A few students in my course “Romancing the Nation in Modern Chinese Literature” (2019) created this wonderful website titled Loving the Nation from Afar (click the panel on upper left corner to see pages). It selects from materials discussed in the course and showcases the complicated relations between China as a nation-state and “Chinese” people living in different parts of the world in the past century.
Credits: Xianzhen Deng, Kayla Johnson, Alexandra Triko
My Abstract
Scenes of Corpses: Forensic Examinations in Early Modern Chinese Literature
The past decades have seen a growing number of studies on literature, law, and medicine in premodern China and a similar interest in literary depictions of human anatomy in European history. Building on those studies, this ongoing project examines the representations of dead bodies in forensic literature of early modern China. In particular, it focuses on the scenes of corpse examination (shichang 屍場) in written, visual, and performance materials produced from the 17th to the 19th centuries. The project anatomizes various aspects of those scenes––dead bodies for examination; different participants including families, coroners, and spectators; various modes of viewing; and the media that enabled those experiences. With a focus on the dead bodies in forensic scenes, this project aims to reveal how forensic practices influenced the representation of personhood and justice in early modern Chinese literature and society. This presentation introduces the questions and materials for the project and invites critiques.
Thanks to invitation from Liana Chen and GWU Confucius Institute, I will be giving a talk about my upcoming book at The GW Textile Museum (Meyer’s Room) on 11/11 12-2pm.
3:45pm, Arlington
Problematizing the Paratextual Space in Traditional Chinese Drama Prints
This paper considers the relationship between playwrights and their theatrical works through examining a group of drama prints produced in the Qing dynasty. Despite the longstanding tradition of portraiture in traditional China, fictions and dramas seldom included images of the authors. However, starting from the early Qing period, some drama prints included images of the authors in the form of portraits and figures in illustrations. That phenomenon was part of a larger trend in which playwrights and their scholarly friends increasingly took up the paratextual space for self-representation or communal conversation. The paper argues for an increasing authorial presence in traditional Chinese drama, a development enabled by changes in play production and shifting understandings of the dramatic genre.
Just finished a Luce Foundation/ACLS Early Career Seminar in NYC. I was fortunate enough to have inspiring and intensive conversations with four mentors, twelve junior fellows, and Luce/ACLS officers. It’s heart-warming to witness Luce/ACLS’ commitment to China studies; NYC is unique, with its unique people, food, and rain showers.
I valued so much the rapport between my friends and young colleagues. It’s one of the rare occasions in which we can leave aside many things and focus on exchange of ideas.
Special thanks to Paola Zamperini, my mentor during and beyond the two-day program.
Photo credits: Bin Xu
I’m looking forward to participate in the University of Pittsburgh Summer Institute for Chinese Studies––seminar on science, technology, and medicine (5/26-6/1, 2019). Many thanks to Joseph Alter and other colleagues at UP for including me in the program!
My Abstract: Yuan-dynasty dramas (mostly existing in Ming editions) include some special titles about criminal cases such as the well-known piece The Injustice to Dou E and some rarely studied plays such as Bu renshi (The Virtuous Mother Does Not Recognize the Corpse). Meanwhile, the Song-Yuan period saw the maturation of forensic studies in Chinese history, witnessing the publication of Song Ci’s Xiyuan jilu (Collected Writings on the Washing Away of Wrongs) followed by its different sequels and forensic manuals for local magistrates and their assistants. During the burgeoning period of both Chinese drama and forensic studies, how did theatrical representation and forensic investigation interact with each other? This study answers the question by examining the representation of men’s and women’s dead bodies in some Yuan-Ming plays. The paper focuses on two particular moments in those plays: the transition from a living body to a dead body; and the transition from corpse to legal evidence. It shows that, on the one hand, Yuan-Ming dramas heavily drew from actual practices involving corpses in society; and on the other hand, dead bodies as theatrical devices provided an anchor for plot developments as well as a unique venue to voice and perform concerns about personal identities.
In a very short time, my students in the class of Chinese drama prepared and presented a remarkable reading and performance of Cao Yu’s Thunderstorm 雷雨. It is a memorable experience for everyone!
GUOJUN WANG 