{"product_id":"songs-of-contentment-and-transgression-tian-yuan-tan-9780674056046","title":"Songs of Contentment and Transgression: Discharged Officials and Literati Communities in Sixteenth-Century North China","description":"\u003cp\u003eA discharged official in mid-Ming China faced significant changes in his life. This book explores three such officials in the sixteenth century--Wang Jiusi, Kang Hai, and Li Kaixian--who turned to literary endeavors when forced to retire. Instead of the formal writing expected of scholar-officials, however, they chose to engage in the stigmatized genre of \u003ci\u003equ\u003c\/i\u003e (songs), a collective term for drama and \u003ci\u003esanqu\u003c\/i\u003e. As their efforts reveal, a disappointing end to an official career and a physical move away from the center led to their embrace of \u003ci\u003equ\u003c\/i\u003e and the pursuit of a marginalized literary genre. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThis book also attempts to sketch the largely unknown literary landscape of mid-Ming north China. After their retirements, these three writers became cultural leaders in their native regions. Wang, Kang, and Li are studied here not as solitary writers but as central figures in the \"\u003ci\u003equ\u003c\/i\u003e communities\" that formed around them. Using such communities as the basic unit in the study of \u003ci\u003equ\u003c\/i\u003e allows us to see how \u003ci\u003esanqu\u003c\/i\u003e and drama were produced, transmitted, and \"used\" among these writers, things less evident when we focus on the individual.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Tian Yuan Tan\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0674056043\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780674056046\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Harvard University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 10\/31\/2010\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 314\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.25lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.10h x 6.10w x 1.10d","brand":"Tian Yuan Tan","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":48621765361919,"sku":"9780674056046","price":39.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_ab1f5616-10a2-487e-bba3-1e9d78c1aad0.jpg?v=1780426866","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/songs-of-contentment-and-transgression-tian-yuan-tan-9780674056046","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}