Southern Song, traditionally thought to have lost momentum in local control, still proactively maintained regular checks on local geography through mapmaking. On the other hand, local literati strived to establish ties with the central state in various ways while documenting their communities in gazetteers. Keywords: Song dynasty, map guide, tujing, gazetteer, difang zhi, geography, topography Introduction Map guides (tujing , literally “map and treatise”) and gazetteers (difang zhi , literally “record of a local region”) were the two dominant genres of geographical writing in the Song dynasty (960–1279). -
Formation of the Traditional Chinese State Ritual System of Sacrifice To
religions Article Formation of the Traditional Chinese State Ritual System of Sacrifice to Mountain and Water Spirits Jinhua Jia 1,2 1 College of Humanities, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, China; [email protected] 2 Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, University of Macau, Macau SAR, China Abstract: Sacrifice to mountain and water spirits was already a state ritual in the earliest dynasties of China, which later gradually formed a system of five sacred peaks, five strongholds, four seas, and four waterways, which was mainly constructed by the Confucian ritual culture. A number of modern scholars have studied the five sacred peaks from different perspectives, yielding fruitful results, but major issues are still being debated or need to be plumbed more broadly and deeply, and the whole sacrificial system has not yet drawn sufficient attention. Applying a combined approach of religious, historical, geographical, and political studies, I provide here, with new discoveries and conclusions, the first comprehensive study of the formational process of this sacrificial system and its embodied religious-political conceptions, showing how these geographical landmarks were gradually integrated with religious beliefs and ritual-political institutions to become symbols of territorial, sacred, and political legitimacy that helped to maintain the unification and government of the traditional Chinese imperium for two thousand years. A historical map of the locations of the sacrificial temples for the eighteen mountain and water spirits is appended. Keywords: five sacred peaks; five strongholds; four seas; four waterways; state ritual system of sacrifice; Chinese religion; Chinese historical geography Citation: Jia, Jinhua. 2021. Formation of the Traditional Chinese State Ritual System of Sacrifice to Mountain and Water Spirits. -
Melissa Mccormick
Updated 2020/01/29 Melissa McCormick East Asian Languages and Civilizations Department / History of Art and Architecture Department Harvard University ____________________________________________________________________________ EDUCATION Princeton University, Japanese Art and Archaeology, Ph.D., 2000 University of Michigan, Art History and Japanese, dual B.A. with High Distinction, 1990 Graduate Student Fellow, Japanese Art History, Gakushūin University, Tokyo, 1995-97 Inter-University Center for Japanese Language Studies, Yokohama, Japan, 1990-91 PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITY TEACHING Professor of Japanese Art and Culture, Harvard University, 2009 – present John L. Loeb Associate of Professor of the Humanities, Harvard University, 2006–2009 Associate Professor of Japanese Art and Culture, Harvard University, 2005–2006 Itsuko and Takeo Atsumi Assistant Professor of Japanese Art, Columbia University, 2000–05 Visiting Professor, University of Zurich, Department of Art History, October 2019 Visiting Professor, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp), Brazil, Getty Foundation “Connecting Art Histories” Program, May – June 2015 MUSEUM WORK Guest Curator, The Tale of Genji: A Japanese Classic Illuminated. International loan exhibition, Metropolitan Museum of Art, March 5 – June 16, 2019. Curatorial Assistant, East Asian Art, University of Michigan Museum of Art, 1987-1990 AWARDS/FELLOWSHIPS/GRANTS Walter Channing Cabot Fellow, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, award for distinguished publications, 2019-20 Harvard College Professorship, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, highest teaching award, 2014-2019 Japan Foundation Research Fellowship, 2013-14 John L. Loeb Associate Professorship of the Humanities, Harvard University 2006-09 American Council of Learned Societies, 2005-06 Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University, 2005-06 (declined) Japan Foundation Professional Conference Grant, 2004-05 Toshiba International Foundation Fellowship, 2004-05 J. -
Celebration of the Strange : Youyang Zazu and Its Horror Stories
CELEBRATION OF THE STRANGE: YOUYANG ZAZU AND ITS HORROR STORIES by LIN WANG (Under the Direction of Karin Myhre) ABSTRACT This dissertation seeks to uncover the artistic appeal and significance of horror tales in Youyang zazu with the assistance of Western concepts and theories. The study begins with an examination of the Youyang zazu collection in its textual and cultural context and argues that it is assembled according to the aesthetic principle of qi which rejects the normal and the familiar, and embraces the unusual, the special, the unique, the odd and the particularized. The study continues with a close analysis of selected horror tales in Youyang zazu using three different approaches—fantastic horror, monster horror and cosmic horror. By analyzing themes, structures and narrative techniques of these horror stories, I argue that these horror stories are integral components of the Youyang zazu collection. They add vitality and tension to the representation of the strange and advance the collection in its aesthetic pursuit of qi. These three approaches each emphasize a different aspect in the representation of the strange. From the literary mechanism that generates strangeness, to the very entity that embodies the strange and to the atmosphere that highlights the incomprehensibility and uncontrollability of the strange, each approach offers a unique perspective on how the effect of strangeness is conveyed and amplified. By investigating the aesthetic issues at play in the medium of horror and in the context of zhiguai through the lens of Western concepts, my study also explores the possibility of examining zhiguai tales from new literary perspectives and provides fresh critical insights on the poetics of Chinese horror narrative in general. -
Imagery of Female Daoists in Tang and Song Poetry
Imagery of Female Daoists in Tang and Song Poetry by Yang Liu B.A. Changchun Normal University, 1985 M.A. Jilin University, 1994 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Asian Studies) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) April, 2011 © Yang Liu, 2011 Abstract This dissertation involves a literary study that aims to understand the lives of female Daoists who lived from the eighth to the twelfth centuries in China. Together with an examination of the various individual qualities manifested in their poetry, this study includes related historical background, biographical information and a discussion of the aspirations and cultural life of the female clergy. Unlike some of the previous scholarship that has examined Daoist deities and mythical figures described in hagiographical texts and literary creations, or on topics such as the Divine Mother of the West and miscellaneous goddesses and fairies, this work takes the perspective of examining female Daoists as historical persons who lived in real Daoist convents. As such, this work concentrates on the assorted images of female Daoists presented in their own poetic works, including those of Yu Xuanji, Li Ye, Yuan Chun, Cao Wenyi and Sun Bu-er. Furthermore, this thesis also examines poetic works about female Daoists written by male literati from both inside and outside the Daoist religion. I do this in order to illustrate how elite men, the group with whom female Daoists interacted most frequently, appreciated and portrayed these special women and their poetry. I believe that a study of their works on Daoist women will not only allow us a better understanding of the nature and characters of female Daoists, but will also contribute to our knowledge of intellectual life in Tang and Song society. -
A Study of Luo Yin's Writings of Slandering Shiwei Zhou a Thesis
Understanding “Slandering”: A Study of Luo Yin’s Writings of Slandering Shiwei Zhou A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts University of Washington 2020 Committee: Ping Wang William G. Boltz Program Authorized to Offer Degree: Asian Languages and Literature ©Copyright 2020 Shiwei Zhou 2 University of Washington Abstract Understanding “Slandering”: A Study of Luo Yin’s Writings of Slandering Shiwei Zhou Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Professor Ping Wang Department of Asian Languages and Literature This thesis is an attempt to study a collection of fifty-eight short essays-Writings of Slandering- written and compiled by the late Tang scholar Luo Yin. The research questions are who are slandered, why are the targets slandered, and how. The answering of the questions will primarily rely on textual studies, accompanied by an exploration of the tradition of “slandering” in the literati’s world, as well as a look at Luo Yin’s career and experience as a persistent imperial exam taker. The project will advance accordingly: In the introduction, I will examine the concept of “slandering” in terms of how the Chinese literati associate themselves with it and the implications of slandering or being slandered. Also, I will try to explain how Luo Yin fits into the picture. Chapter two will focus on the studies of the historical background of the mid-to-late Tang period and the themes of the essays. Specifically, it will spell out the individuals, the group of people, and the political and social phenomenon slandered in the essays. -
Art Archaeology& Newsletter
VET NOV TES TAM PrincetonUniversity EN TVM DEPARTMENT OF Art Archaeology& Newsletter Dear Friends and Colleagues: SPRING We are very pleased to be complet- Asian art history. These included Michael Nylan of Bryn Mawr College and Mike Hearn from the Inside ing the academic year with the Asian Art Department of the Metropolitan inaugural edition of an annual Museum of Art. NEW FACULTY newsletter that will go out to We also completed a successful search for a nineteenth-century position with the appoint- graduate alumni and friends of the ment of Alastair Wright as assistant professor. FACULTY NEWS Department of Art and Archaeol- After receiving his Ph.D. from Columbia in ogy. As with the well-attended , he has been teaching at Richmond Univer- sity in London. He will join us in September GRADUATE STUDENT NEWS reception at the College Art , after a fellowship year at the Getty Insti- Association meeting in New York tute. We are presently carrying out a search for Wen’s replacement, who will hold the first P. Y. EXCAVATIONS in February , its aim is to and Kinmay W. Tang Professorship of Chinese bring us together again and renew and Japanese art. A major concern of the department over the old ties. I am most grateful to MARQUAND LIBRARY NEWS , next few years will be raising funds for the reno- Robert Janson-La Palme * * vation and expansion of Marquand Library. The for assisting us by editing the feasibility study carried out by Shepley, Bulfinch, SLIDES AND PHOTOGRAPHS news from alumni. Richardson, and Abbot is in its final stages. -
Feeding the Emperor in Tang Dynasty China
A LOOK INTO TRADITIONAL CHINESE ADMINISTRATIVE LAW AND BUREAUCRACY: FEEDING THE EMPEROR IN TANG DYNASTY CHINA Norman P. HO† Abstract Research on Tang dynasty (618 -907 A.D.) law—and indeed, premodern Chinese law as a whole—has been focused primarily on penal law, at the expense of other important areas of law, namely administrative law and civil law. The Tang Liu Dian, compiled in 738–739 A.D., during the Tang dynasty, is an important, self- contained administrative law code which lists out in great detail every Tang dynasty government office, as well as various official positions and their functions and obligations. It also traces the historical evolution of each office and position since Chinese antiquity. The TLD is of great historical significance—it is regarded as the earliest fully extant administrative law code from China, and it served as a model comprehensive administrative law code for subsequent dynasties, including the Ming and Qing dynasties. However, little to no scholarship on the TLD exists in any Western language. This Article examines Tang administrative law, as set forth in the TLD, through the specific lens of how the emperor was fed and analyzes Tang administrative regulations on feeding the emperor. The Article explains, describes, and sets forth the specific agencies and officials who were responsible for feeding the emperor, as well as their specific functions and structures as provided by the TLD. Relevant rules in the Tang Code (i.e., the Tang dynasty penal code) are also discussed to provide a complete picture of the regulatory apparatus behind the task of feeding the emperor. -
PACIFIC WORLD Journal of the Institute of Buddhist Studies
PACIFIC WORLD Journal of the Institute of Buddhist Studies Third Series Number 15 Fall 2013 SPECIAL SECTION: Graduate Student Symposium TITLE iii The Legendary Siege of Anxi: Myth, History, and Truth in Chinese Buddhism Geoffrey Goble Postdoctoral Fellow in East Asian Religions Washington University in St. Louis INTRODUCTION The figure of Vaiśravaṇa, the World-Protecting King of the North, is relatively familiar to scholars working in the field of East Asian Buddhism. He appears fairly early in the history of East Asian Buddhism and has played an outsized role throughout East Asia as a protector deity, often specializing in military conflict.1 The East Asian mythology of Vaiśravaṇa is often considered in relation to a rather well-known and widespread myth concerning the intervention of this deity on behalf of the Tang emperor Xuanzong (玄宗, r. 712–765) and at the command of the Esoteric Buddhist monk Amoghavajra (不空金剛, 704–774)—a tale that I refer to as the “Legendary Siege of Anxi.” In previous studies, the Legendary Siege of Anxi has been considered as an etiological myth ex- plaining practices contemporary with the source in which it appears, but bearing little if any relationship to actual historical events. The historical accuracy of the account is broadly rejected on the basis of discrepancies between the events it describes and those attested in in- dependent sources. Thus, rather than an accounting of events from the mid-eighth century, the tale has been read instead as evidence of practices current in China during the Song dynasty (960–1279).2 Here I would like to return to the Legendary Siege of Anxi and consider it anew by approaching the story as myth and as reflective of historical events, and by setting aside expectations and considerations rooted strictly in contemporary historiography, text-critical logical positiv- ism, and conceptions of genre literature. -
Omen Watching, Mantic Observation, Aeromancy, and Learning to 'See': the Rise and Messy Multiplicity of Zhanhou 占候 in L
EASTM 50 (2019): 67-131 Omen Watching, Mantic Observation, Aeromancy, and Learning to ‘See’: The Rise and Messy Multiplicity of Zhanhou 占候 in Late Han and Medieval China* Stephan N. Kory [Stephan N. Kory is Assistant Professor of Chinese at the University of Florida, where he teaches literary Chinese and ancient and medieval Chinese literature and culture in the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures. He has a Ph.D. in Chinese Language and Culture from Indiana University and an MA in Chinese Language and Literature from the University of Colorado. Author of a number of articles and book reviews in scholarly journals, much of his current research focuses on interstices between medieval Chinese religion and literature, particularly as they are manifested in narrative and technical records of mantic and medical practices and practitioners. Contact: [email protected]] * * * Abstract: This article investigates the early history of a Chinese mantic practice unattested before the late first century CE known as zhanhou 占候 (lit., omen watching; divination through observation; divination of atmo- spheric or meteorological conditions). While early occurrences of the term primarily present it as a learned form of divination used to forecast human fortune through the interpretation of anomalous emanations of qi 氣 in heaven-and-earth (e.g., wind; clouds; rain; rainbows), zhanhou is also variously classified as an astrological, Five Agents, or military technique; and variously identified as a hemerological, medical, and contemplative- visualization practice by the end of the Tang. I not only contend that zhanhou’s inherent polysemy and its multiple identities helped broaden and perpetuate its transmission during the first millennium of the * Acknowledgements: I would like to thank Michael Stanley-Baker and Pierce Salguero for organizing the 2014 Penn State Abington College Symposium on Science and Religion in China that inspired this article, as well as all of the participants who helped shape early versions of it.