Lyrical Crossovers: Rendezvous between the Poetic and the Popular in China, 1100–1300, with Xiuyuan Mi (Lehigh University) (Monday, January 29, 2024)

Lyrical Crossovers: Rendezvous between the Poetic and the Popular in China, 1100–1300

Xiuyuan Mi

(Visiting Assistant Professor in Chinese, Lehigh University)

Monday, January 29, 2024 from 5:30-7:00 pm

in STH 625 (School of Theology, 745 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215)

Abstract:

How did poetry find its way into the popular circles and vernacular expressions of everyday life? How did the structured form of rhyme and meter enchant some while disconcerting others? Drawing on extant and excavated sources beyond literary history, this talk traces poetry’s expanding cultural and political influence amidst the burgeoning market economy and urban spaces in China between the 11th and the 13th centuries. In this era, patterned speech not only intertwined with a variety of popular performances but also played a pivotal role in promoting functional literacy. As it merged with print and material culture, poetry’s permeation into daily life carved out an atemporal space within personal realms, offering the general populace an anchor to explore alternate realities. Meanwhile, it also complicated the contemporary political scene with a cacophony of public opinions.

About the Speaker:

Xiuyuan Mi is Visiting Assistant Professor in Chinese at Lehigh University. She holds a Ph.D. and an M.A. in premodern Chinese literature from the University of Pennsylvania and a BA in English literature from the College of William and Mary. Her current book project traces the interplays between poetry, performance, religion, and material culture in China from the beginning of the second millennium until the Mongol conquest. Her recent publications appear in the Journal of Song-Yuan Studies and Sino-Platonic Papers. She is also a co-editor of the Dictionary of Medieval Sinitic, forthcoming with Brill. Her next project will explore the formative stages of Chinese Muslim culture through the literary activities of Central Asian immigrants under Mongol rule.