The Worst Chinese Poetry: A Virtual Roundtable

Join us for phase two of “The Worst Chinese Poetry: A Virtual Workshop.” This will be two-day roundtable discussion open to the public, following up on phase one, which was a series of fourteen miniature workshops held in early April.

Register here: https://tinyurl.com/WorstPoetry

Organized by our three Chinese literature specialists (Thomas Mazanec, Xiaorong Li, and Hangping Xu), the goal of this project is to rethink Chinese literary history through negative examples. It seeks to interrogate the aesthetic, social, moral, and political criteria by which Chinese-language poems were considered “bad” in different times and places. Selected contributions will be compiled to create a book, The Worst Chinese Poetry: A Critical Anthology.

  • Day 1 (June 1) will feature four thematic roundtables based upon our larger workshop held in April.
  • Day 2 (June 2) will begin with a reflection on the workshop by our three headlines, then will shift to a free-form discussion open to all.

Detailed schedule:

June 1
  • 5:00–5:05: Opening Remarks by Thomas Mazanec
  • 5:05–5:30: Vulgarity and Frivolity, featuring Xiaorong Li, Keith McMahon, and Jason Protass
  • 5:30–5:55: Commenting, Framing, and Judging, featuring Richard John Lynn, Maddalena Poli, Hangping Xu, and Yunshuang Zhang
  • 5:55–6:05: Break
  • 6:05–6:30: Appropriations and Aesthetics, featuring Graham Chamness, Soohyun Lee, Michelle Yeh, and Meimei Zhang
  • 6:30–6:55: Foreignness and Chineseness, featuring Nick Admussen, Angie Chau, and Sixiang Wang
June 2
  • 5:00-5:05: Welcome by Thomas Mazanec
  • 5:05-5:35: Reflections by Ronald Egan, Richard John Lynn, and Michelle Yeh
  • 5:35-5:55: Discussion between Egan, Lynn, and Yeh
  • 5:55-6:05: Break
  • 6:05-6:55: Open Discussion moderated by Thomas Mazanec, Xiaorong Li, and Hangping Xu

We hope to see you there!

Sponsored by the Department of East Asian Languages & Cultural Studies. Poster designed by Q. Z. Lau.