Project MUSE®: Tang Studies - Latest Articles
https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/778
Project MUSE®: Latest articles in Tang Studies.daily12026-05-15T00:00:00-05:00text/htmlen-USNo. 1 (1983) through current issueLatest Articles: Tang StudiesTWOProject MUSE®Tang Studies1759-76330737-5034Latest articles in Tang Studies. Feed provided by Project MUSE®Imperial Engagements Imagined: Accounts of Northern Dynasties Rulers in the Early Record of Mount Wutai 五臺
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/975110
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The Northern Qi Hermit Wang Ju lived on this mountain. He was fond of techniques for nourishing life. In the Wuding years (543–550), Prince Wenxiang of Bohai1 was in Bingzhou where he set up an abstinence ceremony2 for the fourfold community on behalf of his mother, the Imperial Concubine Pilou. The prince himself led the hundred officials. The vanguard cleared the road, and the onlookers kept their distance.At that time, he saw a man with a beautiful pink complexion whose eyebrows and beard were quite unusual. The man’s clothing was florid, and his appearance was most extraordinary. This man came one hundred paces in front of the horse, swung his arms and went away. The vanguard ran after him on a galloping horse
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-15T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/778/image/coversmallImperial Engagements Imagined: Accounts of Northern Dynasties Rulers in the Early Record of Mount Wutai 五臺2025-11-19text/htmlen-USImperial Engagements Imagined: Accounts of Northern Dynasties Rulers in the Early Record of Mount Wutai 五臺2025-11-192025TWOProject MUSE®1157642026-05-15T00:00:00-05:002025-11-19Shi-Poetry as a Venue for Political Thinking: The Case of the Tibetan Border
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/975111
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Though it is well known that medieval Chinese shi 詩-poetry served not infrequently as a venue for political expression, the archive remains underexploited as a source for the history of political thought. One reason poetry has sometimes been overlooked in such historiography has to do with the metrically delimited, robustly conventional, and aesthetically driven character of the form, which constrained its capacity to articulate complex arguments. These constraints, however, were not always obstacles to interesting political thought; indeed, they could sometimes enable, shape, and spread political visions diverging from the mainstream of other genres. To suggest this point, this essay examines poetry from the
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-15T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/778/image/coversmallShi-Poetry as a Venue for Political Thinking: The Case of the Tibetan Border2025-11-19text/htmlen-USShi-Poetry as a Venue for Political Thinking: The Case of the Tibetan Border2025-11-192025TWOProject MUSE®1558532026-05-15T00:00:00-05:002025-11-19Literati Families in Jianghuai: How Center-oriented Migration Reshaped Regional Power Structure in Tang China
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/975112
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In his recent book, Christian de Pee has elaborated on the historical vicissitudes of two capitals in Tang China, vividly explaining how the contemporary literati shaped literary culture and consolidated the image of the capitals. From their perspective, Chang’an 長安 and Luoyang 洛陽 stood at the center of almost everything, as the center of cosmic order as well as the center of power and wealth in the secular world.1 When mentioning the players in image building endeavor for these two capitals, de Pee, however, uses the term “literati” without specifying their social and political backgrounds.2 To understand this issue better, I hunted for clues in the background of the Tang literati who composed the works cited by
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-15T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/778/image/coversmallLiterati Families in Jianghuai: How Center-oriented Migration Reshaped Regional Power Structure in Tang China2025-11-19text/htmlen-USLiterati Families in Jianghuai: How Center-oriented Migration Reshaped Regional Power Structure in Tang China2025-11-192025TWOProject MUSE®1925952026-05-15T00:00:00-05:002025-11-19Deceased without a Name: The Tang Court’s Production of Muzhiming for Palace Women
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/975113
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Though many Tang (618–907) muzhiming 墓誌銘 for palace women survive, they are challenging materials to work with. In this paper, examining 106 such pieces from the Early and High Tang periods, I argue that, due to their unique nature and format, these muzhiming are not reliable sources of individual information on palace women, but they do allow scholars to reconstruct a collective identity of the women who were an integral part of Tang court culture. In addition, a careful examination of subtle changes in these muzhiming in terms of their rhetoric, format, and content reveals the Tang court’s changing policies and attitudes toward deceased palace women over time. Moreover, the erasure of the individual names of
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-15T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/778/image/coversmallDeceased without a Name: The Tang Court’s Production of Muzhiming for Palace Women2025-11-19text/htmlen-USDeceased without a Name: The Tang Court’s Production of Muzhiming for Palace Women2025-11-192025TWOProject MUSE®1652552026-05-15T00:00:00-05:002025-11-19The Epitaph for Lady Li (793–842), Widow of the Eunuch Official Liu Honggui (775–826): A Translation with Introduction
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/975114
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An aristocratic woman in the Tang dynasty was supposed to be “thrice-dependent.”1 As a girl, she was dependent on her father; as a married woman, dependent on her husband; as a widow, dependent on her sons. Of these three stations, only two were chosen for her. Her widowhood was not. Yet when she became a widow, she could exercise some agency in choosing her own life course. Aristocratic women who were married to eunuch officials might present a special case. Increasingly through the years of the Tang dynasty, eunuch officials were permitted to enter into marriage, usually with high-ranking women, and to form families through adoption. Some had as many as seven sons.2 The possibility of not becoming dependent on
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-15T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/778/image/coversmallThe Epitaph for Lady Li (793–842), Widow of the Eunuch Official Liu Honggui (775–826): A Translation with Introduction2025-11-19text/htmlen-USThe Epitaph for Lady Li (793–842), Widow of the Eunuch Official Liu Honggui (775–826): A Translation with Introduction2025-11-192025TWOProject MUSE®780352026-05-15T00:00:00-05:002025-11-19Workshop Report: Inscribing Identity: Epigraphic Habits in Medieval China
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/975115
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Marking the tenth anniversary of the New Frontiers in the Study of Medieval China series, the seventh meeting and second symposium was held at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) on August 1–2, 2025, with generous support from the FAU and the Tang Research Foundation. Co-organized by Michael Höckelmann (Professor, FAU), Jessey Choo (Associate Professor, Rutgers University-New Brunswick, USA); and Alexei Ditter (Professor, Reed College, USA), it brought together seventeen scholars representing diverse disciplines, periods, and academic ranks from Europe, North America, and East Asia to investigate epigraphic habits and their contributions to the formation of identity in medieval China.The
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-15T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/778/image/coversmallWorkshop Report: Inscribing Identity: Epigraphic Habits in Medieval China2025-11-19text/htmlen-USWorkshop Report: Inscribing Identity: Epigraphic Habits in Medieval China2025-11-192025TWOProject MUSE®159082026-05-15T00:00:00-05:002025-11-19Accessions and Departures of Tang Emperors
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/975116
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The table below is meant to be a convenient reference for the birth and death dates of Tang emperors, as well as the dates of their accession to and departure (by one means or another) from the throne. Dates have been converted to the Western calendar.Empress Wu’s reign, of course, belonged to her own quite distinct Zhou regime, with the Tang restored only upon her deposition; but she is counted here among Tang rulers, as is the usual practice of historians. It is not always appreciated that had the Tang not in 705 been formally re-established, it would have appeared in retrospect, lasting from 618 to 690, as simply another of the many short-lived dynasties in the usual Nanbeichao and Sui model.One of the perhaps
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-15T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/778/image/coversmallAccessions and Departures of Tang Emperors2025-11-19text/htmlen-USAccessions and Departures of Tang Emperors2025-11-192025TWOProject MUSE®90522026-05-15T00:00:00-05:002025-11-19Textual Practices of Literary Training in Medieval China by Christopher M.B. Nugent (review)
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/975117
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Those of us who read the work of medieval Chinese writers are all familiar with the immense body of knowledge they could bring to bear. I for one always wonder how they did it. Sure, without the distractions of modern life—sans email, social media, video games (horrors) and more—they had time to concentrate. But still. How could they get all that before their eyes, into their brains, and out to their fingers? Or, rather, how did they? Because they did. There are of course brilliant studies of education in premodern China. They often focus on institutions and systems and illuminate a great deal. Little of the actual material stuff of learning was available and the picture was generally indirect. That has now
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-15T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/778/image/coversmallTextual Practices of Literary Training in Medieval China by Christopher M.B. Nugent (review)2025-11-19text/htmlen-USTextual Practices of Literary Training in Medieval China by Christopher M.B. Nugent (review)2025-11-192025TWOProject MUSE®142732026-05-15T00:00:00-05:002025-11-19Vie de Xuanzang: Pèlerin et traducteur by Huili and Yancong (review)
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/975118
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Xuanzang 玄奘 (602–664) is a figure of towering importance not just in Chinese but in world history, and his life and work are extraordinary well-documented for anyone before modern times. In particular, we have both his own Xiyu ji 西域記 (Record of travels to the western regions), and the biography by his disciple Huili 慧立 (active 629–665), further edited and supplemented by another student, Yancong 彥悰. Yet there still remain many mysteries and points of contention about his life and achievements. He has consistently been the object of attention from French scholars, ever since the seminal work of Stanislas Julien (1797–1873).1 There have been a number of innovative studies of Xuanzang in the 21st century as well.2
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Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-15T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/778/image/coversmallVie de Xuanzang: Pèlerin et traducteur by Huili and Yancong (review)2025-11-19text/htmlen-USVie de Xuanzang: Pèlerin et traducteur by Huili and Yancong (review)2025-11-192025TWOProject MUSE®240722026-05-15T00:00:00-05:002025-11-19