ABSTRACT
This book presents the first collection of studies of the senses and sensory experiences in China, filling a gap in sensory research while offering new approaches to Chinese Studies.
Bringing together 12 chapters by literary scholars and historians, this book critically interrogates the deeply rooted meanings that the senses have coded in Chinese culture and society. Built on an exploration of the sensorium in early Chinese thought and late imperial literature, this book reveals the sensory manifestations of societal change and cultural transformation in China from the nineteenth century to the present day. It features in-depth examinations of a variety of concepts, representations, and practices, including aural and visual paradigms in ancient Chinese texts; odours in Ming-Qing literature and Republican Shanghai; the tactility of kissing and the sonic culture of community singing in the Republican era; the socialist sensorium in art, propaganda, memory, and embodied experiences; and contemporary-era multisensory cultural practices.
Engaging with the exciting "sensory turn," this original work makes a unique contribution to the world history of the senses, and will be a valuable resource to scholars and students of Chinese Literature, History, Cultural Studies, and Media.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part I|52 pages
Understanding the Senses in Traditional Culture
chapter 2|23 pages
Aural and Visual Hierarchies in Texts from Early China
part II|80 pages
Reconfiguring the Senses and Modern Sensibility
chapter 5|29 pages
The Kiss as an Art of Love
chapter 6|21 pages
Radio, Sound Cinema, and Community Singing
part III|80 pages
Socialist Corporeality, Sensorium, and Memory
part IV|60 pages
Senses, Media, and Postmodernity