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School of Chinese Scholar Seminar

從《倒鴛鴦》回看《贈書記》：明清易代前後男女顛倒的時代意義

The Significance of Cross-Dressing before and after the Ming–Qing Transition: A Case Study of Zengshu ji and Dao yuanyang

分享嘉賓 Speaker:

Prof. HUI Ming Tak, Ted 許明德 教授

(Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Oxford)

主持人 Moderator:

Prof. CHEN Liangliang 陳亮亮 教授

(School of Chinese, HKU)

日期時間 Date & Time: March 30, 2026 (Mon) 16:00-17:30 (HKT)

語言 Language: Putonghua 普通話

地點 Venue: CRT-7.30, 7/F, Run Run Shaw Tower, Centennial Campus, HKU 香港大學百周年校園逸夫教學樓7樓730室

講座模式 Delivery Mode: Face-to-face & Online (via Zoom)

報名 Registration:

https://hku.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6XwPOCKW0RemX8G

摘要 Abstract:

講座以《贈書記》與《倒鴛鴦》為中心，探討明清之際男女顛倒書寫的文化與政治意涵。從歷史脈絡剖析兩部作品的關係，不難發現性別顛倒不僅是一種文學手法，更是協商社會秩序、道德焦慮與政治斷裂的重要場域。《贈書記》通過賦予女性更大的能動性，並調動當時的時事指涉，以影射政局失序與政權無能，既保持晚明尚「奇」的特色，同時又展示了其中的政治關懷；而《倒鴛鴦》則在清初創傷性的歷史情境中，利用性別顛倒的政治含義，展示清室定鼎前的混亂。本文希望藉此論證明清易代前後的作品之間的繼承與轉化，並說明性別顛倒的再現實際上折射出易代之際文化價值與歷史意識的轉變。

This paper examines the cultural and political significance of cross-dressing in late imperial China through a comparative reading of Zengshu ji (The Gift of a Book) and Dao yuanyang (Reversed Lovebirds). By situating these two texts across the Ming–Qing transition, the study explores how gender inversion operates not merely as a literary device, but as a site for negotiating social order, moral anxiety, and political rupture. While Zengshu ji dramatizes late-Ming concerns by extending the agency of a female protagonist and mobilising contemporary references to critique governmental ineffectiveness, Dao yuanyang reconfigures cross-dressing within the traumatic context of the early Qing. Through this comparison, the paper argues that representations of gender reversal register broader transformations in cultural values and historical consciousness during a period of dynastic change.

講者簡介 About the Speaker:

許明德   牛津大學亞洲及中東研究學系副教授。他的研究領域涵蓋明清文學、書籍史，以及語言的文化政治，尤關注蒙元時代的相關議題。目前，他正在撰寫一部有關十三至十四世紀蒙元時代多語環境的專著。

Ming Tak Ted HUI is Associate Professor of Classical Chinese and Medieval China at the University of Oxford. His research focuses on late imperial Chinese literature, the history of the book, and the cultural politics of language and textual production, with particular attention to the Mongol Yuan dynasty. He is currently working on a monograph on the multilingual environment of the Yuan dynasty in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.

Notice:
1) The seminar will be conducted primarily in a face-to-face mode; Those who cannot attend the seminar in-person could apply for online participation (via Zoom);
2) All those who would like to attend the seminar are required to register online (Click HERE) on a first-come, first-served basis;
3) Email of confirmation will be sent to the registered email addresses and participants have to show the screenshot or print-out version of the email for entry of the seminar venue;
4) Walk-in or late-comers will not be allowed for entry of the seminar venue unless situation allows.
 

ALL are welcome*
*Pre-registration (Click HERE) is required.