Seven Lectures on Wang Guowei’s Renjian Cihua

<p><em>Renjian cihua</em> is a masterpiece of literary criticism written by Wang Guowei (1877–1927) a scholar of the Chinese classics who lived during the late Qing and early Republican periods. Since its publication in 1908 and 1909 it has been one of the most influential academic works in China. Elegantly written Wang’s set of remarks on <i>ci</i> poetry (<i>cihua</i>) retains a traditional Chinese impressionistic critical approach and can present difficulties to the common reader. This set of lectures by Florence Chia-ying Yeh explains the text to readers making accessible Wang’s famous theory of <i>jingjie</i> (aesthetic realm or artistic conception) his views on how the <i>ci</i> differs from the <i>shi</i> genre of Chinese poetry and his critical judgments of various famous <i>ci</i> poets from the Tang Five Dynasties and Song periods. The lectures are presented here in an English translation by Maija Bell Samei.</p>