An object-oriented study on Yongwu shi: poetry on eyeglasses in the Qing dynasty

An object-oriented study on Yongwu shi: poetry on eyeglasses in the Qing dynasty

Author: 
Yan, Zinan
Publisher: 
Cambridge University Press
Date published: 
2016
Record type: 
Journal Title: 
Bulletin of the school of Oriental and African studies
Source: 
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Vol. 79, No. 2, June 2016, pp. 375-397
Abstract: 

This paper suggests a different approach in the study of Qing dynasty yongwu poetry, which is to analyse the cultural significance of the object in this literary subgenre instead of its lyrical essence. Taking eyeglasses as an example, this paper surveys the general development of imported and domestic eyeglasses in China from the fifteenth to the nineteenth centuries, and presents various literary interpretations assigned to this object through time. It further discusses Western and Chinese materiality, the economy and scholars' lives, political and social justification, as well as literary complexity and object identity, which are vital to the development of poetry on eyeglasses in the late imperial period.

Language: 

CITATION: Yan, Zinan. An object-oriented study on Yongwu shi: poetry on eyeglasses in the Qing dynasty . : Cambridge University Press , 2016. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Vol. 79, No. 2, June 2016, pp. 375-397 - Available at: https://library.au.int/object-oriented-study-yongwu-shi-poetry-eyeglasses-qing-dynasty-0