Self-Fashioning in Tang China: From the 'Casual Gaffer' to the 'Master of Extreme Torment'
Starting from the seventh century, several Tang literati began to consciously fashion their self-image through their writings. After assuming a specific identity at a particular stage of their lives, they persistently portrayed themselves in line with those individual identities. This talk explores this phenomenon by focusing on three writers: Lu Zhaolin 盧照鄰 (ca. 635–ca. 684), Li Bai 李白 (701-762?), and Yuan Jie 元結 (719–722). All three characterized themselves by adopting one or more sobriquets and went on to continuously fashion this aspect of themselves in the literature they produced. This talk investigates the issue of literary self-fashioning and considers the following questions: under what circumstances did they adopt those sobriquets? What kind of identities did they assume? How and why did they fashion themselves in certain lights? And how does this phenomenon contribute to our understanding of the ideas of ‘self’ and ‘individuality’ in Tang China?

Xiaojing Miao is the Stanley Ho Junior Research Fellow in Chinese Studies at Pembroke College, University of Oxford. Her research explores a wide range of issues in Chinese culture and literature, especially that of the medieval period, including self-writing, authenticity and sincerity, rhetoric, and historiography.
Date: 2 February 2023, 17:00
Venue: Dickson Poon Building, Canterbury Road OX2 6LU
Venue Details: Kin-ku Cheng Lecture Theatre (lower ground floor)
Speaker: Dr Xiaojing Miao (University of Oxford)
Organising department: Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies
Organisers: Professor Denise van der Kamp (University of Oxford), Dr Yi Lu (University of Oxford), Dr Coraline Jortay (University of Oxford), Professor Henrietta Harrison (University of Oxford), Dr Chigusa Yamaura (University of Oxford), Dr Giulia Falato (University of Oxford)
Organiser contact email address: information@chinese.ox.ac.uk
Host: Professor Henrietta Harrison (University of Oxford)
Part of: China Studies Seminar series
Booking required?: Not required
Cost: Free
Audience: Public
Editor: Clare Orchard