The Divided Liang Dynasty Literary World Seen through the Liu-Dao Dispute

The tension between the literary styles of Liu Xiaochuo 劉孝綽 (481–539) and Dao Qia 到洽 (490–527) can be understood as a debate between poetic genius and a more scholarly focus, signaling a confrontation between the capital's literary camps in the Putong reign 普通 (520–527) of the Liang Dynasty 梁 (502–557). The major difference between the literary camps lies in the consideration given to natural poetic talent versus erudition in writings. When Xiao Gang 蕭綱 (503–551), Liu Xiaochuo's supporter, became crown prince in 531, his own conflict with the scholarly group including Dao Gai 到溉 (477–548) and Zhu Yi 朱异 (483–540) probably prompted his “Letter to the Prince of Xiangdong” 與湘東王書 (Yu Xiangdong Wang shu). In this letter Xiao Gang displays his literary view deemphasizing scholarly learning and erudition in poetry. By comparison Xiao Yan 蕭衍 (464–549) and Xiao Yi 蕭繹 (508–555) valued scholarly learning still more and regarded literature as a relatively insignificant talent or minor accomplishment. Xiao Gang represents a departure—by placing literary talent above scholarship, he catered to the fashion among the Liang Dynasty's nobility for reciting poetry and writing fu 賦 (rhapsody) while “rarely taking classical studies as their profession” 罕以經朮為業 and thus elevated the social status of belles lettres.

The Textual Architecture of Empire in Two Early Qing Anthologies

During the first half century of the Qing dynasty, Manchu emperors commissioned massive publication projects on the Chinese classics. In early Qing interpretations of classics on the family, negotiations between Manchu and Han family and gender norms furthered the empire-building project. This article compares the spatial form of the Yuding Nei ze yanyi 御定内則衍義 (1656), an expansion of the “Inner Standards” chapter of the Classic of Rites commissioned by the Shunzhi emperor, to that of the Yuding Xiao jing yanyi 御定孝經衍義 (1682), an expansion of the Classic of Filial Piety commissioned by the Kangxi emperor. These works are textual spaces where the cultural and political negotiations of the early Qing empire play out; they use spatial strategies of juxtaposition and hierarchy to balance different messages for different constituencies, creating textual models of empire.

Riddles in Jin Ping Mei

Jin Ping Mei cihua 金瓶梅詞話 (Plum in the Golden Vase) displays an unprecedented interest in breaking apart and reassembling the components of words. This essay asks where the Cihua edition's fascination with character manipulation (a procedure the author refers to as chaibai daozi 拆白道字) comes from and how it relates to literary riddles that precede and follow this landmark sixteenth-century novel. Jin Ping Mei cihua enlarges the presentation and associations of riddles in fiction through its engagement with contemporaneous theatrical literature and the entertainment culture of the brothel. Later commentators, notably Zhang Zhupo 張竹坡 (1670–1698), reorganize the game sequences within which bouts of character manipulation are embedded for the purposes of narrative prolepsis and character development, advocating an approach to reading enigmas as portents that influenced late imperial novelists. In doing so, however, they efface the Cihua's unruly celebration of contingency, the novel's seductive insinuation that it might be written otherwise.

Guo Xi on Painting the Invisible Gaze of the Dao

For the Song dynasty painter and theorist Guo Xi, Daoism runs like veins through his Lofty Appeal of Forests and Streams, helping it become one of the greatest works of landscape painting theory in China. This essay explores the influence Laozi and Zhuangzi had on Guo Xi's thought, paying particular attention to the latter's implementation of spirit, nature, and incompleteness. Guo Xi succeeded in giving these Daoist themes an aesthetic significance that had yet to be fully realized by his predecessors, while expounding them in a manner that remained faithful to the texts from which they were drawn. While Guo Xi was not the first person in China to employ the principles of Daoist philosophy in their discourse on landscape painting, his ability to synthesize them into a cohesive representation of the invisible gaze of the Dao led to his becoming one of the most eminent painters and aesthetic theorists in the history of Chinese aesthetics.

Cumulative Structure in Zhuangzi's “The Great and Venerable Teacher”

The secret of the “cumulative structure,” one of Zhuangzi's favorite rhetorical devices, is “adding.” To add is not to repeat but to arrange meanings of different shapes in various incremental parallel structures. This effective tool is used in his chapter titled “The Great and Venerable Teacher” to explicate the highest order of true understanding of the Way, or zhenzhi, and to symbolize the climactic pursuit of the Daoist truth. Vertically the Daoist epistemological value system, with the zhenzhi at its apex, is extended into a graphic hierarchy; horizontally the step-by-step progressive process of the attainment of this true knowledge is sometimes subjected to contemplative examination and sometimes compressed along the axle of time flow into an intense moment of sudden enlightenment. Since the cumulative structure works as a living body of correlation, the palpable contour of which corresponds to the message it conveys, it enables the readers to experience—not just to understand—Zhuangzi's teaching.

Marginalia Transcription and Scholarly Culture in the Qing Dynasty

In the Qing, transcription of marginalia became common scholarly practice, involving a number of different people who created a new reading culture. This article follows the marginalia trail of scholar and calligrapher He Zhuo 何焯 through various transcribers and others involved in the process: He's disciples, later generations of scholars, bibliophiles, calligraphers, and booksellers. Connected through He's and others' marginalia across time and space, these transcribers established a network for the efficient transmission of information, knowledge, and thought. Transcription of such marginalia created a unique book culture that shaped scholarship, thought, and society in the Qing and produced critical texts that are still read today.