UTS ePRESS IS OPEN ACCESS

Mortal Ancestors, Immortal Images: Zhang Dai’s Biographical Portraits

Duncan M. Campbell

Abstract


Towards the end of his long life, the prolific late-Ming historian and essayist Zhang Dai 張岱 (1597-?1684) completed a book that he had been working on for many years. Entitled Portraits of the Eminent and Worthy Immortals of Zhejiang During the Ming Dynasty (You Ming yuyue san bu xiu tuzan 有明於越三不朽名賢圖贊) the book included the short biographies (with poetic panegyrics) and portraits of 109 men and women of Zhang Dai’s hometown of Shaoxing, one of the epicentres of China’s élite cultural life. The book was organised according to the “Three Immortalities of Life”: moral force, meritorious service, and wise words. Zhang also included a number of his own friends and family members in this collection.

This paper discusses aspects the relationship between text and image in this late-imperial Chinese work, both in the context of Zhang Dai’s practice as a biographer who had a strong visual sense and in regard to his particular historical plight as someone who had survived the collapse of one dynasty and who had lived on under its successor regime.

Keywords


Zhang Dai, biographical writing, ancestor portraits

Full Text:

PDF

References


Burkus-Chasson, A. 2002, 'Between Representations: The Historical and the Visionary in Chen Hongshou's Yaji, "' The Art Bulletin, vol. 84, no. 2: 315â33."

Burkus-Chasson, A. 2010, Through a Forest of Chancellors: Fugitive Histories in Liu Yuan's Lingyan ge, an Illustrated Book from Seventeenth-century Suzhou. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.

Cahill, J.. 1982, The Compelling Image: Nature and Seventeenth-Century Chinese Painting. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.

Campbell, D. M. 2010, 'Flawed Jade: Zhang Dai's Family Biographies, ' Ming Studies, no. 62: 25â55.

Cao Shujuan æ¹æ·å¨. 2006, 'Yuanzhou yu zhouyuanâWang Ruqian hufang shenfen de zhuanhuan yu juxian' åèèèåâ汪æ±è¬æ¹è«èº«ä»½çè½æèå±é [The Boat in the Garden and the Boat as Garden: Transitions and Limitations of Identity in Wang Ruqian's Boat Garden, ' Qinghua xuebao æ¸è¯å­¸å ±, vol. 26, no. 1: 197â235.

Clunas, C. 1997, Pictures and Visuality in Early Modern China. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.

Clunas, C. 2007, Empire of Great Brightness: Visual and Material Cultures of Ming China, 1368â1644. University of Hawai'i Press, Honolulu.

Fisher, Tom. 1984, 'Loyalist Alternatives in the Early Ch'ing, ' Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, vol. 44, no. 1: 83â122.

Goodrich, L. Carrington & Chaoying Fang. (eds) 1976, Dictionary of Ming Biography, 1368â1644, 2 vols.Columbia University Press, New York & London.

He Guanbiao ä½å å½ª. 1986, 'Zhang Dai bieming, zihao, jiguan ji zunian kaobian' 張岱å¥åå­èç±è²«ååå¹´è辨 [An Examination into Zhang Dai's Names, Place of Registration, and Date of Death], Zhonghua wenshi luncong 中è¯æå²è«å¢, no. 3, 167â93.

Hegel, R. E. 1998, Reading Illustrated Fiction in Late Imperial China. Stanford University Press, Stanford.

Hegel, R. E. 2006, 'Dreaming the Past: Memory and Continuity Beyond the Ming Fall, ' in Trauma and Transcendence in Early Qing Literature, (eds) W. L. Idema, W. Li & E. Widmer. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, & London: 345â74.

Ho Koon-piu 1994, 'Should We Die as Martyrs to the Ming Cause?: Scholar-officials' Views on Martyrdom During the Ming-Qing Transition, ' Oriens Extremus, vol. 37, no. 2: 123â51.

Hou Han shu å¾æ¼¢æ¸ [History of the Latter Han]. 1965, Zhonghua shuju, Beijing.

Hu Yimin è¡çæ°. 2002a, Zhang Dai pingzhuan 張岱è©å³ [A Critical Biography of Zhang Dai]. Nanjing daxue chubanshe, Nanjing.

Hu Yimin è¡çæ°. 2002b, Zhang Dai yanjiu 張岱ç ç©¶ [Research on Zhang Dai]. Anhui jiaoyu chubanshe, Hefei.

Hummel, A. W. (ed.) 1943, Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period, 1644â1912. Government Printin Office, Washington.

Kafalas, P. A. 1998, 'Weighty Matters, Weightless Form: Politics and the Late Ming Xiaopin Writer, ' Ming Studies, vol. 39: 50â85.

Kafalas, P. A. 2007, In Limpid Dreams: Nostalgia and Zhang Dai's Reminiscences of the Ming.

Legge, J. (trans.) 1960, The Chinese Classics. 5 vols. Hong Kong University Press, Hong Kong.

Leys, S. (trans.) 1997, The Analects of Confucius. W. W. Norton, New York & London.

Nienhauser, W. H. (ed.) 1986, The Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature. Indiana University Press, Bloomington

Park, J. P. 2012, Art by the Book: Painting Manuals and the Leisure Life in Late Ming China. University of Washington Press, Seattle.

She Deyu ä½å¾·ä½. 2006, Dushi wenrenâZhang Dai zhuan é½å¸æ人âå¼µå²±å³ [Metropolitan Man-of-letters: A Biography of Zhang Dai]. Zhejiang renmin chubanshe, Hangzhou.

Spence, J. D. 2005, 'Presidential Address: Cliffhanger Days: A Chinese Family in the Seventeenth Century, ' The American Historical Review, vol. 110, no. 1: 1â10.

Spence, J. D. 2007, Return to Dragon Mountain: Memories of a Late Ming Man. Viking, New York.

Struve, L. A. 1982, 'The Hsü Brothers and Semiofficial Patronage of Scholars in the K'ang-hsi Period, ' Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, vol. 42, no. 1: 231â66.

Struve, L. A. 1984, The Southern Ming, 1644â1662. Yale University Press, New Haven & London.

Struve, L. A. 1988, 'The Southern Ming, 1644â1662' in The Cambridge History of China: Volume 7: The Ming Dynasty, 1368â1644, Part I, (eds.) F. W. Mote & D. Twitchett. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: 641â725.

Stuart, J. 1997, 'Calling Back the Ancestor's Shadow: Chinese Ritual and Commemorative Portraits, ' Oriental Art, vol. 42, no. 3: 8â17.

Stuart, J. & Rawski, E. 2001, Worshipping the Ancestors: Chinese Commemorative Portraits. Stanford University Press, Stanford.

Vinograd, R. 1992, Boundaries of the Self: Chinese Portraits, 1600â1900. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Wakeman, F., Jr. 1984, 'Romantics, Stoics, and Martyrs in Seventeenth-Century China, ' Journal of Asian Studies, vol. 43, no. 4: 631â65.

Watson, B. (trans.) 1968, The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu. Columbia University Press, New York.

Wu, K. T. 1943, 'Ming Printing and Printers, ' Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, vol. 7, no. 3: 203â60.

Xia Xianchun å¤å¸æ·³. 1989, Mingmo qicaiâZhang Dai lun ææ«å¥æâå¼µå²±è« [A Late Ming GeniusâOn Zhang Dai]. Shehui kexueyuan, Shanghai.

Zhang Dai 張岱. 1985, Langhuan wenji çå¬æé [Paradise Collection], (ed.) Yun Gao é²å. Yueluchubanshe, Changsha.

Zhang Dai 張岱. 1991, Zhang Dai shi wen ji 張岱詩æé [Collected Prose and Poetry of Zhang Dai]. Shangha guji chubanshe, Shanghai.

Zhang Dai 張岱. 2001, Taoan mengyi: Xihu Mengxun é¶è´å¤¢æ¶ : 西æ¹å¤¢å° [Dream Memories of Taoan: Dream Quest for West Lake], (eds) Xia Xianchun & Cheng Weirong ç¨ç¶­æ¦®. Shanghai guji chubanshe, Shanghai.

Zhang Dai 張岱. 2005, Yuyue ming yidai sanbuxiu tuzan æ¼è¶æâ代ä¸ä¸æ½åè´ [Portraits of the Eminent Worthies Immortals of Zhejiang During the Ming Dynasty Whose Lives Embodied the Three Eternals]. Zhongguo dang'an chubanshe, Beijing.

Zhang Zetong å¼µåæ¡. 2009, Zhang Dai tan gao 張岱æ¢ç¨¿ [Draft Explorations into Zhang Dai]. Fenghuang chubanshe, Nanjing.

Zhou Xibao å¨é«ä¿. 1984, Zhongguo gudai fushi shi 中åå¤ä»£æé£¾å² [A History of Ancient Chinese Clothing]. Zhongguo xiju chubanshe, Beijing.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5130/portal.v9i3.2550


Share this article:

ISSN: 1449-2490

Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.