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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 for more information and
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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"

Xu Chang, Transnational Asian Studies, Rice University


10/10 Cornell Classical Chinese Colloquium

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"

Liu Jingyu, Religion, Rollins College of Liberal Arts


11/21 Cornell Classical Chinese Colloquium

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


Previous Text Readings

Spring 2025

1/31 “Biographies of Exemplary Women” in 19th century Vietnam

 Kathlene Baldanza, Asian Studies, Penn State University


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

Eric S. Lee, History, Cornell University


3/21 "Sacred Performances and Epigraphic Echoes: Temple Festivals in North China during Late Medieval China"

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


4/18 Cornell Classical Chinese Colloquium

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

Fall 2024

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

Patricia Buckley Ebrey, History, University of Washington


10/25 Burning Wood to Fire Ceramics in Jingdezhen

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

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

Xiangjun Feng, East Asian Studies, University of Toronto

Spring 2024

2/2 The Emergence of the Yuan non-Han Ancestry in Late Qing North China

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


3/8 Animating Forces

Andrew Schonebaum, East Asian Studies, University of Maryland


3/22 Epitaphs Made Widely Available

Man Xu, History, Tufts University


4/12 Naming and Knowledge in the East Asian Sea.

Su-yeon Seo, Asian Studies, Cornell University

Fall 2023

9/22 Cosmic Correlations in Dali-Kingdom Buddhism 

Megan Bryson, Religious Studies, University of Tennessee


10/20 Old Ghosts in Tang Chang'an: Two Stories 

Xin Wen, East Asian Studies, Princeton University


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

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

Spring 2023

2/17 Content and Form: Dunhuang Anthologies of Tang Poetry

Casey Stevens, Asian Studies, Cornell University


3/31 Xunzi's (荀子) "On Rituals" (禮論)

Michael Nylan, History, UC Berkeley


4/14 How does Language Work?: Vasubandhu(世親)’s Discussions from the Abhidharmakośa(bhāṣya) (阿毘達磨倶舍論)”

Liyu Hua, Asian Studies, Cornell University


4/21 Xingke tiben: A Murder Case from 1762

Matthew Sommer, History, Stanford University

Fall 2022

10/14 Reading Artisanal Knowledge from 16th century Korea

Kang Hyeok Hweon, East Asian Languages and Cultures, Washington University at St. Louis


10/28 "The Record of the Relocation of the Stone Classics to the Prefectural School of Jingzhao Prefecture."

Jeffrey Moser, History of Art and Architecture, Brown University


11/11 A Taiping General’s Poem in the Anti-Qing Revolution

Yue (Mara) Du, History, Cornell University


12/2 "What Troubles the World is Inequality": Politics Before Metaphysics in Guo Xiang's 郭象 (252-312) Zhuangzi 莊子 Commentary

Lucas Bender, East Asian Languages, Yale University

Spring 2022

Fall 2021

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

Joseph Dennis, History, University of Wisconsin


10/29 Qiu Jun's "Daxue yanyi bu"

Tim Brook, History, University of British Columbia


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

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

Nathan Vedal, East Asian Studies, University of Toronto

Spring 2021

Fall 2020

9/11 “Rhetorical and Receptional Politics of Cheng Xuanying’s (ca. 605-690) Commentary on Zhuangzi”

Shuheng “Diana” Zhang, East Asian Studies, University of Pennsylvania


10/17 Diary of a temple association from Shanxi and a ritual text that likely originated in Guizhou province. 

Meir Shahar, East Asian Affairs, Tel Aviv University


11/13 Bones, Brains, and Meridians: Animated Anatomy and Image-Text Analysis

Lan Li, Humanities, Rice University


12/4 Reading Adultery in the Criminal Records of Late Chosŏn Korea

Jisoo Kim, History, George Washington University

Spring 2020

Fall 2019

Spring 2019

Fall 2018

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

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)

Hoai Khai Tran, Asian Studies, Cornell University


11/21 Digital humanities - new ways to mine online databases for Chinese Studies

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

Spring 2018

Fall 2017

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

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

Jeffrey Tharsen, Humanities, University of Chicago


10/20 Cantonese Migrant Networks: Two Stone Inscriptions from the West River Basin

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)

Robin McNeal, Asian Studies, Cornell University

Spring 2017

Fall 2016

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

Spring 2016

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

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