Division of Languages and Literature, Dean of the College, and Chinese Studies Program Present

War of Words: Diplomatic Exchange and Court Literature in Early Medieval China

In early medieval China, also known as the Northern and Southern Dynasties (420–589 CE), the territories once unified under the Han Empire (206 BCE–220 CE) were fragmented and in turmoil. Several dynastic states coexisted uneasily, competing not only militarily but also for cultural prestige and legitimacy. In diplomatic exchanges between rival courts, envoys and courtiers waged a kind of “cultural warfare,” employing a range of rhetorical strategies to assert the political authority and cultural superiority of their respective states.

Previous scholars have framed the Northern and Southern Dynasties as cultural dichotomous, with crude and simple non-Chinese in the North and culturally sophisticated “Han” Chinese in the South. This dichotomy is also couched in gendered terms, with northern culture presented as virile and masculine and its southern counterpart as sensual and feminine. My research finds this framework reductive and misleading and reveals a much more complicated dynamic between the northern and southern cultures. By examining diplomatic writings, letters, anecdotes, and other literary sources from both the North and the South, I show how court centers manipulated a shared cultural legacy to engage in diplomatic negotiation and how, based on this shared cultural repertoire, they also fashioned identities and strove to claim a mantle of political and cultural legitimacy through various forms of discursive practices.  

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For more information, call 845-758-7545, or e-mail [email protected].

Time: 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm EDT/GMT-4

Location: Olin Humanities, Room 102

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