Two Centuries of Manchu Women Poets
Two Centuries of Manchu Women Poets

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Publisher: University of Washington Press

Published: 2017-04-03

Total Pages: 329

ISBN-13: 029599987X

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This anthology presents substantial selections from the work of twenty Manchu women poets of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The poems, inspired by their daily life and reflections, provide fascinating insights into the experiences and emotions of these women, most of whom belonged to the elite families of Manchu society. Each selection is accompanied by biographical material that illuminates the life stories of the poets. The volume’s introduction describes the printing history of the collections from which these poems are drawn, the authors’ practice of poetry writing, ethnic and gender issues, and comparisons with the poetry of women in South China and of male authors of the Qing dynasty (1644–1911).

Gender and Friendship in Chinese Literature
Gender and Friendship in Chinese Literature

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Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2024-09-26

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 9004707638

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Canvasing a range of materials that include early tales of exemplarity, medieval song lyrics, Ming-Qing poetry and plucked rhymes, twentieth century writings about revolutionaries, opera stars, missionaries, and contemporary fiction, this volume illustrates the discourse and representation of friendship in which women gain agency and participate in broader arguments about ethics, politics, and religious transcendence. Friendship prompts reflections on gender roles, becomes the venue of literary self-consciousness, and heightens the sense of literary community. Gender and community function in new ways through the public dimension of friendship, and most importantly, the intersections of gender and friendship enable us to rethink other relationships.

A Topsy-Turvy World
A Topsy-Turvy World

Author: Wilt L. Idema

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2023-10-10

Total Pages: 330

ISBN-13: 023155771X

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Playwriting in many forms flourished during the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. Shorter theatrical genres in particular offered playwrights opportunities for experimentation with both dramatic form and social critique. Despite their originality and wit, these short plays have been overshadowed by the lengthy masterpieces of the southern drama tradition. A Topsy-Turvy World presents English translations of shorter sixteenth-to-eighteenth-century plays, spotlighting a lesser-known side of Chinese drama. Satirical and often earthy, these mostly one-act plays depict deceit, dissembling, reversed gender roles, and sudden upending of fortunes. With zest and humor, they portray henpecked husbands, supercilious and lustful monks, all-too-human sage kings, disgruntled officials, and overreaching young scholars. These plays provide a glimpse of Chinese daily life and mores even as they question or subvert the boundaries of social, moral, and political order. Each translation is preceded by a short introduction that describes the play’s author, context, formal qualities, and textual history. A Topsy-Turvy World offers a new view of a significant period in the development of the Chinese theatrical tradition and provides insight into the role of drama as cultural critique.

Women in Qing China
Women in Qing China

Author: Bret Hinsch

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2022-03-10

Total Pages: 223

ISBN-13: 1538166410

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This groundbreaking work provides an original and deeply knowledgeable overview of Chinese women and gender relations during the Qing Dynasty (1644–1912). Bret Hinsch explores in detail the central aspects of female life in this era, including family and marriage, motherhood, political power, work, inheritance, education, religious roles, and ethics. He considers not only women’s experiences but also their emotional lives and the ideals they pursued. Drawing on a wide range of Western, Japanese, and Chinese primary and secondary sources—including standard histories, poetry, prose literature, and epitaphs—Hinsch makes an important period of Chinese women’s history accessible to Western readers.

Regional Literature and the Transmission of Culture
Regional Literature and the Transmission of Culture

Author: Margaret B. Wan

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2021-03-08

Total Pages: 458

ISBN-13: 1684176077

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Regional Literature and the Transmission of Culture provides a richly textured picture of cultural transmission in the Qing and early Republican eras. Drum ballad texts (guci) evoke one of the most popular performance traditions of their day, a practice that flourished in North China. Study of these narratives opens up surprising new perspectives on vital topics in Chinese literature and history: the creation of regional cultural identities and their relation to a central “Chinese culture”; the relationship between oral and written cultures; the transmission of legal knowledge and popular ideals of justice; and the impact of the changing technology of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries on the reproduction and dissemination of popular texts. Margaret B. Wan maps the dissemination over time and space of two legends of wise judges; their journey through oral, written, and visual media reveals a fascinating but overlooked world of “popular” literature. While drum ballads form a distinctively regional literature, lithography in early twentieth-century Shanghai drew them into national markets. The new paradigm this book offers will interest scholars of cultural history, literature, book culture, legal history, and popular culture.

Slapping the Table in Amazement
Slapping the Table in Amazement

Author: Mengchu Ling

Publisher: University of Washington Press

Published: 2018-01-01

Total Pages: 926

ISBN-13: 0295742143

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Slapping the Table in Amazement is the unabridged English translation of the famous story collection Pai’an jingqi by Ling Mengchu (1580–1644), originally published in 1628. The forty lively stories gathered here present a broad picture of traditional Chinese society and include characters from all social levels. We learn of their joys and sorrows, their views about life and death, and their visions of the underworld and the supernatural. Ling was a connoisseur of popular literature and a seminal figure in the development of Chinese literature in the vernacular, which paved the way for the late-imperial Chinese novel. Slapping the Table in Amazement includes translations of verse and prologue stories as well as marginal and interlinear comments.

Further Adventures on the Journey to the West
Further Adventures on the Journey to the West

Author: Master of Silent Whistle Studio

Publisher: University of Washington Press

Published: 2020-10-15

Total Pages: 279

ISBN-13: 0295747730

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As the audacious Monkey King battles his way through a landscape of inexplicable places and unfamiliar passions, Further Adventures on the Journey to the West offers a wry, revisionist critique of the late-Ming fascination with desire. Building on the great sixteenth-century novel Journey to the West, which recounts the escapades of a monk and three companions traveling to India in search of Buddhist scriptures to carry back to China, this sequel is a parable of self-delusion that explores the tension between desire and emptiness from a Buddhist perspective. The consummate literati novel, written by an accomplished artist for a well-educated readership, it is filled with allusions and parodies and features a dream-sequence narrative that is innovative and sophisticated even by modern standards. This new, fully annotated translation by two acclaimed scholars and translators brings to life this remarkably inventive, playful early modern text. The volume includes the original commentaries and illustrations, a critical introduction and afterword, and notes that highlight the sources of the novel’s intertextual references, revealing the author’s erudition and versatility. The open access publication of this book was made possible by a grant from the James P. Geiss and Margaret Y. Hsu Foundation.

Classic Chinese Poems of Mourning and Texts of Lament
Classic Chinese Poems of Mourning and Texts of Lament

Author: Victor H. Mair

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2024-05-02

Total Pages: 249

ISBN-13: 1350337226

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Bathed with the blood and tears of countless poets and authors and naturally expressing the most heartfelt emotions of ancient peoples, poems of mourning and texts of lament stand out in classical Chinese literature as brilliant and unique. Composed and celebrated over 3000 years, they are central to the Chinese literary tradition but have been largely unknown to English readers. Including over 100 major pieces by leading literary figures from 800 BCE – 1800, this is the first English anthology of classic Chinese poems of mourning and texts of sacrificial offering. With annotated translations by leading scholars and reading guides accompanying each piece, this book reveals a powerful literary heritage to students and serious readers of Chinese literature, history and civilization.

Mouse vs. Cat in Chinese Literature
Mouse vs. Cat in Chinese Literature

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Publisher: University of Washington Press

Published: 2019-03-18

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13: 0295744847

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In literatures worldwide, animal fables have been analyzed for their revealingly anthropomorphic views, but until now little attention has been given to the animal tales of China. The complex, competitive relationship between rodents (vilified as thieves of grain) and the felines with whom they are perennially at war is explored in this presentation of Chinese tales about cats and mice. Master translator Wilt Idema situates them in an overview of animal tales in world literature, in the Chinese literary tradition as a whole, and within Chinese imaginative depictions of animals. The tales demonstrate the animals’ symbolism and their unusually prominent—and verbal—role in the stories. These readings depict cats and mice in conflict, in marital bonds, and in litigation—most centrally in a legal case of a mouse against a cat in the underworld court of King Yama. Many of the stories adopt the perspective of the mice as animals merely trying to survive, while also recognizing that cats are natural hunters. This entertaining volume will appeal to readers interested in Chinese literature and society, comparative literature, and posthumanist consideration of human-animal relations.

Heroines of Jiangyong
Heroines of Jiangyong

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Publisher: University of Washington Press

Published: 2012-03-15

Total Pages: 190

ISBN-13: 0295800119

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Heroines of Jiangyong is the first English translation of a set of verse narratives recorded in the unique women's script (nushu) of rural Jiangyong County, Hunan, in southern China. This selection of Chinese folk literature provides a rare window into the everyday life of rural daughters, wives, and mothers, as they transmit valuable lessons about surviving in a patriarchal society that is often harsh and unforgiving. Featuring strong female protagonists, the ballads deal with moral issues, dangers women face outside the family home, and the difficulties of childbirth. The women's script, which represents units of sound in the local Chinese dialect, was discovered by scholars in the late twentieth century, creating a stir in China and abroad. This volume offers a full translation of all the longer ballads in women's script, providing an exceptional opportunity to observe which specific narratives appealed to rural women in traditional China. The translations are preceded by a brief introduction to women's script and its scholarship, and a discussion of each of the twelve selections.