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Full-Text Articles in Chinese Studies
Poetic Theory And Practice In The Ming And Qing Dynasties : Poetry : The Pain Of Loss And The Pleasures Of Everyday Life, Grace Fong
How to Read Chinese Poetry Podcast
In this final episode, we will first listen to the “Song of Suffering Calamity” by the woman poet and scholar Wang Duanshu (1621-ca. 1680), narrating her flight from the invading Qing army during the Ming-Qing transition. We will conclude with two examples by women among the many poems in the Ming and Qing that record quotidian pleasures and reflections on daily life. Whether pain and loss or pleasure and joy, men and women in late imperial China inscribed their emotions and thoughts in poetry.
Poetic Theory And Practice In The Ming And Qing Dynasties : Poetry As Autobiography, Grace Fong
Poetic Theory And Practice In The Ming And Qing Dynasties : Poetry As Autobiography, Grace Fong
How to Read Chinese Poetry Podcast
An outstanding development in this period is the practice of writing poetry as autobiography, as the record of a life story. We will discuss the life-long collection of over 1000 poems by an eighteenth-century woman poet to illustrate her poetic self-construction.
Poetic Theory And Practice In The Ming And Qing Dynasties : Poetic Theory And Practice In The Ming And Qing, Grace Fong
Poetic Theory And Practice In The Ming And Qing Dynasties : Poetic Theory And Practice In The Ming And Qing, Grace Fong
How to Read Chinese Poetry Podcast
The Ming, and especially the Qing, witnessed the unprecedented spread of writing poetry among literate men and women in the history of imperial China. This episode introduces the influential theories of poets, such as Yuan Mei’s “native sensibility” (xingling), which promoted naturalness and personal expression over formal learning and ethical concerns, thus encouraging the common practice of poetry.
Song Poems (Sanqu) Of The Yuan Dynasty : Poetry Of Rambunctious Wit And Impudent Humor, Xinda Lian
Song Poems (Sanqu) Of The Yuan Dynasty : Poetry Of Rambunctious Wit And Impudent Humor, Xinda Lian
How to Read Chinese Poetry Podcast
The carefree playfulness presented in Wang Heqing’s poem “On the Big Butterfly” tells us much about the cultural milieu of the time when the sanqu flourished, and reminds us of the genre’s origins in streets, marketplaces, and entertainment quarters.
Song Poems (Sanqu) Of The Yuan Dynasty : The Art Of Tongue-In-Cheek : Two Love Songs By Two Great Dramatists, Xinda Lian
Song Poems (Sanqu) Of The Yuan Dynasty : The Art Of Tongue-In-Cheek : Two Love Songs By Two Great Dramatists, Xinda Lian
How to Read Chinese Poetry Podcast
The two love songs—authored by Guan Hanqing and Bai Pu respectively—present humorous dramatic moments in a lively language of everyday speech.
Song Poems (Sanqu) Of The Yuan Dynasty : The Power Of Poetic Imagery, Xinda Lian
Song Poems (Sanqu) Of The Yuan Dynasty : The Power Of Poetic Imagery, Xinda Lian
How to Read Chinese Poetry Podcast
Using a cluster of carefully chosen images, Ma Zhiyuan’s “Autumn Thoughts” invites readers to identify themselves with a weary traveler, a “heartbroken man at the end of the earth.”
Long Song Lyrics (Manci) Of The Song Dynasty : Li Qingzhao : Singing Her Autumn Sorrow, Xinda Lian
Long Song Lyrics (Manci) Of The Song Dynasty : Li Qingzhao : Singing Her Autumn Sorrow, Xinda Lian
How to Read Chinese Poetry Podcast
A master of tune and sense, Li Qingzhao knows how to bring out her almost unspeakable inner feeling through her skillful employment of the ci form, the music of words.
Long Song Lyrics (Manci) Of The Song Dynasty : Su Shi : Meditation On The Past, Xinda Lian
Long Song Lyrics (Manci) Of The Song Dynasty : Su Shi : Meditation On The Past, Xinda Lian
How to Read Chinese Poetry Podcast
Su Shi does not only expand the subject matter of the ci poetry, but also gives his song lyrics a genuine personal voice, an unambiguous autobiographical tone as that found in the shi poetry.
Long Song Lyrics (Manci) Of The Song Dynasty : Liu Yong’S Use Of Leading Words (Lingzi), Xinda Lian
Long Song Lyrics (Manci) Of The Song Dynasty : Liu Yong’S Use Of Leading Words (Lingzi), Xinda Lian
How to Read Chinese Poetry Podcast
Thanks to his innovative use of leading words (lingzi), Liu Yong creates a multilayered structure for his poetic description and narration, which allows him to explore time and space, to involve things both far and near, to relate the parts to the whole, and to weave what is outside with what is inside.
Short Song Lyrics (Xiaoling) In The Song Dynasty : "I Ask You, How Much Sorrow Can There Be?” : Later Literati Song Lyrics, Maija Samei
How to Read Chinese Poetry Podcast
This episode discusses how the genre begins to broaden thematically in the work of somewhat later literati poets who continued to write in the short xiaoling form. Poems by the Last Emperor of the Southern Tang, Li Yu, and by Northern Song statesman Yan Shu demonstrate how the genre begins to take on themes like nostalgia and friendship.
Short Song Lyrics (Xiaoling) In The Song Dynasty : Feeling And Scene : Early Literati Song Lyrics, Maija Samei
Short Song Lyrics (Xiaoling) In The Song Dynasty : Feeling And Scene : Early Literati Song Lyrics, Maija Samei
How to Read Chinese Poetry Podcast
This episode discusses early efforts of literati poets in the song lyric, showing how their works reflect the genre’s origins in the entertainment quarters and remained largely tied to feminine themes, while they bore evidence of poetic craft. Examples show how Wei Zhuang’s more direct and lyrical expression contrasts with Wen Tingyun’s more implicit presentation.
Short Song Lyrics (Xiaoling) In The Song Dynasty : “I’Ve No Heart To Love Another” : A Pair Of Anonymous Poems In Dialog, Maija Samei
How to Read Chinese Poetry Podcast
This episode introduces us to the genre of the song lyric using two anonymous poems that present a male and female speaker in dialog. The episode discusses the origins of the genre during the Tang dynasty, its formal characteristics, and its connection to female voice and feminine themes.
Women And Poetry In The Tang Dynasty : A Traitor And A Murderess : The Poetic Nuns Li Ye And Yu Xuanji, Maija Bell Samei
Women And Poetry In The Tang Dynasty : A Traitor And A Murderess : The Poetic Nuns Li Ye And Yu Xuanji, Maija Bell Samei
How to Read Chinese Poetry Podcast
This episode tells the stories of two Daoist nuns, Li Ye, who became a palace woman, and Yu Xuanji, who became a courtesan. Both left behind highly regarded poems but lost their lives to execution. The episode explores the perception of literary talent as it intersects with femininity.
Women And Poetry In The Tang Dynasty : Courtesans, Poets, And The Courtesan-Poet Xue Tao, Maija Bell Samei
Women And Poetry In The Tang Dynasty : Courtesans, Poets, And The Courtesan-Poet Xue Tao, Maija Bell Samei
How to Read Chinese Poetry Podcast
This episode discusses the interactions between courtesans and the literati during the Tang and how this is related to the formation of early ci poetry, and then introduces a few works by the well-known courtesan-poetess Xue Tao.
Women And Poetry In The Tang Dynasty : Writing Women From The Inner Quarters To The Halls Of Power : Shangguan Wan’Er, Maija Bell Samei
Women And Poetry In The Tang Dynasty : Writing Women From The Inner Quarters To The Halls Of Power : Shangguan Wan’Er, Maija Bell Samei
How to Read Chinese Poetry Podcast
This episode introduces the problem of writing for women in the Tang in terms of the ritual regulation of women’s behavior and the social nature of poetry writing, then discusses the poetry of Shangguan Wan’er, a palace woman who became secretary to Empress Wu Zetian and also served at the court of her successor Emperor Zhongzong, becoming his consort.
The Tang Dynasty : Quatrains : Waking From A Yangzhou Dream : Middle And Late Tang, Charles Egan
The Tang Dynasty : Quatrains : Waking From A Yangzhou Dream : Middle And Late Tang, Charles Egan
How to Read Chinese Poetry Podcast
This episode discusses the differences in tonal patterns between wujue and qijue, which had a clear impact on poetic practice. After the Tang, wujue became increasingly rare; we can conclude that poets no longer saw creative potential in the form—the great Tang writers had exhausted it. Qijue, on the contrary, remained one of the most popular and expressive poetic forms throughout the classical period.
The Tang Dynasty : Quatrains : The Boudoir And The Frontier : High Tang, Charles Egan
The Tang Dynasty : Quatrains : The Boudoir And The Frontier : High Tang, Charles Egan
How to Read Chinese Poetry Podcast
Although a small number of Six Dynasties heptasyllabic quatrains are extant, and Early Tang poets experimented with the form, stylistically mature qijue poetry was an invention of the High Tang poets, most notably Wang Changling and Li Bai. Qijue developed along with Tang popular music, for which it was the major song form. Thus initially the thematic scope was narrow: qijue lyrics were generally limited to popular yuefu themes and those describing parting from friends and loved ones. Only gradually did the scope of qijue themes expand, until by the Middle and Late Tang, the form had become a flexible …
The Tang Dynasty : Quatrains : Empty Mountains And Mirror Ponds : High Tang, Charles Egan
The Tang Dynasty : Quatrains : Empty Mountains And Mirror Ponds : High Tang, Charles Egan
How to Read Chinese Poetry Podcast
Although Tang poets all used wujue to record concentrated poetic experience, and pursued the same fundamental aesthetic goals for the form, differing styles of poems can be discerned. Using representative poems by Wang Wei, Wang Zhihuan, and Li Bai, this episode presents two basic styles of Tang wujue, differentiated primarily by the choice of themes and the type of language employed.
The Tang Dynasty : Quatrains : Songs Of The Heart, Verses Of Nature : Pre-Tang Quatrains, Charles Egan
The Tang Dynasty : Quatrains : Songs Of The Heart, Verses Of Nature : Pre-Tang Quatrains, Charles Egan
How to Read Chinese Poetry Podcast
The Chinese equivalent term of quatrain, i.e., jueju, literally means “cut-off lines.” It was believed by many critics that this meant the wujue and qijue forms had originated as quatrain segments cut from the eight-line lüshi forms. This episode begins with close readings of representative poems to provide readers a sense of the thematic scope and aesthetic potential of jueju. A detailed examination of common jueju features then follows.
Recent-Style Poetry : Pentasyllabic Regulated Verse : Wang Wei : The Poet-Buddha Of China, Zong-Qi Cai
Recent-Style Poetry : Pentasyllabic Regulated Verse : Wang Wei : The Poet-Buddha Of China, Zong-Qi Cai
How to Read Chinese Poetry Podcast
This episode examines how Wang Wei embodies moments of heightened perception or rather Buddhist enlightenment through his painterly depiction of a mountain climbing trip. His masterful blending of illusive images, perceptual illusion, and Buddhist worldview exemplifies his towering achievement as the poet-Buddha.
Recent-Style Poetry : Pentasyllabic Regulated Verse : Li Bai : The Poet-Immortal Of China, Zong-Qi Cai
Recent-Style Poetry : Pentasyllabic Regulated Verse : Li Bai : The Poet-Immortal Of China, Zong-Qi Cai
How to Read Chinese Poetry Podcast
This episode examines Li Bai’s self-fashioning as a free spirit or rather the creator of the universe in a poetic form seemingly ill-suited for making glamorous claims. The poem discussed is not among the best known of his works but well attests to his reputation as the poet-immotal.
Recent-Style Poetry : Pentasyllabic Regulated Verse : Du Fu : The Poet-Sage Of China, Zong-Qi Cai
Recent-Style Poetry : Pentasyllabic Regulated Verse : Du Fu : The Poet-Sage Of China, Zong-Qi Cai
How to Read Chinese Poetry Podcast
This episode provides a close reading of Du Fu’s Jiang and Han Rivers and shows how the poet makes a masterful use of topic-and-comment construction to project his Confucian vision of the universe and the self and earns himself the title of poet-sage.
Recent-Style Poetry : Pentasyllabic Regulated Verse : Dancing With Shackled Feet : Art Of Recent-Style Poetry, Zong-Qi Cai
Recent-Style Poetry : Pentasyllabic Regulated Verse : Dancing With Shackled Feet : Art Of Recent-Style Poetry, Zong-Qi Cai
How to Read Chinese Poetry Podcast
This episode explains the lexical, syntactic, and structural rules of regulated verse and shows how high Tang masters turn these formal rules into a nonpareil vehicle of projecting their visions of the universe and the self, as evidenced in Du Fu’s famous poem “Spring Scene.”
Pentasyllabic Shi Poetry : Landscape Poetry : Xie Tiao : The Integration Of Landscape, Lucas Rambo Bender
Pentasyllabic Shi Poetry : Landscape Poetry : Xie Tiao : The Integration Of Landscape, Lucas Rambo Bender
How to Read Chinese Poetry Podcast
This episode concludes our exploration of Six Dynasties landscape poetry by considering the verse of Xie Tiao (464–499). By Xie Tiao’s time, landscape was becoming an increasingly common topic within the world of courtly verse. Partly for this reason, Xie’s poetry begins to efface the previously definitive distinction between the human world and the natural landscape, and moreover imbues that landscape with the passions of the courtier—in Xie’s case, both his yearning for the court and capital and his well-justified fear of the dangers of court politics.
Pentasyllabic Shi Poetry : Landscape Poetry : Xie Lingyun’S “Mountains And Waters”, Lucas Rambo Bender
Pentasyllabic Shi Poetry : Landscape Poetry : Xie Lingyun’S “Mountains And Waters”, Lucas Rambo Bender
How to Read Chinese Poetry Podcast
Xie Lingyun (385–433) is generally recognized as the progenitor and paradigm of poetry on “mountains and waters” (shanshui 山水). Where Tao Qian had written predominantly of the only-partly wild landscapes near his cottage, Xie made his theme the dramatic wildernesses of the southlands. Much of his poetry concerns the scenery of his massive estate, which he staffed with a small army of servants and retainers. His most powerful verse, however, was written in the rugged, unforgiving landscapes he passed through on journeys into exile.
Pentasyllabic Shi Poetry : Landscape Poetry : Tao Qian's "Fields And Gardens", Lucas Rambo Bender
Pentasyllabic Shi Poetry : Landscape Poetry : Tao Qian's "Fields And Gardens", Lucas Rambo Bender
How to Read Chinese Poetry Podcast
Tao Qian (365–427) is premodern China's most famous recluse. After relinquishing his official career at around age 40, Tao returned to his rustic hometown to hide away from what he often suggested was a corrupt court and society. In the hermitage he made for himself at the foot of Mt. Lu, Tao wrote poetry that, on the one hand, extolls his enjoyment of life on the rural margin between the human world and the wilderness and, on the other, narrates the difficulties he had making a living there. For the first time in Chinese history, this is a poetry that …
Pentasyllabic Shi Poetry : Landscape Poetry : Landscapes Of The Mind, Lucas Rambo Bender
Pentasyllabic Shi Poetry : Landscape Poetry : Landscapes Of The Mind, Lucas Rambo Bender
How to Read Chinese Poetry Podcast
This episode discusses the prehistory of Chinese landscape poetry. In the centuries before poets began to write consistently of their concrete, personal experiences out in nature, landscape appeared in poetry primarily as a foil for the city and the court, where most poets were writing. In this role, the natural landscape could be terrifyingly inhospitable or wondrous and pure. Either way, it was for the most part imagined rather than experienced, a site more often for mental roaming than for extended in-person exploration.
Han Ancient-Style Poetry : The “Nineteen Old Poems” : Reflection Through A Female Persona : A Mosaic Of Emotions, Zong-Qi Cai
Han Ancient-Style Poetry : The “Nineteen Old Poems” : Reflection Through A Female Persona : A Mosaic Of Emotions, Zong-Qi Cai
How to Read Chinese Poetry Podcast
The first of the “Nineteen Old Poems”, the best known poem of an abandoned woman in the collection, features a mosaic combination of time, space, and emotion fragments and thereby captures the otherwise inexpressible melancholy of an abandoned woman. Such a mosaic combination is to become a preferred structure for the most intense of lyrical expressions in later poetry.
Han Ancient-Style Poetry : The “Nineteen Old Poems” : Interplay Of Images And Emotions : Binary Structure And Multilateral Texture, Zong-Qi Cai
How to Read Chinese Poetry Podcast
Two distinct formal features, binary structure and multilateral texture, are developed in the “Nineteen Old Poems,” the definitive collection of Han pentasyllabic poetry. The rise of these two formal features attests to the profound impact of transitions from oral performance to poetic writing, from the dramatic/narrative to the lyrical mode of self-presentation.
Han Ancient-Style Poetry : The "Nineteen Old Poems" : The Magic Of One Additional Character And The Rise Of Reflective Poetry, Zong-Qi Cai
How to Read Chinese Poetry Podcast
After nearly one millennium since its birth, Chinese poetry achieved an optimal convergence of sound and sense in its pentasyllabic poems developed during the Eastern Han (25-220 CE). Taking full advantage of an explosive rise of two-character compounds, the anonymous Han pentasyllabic poets created a poetic rhythm far more flexible and expressive than all existing rhythms and adapted it for philosophical reflection and emotional brooding on human transience.