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Cornell Classical Chinese Colloquium 古文品讀

The Cornell Classical Chinese Colloquium (CCCC) 古文品讀 is a reading group for scholars interested in premodern Sinographic text (古文). The group meets monthly during the semester to explore a variety of classical Chinese texts and styles. Other premodern texts linked to classical Chinese in Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese have been explored. Presentations include works from the earliest times to the 20th century. Workshop sessions are led by local, national, and international scholars.

photo of colloquium session people with slide of incense burner in the background
CCCC session with Professor Bruce Rusk.

Participants with any level of classical Chinese experience are welcome to attend.

A stone engraved in classical Chinese
  • At each session, a presenter guides the group in a reading of a classical Chinese text. Attendees discuss historical, literary, linguistic, and other aspects of the text, working together to resolve difficulties in comprehension and translation.

  • No preparation is required; all texts will be distributed at the meeting.

Contact eap-guwen@cornell.edu(link sends email) for more information and
subscribe to CCCC news(link sends email) for updates about events. Please make sure to send your subscription request from the email address at which you wish to receive CCCC updates.

Fall 2025

All text-reading sessions take place in Rockefeller Hall, Room 374 (Asian Studies Lounge) from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. unless noted otherwise.

9/19 "Rhubarb under Embargo: Medicine and Diplomacy in the Qing"(link is external)

Xu Chang, Transnational Asian Studies, Rice University


10/10 Female Spirit Mediums in Late Imperial China(link is external)

Kang Xiaofei, World Religions, George Washington University


11/7 "Across Waters and Borders - Shuilu fahui 水陸法會 (Water-Land Dharma Assembly) Beyond China"(link is external)

Liu Jingyu, Religion, Rollins College of Liberal Arts


11/21 Peach Spring Grotto: Vernacular Rituals of the Plum Mountain Region, Hunan(link is external)

Mark Meulenbeld, Chinese History and Cultural Programme, Hong Kong University


Previous Text Readings

1/31 “Biographies of Exemplary Women” in 19th century Vietnam(link is external)

 Kathlene Baldanza, Asian Studies, Penn State University


2/28 “Accidental Status: Reassessing Protection Privilege in Northern Song (960-1127)”(link is external)

Eric S. Lee, History, Cornell University


3/21 "Sacred Performances and Epigraphic Echoes: Temple Festivals in North China during Late Medieval China"(link is external)

Yumeng Zhang, Asian Literature, Religion & Culture, Cornell University


4/18 Cornell Classical Chinese Colloquium(link is external)

Thomas P. Kelly, East Asian Languages and Civilizations, Harvard University

9/27 Bingta menghen lu 病榻夢痕 [Traces of Dreams on a Sick Man’s Bed](link is external)

Patricia Buckley Ebrey, History, University of Washington


10/25 Burning Wood to Fire Ceramics in Jingdezhen(link is external)

Chen Kaijun, East Asian Studies, Brown University


11/2 Blood and the injured body in literate Chinese medicine: Two cases from the formulary of Xu Shuwei(link is external)

Yi-Li Wu, Women’s and Gender Studies and History, University of Michigan


11/15 Classical Chinese in Mexico, in 1923, on Mesmerism: Two Examples(link is external)

Xiangjun Feng, East Asian Studies, University of Toronto

2/2 The Emergence of the Yuan non-Han Ancestry in Late Qing North China(link is external)

Tomoyasu Liyama, Faculty of Letters, Arts, and Sciences, Waseda University


3/8 Animating Forces(link is external)

Andrew Schonebaum, East Asian Studies, University of Maryland


3/22 Epitaphs Made Widely Available(link is external)

Man Xu, History, Tufts University


4/12 Naming and Knowledge in the East Asian Sea.(link is external)

Su-yeon Seo, Asian Studies, Cornell University

9/22 Cosmic Correlations in Dali-Kingdom Buddhism(link is external) 

Megan Bryson, Religious Studies, University of Tennessee


10/20 Old Ghosts in Tang Chang'an: Two Stories(link is external) 

Xin Wen, East Asian Studies, Princeton University


11/10 Kang Youwei's Roman Diaries (1904)(link is external) 

Haun Saussy, East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago

10/1 Songs to Encourage the Cessation of Litigation (Xisong ge 息訟歌) in Ming and Qing.(link is external)

Joseph Dennis, History, University of Wisconsin


10/29 Qiu Jun's "Daxue yanyi bu"(link is external)

Tim Brook, History, University of British Columbia


11/12 “Yuan-Ming Nourishing Life (yangsheng) Texts: the Discourse of Men.”(link is external)

He Bian, History and East Asian Studies, Princeton University


12/3 Fan Zongshi's "Jiang shouju yuanchi ji" and the Reception of an Impossible Text(link is external)

Nathan Vedal, East Asian Studies, University of Toronto

2/12 Writing and Printing for Praying: Colophons of Dali Buddhist Scriptures(link is external)

Yuanyuan Duan, Asian Studies, Cornell University


3/5 The Dao of soliciting a patron:  Zheng Xia   (1041-1119)'s "Letter presented to [the] Transport Intendant"  上漕車書 (Anon, Guo chao er bai jia ming xian wen cui  國朝二百家名賢文粹)(link is external)

Beverly Bossler, History, Brown University


4/2 Qianlong Emperor’s Poem, “On the Mirror”(link is external) 

Sophie Volpp, East Asian Languages and Cultures and Comparative Literature, UC Berkely


5/8 Phonology and Human Difference in the Late Ming: Chen Di's "Mao shi guyin kao zixu (Author's Preface to Investigation of the Ancient Pronunciations in the Mao Odes)" (1606)(link is external)

Leigh Jenco, Government, London School of Economics and Political Science

10/26 One of the earliest miracle tales about Guanshiyin (Avalokiteśvara)(link is external)

Victor Mair, East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Pennsylvania


11/2 “Expressions of the heart from the exuberances of wind, clouds, moon, and dew”: encounters with a poetess in the Record of Lingering Fragrance (1814)(link is external)

Hoai Khai Tran, Asian Studies, Cornell University


11/21 Digital humanities - new ways to mine online databases for Chinese Studies(link is external)

Michael Stanley-Baker, History and Medical Humanities, Nanyang Technological University

9/8 Excessive Cult or Proper Ritual? Religious Boundaries and Imperial Politics as Seen from a Shanghai Manuscript”〈柬大王泊旱〉(link is external)

Guolong Lai, Art History, University of Florida


9/29 The Bells of Liang Qi 梁其鐘 : A Musical Reading of a 9th-century BCE Chinese Bronze Inscription(link is external)

Jeffrey Tharsen, Humanities, University of Chicago


10/20 Cantonese Migrant Networks: Two Stone Inscriptions from the West River Basin(link is external)

Steven B. Miles, History, University of Washington in St. Louis


11/17 A Ming Dynasty Inscription on the Sublime Relationship between Humans and Spirits at the Lingqiu Temple at Fajiu Mountain, Zhangzi county, Changzhi, Shanxi (明嘉靖九年(1530)重修靈湫廟記神神人人之事:山西長治長子縣發鳩山的靈湫廟碑文)(link is external)

Robin McNeal, Asian Studies, Cornell University

Vietnamese Regulated Verse in Two Poets: Nguyễn Trãi (1380-1442) and Hồ Xuân Hương (1772-1822)

John Phan, Asian Studies, Rutgers University


Chan Buddhist Interpretations of the Investigation of Things (gewu): Dahui Zonggao (1089-1163) and Hanshan Deqing (1546-1623)

Ari Borrell, International Bibliography, Modern Language Association


Preface, Guiyi fang

Xiao Rong, History, Shenzhen University


Negotiated Past: Zeng Bu’s (1036-1107) Diary and Court Politics in Twelfth-Century China

Yung-chang Tung, East Asian Languages and Civilizations, Harvard University

2/19 Cho Soang's 赵素昂 (1887-1958) Preface to Hanguo wenyuan 韓國文苑 (1932)(link is external)

Han Songyeol, East Asian Studies, Princeton University


Ming Tongue-Biting Cases

Chen Shiau-Yun, History, Cornell University


“Chongxiu hetaosidagu miao bei ji” 重修河套四⼤大股廟碑記, Wang Jianxun 王建勳, 1898

Wang Yi, History, Binghamton University


How to Read Editorial Principles: Yu Chu xinzhi 虞初新志 and Installment Publication

Son Suyoung, Asian Studies, Cornell University