The Culture of Language in Ming China: Sound, Script, and the Redefinition of Boundaries of Knowledge

Nathan Vedal's book explores the preoccupation of Ming thinkers with specialized linguistic learning, which was typically associated with the intellectual revolution of the eighteenth century. He argues that Ming scholars positioned the study of language within an interconnected nexus of learning, and that Qing thinkers pared away these other fields from linguistic learning in the eighteenth century, creating a discipline focused on corroborating the linguistic features of ancient texts.

Format: Hardback
Length: 336 pages
Publication date: 12 April 2022
Publisher: Columbia University Press

Winner of the 2023 Morris D. Forkosch Prize, Journal of the History of Ideas

The scholarly culture of Ming dynasty China (1368–1644) is often perceived as placing greater emphasis on philosophy than on the concrete study of textual materials. Nathan Vedal sheds light on the preoccupation among Ming thinkers with specialized linguistic learning, a field traditionally associated with the intellectual revolution of the eighteenth century. He explores the collaborative efforts of Confucian classicists, Buddhist monks, opera librettists, and cosmological theorists who united in their pursuit of a universal theory of language.

Drawing upon a vast array of previously overlooked scholarly texts, literary commentaries, and pedagogical materials, Vedal delves into how Ming scholars situated the study of language within an interconnected web of learning. He argues that for sixteenth- and seventeenth-century thinkers, the boundaries between the worlds of classicism, literature, music, cosmology, and religion were far more fluid and permeable than they became later in the eighteenth century. Qing thinkers, in contrast, narrowed the focus of linguistic learning by removing these other fields from its purview, creating a discipline centered solely on corroborating the linguistic features of ancient texts.

This book represents a significant shift in the production of knowledge, offering a framework for reevaluating global early modern intellectual developments. It presents a compelling alternative to the conventional understanding of late imperial Chinese intellectual history by centering on the methods of scholarly practice and the boundaries that defined the fields of study of contemporary thinkers.

Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780231200745