Xiaofei Tian is Ford Foundation Professor of East Asian Studies at Harvard University. Her many books include Tao Yuanming and Manuscript Culture: The Record of a Dusty Table (2005); Beacon Fire and Shooting Star: The Literary Culture of the Liang (502–557) (2008); and Visionary Journeys: Travel Writings from Early Medieval and Nineteenth-Century China (2012).

Xiaofei Tian masterfully explicates the complex conventions, occasions, and social operations involved in early medieval poetic exchange by demonstrating how poetry served as the medium for both the self-fashioning of imperial courtiers and the imagining of empire. She marries an impressive command of literary historical knowledge with assured and brilliant textual readings. Simply put, Tian sets the bar for the field.

• AcknowledgmentsTimeline of DynastiesNote on Sources and TranslationIntroductionPart I1. Poetry and Empire2. Limpidity of Being: The Courtly Poetics and the Courtly Self3. A Day in a Courtier’s Life: Rituals and Ceremonies4. Poetry as RelationInterludePart II5. Writing Failure, Trauma, and Violence6. Snow Country: Double Talk with the Community7. Patchwork EmpireAfterwordNotesBibliographyIndex

Xiaofei Tian is Ford Foundation Professor of East Asian Studies at Harvard University. Her many books include Tao Yuanming and Manuscript Culture: The Record of a Dusty Table (2005); Beacon Fire and Shooting Star: The Literary Culture of the Liang (502–557) (2008); and Visionary Journeys: Travel Writings from Early Medieval and Nineteenth-Century China (2012).

Xiaofei Tian masterfully explicates the complex conventions, occasions, and social operations involved in early medieval poetic exchange by demonstrating how poetry served as the medium for both the self-fashioning of imperial courtiers and the imagining of empire. She marries an impressive command of literary historical knowledge with assured and brilliant textual readings. Simply put, Tian sets the bar for the field.

• AcknowledgmentsTimeline of DynastiesNote on Sources and TranslationIntroductionPart I1. Poetry and Empire2. Limpidity of Being: The Courtly Poetics and the Courtly Self3. A Day in a Courtier’s Life: Rituals and Ceremonies4. Poetry as RelationInterludePart II5. Writing Failure, Trauma, and Violence6. Snow Country: Double Talk with the Community7. Patchwork EmpireAfterwordNotesBibliographyIndex

Xiaofei Tian is Ford Foundation Professor of East Asian Studies at Harvard University. Her many books include Tao Yuanming and Manuscript Culture: The Record of a Dusty Table (2005); Beacon Fire and Shooting Star: The Literary Culture of the Liang (502–557) (2008); and Visionary Journeys: Travel Writings from Early Medieval and Nineteenth-Century China (2012).

Xiaofei Tian masterfully explicates the complex conventions, occasions, and social operations involved in early medieval poetic exchange by demonstrating how poetry served as the medium for both the self-fashioning of imperial courtiers and the imagining of empire. She marries an impressive command of literary historical knowledge with assured and brilliant textual readings. Simply put, Tian sets the bar for the field.

• AcknowledgmentsTimeline of DynastiesNote on Sources and TranslationIntroductionPart I1. Poetry and Empire2. Limpidity of Being: The Courtly Poetics and the Courtly Self3. A Day in a Courtier’s Life: Rituals and Ceremonies4. Poetry as RelationInterludePart II5. Writing Failure, Trauma, and Violence6. Snow Country: Double Talk with the Community7. Patchwork EmpireAfterwordNotesBibliographyIndex