BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies - ECPv6.15.12.2//NONSGML v1.0//EN
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:PUBLISH
X-WR-CALNAME:Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies
X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu
X-WR-CALDESC:Events for Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies
REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H
X-Robots-Tag:noindex
X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:America/New_York
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
DTSTART:20240310T070000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20241103T060000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
DTSTART:20250309T070000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20251102T060000
END:STANDARD
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
DTSTART:20260308T070000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20261101T060000
END:STANDARD
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250505T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250505T180000
DTSTAMP:20260511T012933
CREATED:20250220T174552Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250418T142355Z
UID:39512-1746460800-1746468000@fairbank.fas.harvard.edu
SUMMARY:China Humanities Seminar featuring Robert Campany — Traditions of Exemplary Transcendents (Liexian zhuan 列仙傳): A Reading
DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Robert Campany\, Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Chair in Humanities; Professor of Asian Studies\, Vanderbilt University \n\n\n\nLiexian zhuan\, plausibly attributed to the late Western Han scholiast and court official Liu Xiang 劉向 (79-8 BCE)\, is the earliest extant collection of anecdotes about individuals deemed to have transcended the limits of the human condition to become beings known as xian 仙. In this talk I will explore what it can tell us about the origins and early history of the quest for transcendence. What range of methods does it portray adepts as using to gain extraordinary longevity and other transhuman capabilities? How do its entries depict practitioners’ relations with other people\, with local communities\, and with the landscape? What does the text reveal about the sometimes strange workings of the hagiographic process? (For example\, why do the “wandering women” 游女 mentioned in the Shijing 詩經 poem “The Han is Broad” [“Han guang 漢廣\,” Mao #9] number among its transcendents?) To what extent does the text hold surprises when read against Ge Hong’s 葛洪 similar but much larger compilation made three centuries later? \n\n\n\nRob Campany is Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Chair in Humanities and Professor of Asian Studies at Vanderbilt University. He researches the history of religion in China from the late Warring States to the Tang. His most recent books include The Chinese Dreamscape\, 300 BCE – 800 CE (Harvard University Asia Center Publications\, 2020)\, winner of the Joseph Levenson Prize and the Médaille Stanislas Julien\, and Dreaming and Self-Cultivation in China\, 300 BCE – 800 CE (Harvard University Asia Center Publications\, 2023). \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nVenue
URL:https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/events/china-humanities-seminar-featuring-robert-campany-traditions-of-exemplary-transcendents-liexian-zhuan-%e5%88%97%e4%bb%99%e5%82%b3-a-reading/
LOCATION:Common Room\, 2 Divinity Ave.\, 2 Divinity Ave.\, Cambridge\, Massachusetts\, 02138\, United States
CATEGORIES:China Humanities Seminar
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/RObert-campany.jpg
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR