Dear Members and Friends of the T’ang Studies Society,
Please see the announcement below from society lifetime member, Tian Xiaofei.
Regards,
Jonathan Skaff
Secretary
T’ang Studies Society
http://tangstudies.org/Membership.html
Dear friends,
This is an invitation to the second talk in the Harvard
University China Humanities Seminar series for AY2021–2022, to be held next Monday, October 25th at 4:00-5:45 pm (EST). To attend the talk, please register at: https://harvard.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJIoduGupzMuG9zxpckd860pztJ_rzIMCxse.
After registering, you will immediately receive a confirmation email containing the Zoom link to the talk.
The China Humanities Seminar is pleased to present:
Scott Pearce
Western Washington University
Looking Behind the Text: The Case of Northern Wei’s “Yuan Pi”
Date:
Monday, October 25th, 2021, 4:00 pm to 5:45 pm (EST)
All textual traditions are based on their own particular sets of assumptions and preoccupations. This was the case of the Chinese classical tradition as well, which having taken
full shape under the Han empire, continued to be used as the only available language of written record by the very different regimes that controlled the Yellow River plains after Han collapse. One of these was Northern Wei (386-534), a new kind of empire in
East Asia, of Inner Asian origin, whose leadership for generations continued to speak an Inner Asian language and conceptualized the world in terms apparently quite different from those embedded in the Literary Chinese that gives the only descriptions we have
of these people and their actions. Here we use the case of a royal kinsman called in the text “Yuan Pi
元丕” (422-503) to examine various ways in which we might attempt to look behind (or through,
or under) received text to get a glimpse at least of the actual man.
Trained in the history of China, inner Asia, and Japan, and in Chinese thought and religion, Scott Pearce specializes in dynasties of Inner Asian origin that ruled northern
China during the 4th through the 6th centuries CE. He has just completed a book on the first major example of such regimes, the Northern Wei (386-534). From this work come scholarly and teaching interests in many related issues, such as the encounter and interaction
of cultures, military history, and the arts and poetic forms of East Asia and worlds beyond.
Please note that Professor Pearce's talk will be recorded and archived on the Fairbank, MHC and EALC websites. It will be available
here about a week after the event.
If you do not feel comfortable being recorded, please disable your video. The Q&A session will not be recorded.
We would also like to mention that our next talk by Professor Suyoung Son is scheduled for November 15th, 8 pm EST (this date is different from the initial flyer). Registration details
will go out a week prior to the date.
This event is generously sponsored by the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, the Mahindra Humanities Center and the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, Harvard
University.
For questions, or to unsubscribe from the CHS mailing list, please email Kangni Huang at: kangni_huang@g.harvard.edu
We look forward to seeing you at the talk!
--
Kangni Huang