In 1859, Ye Mingchen 葉名琛 (1807-1859) died from illness in Calcutta, while imprisoned by the British. Ye had been the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi (Liang Guang) and a major figure in the so-called Second Opium War. A contemporary memorial reports his death and details of his repatriation to Qing territory.
The Classical and Literary Chinese Reading Group runs each Friday, between 3.00pm and 5.00pm. It brings together those with an interest in the textual cultures of the pre-modern period. It centres on the collective reading, translation, and discussion of a pre-circulated text. Texts are chosen by participants for their chronological, thematic, generic, and linguistic variety. The Group’s emphasis is on close reading and depth of philological understanding: the final aim is to produce a high-quality translation of the text at hand, and to acquire as precise a sense as possible of its linguistic structures and intellectual import. As part of this aim, the Group has played an instrumental role in several research publications.
For more information, please write to: mark.strange[at]anu.edu.au