Interesting/funny question from a student in my Chinese class today... Does anyone know if the slang "ate" (as in "to do something very well") has made it into Chinese? Or, I guess, how would this be translated to Chinese if you had to...?

If you are a supporter and reader of @contingent-mag.bsky.social one of the biggest things you can do to help us at the moment is get this CFP to the NTT folks in your life. The fracturing of social media has made it very difficult to get the word out esp. to adjuncts and VAPs.

Funny thing about learning/practicing Chinese, the best way to look up how to say many things is still to work backwards from Chinese-language sites focused on teaching English. So many more resources for studying Chinese now, but still so far behind...

#CFP 2026 Berkeley-Stanford Graduate Student Conference in Modern Chinese Humanities, April 10-11 at UC Berkeley. Submit paper proposals by November 8 for consideration.

Little did anyone know, the gashadokuro would eventually be available for purchase at your local Home Depot, not to annihilate one's enemies, but to annoy one's suburban housing association at Halloween.

...is there a short explanation of why both of these forms of 過 exist and seem to be displayed randomly, esp. when the simplified form is just 过?

The editors of The Shanghai Literary Review, a distinguished print & digital magazine founded in 2016, have made an alarming announcement, stating: "We’re writing today with an important and difficult update." Why the delay? What happened? 👉 Statement: shanghailiterary.substack.com/p/issue-9-up...

Xie Lingyun

I heard PT Anderson has a new movie coming out about wedding season in Taiwan... It's called "One Pān-toh After Another"

Interviewer: Can you explain this gap in your resume? 郗愔: 棲心絕穀，修黃老之術。後以疾去職，乃築宅章安，有終焉之志。十許年間，人事頓絕。

Honored and grateful to be among those chosen for this grant!

All small animals are the baby of whatever the closest larger animal is. This is what we mean by "making kin."

On April 1, University of Alberta community members joined The Landing for speeches and performances to celebrate Transgender Day of Visibility. thegatewayonline.ca/2025/04/the-...

Opinion: The arts are being left in the dust "The humanities are not a luxury, they are essential. It is time for the university and the government to reflect that reality in their budgetary decisions." buff.ly/CcMUyQI

Ecocrit question...I see the word "entanglement" come up a lot lately. It makes sense even without context, but I'm curious if this is a concept with a traceable history? Does all talk of components of ecosystems as 'entangled' refer back to the same source? Feel like I'm missing something...

Your move, Digital Orientalists @digitalorientalist.bsky.social

Happy Purrsday Evening from adoptable kitty Mason! Mason is doing his stretches and is getting ready to receive a whole bunch of pets in his loving foster home, what a doll! This sweetheart is 3 years old, he does well with other kitties, and his adoption fee is by donation. Mason will be an

"As an organization, the AAS stands with its transgender students and members and decries attempts to dehumanize or stigmatize them in any fashion." https://buff.ly/4b8M3Jo

If this is the sort of thing that thrills you, might I humbly recommend the latest (open access!) issue of JEACS, on Commentary and Exegesis journals.univie.ac.at/index.php/je...

/postmedieval/ is launching a new mentorship programme to facilitate publication for scholars whose first language is not English. 👇 find all the details here 👇 sites.google.com/view/postmed...

This Gary Bettinson interview with Johnnie To in Asian Cinema (2024) is truly amazing. Other people who Johnnie To considers overrated Anthony Hopkins and Daniel Day Lewis.

another beautiful vol. of the @JournalEACS with a special issue on commentary & exegesis in Chinese literature, philosophy and history, ed. by Marie Bizais, and as usual, open access journals.univie.ac.at/index.php/je...

Hey #medievalsky, do I know anyone who might be interested in giving a paper in a session on global miscellanies and commonplace books at SHARP 2025? Topics of other papers in the session include a 16th-c London merchant's commonplace book and an 18th-c Mughal courtier's literary miscellanies.

Chinese question... to refer to the "materiality" of books and writing, as in books as physical objects, the act of writing with a pen or brush, the qualities of paper, etc., would 物質性 work as a translation? Or is there a better way to put it?

Bluesky academics, let's get to know each other! Quote this & tell me: 1) a project you are working on & 2) an odd idea/theory you aren't working on but keep thinking about. 1) Reading strange tales (志怪) as alt history of Chinese landscape lit 2) only semi-ironic defense of translating 仙 as "fairy"

Here's also a starter pack for East Asian History: go.bsky.app/AYW9PfA

Looks like a super cool talk on slavery in medieval East Asia by Don Wyatt is coming up on Dec 3 and there’s a hybrid option! #medievalsky claremont.libcal.com/event/13468303

even our cat is on bsky now...

Another q for fellow Chinese studies ppl: (short thread) Was discussing a review of 2 books from the 90's w/ grad students. The reviewer praised both for their use of close reading and philology, contrasted against 'postmodernist' (etc) analysis. New to the field, students wanted some context...

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that the empire, long divided, must unite; long united, must divide

I just learned that a complete translation of "Biographies of Eminent Monks" 高僧傳 was published in 2022, translated by Yang Tianshu. I'm kind of surprised I didn't hear about this sooner. Does anyone have any experience using this translation? Seems to be open access: terebess.hu/zen/eminent....

This looks pretty cool: Open access NTU course on Wei-Jin Northern and Southern Dynasties history by Prof. Kan Huai-chen. 15 video lectures, each about 2.5 hrs long (!). There are also downloadable notes for each lecture. ocw.aca.ntu.edu.tw/ntu-ocw/ocw/...

Does anyone know if there are any English translations (full or partial) of Jiandeng xinhua 剪燈新話?

±Blurb #Hightower is done With a bit of luck 📣 Out on July 1st 😬 … more on that later… Meanwhile here is our Pub's note with special thanks for their support to @jamesabenn.bsky.social, @bokane.org, @tommazanec.bsky.social, @protass.bsky.social, and last but certainly—not—least: @evnj.bsky.social

"The restriction of the Yaoguai’s agency to predictable, encoded movements raises awareness of the complexities of femininity and womanhood set in a fictionalized version of ancient China." - Ian Boes niche-canada.org/2023/10/24/w... #PrideMonth #envhum #genderstudies #videogame

#WorldTurtleDay "Most remaining alligators now live in concrete pens, and only two Yangtze softshell turtles remain, both male." - Brian Lander niche-canada.org/2024/04/10/t... #envhist #biodiversity #rivers #ecology

YES YES YES YES YES YES

A beautiful map (focus is on the Luo river basin) from Li Xiaojie's 李晓杰 forthcoming 1st vol. of the Shuijing zhu tuji 水經注圖集 (Atlas of the River Classic commentary). Looks like a great combination of Yang Shoujing's early 20th c. maps + Tan Qixiang's historical atlas

I feel like I should already know this, but does anyone on here know when "Han fu, Tang shi, Song ci, Yuan qu, Ming-Qing xiaoshuo" 漢賦唐詩宋詞元曲明清小說 first appeared as the standard understanding of the 'dominant' literary form in each period? Is it possible to credit a single person?

All articles from our recently published special issue of postmedieval, "Imagining East Asia in the Palaeoanthropocene" are available to all for the month of February! Please have a look! #envhum #ecocrit

Enjoying these 14th century illustrations of the Chu ci's 'Nine Songs', by Zhang Wo 張渥, imitating the Song dynasty painter Li Gonglin 李公麟 (d. 1106). This one depicts the "Martyrs of the Realm" 國殤.

Just out! "Uncanny Bodies in Japanese Religions," a special issue of the Journal of Religion in Japan, co-edited with my colleague Emm Simpson. brill.com/view/journal...

The January issue of the Journal of Chinese History is out. This issue features four contributions on early imperial, medieval, and twentieth political culture, two articles on Ming and Qing maritime history, and a host of book reviews. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Here's the link to the new special issue of postmedieval, ‘Imagining the Palaeoanthropocene in East Asia’, which I co-edited with Benjamin Ridgway. Inside you'll find 8 articles on different aspects of art, literature, and the environment in premodern East Asia. Please check it out!

Everything from our special issue of postmedieval, 'Imagining East Asia in the Palaeoanthropocene,' are now available in 'online first' form! This includes our intro, 8 articles, and two response essays. I hope the formally published, paginated full issue will be online soon. #envhum #ecocrit

Happy Canadian New Year

Excited that this is now online: The introduction to "Imagining the Palaeoanthropocene in East Asia," a special issue of postmedieval I co-edited with Benjamin Ridgway. I'll share more about this project once the rest of the articles are published. For now, I hope you enjoy our introduction!