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 The Literati and Chan Buddhism

Jiang Wu

in Enlightenment in Dispute: The Reinvention of Chan Buddhism in Seventeenth-Century China

This chapter explores how Confucian literati, especially Wang Yangming's followers, helped to reshape Chan communities through their reinterpretation of Chan teaching. The focus of this chapter is ... More

This chapter explores how Confucian literati, especially Wang Yangming's followers, helped to reshape Chan communities through their reinterpretation of Chan teaching. The focus of this chapter is literati's textual spirituality and textual practice such as reading and writing Chan literature. It shows that Chan Buddhism first grew from the pro‐Chan literati culture and was promoted by the literati. Later, this intellectual movement influenced the monastic world and introduced Chan masters to Eastern Zhejiang.Less

Young America’s Critic (1845–1846)

Charles Capper

in Margaret Fuller: An American Romantic Life Volume II: The Public Years

This chapter examines the developments in Margaret Fuller’s career as literary critic for the New York Tribune. In June 1845 Fuller started to pick up the pace of her writing and decided to throw ... More

This chapter examines the developments in Margaret Fuller’s career as literary critic for the New York Tribune. In June 1845 Fuller started to pick up the pace of her writing and decided to throw away her personal Romantic gendered formula. She later started receiving appraisals for her work and became involved in the so-called Wars of the Literati with other authors of literary magazines in the city. Her allies in this war were the Young America literary circle, whose leaders were the editors Evert Duycknick and William A. Jones.Less

Hindi and the Question of Comprehensibility

Shobna Nijhawan

in Women and Girls in the Hindi Public Sphere: Periodical Literature in Colonial North India

This chapter discusses how women’s periodicals contributed to debates over Hindi as a national language and literature and analyses the language used in women’s periodicals. It is organized ... More

This chapter discusses how women’s periodicals contributed to debates over Hindi as a national language and literature and analyses the language used in women’s periodicals. It is organized chronologically and thematically around the Hindi movement. Many writings in women’s periodicals rejected the mainstream Hindi nationalist agenda of standardized and Sanskritized Hindi. Instead, they chose to publish in a language that came close to the lingua franca of the targeted audiences and which nevertheless claimed the status of a national language. Moreover, writers who were not always native speakers of a Hindi dialect retained the flexibility of Hindi and created a language different to the one envisioned by the Hindi literati. Therefore, Hindi women’s periodicals were vital not only in shaping and creating political discourse on women and society but also envisioned the creation of modern Hindi as a national language and the language of the people.Less

The Historical and Geographical Context of Chan's Official Acceptance

Albert Welter

in Monks, Rulers, and Literati: The Political Ascendancy of Chan Buddhism

This chapter examines the geographical and historical context of the official acceptance of Chan Buddhism in China. It examines the role rulers and officials played in recognizing Chan and the role ... More

This chapter examines the geographical and historical context of the official acceptance of Chan Buddhism in China. It examines the role rulers and officials played in recognizing Chan and the role of literati in sanctioning the interpretation of Chan that became a hallmark of its public persona as a special transmission outside the teaching. It also investigates that functions that regional Chan movements played in forging a collective Chan identity while reserving the privilege of supreme orthodoxy for their own lineages.Less

Iconicity and indexicality: The body in Chinese art

David Clarke

in Chinese Art and Its Encounter with the World

This chapter considers the place of the body in Chinese art. It begins by identifying in a somewhat schematic way various defining characteristics of literati painting and calligraphy, the art of the ... More

This chapter considers the place of the body in Chinese art. It begins by identifying in a somewhat schematic way various defining characteristics of literati painting and calligraphy, the art of the social elite in pre-modern China. The chapter then considers, with greater historical focus, the moment when a distinctly modern visual culture, drawing self-consciously on Western sources, appears in China. It sees this latter art as modern in a way that is specific to the Chinese cultural context—it directly counters certain key qualities of the dominant inherited tradition, particularly through its emphasis on the represented female body, and thus cannot be seen simply as a mimicking of European modernism. The chapter's primary tool in making a contrast between aspects of literati painting and calligraphy and certain tendencies in Chinese artistic modernism is a semiotic one. It is reliant on Charles Sanders Peirce's distinction between iconic and indexical modes of signification.Less

A mathematical scholar in Jiangnan: the first half-life of Mei Wending

Catherine Jami

in The Emperor's New Mathematics: Western Learning and Imperial Authority During the Kangxi Reign (1662-1722)

Outside the capital, some Chinese literati also pursued the study of mathematics and astronomy. One of them, Mei Wending slowly rose to prominence as a scholar specialised in these fields. This ... More

Outside the capital, some Chinese literati also pursued the study of mathematics and astronomy. One of them, Mei Wending slowly rose to prominence as a scholar specialised in these fields. This chapter recounts his early career and analyzes some aspects of his mathematical work. In the Discussion of rectangular arrays Mei uses the Westerners' minute style of explanation as he had seen at work in the Elements and in other fields of measurement. He applied this style to calculation, the branch of mathematics that his contemporaries had in his view neglected, and of which the Discussion of rectangular arrays constitutes an apology. This is one of the many ways in which Mei Wending's mathematical work can be characterized as syncretistic. As one of the scholars best versed in the mathematical sciences in his time, he provided his contemporaries with treatises that aimed to enable them to acquire at least some of his expertise.Less

Introduction

Joseph P. McDermott

in A Social History of the Chinese Book: Books and Literati Culture in Late Imperial China

This book addresses a variety of social and economic issues too seldom associated with the history of the Chinese book. Firstly, how was a book most commonly printed and why did this method of ... More

This book addresses a variety of social and economic issues too seldom associated with the history of the Chinese book. Firstly, how was a book most commonly printed and why did this method of woodblock printing remain the predominant technology for book printing for so long in China? Secondly, when and how did the imprint—that is, the printed book—replace the manuscript as the principal form of book in China? Thirdly, what changes did this adoption of the imprint bring about for the distribution, consumption, and use of books in late imperial times? Fourthly, when and how were Chinese scholars able to overcome problems of access to books and thereby constitute what we today might call a sizeable “community of learning”? And, finally, what were the understandings of the uses of literacy and books that the literate and illiterate held in late imperial China and how did they cut across social divisions? It specifically concentrates on one region in China, the lower Yangzi delta, and on the one type of reader that the most is known about, the literati. It is hoped that this book will play an important role in the understanding of Chinese culture and society from the eleventh to the eighteenth centuries.Less

Distribution of Books and Literati Culture

Joseph P. McDermott

in A Social History of the Chinese Book: Books and Literati Culture in Late Imperial China

This chapter explores important changes in book distribution and literati culture. It specifically investigates the changing fortunes of two possible solutions to the collectors' problem of acquiring ... More

This chapter explores important changes in book distribution and literati culture. It specifically investigates the changing fortunes of two possible solutions to the collectors' problem of acquiring Chinese books—gifts and purchase—as well as late Ming changes in the social composition of their ranks. It particularly pays attention to seven distinctive book collectors of the last century of Ming rule—the bibliophile Hu Yinglin, the publisher Mao Jin, the boss-editor Chen Jiru, the editor-publishers Gu Yuanqing and Yin Zhongchun, the bookseller-publisher-collector Tong Pei, and the private collector Xu Bo—in order to assess how the distribution of books changed in commercial channels from the Song to the late Ming periods. The topics covered range from peddlers, lending libraries, bookstores and the types of books acquired, to changes in the social position of these collectors and the ways some of them found to use their collections.Less

The Problem of Access in the World of Chinese Learning

Joseph P. McDermott

in A Social History of the Chinese Book: Books and Literati Culture in Late Imperial China

This chapter discusses the issue of literati and scholars' access to book collections, primarily in the Yangzi delta, from the eleventh to the seventeenth centuries. After a brief comparative survey ... More

This chapter discusses the issue of literati and scholars' access to book collections, primarily in the Yangzi delta, from the eleventh to the seventeenth centuries. After a brief comparative survey of the problem in both pre-modern Western Europe and the Middle East, the focus falls on government libraries in China, especially their problems of management, rather than strictly access, at both the central and local levels. It also reviews the larger private collections, describing their restrictive policies for reading and borrowing their books, especially, but not exclusively, their rare and old books. The aim is less to judge these practices than to explain and assess their extensive impact on the world of learning during these centuries, particularly for the formation and maintenance of any broad “community of learning” outside of state institutions. It is concluded that, as literacy levels rose over the course of the Ming period, the private collections fell under increasing pressure to function as public, or institutional, libraries in a society whose government was not willing to make such an institutional commitment.Less

Literati Writings and the Case of Qian Jinren

Joseph P. McDermott

in A Social History of the Chinese Book: Books and Literati Culture in Late Imperial China

This chapter returns to the case of Qian Jinren. The understanding of his situation will be transformed by what has been learned of the life and learning of the literati and scholars whose writings ... More

This chapter returns to the case of Qian Jinren. The understanding of his situation will be transformed by what has been learned of the life and learning of the literati and scholars whose writings he fervently admired. After offering a brief account of Qian Jinren's learning and literacy, the chapter examines the various understandings of the benefits of literacy and the book in late imperial times and then compares Qian's appreciation of them with that of his literati admirers in Suzhou. It starts by summarizing common economic, moral, social, and religious perceptions of literacy, books, and book collecting, and then considers the extraordinary case of Qian Jinren. Qian's use of his literacy ran counter not just to some widespread assumptions of his time but also to the far wider intellectual commitments of his literati admirers, particularly Peng Shaosheng. The history of literate men, their literacies and the book in late imperial China was far too complicated and unpredictable to allow for such a boring “happy ending”.Less

Actors and Patrons

Wenqing Kang

in Obsession: Male Same-Sex Relations in China, 1900-1950

The announcement released by the Central Police Office of the Beijing Outer City on April 20, 1912, signified a shift in the meaning of male same-sex relations between Peking Opera actors and ... More

The announcement released by the Central Police Office of the Beijing Outer City on April 20, 1912, signified a shift in the meaning of male same-sex relations between Peking Opera actors and literati. Prior to the shift, men who patronized these male actors were initially regarded to be of high-class and have refined taste. After the shift, however, the practice was perceived to be unacceptable for the new republic. This literati-actor sexual relations practice had to be stopped because it represented a threat to contaminate the nation's body politic, as well as provide a reason for foreigners to express contempt. Eradicating the practice is believed to have contributed in building China's subsequent strong image. This chapter illustrates the rise and fall of the popularity of xianggong as forms of entertainment.Less

Contacts with Clerics and Fashion of Daoist Names

Richard G. Wang

in The Ming Prince and Daoism: Institutional Patronage of an Elite

Chapter 7 examines the Ming princes’ accommodation to two popular fashions of Daoist patronage: clerical contacts and the adoption of Daoist names by Ming literati. By participating in the patronage ... More

Chapter 7 examines the Ming princes’ accommodation to two popular fashions of Daoist patronage: clerical contacts and the adoption of Daoist names by Ming literati. By participating in the patronage fashion shared with literati, the Ming princes associated themselves with Heavenly Masters and faguan, the elite representatives of the Daoist bureaucracy, as their cultural peers. They were also engaged in the abbatial appointment process of certain Daoist ecumenical monasteries (shifang conglin) and private temples to guarantee their influence in local society and the Daoist clerical community. From the regular ties between the princes and priests, especially their personal friendships, we can see the princes’ various religious and secular interests. Often, Ming princely ties with Daoist priests were multifaceted: housing them as a form of charity, recruiting adepts for more practical purposes such as their healing power, and making friends with clerics as authentic companions in their lives. Finally, the distinct mode of the princely adoption of Daoist names confirms their deep attachment to Daoist culture, which provided them with a transcendental identity and autonomous freedom not enjoyed in the social role assigned them by the fanjin system.Less

The French Encounters

Mushirul Hasan

in Exploring the West: Three Travel Narratives

The author describes the character of the people of France and presents an anecdote of a barber. He also reflects on the hotel at Marseilles, comments on the appearance and dress of the French ... More

The author describes the character of the people of France and presents an anecdote of a barber. He also reflects on the hotel at Marseilles, comments on the appearance and dress of the French ladies, his encounter with the British envoy, and describes the people of Mazanderan. He forms an acquaintance with some of the French literati and is invited to court.Less

Defining Gender Orthodoxy for a Multiethnic Empire

Janet M. Theiss

in Disgraceful Matters: The Politics of Chastity in Eighteenth-Century China

Chinese dynasties had for centuries issued awards for extraordinary virtue to the chaste and filial to provide exemplars for the moral cultivation of their subjects and to enhance their own image of ... More

Chinese dynasties had for centuries issued awards for extraordinary virtue to the chaste and filial to provide exemplars for the moral cultivation of their subjects and to enhance their own image of virtue and benevolence. The expansion of categories of state-sanctioned chastity suicides served as a politically benign and pragmatic gesture of support for the values of Han literati, whose movement for revival of ritual and moral orthodoxy was gaining momentum over the first half of the eighteenth century. If the first two reigns of the dynasty saw the creation of a new state discourse on female virtue, it was the Yongzheng Emperor who constructed the institutional edifice to promote and enforce the evolving state orthodoxy.Less

Speaking Parts in Chinese History

David Strand

in An Unfinished Republic: Leading by Word and Deed in Modern China

Republics demand political representation, and political parties are designed to transmit public opinion and the popular will. The rapidity with which reformers and revolutionaries banded together ... More

Republics demand political representation, and political parties are designed to transmit public opinion and the popular will. The rapidity with which reformers and revolutionaries banded together locally, nationally, and in exile meant that political parties in fact if not in name led the Qing parliamentary reforms of 1907–10 and the convening of the provisional Republican Senate in 1912. Affairs of state, in contrast, were supposed to be dignified and carefully controlled. Ritual offerings during the Qing dynasty by officials and literati included impressive costumes, props, physical movement, and billowing incense but were conducted in silence except for the directions called out by the protocol chief. Song Jiaoren's behind-the-scenes negotiations in the summer of 1912 required public affirmation. His commitment to a parliamentary regime and electoral politics led from backstage maneuvering to open meetings, press coverage, and public scrutiny. This opening from the subterranean to the pellucid also exposed him to attack.Less

Putting Young Heroines in the Spotlight: The Seventeenth Century

in True to Her Word: The Faithful Maiden Cult in Late Imperial China

This chapter is concerned with the dynastic crisis of the seventeenth century. It deals with how the fall of the Ming in 1644 and the subsequent Manchu conquest transformed the ways in which the ... More

This chapter is concerned with the dynastic crisis of the seventeenth century. It deals with how the fall of the Ming in 1644 and the subsequent Manchu conquest transformed the ways in which the elite interpreted the faithful maiden act and constructed a special relationship between Confucian literati and the faithful maiden cult. Dramatic details were common in writings about faithful maidens. The faithful maidens who committed (or attempted to commit) suicide took center stage. The Snow-White Chinese flowering apple incident, the Song Dian incident, and the Wang Xiuwen saga are examples of this. The immense interest of the early Qing literati in promoting faithful maidens was deeply embedded in intense emotions over the political crisis of the Ming–Qing transition.Less