Texts on the Civilization of Medieval China: "Traditions of the Shi jing 詩經" 234

The Bronze-age traditions that would eventually take their definitive textual form as the Shi jing 詩經 were a core dimension of a trans-regional Traditionalist cultural repertoire that filiated itself to the founding sage-kings of the Western Zhou, and thus part of a “pan-Zhou” legacy whose legitimacy was recognized as normative for central regions/states, and thus expressive of the highest degree of human potential. From this formative period through the late imperial era, educational practice, scholarly debate, commentarial practice, and manifold modes of imitation surrounding this core repertoire were always venues for promulgating and reflecting on foundational questions relating to the formation and constitution of human personality, human expression (especially linguistic and musical), as well as the nature and mechanisms of historical and political change. This seminar, organized as a broadly chronological survey of some of these traditions, aims to introduce participants to the evolution of these conversations from the Warring States to late imperial period, while also providing a structure for gaining conversancy in the relevant scholarly, philological, and bibliographical skills needed to build conversancy with these sources and issues.