2024 Astor Lecture in Chinese Literature

Why and how did, and does, poetry matter in Chinese society? What is the politics of form in the changing political climate? As the internet, computers, smartphones, and Chinese internet poetry continue to evolve, how do these ongoing manifestations and technological transformations impact the landscape of poetry writing, and how should researchers answer these new challenges? In this talk, Professor Xiaofei Tian will discuss the important role played by poetry in the Chinese tradition and offer reflections on the vibrant scene of contemporary poetry-writing in print and digital forms.

Xiaofei Tian is professor of Chinese literature at Harvard University. She is the author of many articles and monographs in Chinese and English, including Tao Yuanming and Manuscript Culture, Visionary Journeys: Travel Writings from Early Medieval and Nineteenth-Century China, The Halberd at Red Cliff: Jian’an and the Three Kingdoms, and Qiushuitang lun Jinpingmei. She is the editor of Reading Du Fu: Nine Views, and a co-editor of The Oxford Handbook of Classical Chinese Literature (1000 BCE–900 CE) and Literary History in and beyond China. Her translation of a memoir of the Taiping War from a child’s perspective was awarded the inaugural Patrick D. Hanan Book Prize for Translation. She currently serves as Editor of the peer-review journal Early Medieval China.