Lecture – Zhiyi Yang: "The Good, the Bad, the Ugly: A Topography of Chinese Classicist Poetry in Cyberspace"

The DFG Center for Advanced Studies “Russian-Language Poetry in Transition” (FOR 2603) cordially invites you to a lecture with Prof. Dr. Zhiyi Yang streamed live via Zoom. Please register by e-mail with our coordinator Katja Baharova (baharova@uni-trier.de) no later than January 26th, 2021, to receive the stream’s access data.

In this talk, I will examine the rise (and, arguably, the fall) of internet classicist poetry in China from the late 1990s to date. While the rise of such poetry broke the monopoly of the “Old Cadre Style” in post-Maoist China, the latter continues to enjoy institutional dominance and has in recent years morphed into the formally conservative and ideologically conformist traditionalist school. In particular, I will compare the BBS “flaneur” culture with the WeChat “follower” culture and discuss how, while the former encourages innovation, the latter leads to increasingly conservative and traditionalist aesthetics. Other factors, including censorship, cultural nationalism, and market forces, are also investigated. In the end, I will propose an evaluative topography that attempts to establish a certain standard for the future canonization of internet poetry.

Since October 1st Prof. Dr. Zhiyi Yang is a fellow of the Center for Advanced Studies. Further details can be found on her profile page:

Profilseite Prof. Dr. Zhiyi Yang