Daniel Leonhard Purdy is Professor of German Studies and Head of the Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures at Pennsylvania State University. He is the editor of The Rise of Fashion and the author of The Tyranny of Elegance and On the Ruins of Babel.

Anyone who is interested in transcultural history, early modern German literary and philosophical thinking in the European context, and the discourse of world literature should find this rich book indispensable(The German Quarterly) Purdy tells us stories in which Europe has digested and incorporated Chinese culture and history and become deeply entangled with China. Anyone who is interested in transcultural history, early modern German literary and philosophical thinking in the European context, and the discourse of world literature should find this rich book indispensable.(The German Quarterly)

• Introduction: Sympathy and Orientalism1. Marco Polo's Fabulous Imperial Connections2. Jesuit Channels between Europe and Asia3. A Genealogy of Compassionate Reading4. News of the Ming Dynasty's Collapse5. Vondel's Tragic Chinese Emperor6. Wieland's Secret History of Cosmopolitanism7. Adam Smith and the Chinese Earthquake8. Goethe Reads the Jesuits9. Chinese-German Pairings10. World Literature and Goethe's Chinese Poetry

Daniel Leonhard Purdy is Professor of German Studies and Head of the Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures at Pennsylvania State University. He is the editor of The Rise of Fashion and the author of The Tyranny of Elegance and On the Ruins of Babel.

Anyone who is interested in transcultural history, early modern German literary and philosophical thinking in the European context, and the discourse of world literature should find this rich book indispensable(The German Quarterly) Purdy tells us stories in which Europe has digested and incorporated Chinese culture and history and become deeply entangled with China. Anyone who is interested in transcultural history, early modern German literary and philosophical thinking in the European context, and the discourse of world literature should find this rich book indispensable.(The German Quarterly)

• Introduction: Sympathy and Orientalism1. Marco Polo's Fabulous Imperial Connections2. Jesuit Channels between Europe and Asia3. A Genealogy of Compassionate Reading4. News of the Ming Dynasty's Collapse5. Vondel's Tragic Chinese Emperor6. Wieland's Secret History of Cosmopolitanism7. Adam Smith and the Chinese Earthquake8. Goethe Reads the Jesuits9. Chinese-German Pairings10. World Literature and Goethe's Chinese Poetry

Daniel Leonhard Purdy is Professor of German Studies and Head of the Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures at Pennsylvania State University. He is the editor of The Rise of Fashion and the author of The Tyranny of Elegance and On the Ruins of Babel.

Anyone who is interested in transcultural history, early modern German literary and philosophical thinking in the European context, and the discourse of world literature should find this rich book indispensable(The German Quarterly) Purdy tells us stories in which Europe has digested and incorporated Chinese culture and history and become deeply entangled with China. Anyone who is interested in transcultural history, early modern German literary and philosophical thinking in the European context, and the discourse of world literature should find this rich book indispensable.(The German Quarterly)

• Introduction: Sympathy and Orientalism1. Marco Polo's Fabulous Imperial Connections2. Jesuit Channels between Europe and Asia3. A Genealogy of Compassionate Reading4. News of the Ming Dynasty's Collapse5. Vondel's Tragic Chinese Emperor6. Wieland's Secret History of Cosmopolitanism7. Adam Smith and the Chinese Earthquake8. Goethe Reads the Jesuits9. Chinese-German Pairings10. World Literature and Goethe's Chinese Poetry