International Journal of Architecture, Arts and Applications
2025, Vol. 11, No. 3, pp. 131-139 https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijaaa.20251103.14
ResearchArticle
“Why
International Journal of Architecture, Arts and Applications
2025, Vol. 11, No. 3, pp. 131-139 https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijaaa.20251103.14
ResearchArticle
“Why
Vivien Jiaqian
Zhu1, 2, 3, *
1Department of EastAsian Languages and Cultures, Centre of Japanese Studies, University of California, Berkeley, United States ofAmerica
2Department of Vice Provost and Dean of Research, Stanford University, Stanford, United States ofAmerica
3Homerton College, Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
Abstract
As The Mad Drummer (狂鼓史) demonstrates a close correlation between performance and spectatorship, it appears baffling that the storyteller Liu Jingting claims that he does not need an audience in Kong Shangren’s (孔尚任) The Peach Blossom Fan (桃花扇). In order to answer the question, this paper interprets The Peach Blossom Fan (桃花扇) as a dynamic realm with geographic and metaphorical places rather than a static literary text. Master of Ceremonies’ multiple identities extend the notion of metaphorical displacement to an ongoing movement of shifting in and out the role inside performances. His repeated passages in and out the acting role and the performative realm signal a linear and cyclical dynamism. In terms of genre, a comparison between Ma Zhiyuan’s (馬致遠) deliverance play “Yueh-yang Tower” (呂洞賓三醉岳陽樓) and the historical play The Peach Blossom Fan (桃花扇) further analyzes distinctive dynamisms in dreamscape and in theatricality. Moreover, an examination of Zhang Dai’s (張岱) “Mid-September on West Lake (西湖七月半) ” points out a concentric spectatorship and a paradox of spectatorship. Spectator’s simultaneous states of being the subject and the object of gazing result in endless circles of watching and a concentric spectatorship with hierarchies. The paradox of spectatorship echoes the dynamism of The Peach Blossom Fan (桃花扇) with notions of liminality and ongoing movement, but restricts the dynamism due to endless layers of concentric spectatorship. Thus, we can answer the question by stating that although Liu Jingting (柳敬亭) desires to escape audience’s gaze and has the ability to temporarily step out of theatricality, it is still impossible for him to completely escape the audience due to the paradox of spectatorship.
Keywords
Dynamism (動態性), Spectatorship (觀眾), Theatricality (戲劇性), Dreamscape (夢境), Drama (戲劇)
*Corresponding author: , , ,
Received: 3 July 2025; Accepted: 21 July 2025; Published: 7August 2025
Copyright: © The Author(s), 2025. Published by Science Publishing Group. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
In The Mad Drummer (狂鼓史), the Judge’s role as an audience in the play generates “a play inside a play” for the first time in existent Chinese scripts, which indicates that part of the legitimacy of a performance relies on the existence of spectatorship. Audience’s gesture to watch a performance distinguishes the performative quality of a scene from the scene in real life. With a correlation between performance and spectatorship in mind, one scene in The Peach Blossom Fan (桃花扇) baffles me due to its inclination to abandon the spectatorship. In Scene 10 “The Letter (修札),” when Hou Fang-yü(侯方域) mocks at Liu Jingting’s (柳敬 亭) loneliness by saying “there is no audience. Pray, whom are you entertaining?,” [1, 37, 40, 43-48, 51, 64] Liu Jingting (柳敬亭) refutes that “story-telling is my vocation. You play on your lute and chant poetry alone in your study. Why then should I require an audience?” [2] Comparing Liu’s refutation with the significance of spectatorship in The Mad Drummer (狂鼓史), I come up with a question “why should Liu claims he does not need an audience in The Peach Blossom Fan (桃花扇)?”
The same scene occurs to Wai-yee Li (李惠儀) that, with regard to the function of performance in the dialectic of self and role, Liu’s performing without an audience manifests lyrical self-containment and quintessential self-expression. [3] Stephen Owen (宇文所安) touches upon a gap between “character” and the role played by the character, and attributes the gap to a vanishing point where the distinction breaks down. [4] However, neither would I rather approach the scene as one individual gesture within a larger motif of the dramatic illusion between history and interoperation of history, nor do I aim to examine a binary of zhen (真) and jia (假) expressed in The Peach Blossom Fan (桃花扇). I would like to point out the liminal nature of characters’ identities in this play by examining two dialogues and the Master of Ceremony figure in the play. [5] The character’s liminality and double roles create a gap between two edges, a space enabling his ongoing movement. In this paper, I will interpret The Peach Blossom Fan (桃花扇) as a dynamic realm manifested through character’s liminality and ongoing movement rather than a static literary text. Then by examining Zhang Dai’s (張岱) “Mid-September on West Lake (西湖七月半),” I will point out a concentric spectatorship and a paradox of spectatorship. I will extend the dynamism in The Peach Blossom Fan (桃花扇) to the dynamism in theatricality by drawing a comparison to the dynamism in dreamscape in the context of “Yueh-yang Tower” (呂洞賓三醉岳陽樓) Eventually I will argue that a concentric spectatorship traps the movement of characters in The Peach Blossom Fan (桃花扇) so that the dynamism of the play reveals character’s inability to escape spectatorship. Thus, we can answer the question by stating that although Liu Jingting (柳敬亭) desires to escape
audience’s gaze and has the ability to temporarily step out of theatricality, it is still impossible for him to completely escape the audience due to the paradox of spectatorship.
The mobile realm in The Peach Blossom Fan (桃花扇) abstracts each character as one movable spot and constructs both geographical and metaphorical places within mapping of the performance for characters to remain in motion. As Master of Ceremonies clarifies in the prologue of the play-“both plot and protagonists [are] drawn from life,” [6] each character occupies two identities simultaneously in the play-the “character” in real life and the role played by the character, [7] resulting in a liminal nature of their double identities. Identity becomes a metaphorical place when it refers to a social position or an occupation in the society. In the dialogue between Liu Jingting (柳敬亭) and Hou Fangyu (侯方域) in Scene 10 “The Letter (修札),” repetitions of the term “audience” suggest that both Hou and Liu are aware of the existence of spectatorship and their situation of being watched. Hou assumes that Liu’s storytelling aims to entertain the audience by stating “he must have an audience around him.” [8] Nevertheless, Liu recognizes a demarcation between an occupation as a storyteller and an actor acting as a storyteller. Liu’s gesture to abandon the spectatorship reveals his tendency to move from the actor Liu Jingting (柳敬 亭) in performance to the storyteller Liu Jingting (柳敬亭) in real life. Without spectators, Hou’s playing flute and chanting poetry and Liu’s storytelling lose their performative qualities and appear as merely gestures for vocations or self-entertainment. Thus, we can see the possibility and inclination for Liu Jingting (柳敬亭) to metaphorically move from one place to another.
With multiple identities, the figure Master of Ceremonies extends the notion of metaphorical displacement to an ongoing movement of shifting in and out the role inside the performance, presenting the liminality of characters and repeated pattern of movement. In the “Prologue,” he appears as an outsider to introduce the performance and points out his other roles such as an audience of The Peach Blossom Fan (桃 花扇), a witness in history and a role “included in the drama (戲中之人).” [6] His multiple identities imply correspondent geographic realms of spectatorship, performance and history. He not only keeps shifting from one role to another, but also moving from one realm to another in terms of both geographic places and metaphorical places. In Scene 3, he manages a ceremony at the temple as a role “included in the drama (戲中之人),” which validates his statement in the “Prologue” and echoes with Juan’s statement in Scene 12 “Brushing my eyebrows and beard again, I shall play a role
in a drama (鬚眉扮作戲中人).” [9] In the “Prologue to Scene 21,” Master of Ceremonies shows up again as an outside commentator. In Scene 32, he not only acts as an imperial announcer of ceremonies, but also reveals his identity as the cousin of the late emperor. Multiple identities of Master of Ceremonies manifest his liminality that allows him to keep entering and exiting performances as sometimes an actor in the play and sometimes an outsider out of the performance. Thus, besides only remaining a liminal state between the self in reality and character in performance, Master of Ceremonies highlights various repeated passages in and out the acting role as well as the performative realm, signaling both a linear and cyclical dynamism in The Peach Blossom Fan (桃 花扇).
Besides Master of Ceremonies’ repeated gesture to move in and out the dramatic illusion, we can also see a self-consciousness of the notion of play-acting from a dialogue between Juan Dacheng (阮大鋮) and Ma Shiying (馬 士英) in Scene 24:
Juan: …we shall be our simple selves without play-acting. Ma: Don’t talk about acting, I beg. Actors can be dangerous fellows. When they impersonate a character successfully, he will live forever in the image of this caricature. [10]
Juan makes an ironic pun of “play-acting” to deceive others by acting out the behavior, while Ma literally interprets the word as skills of acting in a performance. Misapprehension points out that there is a demarcation between the self in reality and the self playing a role in the performance. Ma Shiying (馬士英) reveals the dangerous potential beneath the professionalism of acting. Vivid impersonation of a character can trap a person into the fabricated role and prevent him from moving out of the performative realm, resulting in a static exception within the dynamism of The Peach Blossom Fan (桃花扇). Fragrance Princess (李香君) fits into this category since she dedicates to leading her life as Du Liniang (杜麗娘), trapping herself in the role of an actress. Recalling her adolescent blankness at the beginning of the play, we can interpret that Fragrance Princess (李香君) does not have her self in history, but only develops her identity in the performance from blankness. Her static exception stems from her unawareness of her other half identity so that she only roams in her limited role as a genuine dan [11]
The Dream Recollections of Tao-an (陶庵夢憶)
Not only do characters in the performance reflect the ongoing movement and liminality, but spectators themselves denote liminal identities as manifested in Zhang Dai’s (張岱) “Mid-September on West Lake (西湖七月半) ” in The Dream Recollections of Tao-an (陶庵夢憶), which categorizes “five kinds of looking.” [12] Particularly, the third kind
of looking catches my attention: They are also right under the moon, and they do look at the moon, but want others to look at them look at the moon (亦在月下,亦看月,而欲人看其看月者,看之). [13]
This kind of people, on one hand, appreciate the moon by observing it, but, on the other hand, aspire to a gaze from others. They watch the scenery and become part of the scenery of those who watch them. According to Sophie Volpp (袁 書菲), Zhang Dai (張岱) employs the tension between dispassionate observation and passionate engagement characteristic of theatrical spectatorship. [14, 38, 40-41, 49-50, 52-63, 65-70] Hence, the liminality of spectators manifests through their simultaneous state of being the subject and the object of gazing-both as spectators and as part of a scene that belongs to outer-layer spectators, resulting in endless circles of watching as well as a concentric spectatorship with one external loop containing another inner one. The vision of the fourth kind of spectators includes the moon, those looking at the moon and those not looking at the moon, incorporating the first three kinds of spectators as well as the scene they are looking at. Therefore, there is a hierarchy within the concentric spectatorship as spectators of the outer layer catch sight of more scenes as well as all spectators of inner layers. The last kind of spectator enjoys the superiority of vision because he hides himself to prevent being watched and looks at the moon and all former four spectators at the same time. Nevertheless, if we recall the beginning of “Mid-September on West Lake (西湖七月半),” we will notice that Zhang Dai (張岱) actually watches all those five kinds of spectators all the time:
There is nothing at all to look at on West Lake in mid-September but people looking at the mid-September moon (西湖七月半,一無可看,止可看七月半之人). [15] Therefore, with regard to a hierarchy of spectatorship, Zhang Dai (張岱) is at the highest level of the hierarchy as he watches the scenery of West Lake and documents all people looking at the mid-September moon in the short essay. However, since the liminality of spectators suggests that it is impossible to be a pure spectator, even if Zhang Dai (張岱) temporarily ranks highest among spectators, he is probably watched by other people. As a consequence, the hierarchy of spectatorship leads to a paradox of spectatorship. Just as in Zhuangzi’s paradox of dream, there is no absolute state of being in the dream or being awake in the reality, but there is always an ongoing process of “transformation of things (物 化).” [16] Similarly in the paradox of spectatorship, there is neither a pure state of being a spectator nor of being at the highest position in the hierarchy of spectatorship, but there is always an in-between condition of looking at others and being looked at simultaneously.
The paradox of spectatorship echoes the dynamism of The Peach Blossom Fan (桃花扇) with the notion of liminality and ongoing movement, but restricts the dynamism due to
endless layer of concentric spectatorship. The concentric spectatorship sets borders for the mobile realm of The Peach Blossom Fan (桃花扇) to allow oscillating movement within the realm, but prevents the possibility from completely escaping from the realm. I will further extend the dynamism in The Peach Blossom Fan (桃花扇) to the dynamism in theatricality with a combination of movement, spectatorship and genres. According to Ling Hon Lam (林凌翰), the term “theatricality” suggests “an early modern mode of spatiality in which emotion is not interior to oneself but performed by others and, conversely, it is conceivable in oneself only as enacted on behalf of others or as exhibited to an audience without oneself seeing it.” [17]
Starting from an examination of one poem by Master of Ceremonies, I will point out two positions-a dreamer or a spectator-in a performance.
Then reality was like a play,
Now the play seems only too real.
Twice an observer at the side:
Heaven has preserved the one with cold eyes. [18]
Master of Ceremonies watches the performance twice: the dynasty shift is so dramatically traumatic and ridiculous that his witnessing of history as a bystander resembles a dreamer watching a drama in a dreamscape; after many years, someone writes a play about the dynasty shift and Master of Ceremonies occupies the position of an observer to watch the history on stage. [19] He used to be a dreamer inside the dreamscape, but he later becomes a spectator to watch the performance from a distance, shifting from one spatial structure to another-dreamscape to theatricality. Master of Ceremonies’ movement reveals the demarcation between a dreamer and a spectator. [20] I will draw a generic comparison between the deliverance play “Yueh-yang Tower” (呂洞賓三醉岳陽樓) and the historical play The Peach Blossom Fan (桃花扇) to delve into the difference between a dreamer and a spectator. Although both Master of Ceremonies and LüTung-pin have the gesture to laugh and weep in the play, the gesture has two distinctive implications in the two texts. In “Yueh-yang Tower” (呂洞賓三醉岳陽樓), “Lü weeps and laughs, laughs and weeps” [21] on the Yueh-yang Tower to sigh over historical vicissitude and laugh at the vanity of ambition. LüTung-pin’s stirred emotion manifests his indulgence of his experience and acting as a dreamer inside the dreamscape. The fact that he cannot exit the dreamscape but only keeps entering another layer of dreamscape suggests that Lüalways occupies a position in the performance even in different layer of the dream. His emotional intensity aims to arouse the same emotion among audience so as to convert spectators to dreamers. The gesture to incorporate spectators into the performance protects the fabrication of a dreamscape. As deliverance plays serve for the spread of Daoism, they aim to transfer the notion of real presence to spectators and to convert spectators by presenting that theater as life. Characters and spectators all bear the assumption that they are in a dream and no one would like to break that illusion. [22] Therefore, the dynamism of characters
in dreamscape resembles an inward radiation within the premise of inside a performance.
If in early deliverance plays, that theater is life is presented through the mediation of Daoism, in later historical play
The Peach Blossom Fan (桃花扇), life becomes a theater from a spectatorial perspective. As an audience of The Peach Blossom Fan (桃花扇), Master of Ceremonies is “stirred so deeply that [he] laughed and wept, raged and cursed by turns.” [6] Representation of history reminds him of his past memory. His emotional fluctuation serves as an immediate reaction to and a comment on the performance on stage. It is not the actors that actively invite him to engage in a process of synesthesia, but his connection to the performance is stirred up when life is relocated on the stage. Theatricality creates a safe position for spectators to sit back and prevent them from watching the scene in a less sacrificed way. Relying on the artificial distance, life becomes a performance on stage. The distance between Master of Ceremonies and The Peach Blossom Fan (桃花扇) he watches enables him to re-watch the traumatic history through the lens of aesthetic production. Therefore, theatricality derives from spectator’s consciousness of a framed performance and a process of watching a relocation of real life, all of which pointing to the relation between theater and spectators rather than between theater and actors. As Master of Ceremonies occupies the positions of a bystander and an insider of the performance at the same time, he keeps stepping in and out of the theatricality. [23] Therefore, the dynamism of characters in theatricality is more flexible with ongoing inner movement between metaphorical and geographic places as well as constantly shifting in and out of the theatricality. [24, 27-36, 39, 42]
Eventually, I will go back to the proposed question-“why Liu claims he does not need an audience in The Peach Blossom Fan (桃花扇)?.” Liu is aware of his liminal identities, spectatorship and theatricality. It is reasonable for him to temporarily step out of theatricality as actors do not really need spectators to fulfill performances. However, it is impossible for him to escape spectatorship due to concentric spectatorship and the paradox of spectatorship. Even if Liu assumes he does not need an audience, there is always a certain audience looking at him. Kong Shangren (孔尚任) even acknowledges the existence of spectators outside the performance in fanli (凡例): “The spectator (觀 者) should use discerning eyes (巨眼).” [25] Therefore, we can even claim that Liu Jingting is under our (readers’) gaze. According to Sophie Volpp’s (袁書菲) opinion, “freedom lies not in escaping one for the other, but in alternating between the two.” [26] Though trapped by spectatorship, Liu Jingting's (柳敬亭) geographic and metaphorical place shifting and as well stepping in and out of theatricality actually manifests his largest freedom of movement within his liminality, implying the freedom of
dynamism in The Peach Blossom Fan (桃花扇).
For their critiques and encouragement in completing this article, I thank Professor Ling Hon Lam (林凌翰教授) at University of California, Berkeley (加州大學伯克利分校).
Vivien Jiaqian Zhu is the sole author. The author read and approved the final manuscript.
The author declares no fundings received for this research project.
The author declares no conflicts of interest.
[1] K’ung Shang-jen, The Peach Blossom Fan, trans. Chen Shih-Hsiang and Cyril Birch (白之) (New York: New York Review Book Classics, 2015), p. 76. Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1976.
[2] K’ung, The Peach Blossom Fan, p. 76.
[3] Wai-yee Li, (李惠儀) “The Representation of History in The Peach Blossom Fan,” Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. 115, no. 3 (July-September, 1995), p. 425.
[4] Stephen Owen, (宇文所安) ““I Don’t Want to Act as Emperor Any More”: Finding the Genuine in Peach Blossom Fan.” In Trauma and Transcendence in Early Qing Literature, ed. Wilt L. Idema [荷] (伊维德), Wai-yee Li (李惠儀), and Ellen Widmer [美] (魏爱莲) (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Asia Center: distributed by Harvard University Press, 2006), pp. 492.
[5] For the historical role of Master of Ceremony of the Qing government, also known as yin-yang officers, see Tristan Brown, (張仲思) “Bureaucracy from the Bottom Up: Diviners in Qing Local Governance,” Journal of Chinese History (中國 歷史學刊) (2025), 1-34, https://doi.org/10.1017/jch.2025.16
[6] K’ung, The Peach Blossom Fan, pp. 2.
[7] Owen, (宇文所安) “‘I Don’t Want to Act as Emperor Any More’: Finding the Genuine in Peach Blossom Fan,” pp. 492.
[8] K’ung, The Peach Blossom Fan, pp. 76.
[9] K’ung, The Peach Blossom Fan, pp. 89.
[10] K’ung, The Peach Blossom Fan, pp. 181.
[11] Owen, (宇文所安) ““I Don’t Want to Act as Emperor Any More”: Finding the Genuine in Peach Blossom Fan,” pp. 509.
[12] Zhang Dai, (張岱) The Dream Recollections of Tao-an (selections), in Stephen Owen, (宇文所安) An Anthology of Chinese Literature: Beginnings to 1911 (New York: W. W. Norton, 1996), pp. 816.
[13] Zhang, ( 張岱 ) The Dream Recollections of Tao-an, pp. 816-817.
[14] Sophie Volpp, (袁書菲) Worldly Stage: Theatricality in Seventeenth-Century China (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Asia Center: Distributed by Harvard University Press, 2011), pp. 33-34. Brill Academic Publishers: Brill, 2020. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?authtype=ip,sso&custid=s 4392798&direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&AN=2420611
[15] Zhang, (張岱) The Dream Recollections of Tao-an, pp. 816.
[16] Chuang-Tzŭ: the Seven Inner Chapters and Other Writings from the Book Chuang-Tzŭ. Translated by A. C. Graham (葛 瑞汉) (London; Boston: George Allen and Unwin, 1981), pp. 61.
[17] Ling Hon Lam, (林凌翰) “Prologue: Weather and Landscape,” in The Spatiality of Emotion in Early Modern China: From Dreamscapes to Theatricality (New York: Columbia University Press, 2018), pp. 6. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?authtype=ip,sso&custi d=s4392798&direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&AN=18015 47
[18] Li, (李惠儀) “The Representation of History in The Peach Blossom Fan,” pp. 422.
[19] On this note, for a discussion of astral science and cosmography in late imperial China, see Tristan Gerard Brown, (張仲 思) “Introduction: Empire under the Night Sky: Recording Astral-Cosmography in Qing Dynasty China, 17th-19th Centuries,” HoST - Journal of History of Science and Technology, vol. 18, no. 1, Ludus Association, 2024, pp. 1-5. https://doi.org/10.2478/host-2024-0001
[20] Note that astronomical observations of late imperial China were reported in astronological chapters of local provincial-level gazetteers, the Imperially Commissioned Complete Library of the Four Treasuries (Qinding siku quanshu 欽定 四庫全書; 1783), the Imperially Commissioned Thorough Investigation of Dynastic Records (Qinding huangchao wenxian tongkao 欽定皇朝文獻通考; 1787), and the Imperially Endorsed Correct Meaning of Astronomy (Qinding tianwen zhengyi) (欽定天文正義); c. 1736-1795. See Tristan G. Brown, (張仲思) “From Fenye to Fengshui: Applying Correlative Cosmography in Late Imperial China.” HoST - Journal of History of Science and Technology, Ludus Association, Vol. 18(Issue 1), (2024) pp. 61-85. https://doi.org/10.2478/host-2024-0004
[21] Ma Zhiyuan (馬致遠) (c. 1250-1321), “The Yüeh-yang Tower” (呂洞賓三醉岳陽樓), Four Plays of the Yuan Drama, trans. Richard Fu-Sen S. Yang (楊富森) ([Taipei]: China Post, 1972), pp. 68.
[22] This illusion can be interpreted with Su Shi’s 蘇軾 term “mist and clouds passing before one’s eyes” (yanyun guoyan 煙雲過眼) in his “Account of the Hall of Treasured Paintings,” see Wai-yee Li, (李惠儀) “Chapter Four: Lost and Found,” in The Promise and Peril of Things: Literature and Material Culture in Late Imperial China (New York: Columbia University Press: Walter de Gruyter & Co., 2022), pp. 227. https://www.degruyter.com/isbn/9780231553896
[23] For a study of Yinyang Bureau (Yinyangyuan 陰陽院) and licensed official geomancers-the yinyang masters (yinyangsheng 陰陽生) or yinyang “officials” (yinyangguan 陰陽官) from Sichuan University’s China Southwest Bibliography Research Center, Digitized Archives, Nanbu Collection, see Tristan G. Brown, (張仲思) “The Deeds of the Dead in the Courts of the Living: Graves in Qing Law,” Late Imperial China, vol. 39, no. 2, December 2018, p. 109-155. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/late.2018.0011
[24] For an observation on newspaper and ethnicity in China, see Tristan G. Brown, (張仲思) “Imagining Consumers: Print Culture and Muslim Advertising in Early Twentieth Century China,” The Muslim World, Vol. 104(Issue 3) (24 July 2014), p. 336-353. https://doi.org/10.1111/muwo.12058
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[29] Tristan G. Brown, (張仲思) Laws of the Land: Fengshui and the State in Qing China. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press: Walter de Gruyter & Co., 2023. https://www.degruyter.com/isbn/9780691246727
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[35] Gao Meiqing [高美慶] and James Cahill, (美) (高居翰) (1926-2014) Twentieth-Century Chinese Painting. Hong Kong (香港), Oxford: Oxford University Press in association with Andamans East International Ltd., 1988. (Source: Nielsen Book Data) Conference Proceedings.
[36] James Cahill, ( 美 ) ( 高居翰 ) (1926-2014) and Musée Cernuschi, Le Palais Du Printemps: Peintures Érotiques De Chine. Paris:, Suilly-la-Tour: Paris musées; Findakly, 2006.
[37] Out of Character: Decoding Chinese Calligraphy = Fa Ji: Guan Yuan Shan Zhuang Zhen Cang Fa Shu Xuan (法迹: 觀 遠山莊珎藏法書選). Edited by Michael Knight and Joseph Z. Chang; with contributions from Jonathan Chaves, Ho Chuan-hsing, Huang Dun, Michael Knight, Celia Carrington Riely, Wang Lianqi, Xiao Yanyi, Wang Yao-tʻing, Xiao Yanyi, and Xue Longchun; foreword by Jerry Yang. San Francisco: Asian Art Museum, 2012. The exhibition Out of Character: Decoding Chinese Calligraphy was presented at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco from October 5, 2012 through January 13, 2013. The exhibition, organized by the Asian Art Museum, will also be presented at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York from April 13 through August 3, 2014. Presentation at the Asian Art Museum is made possible by The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation.
[38] Terese Tse Bartholomew, Shao'ang Zhao, ( 趙少昂 ) (1905-1998) So Kam Ng Lee, photographs by Kazuhiro Tsuruta, Meiqing Gao, and Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. 1997. The Charming Cicada Studio: Masterworks by Zhao Shao'An. San Francisco, CA: Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. Published on the occasion of the exhibition: The art of Zhao Shao'an, April 16-June 15, 1997.
[39] Patricia Ann Berger, Terese Tse Bartholomew, catalogue photographsby KazuhiroTsuruta,AsianArtMuseumofSanFrancisco, Denver Art Museum, and National Geographic Society (U.S.). Mongolia: the Legacy of Chinggis Khan. San Francisco, CA: Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, 1995. Published on the occasion of an exhibition of the same name held at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, July 19-Oct. 15, 1995; the Denver Art Museum, Nov. 11, 1995-Feb. 26, 1996; and the National Geographic Society, Washington, D.C., April 3-July 7, 1996.
[40] Stanford University Museum of Art, and Michael Sullivan, (蘇立文) (1916-2013), Paintings from the Nü-Wa-Chai Collection: Oriental Gallery, Stanford Museum, Stanford University, Summer 1967. Stanford: The Museum, 1967.
[41] Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, and Tōkyō Kokuritsu Bunkazai Kenkyūjo ( 東京国立文化財研究所 ), San Furanshisuko Ajia Bijutsukan, Kaiga, Chōkoku (サンフランシ スコ・アジア美術館, 絵画・彫刻) Painting and Sculpture of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. Tōkyō: Tōkyō Kokuritsu Bunkazai Kenkyūjo (東京 東京国立文化財研究 所),1995 Includes index.
[42] Ezra Toback, ‘Kōda Rohan’s Fūryūbutsu: Semiotic Polyvalency and “Salvific” Prose,’ The Journal of Japanese Studies, Volume 45, Number 2, Summer 2019, pp. 269-304.
[43] Wu Guanzhong, (吳冠中) Anne Farrer, Michael Sullivan (蘇 立文) (1916-2013), Meiqing Gao, [編輯高美慶] and British Museum (大英博物館) Wu Guanzhong: a Twentieth-Century Chinese Painter. London:, Hong Kong: British Museum Press; Mei Yin, 1992.
[44] Zheng Dekun, (鄭德坤) (1907-2001) and Michael Sullivan, (蘇立文) (1916-2013) An Introduction to Tibetan Culture Chengtu, China: West China Union University Museum, 1945.
[45] Wang Jiqian, (王季遷) Victoria Contag, and James Cahill, (美) (高居翰) (1926-2014) Seals of Chinese Painters and Collectors of the Ming and Chʻing Periods (明清畫家印鑑), Rev. ed. with supplement. Hong Kong (香港): Hong Kong University Press, 1966.Firsted.publishedin1940,withWang'snameappearedfirst on the t.p. in Chinese. Also includes "Seals of Song and Yuan painters," p. 513-528; and American supplement: further seals found on Ming and Chʻing paintings in American public and private collections,"p. 631-726.
[46] Stephen Owen (宇文所安), Chinese Literary Theory: English Translation with Criticism (中國文論: 英譯與評論) Zhongguo wen lun: Ying yi yu ping lun Translatedby Wang Bohua(王柏華) and Tao Qingmei (陶慶梅) Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992. Shanghai: Shanghai shehuikexueyuan chubanshe (上 海: 上海社會科學院出版社), 2003.
[47] Michael Knight, Li He, Terese Tse Bartholomew, Melissa Abbe, and Asian Art Museum-Chong-Moon Lee Center for Asian Art and Culture. Later Chinese Jades: Ming Dynasty to Early Twentieth Century from the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. [San Francisco]: Asian Art Museum-Chong-Moon Lee Center for Asian Art and Culture, 2007. Published to accompany an exhibition held at the Asian Art Museum-Chong-Moon Lee Center for Asian Art and Culture, Nov. 10, 2007-Aug. 2008.
[48] British Museum, Regina Krahl, (康蕊君) and Jessica Harrison-Hall, (霍吉淑) Da Ying Bo Wu Guan Daweide Jue Shi Cang Zhongguo Tao Ci Jing Xuan (大英博物館大維德爵士 藏中國陶瓷精選). Translated by Wei Huang (黄薇) and Baoping Li (李宝平). Di 1 ban (第 1 版). Beijing (北京): Wen wu chu ban she (文物出版社), 2013. Translation of: Chinese
ceramics
[49] Yeuk Hung To, Yan Yan Chan, Yuk Yeung, and Hong Yang. “Chinese Language and Culture for Foreign Students-Courses Design Framework in the University of Hong Kong as a Model.” International Journal of Education, Culture and Society, Vol. 4, No. 2, 2019, pp. 42-47. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijecs.20190402.13
[50] Sarah Elizabeth Fraser, Performing the Visual: the Practice of Buddhist Wall Painting in China and Central Asia, 618-960, Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 2004.
[51] Lothar Ledderose (雷德侯), and American Council of Learned Societies, Ten Thousand Things: Module and Mass Production in Chinese Art (萬物: 中國藝術中的模件化和規模化生產) Translated by Zhang Zong (張總). Proofread by Dang Sheng ( 黨晟 ). Princeton, New Jersey; Chichester, West Sussex: Princeton University Press, 2000. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/heb09180 Beijing Shi (北京市): Shenghuo, dushu, xinzhi sanlianshudian (生活・讀書・新知 三聯書店), 2012.
[52] Sophie Volpp, (袁書菲) The Substance of Fiction: Literary Objects in China, 1550-1775. New York: Columbia University Press: Walter de Gruyter & Co., 2022. https://www.degruyter.com/isbn/9780231553223
[53] AniruddhaBhattacharjya,andFangZhaohui,(方朝暉)“ASurvey onProfoundCulturalDiversitiesandDistinguishabilityofChina.” International Journal of Literature and Arts. Vol. 5, No. 5, 2017, pp. 60-76. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijla.20170505.13
[54] Zhi le lou (至樂樓) (Hong Kong 香港, China), Meiqing Gao, [編輯高美慶] and Chinese University of Hong Kong Art Gallery (香港中文大學文物館聯合主辦), Zhi Le Lou Cang Ming Qing Shu Hua. Chu ban. Xianggang: Zhi luo lou yi shu fa yang (fei mou li) you xian gong si [香港: 至樂樓藝術發揚 (非牟利) 有限公司]: Xianggang da xue wen wu guan (香港 大學文物館), 1992.
[55] Gu gong bo wu yuan (故宮博物院) (China), Meiqing Gao, [編 輯高美慶] and Chinese University of Hong Kong Art Gallery (香港中文大學文物館聯合主辦) Gu Gong Bo Wu Yuan Cang Qing Dai Yangzhou Hua Jia Zuo Pin (故宮博物院藏清 代揚州畫家作品). Chu ban (初版). [Beijing] [北京]:, Hong Kong (香港): Gu gong bo wu yuan (故宮博物院); Xianggang Zhong wen da xue wen wuguan(香港中文大學文物館), 1984. Chinese and English. Exhibition was held from 11/24/84 duo 1/9/85 at the Art Gallery, Institute of Chinese Studies, the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
[56] Gao Meiqing, [編輯高美慶] Guangzhou shi mei shu guan (廣 州市美術館), and Chinese University of Hong Kong Art Gallery (香港中文大學文物館聯合主辦), Guangzhou Mei Shu Guan Cang Ming Qing Hui Hua (廣州美術館藏明清繪 畫). Chu ban (初版). Xianggang: Xianggang Zhong wen da xue Zhongguo wen hua yan jiu suo wen wu guan (香港: 香港 中文大學中國文化研究所文物館), 1986. Held 18th October to 14th December, 1986.
[57] Gao Meiqing, [編輯高美慶] Zhigang Li (英譯李志綱), Zixiu Deng (鄧子修),Guangzhou shimei shu guan (廣州市美術館), and Chinese University of Hong Kong Art Gallery (香港中文 大學文物館聯合主辦), Su Liupeng Su Renshan Shu Hua (蘇 六朋蘇仁山書畫). Chu ban (初版). [Guangzhou] [廣州]:, Xianggang (香港): Guangzhou Shi mei shu guan (廣州市美術 館); Xianggang Zhong wen da xue wen wu guan (香港中文大 學文物館), 1990. Chinese and English.
[58] James Cahill, (美) (高居翰) (1926-2014) and University of California Art Museum. Shadows of Mt. Huang: Chinese Painting and Printing of the Anhui School. Berkeley, [Calif.]:: University Art Museum. Catalog of an exhibition featured at the University Art Museum, Berkeley (Jan 21, 1981 to March 22, 1981) and other museums, 1981.
[59] Françoise Forster-Hahn, Stanford University Museum of Art, and Santa Barbara Museum of Art. A Decade in the West: Painting, Sculpture and Graphics from the Anderson Collection. [Stanford, Calif.]: Dept. of Art, Stanford University, 1971.
[60] Yale University Art Gallery, & Françoise Forster-Hahn, French and School of Paris paintings in the Yale University Art Gallery; a catalogue raisonné . New Haven: Yale University Press, 1968.
[61] Gao Meiqing, [高美慶] and Stanford University Department of Art. 1972. “China's Response to the West in Art: 1898-1937.” Dissertation Thesis Ph.D. Stanford University, 1972. Copyright. Submitted to the Department of Art.
[62] Zheng Dekun, (鄭德坤) (1907-2001) Zongyi Rao, (饒宗頤) James C. Y Watt, and Chinese University of Hong Kong Art Gallery (香港中文大學文物館聯合主辦) Proceedings of the Symposium on Paintings and Calligraphy by Ming I-Min: 31 August-3 September 1975, Art Gallery, the Institute of Chinese Studies, the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Hong Kong: The University, 1976. Prefatory material and t.p. in Chinese and English; contributions in Chinese or English.
[63] Rao Zongyi, (創作饒宗頤)and Weixiong Deng,(編撰鄧偉雄), Mogao Yu Fu: Rao Zongyi Jiao Shou Zhi Yi Shu Shi Jie (莫高 餘馥: 饒宗頤敦煌書畫藝術) Zest to Dunhuang-Jao Tsung-i's Dunhuang Paintings and Calligraphy. Di 1 ban (第 1 版). Xianggang: Xianggang da xue Rao Zongyi xue shu guan (香港: 香港大學饒宗頤學術館), 2010. Colophon title. Catalog of exhibition held in 2010 at Dunhuang yan jiu yuan zhan lan guan (敦煌研究院展覽館)
[64] Liu Dan (刘丹), Ah Cheng (阿城), and Michael Sullivan, (蘇 立文) (1916-2013) The union of mind and Dao (心道合一) Xin Dao He Yi [Suzhou Shi]: Suzhou bo wu guan [蘇州市]: (蘇州博物館), 2013. Published in conjunction with an exhibi-
tion held at Suzhou bo wu guan xian dai yi shu ting (蘇州博 物館 現代藝術廳), May 5-July 10, 2013. Includes Index.
[65] Cheng xun tang (承訓堂) (Hong Kong, China), Meiqing Gao, [編輯高美慶] Suk Yee Lai, (展品著錄黎淑儀) and Chinese University of Kong Kong Art Museum, Cheng Xun Tang Cang Shan Mian Shu Hua (承訓堂藏扇面書畫). Chu ban (初版) Xianggang (香港): XianggangZhong wen da xue wen wuguan (香港中文大學文物館), 1996.
[66] Rao Zongyi, (饒宗頤) Shao'ang Zhao, (趙少昂) (1905-1998) Shanshen Yang, Xiongcai Li, Shanyue Guan, University of Hong Kong Jao Tsung-I Petite Ecole (香港大學饒宗頤學術 館), University of Hong Kong University Museum and Art Gallery, and Guangzhou Shi mei shu guan,Brush and Ink of Lingnan = Ling Hai Feng Yun (嶺海風韻): Lingnan Si Jun Zi Yu Rao Zongyi Jiao Shou He Zuo Zuo Pin Ji. 1st ed. [Hong Kong]: Jao Tsung-I Petite Ecole, University of Hong Kong (香 港大學饒宗頤學術館): University Museum and Art Gallery, University of Hong Kong: Guangzhou Museum of Art, 2005. Cover title.
[67] Gao Meiqing, [編輯高美慶] Shanghai bo wu guan (上海博物 館), and Chinese University of Hong Kong Art Gallery (香港 中文大學文物館合辦), Dunhuang Tulufan Wen Wu (敦煌吐 魯番文物) Cultural Relics from Dunhuang and Turfan. Chu ban (初版). [Shanghai] (上海), [Hong Kong] (香港): Shanghai bo wu guan (上海博物館); Xianggang Zhong wen da xue wen wu guan (香港中文大學文物館), 1987. Catalog of an exhibition held24thJuneto2ndAugust,1987. ChineseandEnglish.(《敦煌 吐魯番文物》展覽 1987 年 6 月 24 日至 8 日).
[68] Zhao Shao'ang, (趙少昂) (1905-1998) and Yu'e Zhou, (周悅主 編) Zhao Shao'Ang Hua Ji: Ji Nian Zhao Shao'Ang Xian Sheng Dan Chen 105 Zhou Nian (趙少昂畫集: 紀念(趙少昂)先生 誕辰 105 週年). Di 1 ban (第 1 版). Guangzhou Shi: Ling nan mei shu chu ban she (廣州市:嶺南美術出版社), 2011.
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Vivien Jiaqian Zhu earned an A.B. (distinction) in comparative literature and Chinese literature, with a minor in history of art from UC Berkeley in 2018. She was a recipient of the Theresa Hak Kyung Cha Award in Comparative Literature, and a Regent's Scholar by the Graduate Division at UC Berkeley to pursue a Ph.D. degree. Her dissertation investigates the expression of self, the interior space/interiority, and architectural tropes in literature and art. Other research interests include relational aesthetics, fin-de-siècle Vienna and epigraphy. From 2020 to 2021, she joined Stanford's Inter-University Center at Yokohama Japan as a Nippon Foundation Fellow. She also has an offer to commence a visiting scholar/Ph.D. joint position at Stanford University in fall 2022, which is part of an exchange program for scholars among Stanford University, UC Berkeley and UCSF. In 2024, she was appointed as a Mitsubishi Research Fellow to study early modern Japanese palaeography at University of Cambridge. In terms of professional writing, she serves as an editor for the The Pegasus Review at Stanford University School of Medicine, and as a columnist for the newspaper The Stanford Daily. Outside of Stanford, she serves as a peer reviewer for the Cambridge Educational Research E-Journalin the Faculty of Education. She also serves on the Editorial Board for International Journal of Sustainable Fashion & Textiles, Intellect Ltd. Her article “I Dwell in Possibility:” The Poetics of Space in the Works of 1980s Japanese Avant-garde Fashion Designers is the winner of ACA Best Researcher Award in History of Art, International Academic Awards, 2024, and listed for SSRN eJournal Top Papers - Art History eJournal Top Ten; Arts Administration, Museum Studies, Conservation & Restoration eJournal Top Ten; Aesthetics & Philosophy of Art Journal Top Ten; Anthropology of Kinship Top Ten; Gender, the Body & Sexuality eJournal Top Ten; Art Law eJournal Top Ten; Dance, Fashion, Theater & Performance Studies eJournal Top Ten; Poetry & Poetics eJournal Top Ten; Rhetoric & Public Discourse eJournal Top Ten; Visual, Performing & Fine Arts Education eJournal Top Ten; Literary Theory & Criticism eJournal Top Ten. Her first book, Exploring Art, Knowledge and Movement in Japanese Fashion (Eliva Press Global Ltd, April 9, 2025), tells a philosophical story of the Greek poein, avant-garde Japanese fashion designers, the Paris high fashion scene, and Chinese classics from early modern to contemporary times. It traverses the terrain of history of art, performance studies, religion, and the eighteenth-century literary masterpiece The Dream of Red Chamber (Hongloumeng 紅樓夢, Story of the Stone 石頭記).
Vivien Jiaqian Zhu: Japanese Literature and Culture, Visual and Cultural Studies, Urban Studies, Religious Studies, Linguistic Anthropology, Japanese History.