Hong Kong, The Best China, the survival of the civilised Chinese literature of leisure and sentiment, the biji tradition

*Postponed due to Covid outbreak to 2022*

Abstract

Three titles – Xi Xi’s The Teddy Bear Chronicles, Leo and Esther Lee’s memoir Ordinary Days, and the anthology of essays The Best China - in the recently published Hong Kong Literature series, from the Chinese University of Hong Kong Press, are testimony to the survival in Hong Kong (until very recent times) of the wonderful Chinese biji tradition. In his seminar, Professor Minford will discuss this threatened tradition in the light of recent developments in Hong Kong.

About the speaker

John Minford studied classics at Winchester and Balliol College Oxford, and then Chinese Literature with David Hawkes at Oxford and Liu Ts’un-yan at The Australian National University, where he is currently Emeritus Professor of Chinese, having retired in 2017 to live in the Wairarapa. John was Professor of Chinese at Auckland University from 1987-1991 and is currently the Sin Wai Kin Distinguished Professor of Chinese Culture and Translation at the Hang Seng University of Hong Kong. His translations include the last forty chapters of The Story of the Stone, a selection of Pu Songling’s Strange Tales, The Art of War, The Tao Te Ching and the I Ching, all for Penguin Classics

Date: Thursday 2 September 2021
Time:  2—3 pm
Venue:  AM106, Kelburn Campus (Map)
In-person attendance:  Register Here