Speaker: Yiqun Zhou, Stanford University This talk examines the role that Dream of the Red Chamber played in the life and work of Wu Mi 吳宓 (1894-1978), a pioneer in the study of Comparative Literature in China and a cultural conservative known for his staunch resistance to the prevailing New Culture Movement. Long condemned to infamy and …

China Humanities Seminar featuring Yiqun Zhou – A Book for Hard Times: Wu Mi and Dream of the Red Chamber

Speaker: Yuri Pines, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem One of the most notable features of imperial China is the exceptional durability of the imperial political system. Having been formed in the aftermath of Qin 秦 unification (221 BCE), this system lasted intact for 2132 years, until the abdication of the child emperor Puyi 溥儀 on February 12, …

China Humanities Seminar featuring Yuri Pines – The Great Unity (da yitong 大一統) Ideal: The Key to China’s Imperial Longevity?

Speaker: Ronald Egan, Stanford University Su Shi 蘇軾 (1037-1101) is remembered first as a poet in various forms (shi 詩, ci 詞, and fu 賦) and only then as a prose stylist. Even among his prose writings Su Shi is remembered primarily, to judge from modern selections of his works, for his output in the traditional literary …

China Humanities Seminar featuring Ronald Egan – Su Shi Beyond Poetry: The Invention of a New Kind of Informal Prose

Speaker: Tian Yuan Tan 陳靝沅: Shaw Professor of Chinese, University of Oxford; Professorial Fellow, University College

Recent reprint projects have given researchers much improved access to the vast corpus of Chinese court dramatic texts kept in palace archives and private collections, which in turn presents a challenge: how do we unpack the complex textual web and varied forms contained therein? I am interested in ways of reading court drama in connection with the wider textual and cultural worlds. This talk will focus on a body of texts that I call “local court drama” - playtexts that were presented to the emperor from across various regions, produced on occasions ranging from the celebration of imperial birthdays to welcoming the sovereign on tours. We will look at the textual problems and the generic labels applied, literary models invoked, and identities represented in the process. 
 
Tian Yuan Tan 陳靝沅 is the Shaw Professor of Chinese at the University of Oxford and a Professorial Fellow of University College. His main areas of research include Chinese literary history and historiography, text and performance, and cross-cultura

Speaker: Jeffrey Riegel, University of California Berkeley, Emeritus Mengzi 2A2 consists of Master Meng’s answers to questions put to him by a follower named Gongsun Chou. The first few of these replies relate to bu dong xin, “unmoved heart,”—i.e., mental quietude and equanimity in the face of humiliation or disappointment as well as excitement or …

China Humanities Seminar Featuring Jeffrey Riegel – Further Reflections on an ‘Unmoved Heart’: Mengzi 2A2 Revisited

Speaker: Lu Kou, Assistant Professor of East Asian Languages and Cultures, Columbia University For imperial officials, “work” – fulfilling duties in the office, traveling for business, or managing lawsuits, taxation, or infrastructure – was a common subject matter for poetic treatment. Yet meanwhile, they also wrote prolifically about “not working,” which encompassed both permanent withdrawal …

China Humanities Seminar featuring Lu Kuo – The Temporary Recluse: The Discourse of Not Working in Early Medieval Chinese Poetry