Li Bai and the Phoenix Terrace in Jinling: Poetry and Cultural Landscape

How does a poem create a place and make it renowned? Focusing on Li Bai’s “Ascending the Phoenix Terrace in Jinling”, this lecture demonstrates how Li Bai turned the Phoenix Terrace into a landmark through his poetry; it also discusses how subsequent poets continued to write about Phoenix Terrace based on Li Bai’s work even after the site’s disappearance. The poetry series on the Phoenix Terrace tells a story about the construction of a cultural landscape, and its retelling continues to hold significance to this day.

To attend in-person: https://sccc-lectureseries-8july2023.peatix.com

Attend online: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_66OUPy2tQ_ySxQXkORq-TA

Speaker:

Professor Shang Wei

Du Family Professor of Chinese Culture, Columbia University. Shang specialises in pre-modern Chinese literature and culture with a particular focus on the fiction and drama of the Ming and Qing dynasties. His research interests also include Tang poetry. His recent publications include Yunfan Ji (Sailing on the Thoughts of Chinese Language and Literature: A Collection of Critical Essays on Pre-Modern and Early-Modern Chinese Literature, Writing Practice and Visual Culture).

Discussant:

Dr Liu Chen

Assistant Professor, Department of Chinese Studies, National University of Singapore

Advisory: Attendee limit per session: 130