Hilary Term 2016
Thursdays 5-6.30pm
Lecture Theatre
Thursday 21 January 2016
Dr. Wu Junqing is a Past and Present Fellow at the Institute of Historical Research (University of London).
Criminals or Holy Men”: The Image of Monks in Late Imperial Literature
The late 16th century (late Ming) Chinese book market witnessed the emergence of a new type of popular literature: courtroom tales, written in colloquial language and sold as cheaply-bound collections. Monks (often Buddhist monks) are completely savaged in this literature: there is no positive image of monks and they are the most common perpetrators of sex-crimes. Such an all-negative portrayal of monks was new to 16th century China and this literary convention extended to the end of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).
Did the “criminal monks” image reflect a certain decline in the prestige of institutional religions and the clergy? Or were there more complex social forces behind it? I propose to use these tales as a starting point to explore these social forces and put this literary portrayal of Buddhist monks in a much broader social, religious and legal context.
Biography
Wu Junqing is a Past and Present Fellow at the Institute of Historical Research (University of London). She gained her doctorate in 2014 from University of Nottingham with a thesis about the construction of “heresy” in late imperial China through historiography. She has submitted a revised version as a book to Brill publishers in October 2015. Her current research interest is on anticlericalism, particularly in late imperial China.
Toby Lincoln
Lecturer in Modern Chinese Urban History
British Association of Chinese Studies Honorary Secretary
Urbanizing China in War and Peace: The Case of Wuxi County
http://www.uhpress.hawaii.edu/p-9329-9780824841003.aspx
School of History
University of Leicester
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