Please wait a minute...
Frontiers of History in China

ISSN 1673-3401

ISSN 1673-3525(Online)

CN 11-5740/K

Postal Subscription Code 80-980

Front. Hist. China    2016, Vol. 11 Issue (3) : 339-375    https://doi.org/10.3868/s020-005-016-0020-4
Orginal Article
The Scholar’s Robe: Material Culture and Political Power in Early Modern China
Minghui Hu()
Department of History, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA
 Download: PDF(3573 KB)  
 Export: BibTeX | EndNote | Reference Manager | ProCite | RefWorks
Abstract

This essay explores the history of the scholar’s robe as a nexus of material culture and political power. It focuses on the controversial garment —called ren 衽—found pervasively in the Confucian canon and confirmed in archaeological findings. But for hundreds of years there have been disagreements and changes concerning which specific term is identified with which part of the robe, especially involving the use of ren in the scholar’s robe. The bulk of my analysis deals with two prominent scholars’ monographs on the robe: Huang Zongxi’s Investigation of the Robe (Shenyi kao ) and Jiang Yong’s pointed rebuttal titled Mistakes in “Investigation of the Robe” (Shenyi kao wu ). The intellectual and political configurations of both works are analyzed in depth in order to contrast two options of cultural identity: Chinese superiority versus cosmopolitan universalism.

Keywords scholar’s robe      long garment      Huang Zongxi      Jiang Yong      cultural identit     
Issue Date: 19 September 2016
 Cite this article:   
Minghui Hu. The Scholar’s Robe: Material Culture and Political Power in Early Modern China[J]. Front. Hist. China, 2016, 11(3): 339-375.
 URL:  
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fhc/EN/10.3868/s020-005-016-0020-4
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fhc/EN/Y2016/V11/I3/339
Viewed
Full text


Abstract

Cited

  Shared   
  Discussed