Siao-chen Hu 胡曉真
NTU & HYI Academic Book Series No. 1
National Taiwan University Press, January 2017
About the book: The Southwest in Ming-Qing Literary Imagination is the first literary study of writings about the Chinese southwest. During the Ming-Qing period, the southwest, precisely because of its peripheral position, was not only a nexus of political, military and ethnic conflicts, but also a hub of cultural encounters and a symbol of literary imagination. The literati who sojourned in the southwest had to deal with natural and cultural unfamiliarity, and they produced works that reflect their experience of confrontations and exchanges, and reveal aesthetic, emotional and ideological characteristics that are intricate and profound. In addition, their works also correspond to contemporary growing interests in geographical learning, and therefore are integral to how people perceived the world in early modern China. Under literary scrutiny, writings about the peripheral southwest provide an acute insight into the topics such as cultural identity, historical consciousness, emotional depth and aesthetic appreciation.
About the NTU & HYI Academic Series: The book series, published by National Taiwan University Press, is a collaboration between the Harvard-Yenching Institute and the College of Liberal Arts of National Taiwan University. The Series publishes scholarly monographs in Chinese which make a major original contribution to the humanities and social sciences. Interdisciplinary studies are especially welcome. Submissions are encouraged from all Chinese-speaking regions and beyond. For more information about the NTU-HYI series, please visit the NTU Press website.