The Emergence of Early Chinese Literary Genres from Bronze Age Scribal Practice

The Center for East Asian Studies at the University of Pennsylvania presents a talk with Adam Smith.

The long inscriptions on bronze vessels from the Warring States tomb of King Cuo of Zhongshan occupy a distinctive position in the history of early Chinese textual genres. They belong simultaneously to two different traditions: to the earlier tradition of royal Zhou bronze inscriptions, and to the contemporary tradition of Warring States Masters literature. Not least because of the highly self-aware qualities of the Zhongshan texts, these inscriptions help us to understand the roots of Warring States literary genres in the earlier practices of court scribes.

* CEAS Humanities Colloquium Series