Description
This book explores the parallel and yet profoundly different ways of seeing the outside world and engaging with the foreign at two important moments of dislocation in Chinese history, namely, the early medieval period commonly known as the Northern and Southern Dynasties (317-589 CE), and the nineteenth century. Xiaofei Tian juxtaposes literary, historical, and religious materials from these two periods in comparative study, bringing them together in their unprecedentedly large-scale interactions, and their intense fascination, with foreign cultures.
By examining various cultural forms of representation from the two periods, Tian attempts to sort out modes of seeing the world that inform these writings. These modes, Tian argues, were established in early medieval times and resurfaced, in permutations and metamorphoses, in nineteenth-century writings on encountering the Other. This book is for readers who are interested not only in early medieval or nineteenth-century China but also in issues of representation, travel, visualization, and modernity.
About the Author
Xiaofei Tian is Professor of Chinese Literature at Harvard University.
Reviews
The heaven-hell framework for understanding the world away from home-either as a perfect realm or its opposite-had a stunning hold on Chinese travel writing from early on, and Tian demonstrates how it continued to do so well into the nineteenth century...Her book is splendid. -- Joshua Fogel * American Historical Review *
A supreme achievement in literary studies. -- Marion Eggert * Journal of Asian Studies *
Awards
Nominated for Joseph Levenson Book Prize 2013.
Book Information
ISBN 9780674062528
Author Xiaofei Tian
Format Hardback
Page Count 398
Imprint Harvard University, Asia Center
Publisher Harvard University, Asia Center
