2018
Refilling the Interregnum: Newly Discovered Imperial Porcelains from Zhengtong, Jingtai and Tianshun Reigns (1435–1464) of the Ming Dynasty
Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, September 1–December 16, 2018

The 28 years following the Tumu Crisis was among the most politically unstable periods of the Ming Dynasty. Scholars have attributed this chaos to the constant change in rule. This political confusion marked almost every aspect of society, including that of imperial porcelain production. Featuring 158 items from the collection of the Jingdezhen Imperial Ware Museum, the exhibition and its associated programming explained how artistic innovation and experimentation not only survived, but thrived during this tumultuous period.
2018
The City of Blue and White: Chinese Porcelain and the Early Modern World
By Anne Gerritsen
Cambridge University Press, 2020

The vast majority of the porcelain that circulated throughout the early modern world was made in Jingdezhen. This book traces the development of this remarkable city from its earliest beginnings at the end of the tenth century, when Jingdezhen first emerged as site of imperial production, through the appearance of the first blue-and-white wares in the Yuan dynasty (1275–1368), to the height of its flourishing in the eighteenth century.
2018
The Next Generation of Ming Scholars: A Brief Research Presentation (Travel)
Society for Ming Studies, 2019
Principal Investigator(s): Brigid Vance, Society for Ming StudiesAs part of their new outreach to junior scholars, the Society for Ming Studies invited nine promising Ph.D. candidates, fellows, and visiting professors to present their research at the Society for Ming Studies Annual Meeting at the Association for Asian Studies Conference in Denver, Colorado. The Geiss Hsu Foundation helped supplement the travel costs for the March 2019 meeting. The goal of the session was to grow the community of Ming scholars by helping junior researchers cement new connections.
2018
What the Emperor Built: Architecture and Empire in the Early Ming
By Aurelia Campbell
University of Washington Press, 2020

This book analyzes the empire-wide construction projects of the Yongle Emperor of the Ming dynasty, one of the most famous emperors in Chinese history, to demonstrate how the siting, architecture, and the use of his palaces and temples established his authority and contributed to the legitimization of his usurpation of power. Although a number of books in English have dealt with the architecture of the Song (960–1279) and Yuan (1279–1368) periods, this is the first book in any Western language that specifically addresses the architecture of the Ming.
2017
Approaches to Teaching The Plum in the Golden Vase (The Golden Lotus)
Edited by Andrew Schonebaum
Modern Language Association of America, forthcoming July 2022

The Plum in the Golden Vase (also known as The Golden Lotus) may be the first long work of Chinese fiction written by a single (though anonymous) author. Featuring both complex structural features and psychological and emotional realism, the novel centers on the rich merchant Ximen Qing and his household and describes the physical surroundings and material objects of a Ming dynasty city. The essays in this volume provide ideas for teaching the novel from a variety of approaches, from questions of genre, intertextuality, and the novel’s reception to material culture, family and social dynamics, and power structures in sexual relations.
2017
Many Faces of Mulian: The Precious Scrolls of Late Imperial China
By Rostislav Berezkin
University of Washington Press, 2017

The story of Mulian rescuing his mother’s soul from hell has evolved as a narrative over several centuries in China, especially in the baojuan (precious scrolls) genre. This genre first appeared around the fourteenth century and endures as a living tradition. In exploring the evolution of the story, Berezkin illuminates changes in the literary and religious characteristics of the genre. Ultimately, he reveals the special features of baojuan as a type of performance literature that had its foundations in multiple literary traditions.
2017
Slapping the Table in Amazement: A Ming Dynasty Story Collection by Ling Mengchu
Translated by Shuhui Yang and Yunqin Yang
University of Washington Press, 2018

Slapping the Table in Amazement is the unabridged English translation of the famous story collection Pai’an jingqi by Ling Mengchu (1580–1644), originally published in 1628. The forty lively stories gathered here present a broad picture of traditional Chinese society and include characters from all social levels. We learn of their joys and sorrows, their views about life and death, and their visions of the underworld and the supernatural. The volume includes translations of verse and prologue stories as well as marginal and interlinear comments.
2017
The Book of Swindles: Selections from a Late Ming Collection by Zhang Yingyu
Translated by Christopher Rea and Bruce Rusk
Columbia University Press, 2017

The Book of Swindles, compiled by an obscure writer from southern China, presents a fascinating tableau of criminal ingenuity. The flourishing economy of the late Ming period created overnight fortunes for merchants—and gave rise to a host of smooth operators, charlatans, forgers, and imposters seeking to siphon off some of the new wealth. Each story comes with commentary by the author, who expounds a moral lesson while also speaking as a connoisseur of the swindle. This volume provides a wealth of detail on social life during the late Ming.