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School of Chinese Seminar

Poetry on Eyeglasses of the Ming-Qing Period

明清時期的詠眼鏡詩

Professor Zinan Yan 顏子楠教授 (Beijing Normal University)

Date: September 10, 2024 (Tuesday)

Time: 11:00 - 12:30 pm

Venue: Room 7.30, Run Run Shaw Tower, Centennial Campus, HKU

Language: English

Registration is FULL

Abstract:

How did eyeglasses make their way into China? What was the reaction of Ming literati to this foreign object? When did a large number of replicas appear in the Chinese domestic market? Why did Qing emperors have a particular fondness for eyeglasses? How did Ming and Qing poets interpret eyeglasses in their composition? This lecture uses poems on eyeglasses of the Ming-Qing period as examples, tracing the literary depictions of eyeglasses from the 15th to the 19th centuries. Analyzing the material changes of eyeglasses helps us understand the complex relationships between commercial environments, political ecology, and literary interpretations, thereby exploring the possibilities of conducting cultural studies from a micro perspective.

眼鏡如何傳入中國？明代文人對於這一舶來品有何反應？中國市場何時出現大量仿品？清代帝王為何對於眼鏡情有獨鍾？而明清詩人又會對眼鏡進行何種文學闡釋？本次講座以明清時期的詠眼鏡詩為例，按照時間線索梳理十五世紀到十九世紀明清文人如何對眼鏡進行文學書寫。分析眼鏡的物質性變化，有助於理解商業環境、政治生態、文學闡釋之間的複雜關聯，進而探索以微觀視角進行文化研究的可能性。

About the Speaker:

Zinan Yan received BEng in Software Engineering from University of Westminster, and MA and PhD in Sinology from SOAS, University of London. He served as Teaching Fellow at SOAS from 2011 to 2013, Lecturer at Beijing Normal University from 2014, and Visiting Scholar at University of Oxford from 2017 to 2018; he is now Associate Professor in the Department of Traditional Chinese Literature at BNU. His research areas are: 1) Ming dynasty poetry and poetics, 2) Qing dynasty court literature and political culture, and 3) Structuralism in textual studies.

顏子楠獲得西敏大學軟體工程學士學位，倫敦大學亞非學院漢學碩士、博士學位。他曾於2011年至2013年在倫敦大學亞非學院任講師，2014年起在北京師範大學任講師，2017年至2018年在牛津大學任訪問學者；現任北京師範大學文學院古代文學研究所副教授。他的研究領域包括：1) 明代詩歌與詩學，2) 清代宮廷文學與政治文化，3) 結構主義文本分析。

All are welcome