Problematic Analogies: Diplomatic Exchange and the Discourse of Legitimacy in Early Medieval China
During the Period of Northern and Southern Dynasties (420‒589 CE), rival regimes engaged in both military and cultural competitions, appropriating shared symbolic repertoires to assert political legitimacy. At the forefront of the ‘war of words’ were royal envoys, who travelled across borders and debated with their hosts on various cultural matters, during which the very concept of legitimacy became a contentious issue susceptible to verbal manipulation. One prevalent rhetorical device employed for legitimation was forming analogies. The rhetoric of analogy draws parallels between the current state and previous glorious empires such as Zhou and Han, thereby constructing a lineage of cultural inheritance. However, in the diplomatic context, any proposed resemblances faced scrutiny from interlocutors, and triangulating ‘we’, ‘you’ and ‘the past’ could also potentially unravel the lineage of political legitimacy accepted within one court community. This talk examines how the rhetoric of analogy was employed, denied and stretched to the limit in the early medieval diplomatic context and how the mismatch between rhetoric and reality prompted reflections on legitimacy as a discursive construct. This talk will also discuss the era’s deepened rhetorical awareness and explore legitimacy not as a system of thought but as discursive relations.

Lu Kou is an Assistant Professor of East Asian Languages and Cultures at Columbia University, specialising in medieval Chinese literature. He received his PhD from Harvard University in 2018. His research interests include court culture, theories of rhetoric, historiography, bureaucracy and literature, and the global Middle Ages. He is currently completing his book manuscript titled War of Words: Courtly Exchange and the Discourse of Legitimacy in Early Medieval China.
Date: 6 June 2024, 17:00 (Thursday, 7th week, Trinity 2024)
Venue: Dickson Poon Building, Canterbury Road OX2 6LU
Venue Details: Kin-ku Cheng Lecture Theatre (lower ground floor)
Speaker: Professor Lu Kou (Columbia University)
Organising department: Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies
Organisers: Dr Bo-jiun Jing (University of Oxford), Dr Evelyn Chan (University of Oxford), Dr Xiaojing Miao (University of Oxford), Professor Margaret Hillenbrand (University of Oxford), Professor Denise van der Kamp (University of Oxford), Professor Henrietta Harrison (University of Oxford), Dr Chigusa Yamaura (University of Oxford)
Organiser contact email address: information@chinese.ox.ac.uk
Host: Dr Xiaojing Miao (University of Oxford)
Part of: China Studies Seminar series
Booking required?: Not required
Cost: Free
Audience: Public
Editor: Clare Orchard