• 2015-08-25

NCL and the Oriental Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic co-hosted a session of “Taiwan Lectures on Chinese Studies”. They invited Prof. Siao-chen Hu, a research fellow at the Institute of Chinese Literature and Philosophy in Academia Sinica, to speak on “Burning the Midnight Oil: The Making of Verse Narrative Texts by Qing Women.” Hu’s lecture explored the development and change in female Plucking Rhymes novels during the Ming and Qing dynasties, as well as the creation, acceptance, presentation, and publication of this genre. Dr. Ondřej Klimeš from the Department of East Asia at the Oriental Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic served as the moderator.

Prof. Hu explained clearly why plucking rhymes (a talking-singing art form popular in southern China) were especially embraced by female readers, as well as how this genre inspired female writers to write novels and engage in female self-expression and literary imagination. The lecture was lively and replete with intriguing information, with active audience participation.