A Premonition of the Fall of the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279): A Reading of a Song Lyric Composed in 1253 about Reveling on the West Lake

Professor Shuen-fu Lin will present a close reading of a song lyric (ci) reportedly written by the scholar-official Wen Jiweng (fl 1253-1275).

Shuen-fu Lin, U-M Professor of Chinese Literature

In this lecture, Professor Shuen-fu Lin will present a close reading of a song lyric (ci) reportedly written by the scholar-official Wen Jiweng (fl 1253-1275) while reveling on the West Lake with fellow scholars on the occasion of their passing the Civil Service Examination for the jinshi (or highest-level) degree. Wen Jiweng's song lyric will be examined in the context of the mode of life of prosperity, social elegance, and graceful leisure of the Southern Song educated elite on the eve of the Mongol conquest of China. A former Director of the Center for Chinese Studies and a former Chair of the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures, Shuen-fu Lin is now Professor of Chinese Literature at the University of Michigan. Professor Lin specializes in the literature and culture of pre-modern China, with special research interests in the poetry and aesthetic theory of the middle periods. He is also interested in early Daoist philosophical literature, the literary dream in poetry and fiction, and garden aesthetics. His recent publications include an article entitled "Those Who Can Fly without Wings: The Depiction of the Ideal Person in the Inner Chapters of the Zhuangzi"; a chapter on "Long Song Lyrics on Objects," included in Zong-qi Cai, ed., How to Read Chinese Poetry: A Guided Anthology published by Columbia University Press; and a chapter on the literature of the Southern Song (1127-1279) for inclusion in the forthcoming The Cambridge HIstory of Chinese Literature being edited by Stephen Owen of Harvard University and Kang-i Sun Chang of Yale University.