DOCSLIB.ORG

READING BODIES: AESTHETICS, GENDER, and FAMILY in the EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY CHINESE NOVEL GUWANGYAN (PREPOSTEROUS WORDS) by QING

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
READING BODIES: AESTHETICS, GENDER, and FAMILY in the EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY CHINESE NOVEL GUWANGYAN (PREPOSTEROUS WORDS) by QING READING BODIES: AESTHETICS, GENDER, AND FAMILY IN THE EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY CHINESE NOVEL GUWANGYAN (PREPOSTEROUS WORDS) by QING YE A DISSERTATION Presented to the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy June 2016 DISSERTATION APPROVAL PAGE Student: Qing Ye Title: Reading Bodies: Aesthetics, Gender, and Family in the Eighteenth Century Chinese Novel Guwangyan (Preposterous Words) This dissertation has been accepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures by: Maram Epstein Chairperson Yugen Wang Core Member Alison Groppe Core Member Ina Asim Institutional Representative and Scott L. Pratt Dean of the Graduate School Original approval signatures are on file with the University of Oregon Graduate School. Degree awarded June 2016 ii © 2016 Qing Ye iii DISSERTATION ABSTRACT Qing Ye Doctor of Philosophy Department of East Asian Languages and Literature June 2016 Title: Reading Bodies: Aesthetic, Gender, and Family in the Eighteenth Century Chinese Novel Guwangyan (Preposterous Words) This dissertation focuses on the Mid-Qing novel Guwangyan (Preposterous Words, preface dated, 1730s) which is a newly discovered novel with lots of graphic sexual descriptions. Guwangyan was composed between the publication of Jin Ping Mei (The Plum in the Golden Vase, 1617) and Honglou meng (Dream of the Red Chamber, 1791). These two masterpieces represent sexuality and desire by presenting domestic life in polygamous households within a larger social landscape. This dissertation explores the factors that shifted the literary discourse from the pornographic description of sexuality in Jin Ping Mei, to the representation of chaste love in Honglou meng. This dissertation can be divided into three parts. Part one: Chapter I and II introduce my main approach to interpret the text and the historical and aesthetic context of this novel. Chapter I introduces a large historical background of the late Ming and early Qing China and argues that the blurry boundaries between genres assigned by the May Fourth scholars do not fully satisfy the reading of Guwangyan. My reading scrutinizes the textual body of Guwangyan to explore the material body and body politics demonstrated in the fictional world. Chapter II explains the meaning of the title of the text, the author, commentator, and the commentary of Guwangyan. iv The second part, Chapter III and IV, illustrate a close-reading of the aesthetic body of the text. Chapter III proposes that Guwangyan is a well organized novel which has a carefully designed narrative structure and internal connections among chapters. Chapter IV demonstrates the importance of characterization in the novel. I argue that through a non-polarized yin-yang dichotomy, the text demonstrates the uncertainty, transformation, and development of the characters and explores their complicated inner world. The third part, Chapter V and VI, explore masculinity and the family of Guwangyan. The novel represents the male friendship and male same-sex relationship and how they can interact with men’s role in the public and private spheres. Chapter VI broadens the discussion of the family relationship in Guwangyan to establish a significant contrast between a realistic representation of political disasters and an idealistic description of community unity. v CURRICULUM VITAE NAME OF AUTHOR: Qing Ye GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS ATTENDED: University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon McGill University, Montreal, Canada Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China DEGREES AWARDED: Doctor of Philosophy, East Asian Languages and Literature, 2016, University of Oregon Master of Arts, East Asian Studies, 2009, McGill University Bachelor of Arts, Chinese Language and Literature, 2000, Beijing Normal University AREAS OF SPECIAL INTEREST: Ming-Qing Fiction in Chinese Literature Gender Studies PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: Graduate Teaching Fellow, Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures University of Oregon, 2009-2016 GRANTS, AWARDS, AND HONORS: Graduate Student Research Grant, Center for the Study of Women in Society, University of Oregon, 2014-15 Graduate Research Support Fellowship, Oregon Humanities Center, University of Oregon, 2013-14 PUBLICATIONS: Qing Ye, “Sexuality, Politics, and Sorrow: Reading the Rear Courtyard (Hou Ting) In Jin Ping Mei (The Plum in The Golden Vase),” Virginia Review of Asian Studies, Vol. 15, Fall (2013): 113-26. vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to express sincere appreciation to Professors Maram Epstein for her assistance in the preparation of this manuscript. In addition, special thanks are due to Professor Ina Asim, who always provided me with helpful input with her knowledge of the Chinese history. I also thank all my committee members for their insightful comments and suggestions. I wish to thank my parents who have been unconditionally supportive to me in my life, study and career. I also with to express my deepest appreciation to my husband and daughter who always been by my side. vii To my beloved husband, Zhiyong Meng, and daughter, Haiyi Meng. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Cultural Landscape of Eighteenth-century China ............................................ 03 1.2 From Aesthetics to Genre: The May Fourth Legacy of Reading Late Imperial Novels .......................................................................................................................... 12 1.3 Interpreting the Liteary Representation of Sexuality, Gender, and Poltics in Guwangyan .................................................................................................................. 21 1.4 Focus of this Study: the Aesthetics, Masculinity, and the Imaninary Family . 25 1.5 The Main Plot of Guwangyan .......................................................................... 30 1.6 The Outline of This Dissertation...................................................................... 37 II. THE TITLE, AUTHOR, COMMENTATOR, AND COMMENTARY OF GUWANGYAN ............................................................................................................. 39 2.1 The Title of Guwangyan .................................................................................. 39 2.2 The Biographic Background of the Author and Commentator of Guwangyan 44 2.3 The Overview of the Commentary on Guwangyan ......................................... 48 2.3.1 The Interpretative Commentary .............................................................. 50 2.3.2 The Compositional Commentary ............................................................ 54 2.3.3 Commentaries on Characterization ......................................................... 61 2.3.4 Jokes and Political Criticism in Lin Dunweng’s Commentary ............... 64 2.4 The Disappearance and International Circulation of Guwangyan ................... 66 III. THE AUTHORICAL MANIPULATION OF THE STRUCTURE IN GUWANGYAN: KARMIC RETRIBUTION, YIN-YANG SYMBOLISM, AND NUMEROLOGY ..... 70 3.1 Narrative Structure of the Chinese Novel during the Ming-Qing Transitional Period .......................................................................................................................... 71 3.2 Karma and Moral Logic in Guwangyan .......................................................... 77 ix Chapter Page 3.3 Yin-yang Symbolism in the Structure of Guwangyan ...................................... 85 3.4 Yin-yang Numerology and the Inernal Strucutre of Guwangyan ..................... 93 IV. CHARACTERIZATION BY YIN-YANG DICHOTOMY AND YIN-ZHEN CONTRAST IN GUWANGYAN .................................................................................. 103 4.1 The Importance of Characterization ................................................................ 106 4.2 Yin-yang Hybridity, Performativity, and Camouflage in the Characterization of Guwangyan .................................................................................................................. 112 4.3 Yin-yang Restoration of the Central Male Characters of Guwangyan ............. 123 4.4 Internal Struggle of the Female Protagonist .................................................... 137 V. MALE FRIENDSHIP AND HOMOSEXUALITY IN GUWANGYAN ................. 146 5.1 Male Friendship in Guwangyan ....................................................................... 150 5.1.1 Kinship and Political Criticism in the Scholar’s Friendship in Guwangyan .......................................................................................................................... 154 5.1.2 Transformable Male Bonding: from li to yi ............................................ 161 5.2 Homoeroticism in Guwangyan ........................................................................ 166 5.2.1 Satire of the Hypocrisy in the Male Homoerotic Relationship ............... 169 5.2.2 Parody of the Scholar’s Connoisseurship of Male Beauty ..................... 176 5.2.3 Channeling Homoeroticism into Heterosexual Marriage ....................... 180 5.3 Literary Twist of Heterosexuality, Homosexuality, and Homosociality ......... 184 VI. SENTIMENT, DAOISM, AND FAMILY CONTINUITY IN GUWANGYAN .... 192 6.1 Confucianism, Daoism, and the Cult of Qing .................................................
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Conceptualizing the Blue Frontier: the Great Qing and the Maritime World
    Conceptualizing the Blue Frontier: The Great Qing and the Maritime World in the Long Eighteenth Century Inauguraldissertation zur Erlangung der Doktorwürde der Philosophischen Fakultüt der Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg Vorgelegt von Chung-yam PO Erstgutachter: Prof. Dr. Harald Fuess Zweitgutachter: Prof. Dr. Joachim Kurtz Datum: 28 June 2013 Table of Contents Abstract 2 Acknowledgments 3 Emperors of the Qing Dynasty 5 Map of China Coast 6 Introduction 7 Chapter 1 Setting the Scene 43 Chapter 2 Modeling the Sea Space 62 Chapter 3 The Dragon Navy 109 Chapter 4 Maritime Customs Office 160 Chapter 5 Writing the Waves 210 Conclusion 247 Glossary 255 Bibliography 257 1 Abstract Most previous scholarship has asserted that the Qing Empire neglected the sea and underestimated the worldwide rise of Western powers in the long eighteenth century. By the time the British crushed the Chinese navy in the so-called Opium Wars, the country and its government were in a state of shock and incapable of quickly catching-up with Western Europe. In contrast with such a narrative, this dissertation shows that the Great Qing was in fact far more aware of global trends than has been commonly assumed. Against the backdrop of the long eighteenth century, the author explores the fundamental historical notions of the Chinese maritime world as a conceptual divide between an inner and an outer sea, whereby administrators, merchants, and intellectuals paid close and intense attention to coastal seawaters. Drawing on archival sources from China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and the West, the author argues that the connection between the Great Qing and the maritime world was complex and sophisticated.
    [Show full text]
  • Ming-Qing Women's Song Lyrics to the Tune Man Jiang Hong
    engendering heroism: ming-qing women’s song 1 ENGENDERING HEROISM: MING-QING WOMEN’S SONG LYRICS TO THE TUNE MAN JIANG HONG* by LI XIAORONG (McGill University) Abstract The heroic lyric had long been a masculine symbolic space linked with the male so- cial world of career and achievement. However, the participation of a critical mass of Ming-Qing women lyricists, whose gendered consciousness played a role in their tex- tual production, complicated the issue. This paper examines how women crossed gen- der boundaries to appropriate masculine poetics, particularly within the dimension of the heroic lyric to the tune Man jiang hong, to voice their reflections on larger historical circumstances as well as women’s gender roles in their society. The song lyric (ci 詞), along with shi 詩 poetry, was one of the dominant genres in which late imperial Chinese women writers were active.1 The two conceptual categories in the aesthetics and poetics of the song lyric—“masculine” (haofang 豪放) and “feminine” (wanyue 婉約)—may have primarily referred to the textual performance of male authors in the tradition. However, the participation of a critical mass of Ming- Qing women lyricists, whose gendered consciousness played a role in * This paper was originally presented in the Annual Meeting of the Association for Asian Studies, New York, March 27-30, 2003. I am deeply grateful to my supervisor Grace S. Fong for her guidance and encouragement in the course of writing this pa- per. I would like to also express my sincere thanks to Professors Robin Yates, Robert Hegel, Daniel Bryant, Beata Grant, and Harriet Zurndorfer and to two anonymous readers for their valuable comments and suggestions that led me to think further on some critical issues in this paper.
    [Show full text]
  • Female Images in the Late Ming-Dynasty Chinese Erotic Paintings
    A Political Fantasy: Female Images in the Late Ming-Dynasty Chinese Erotic Paintings Senior Honors Thesis Department of Art and Art History By Yuhan Qin Tufts University Medford, Massachusetts TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Illustrations ···························································································································iii Introduction········································································································································1 CHAPTER 1: Is Ming Erotic Painting Art or Pornography? ···················································9 CHAPTER 2: Gender and Body Structure··················································································23 CHAPTER 3: Gaze and Spectatorship·························································································31 Conclusion·········································································································································43 Plates··················································································································································45 Bibliography······································································································································61 ii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1: Tang Yin, Tao Gu Presenting a Poem (陶穀赠词). Ming Dynasty, hanging scroll, ink and colors on silk, 168.8*102.1 cm. National Palace Museum, Taipei. Figure 2: Anonymous, “Enjoy erotic albums together” (共赏春画). Ming
    [Show full text]
  • Images of Women in Chinese Literature. Volume 1. REPORT NO ISBN-1-880938-008 PUB DATE 94 NOTE 240P
    DOCUMENT RESUME ED 385 489 SO 025 360 AUTHOR Yu-ning, Li, Ed. TITLE Images of Women in Chinese Literature. Volume 1. REPORT NO ISBN-1-880938-008 PUB DATE 94 NOTE 240p. AVAILABLE FROM Johnson & Associates, 257 East South St., Franklin, IN 46131-2422 (paperback: $25; clothbound: ISBN-1-880938-008, $39; shipping: $3 first copy, $0.50 each additional copy). PUB TYPE Books (010) Reports Descriptive (141) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC10 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Chinese Culture; *Cultural Images; Females; Folk Culture; Foreign Countries; Legends; Mythology; Role Perception; Sexism in Language; Sex Role; *Sex Stereotypes; Sexual Identity; *Womens Studies; World History; *World Literature IDENTIFIERS *Asian Culture; China; '`Chinese Literature ABSTRACT This book examines the ways in which Chinese literature offers a vast array of prospects, new interpretations, new fields of study, and new themes for the study of women. As a result of the global movement toward greater recognition of gender equality and human dignity, the study of women as portrayed in Chinese literature has a long and rich history. A single volume cannot cover the enormous field but offers volume is a starting point for further research. Several renowned Chinese writers and researchers contributed to the book. The volume includes the following: (1) Introduction (Li Yu- Wing);(2) Concepts of Redemption and Fall through Woman as Reflected in Chinese Literature (Tsung Su);(3) The Poems of Li Qingzhao (1084-1141) (Kai-yu Hsu); (4) Images of Women in Yuan Drama (Fan Pen Chen);(5) The Vanguards--The Truncated Stage (The Women of Lu Yin, Bing Xin, and Ding Ling) (Liu Nienling); (6) New Woman vs.
    [Show full text]
  • APA NEWSLETTER on Asian and Asian-American Philosophers and Philosophies
    NEWSLETTER | The American Philosophical Association Asian and Asian-American Philosophers and Philosophies SPRING 2020 VOLUME 19 | NUMBER 2 FROM THE GUEST EDITOR Ben Hammer The Timeliness of Translating Chinese Philosophy: An Introduction to the APA Newsletter Special Issue on Translating Chinese Philosophy ARTICLES Roger T. Ames Preparing a New Sourcebook in Classical Confucian Philosophy Tian Chenshan The Impossibility of Literal Translation of Chinese Philosophical Texts into English Dimitra Amarantidou, Daniel Sarafinas, and Paul J. D’Ambrosio Translating Today’s Chinese Masters Edward L. Shaughnessy Three Thoughts on Translating Classical Chinese Philosophical Texts Carl Gene Fordham Introducing Premodern Text Translation: A New Field at the Crossroads of Sinology and Translation Studies SUBMISSION GUIDELINES AND INFORMATION VOLUME 19 | NUMBER 2 SPRING 2020 © 2020 BY THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL ASSOCIATION ISSN 2155-9708 APA NEWSLETTER ON Asian and Asian-American Philosophers and Philosophies BEN HAMMER, GUEST EDITOR VOLUME 19 | NUMBER 2 | SPRING 2020 Since most of us reading this newsletter have at least a FROM THE GUEST EDITOR vague idea of what Western philosophy is, we must understand that to then learn Chinese philosophy is truly The Timeliness of Translating Chinese to reinvent the wheel. It is necessary to start from the most basic notions of what philosophy is to be able to understand Philosophy: An Introduction to the APA what Chinese philosophy is. Newsletter Special Issue on Translating In the West, religion is religion and philosophy is Chinese Philosophy philosophy. In China, this line does not exist. For China and its close East Asian neighbors, Confucianism has guided Ben Hammer the social and spiritual lives of people for thousands of EDITOR, JOURNAL OF CHINESE HUMANITIES years in the same way the Judeo-Christian tradition has [email protected] guided people in the West.
    [Show full text]
  • The Later Han Empire (25-220CE) & Its Northwestern Frontier
    University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 2012 Dynamics of Disintegration: The Later Han Empire (25-220CE) & Its Northwestern Frontier Wai Kit Wicky Tse University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the Asian History Commons, Asian Studies Commons, and the Military History Commons Recommended Citation Tse, Wai Kit Wicky, "Dynamics of Disintegration: The Later Han Empire (25-220CE) & Its Northwestern Frontier" (2012). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 589. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/589 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/589 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Dynamics of Disintegration: The Later Han Empire (25-220CE) & Its Northwestern Frontier Abstract As a frontier region of the Qin-Han (221BCE-220CE) empire, the northwest was a new territory to the Chinese realm. Until the Later Han (25-220CE) times, some portions of the northwestern region had only been part of imperial soil for one hundred years. Its coalescence into the Chinese empire was a product of long-term expansion and conquest, which arguably defined the egionr 's military nature. Furthermore, in the harsh natural environment of the region, only tough people could survive, and unsurprisingly, the region fostered vigorous warriors. Mixed culture and multi-ethnicity featured prominently in this highly militarized frontier society, which contrasted sharply with the imperial center that promoted unified cultural values and stood in the way of a greater degree of transregional integration. As this project shows, it was the northwesterners who went through a process of political peripheralization during the Later Han times played a harbinger role of the disintegration of the empire and eventually led to the breakdown of the early imperial system in Chinese history.
    [Show full text]
  • The Interaction Between Ethnic Relations and State Power: a Structural Impediment to the Industrialization of China, 1850-1911
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Georgia State University Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University Sociology Dissertations Department of Sociology 5-27-2008 The nI teraction between Ethnic Relations and State Power: A Structural Impediment to the Industrialization of China, 1850-1911 Wei Li Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/sociology_diss Part of the Sociology Commons Recommended Citation Li, Wei, "The nI teraction between Ethnic Relations and State Power: A Structural Impediment to the Industrialization of China, 1850-1911." Dissertation, Georgia State University, 2008. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/sociology_diss/33 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Sociology at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Sociology Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE INTERACTION BETWEEN ETHNIC RELATIONS AND STATE POWER: A STRUCTURAL IMPEDIMENT TO THE INDUSTRIALIZATION OF CHINA, 1850-1911 by WEI LI Under the Direction of Toshi Kii ABSTRACT The case of late Qing China is of great importance to theories of economic development. This study examines the question of why China’s industrialization was slow between 1865 and 1895 as compared to contemporary Japan’s. Industrialization is measured on four dimensions: sea transport, railway, communications, and the cotton textile industry. I trace the difference between China’s and Japan’s industrialization to government leadership, which includes three aspects: direct governmental investment, government policies at the macro-level, and specific measures and actions to assist selected companies and industries.
    [Show full text]
  • UC Santa Barbara UC Santa Barbara Electronic Theses and Dissertations
    UC Santa Barbara UC Santa Barbara Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Fashioning the Reclusive Persona: Zeng Jing's Informal Portraits of the Jiangnan Literati Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2mx8m4wt Author Choi, Seokwon Publication Date 2016 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Santa Barbara Fashioning the Reclusive Persona: Zeng Jing’s Informal Portraits of the Jiangnan Literati A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Art History by Seokwon Choi Committee in charge: Professor Peter C. Sturman, Chair Professor Miriam Wattles Professor Hui-shu Lee December 2016 The dissertation of Seokwon Choi is approved. _____________________________________________ Miriam Wattles _____________________________________________ Hui-shu Lee _____________________________________________ Peter C. Sturman, Committee Chair September 2016 Fashioning the Reclusive Persona: Zeng Jing’s Informal Portraits of the Jiangnan Literati Copyright © 2016 by Seokwon Choi iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My sincerest gratitude goes to my advisor, Professor Peter C. Sturman, whose guidance, patience, and confidence in me have made my doctoral journey not only possible but also enjoyable. It is thanks to him that I was able to transcend the difficulties of academic work and find pleasure in reading, writing, painting, and calligraphy. As a role model, Professor Sturman taught me how to be an artful recluse like the Jiangnan literati. I am also greatly appreciative for the encouragement and counsel of Professor Hui-shu Lee. Without her valuable suggestions from its earliest stage, this project would never have taken shape. I would like to express appreciation to Professor Miriam Wattles for insightful comments and thought-provoking discussions that helped me to consider the issues of portraiture in a broader East Asian context.
    [Show full text]
  • Stories to Caution the World: a Ming Dinasty Collection (Volume 2)
    Stories to Caution the World μ@q• Stories to Caution the World a ming dynasty collection volume 2 Compiled by Feng Menglong (1574–1646) Translated by Shuhui Yang and Yunqin Yang university of washington press seattle and london Publication of Stories to Caution the World has been generously supported by Bates College. © 2005 by the University of Washington Press Printed in the United States of America 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 5 4 3 2 1 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. University of Washington Press P.O. Box 50096, Seattle, WA 98145 www.washington.edu/uwpress Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Feng, Menglong, 1574–1646. [Jing shi tong yan. English] Stories to caution the world : a Ming dynasty collection / compiled by Feng Menglong ; translated by Shuhui Yang and Yunqin Yang. p. cm. isbn 0-295-98552-6 (hardback : alk. paper) I. Yang, Shuhui. II. Yang, Yunqin. III. Title. pl2698.f4j5613 2005 895.1'346—dc22 2005010013 The paper used in this publication is acid-free and 90 percent recycled from at least 50 percent post-consumer waste. It meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ansi z39.48-1984. To our parents and sisters Contents Acknowledgments xi Introduction xiii Translators’ Note xvii Chronology of Chinese Dynasties xix stories to caution the world Title Page from the 1624 Edition 3 Preface to the 1624 Edition 5 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Peer Reviewed Title: Critical Han Studies: the History, Representation, and Identity of China's Majority Author: Mullaney, Thoma
    Peer Reviewed Title: Critical Han Studies: The History, Representation, and Identity of China's Majority Author: Mullaney, Thomas S. Leibold, James Gros, Stéphane Vanden Bussche, Eric Editor: Mullaney, Thomas S.; Leibold, James; Gros, Stéphane; Vanden Bussche, Eric Publication Date: 02-15-2012 Series: GAIA Books Permalink: http://escholarship.org/uc/item/07s1h1rf Keywords: Han, Critical race studies, Ethnicity, Identity Abstract: Addressing the problem of the ‘Han’ ethnos from a variety of relevant perspectives—historical, geographical, racial, political, literary, anthropological, and linguistic—Critical Han Studies offers a responsible, informative deconstruction of this monumental yet murky category. It is certain to have an enormous impact on the entire field of China studies.” Victor H. Mair, University of Pennsylvania “This deeply historical, multidisciplinary volume consistently and fruitfully employs insights from critical race and whiteness studies in a new arena. In doing so it illuminates brightly how and when ideas about race and ethnicity change in the service of shifting configurations of power.” David Roediger, author of How Race Survived U.S. History “A great book. By examining the social construction of hierarchy in China,Critical Han Studiessheds light on broad issues of cultural dominance and in-group favoritism.” Richard Delgado, author of Critical Race Theory: An Introduction “A powerful, probing account of the idea of the ‘Han Chinese’—that deceptive category which, like ‘American,’ is so often presented as a natural default, even though it really is of recent vintage. A feast for both Sinologists and comparativists everywhere.” Magnus Fiskesjö, Cornell University eScholarship provides open access, scholarly publishing services to the University of California and delivers a dynamic research platform to scholars worldwide.
    [Show full text]
  • Ancient-Style Prose Anthologies in Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) China
    University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 2017 In The Eye Of The Selector: Ancient-Style Prose Anthologies In Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) China Timothy Robert Clifford University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the Asian History Commons, and the Asian Studies Commons Recommended Citation Clifford, Timothy Robert, "In The Eye Of The Selector: Ancient-Style Prose Anthologies In Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) China" (2017). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 2234. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/2234 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/2234 For more information, please contact [email protected]. In The Eye Of The Selector: Ancient-Style Prose Anthologies In Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) China Abstract The rapid growth of woodblock printing in sixteenth-century China not only transformed wenzhang (“literature”) as a category of knowledge, it also transformed the communities in which knowledge of wenzhang circulated. Twentieth-century scholarship described this event as an expansion of the non-elite reading public coinciding with the ascent of vernacular fiction and performance literature over stagnant classical forms. Because this narrative was designed to serve as a native genealogy for the New Literature Movement, it overlooked the crucial role of guwen (“ancient-style prose,” a term which denoted the everyday style of classical prose used in both preparing for the civil service examinations as well as the social exchange of letters, gravestone inscriptions, and other occasional prose forms among the literati) in early modern literary culture. This dissertation revises that narrative by showing how a diverse range of social actors used anthologies of ancient-style prose to build new forms of literary knowledge and shape new literary publics.
    [Show full text]
  • Private Life and Social Commentary in the Honglou Meng
    University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Honors Program in History (Senior Honors Theses) Department of History March 2007 Authorial Disputes: Private Life and Social Commentary in the Honglou meng Carina Wells [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/hist_honors Wells, Carina, "Authorial Disputes: Private Life and Social Commentary in the Honglou meng" (2007). Honors Program in History (Senior Honors Theses). 6. https://repository.upenn.edu/hist_honors/6 A Senior Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Honors in History. Faculty Advisor: Siyen Fei This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/hist_honors/6 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Authorial Disputes: Private Life and Social Commentary in the Honglou meng Comments A Senior Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Honors in History. Faculty Advisor: Siyen Fei This thesis or dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn.edu/hist_honors/6 University of Pennsylvania Authorial Disputes: Private Life and Social Commentary in the Honglou meng A senior thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for Honors in History by Carina L. Wells Philadelphia, PA March 23, 2003 Faculty Advisor: Siyen Fei Honors Director: Julia Rudolph Contents Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………...i Explanatory Note…………………………………………………………………………iv Dynasties and Periods……………………………………………………………………..v Selected Reign
    [Show full text]