Nov 24, 2023
"Household Encyclopedia" Primary Source Reading Group
- 16:00 to 18:00
- Reading Group
- Dept. III
- Joan Judge (York University)
In this session, we are honoured to have Joan Judge presenting her book manuscript. The talk is entitled “China’s Mundane Revolution: Cheap Print, Vernacular Knowledge, and the Rise of the Common Reader, 1894–1954,” in which Joan will focus on how the texts she's looking at come out of the Wan Bao Quan Shu 萬寶全書 tradition to link it to our working group. She has also chosen four short texts that we can look at in the session as to get a sense of how the materials capture various aspects of vernacular knowledge.
Contact and Registration
This event is open to both MPIWG members and those from outside the institute. We ask those from outside of the working group to register in advance, in order to obtain the Zoom link and the readings. Please do so by emailing Shih-pei Chen: schen@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de
About This Series
Within this reading group, we will be reading the late imperial Chinese/Sinographic household encyclopedia (riyong leishu 日用類書) together. We are broadly interested in the question of how common or popular knowledge was conceived and presented for use within these texts. In particular, we are interested in what the sources of such common knowledge were, how it relates to and can be distinguished from elite knowledge, and how these kinds of knowledge were produced, circulated and consumed. The household encyclopedia is one major source of such common(er) knowledge, but we are also interested in how these texts relate to other texts that were consumed by similar demographics.
Each session will feature an excerpt from one such encyclopaedia and include a short exposition on a theme, followed by a close reading of the excerpt and a discussion.
Our group will consist of working group members and several invited members from outside the institute. Colleagues, who are interested in learning more about the household encyclopedia and similar sources, are very welcome to join us.
Language: Please note that the reading group will be conducted in English, but the primary sources will be in Chinese. An English translation will usually be provided but much of the discussion may centre on translation and philological issues related to the texts.
Session Dates:
There will be 3 sessions between October and December, 2023:
Session 1: Friday, October 6, 4–6 pm Central European Time
Session 2: Friday, November 24, 4–6pm Central European Time
Session 3: Friday, December 8, 4–6pm Central European Time
Our first session is on October 6, 4–6 pm Central European Time, in which Shih-Pei Chen will lead the reading on agricultural practices in the Complete Book of Myriad Treasures (wanbao quanshu 萬寶全書).