Print Culture in Qing China: Beyond the Dynastic Framework, with Tobie Meyer-Fong

This talk provides an overview of Qing dynasty publishing, paying close attention to how shifts in political power, cultural authority, literary taste, and transportation infrastructure reshaped the landscape of Qing print culture. Broadly speaking, the Qing period was marked by decisive shifts in cultural influence from Jiangnan to Beijing, outward again to the margins, and ultimately to a new publishing center at Shanghai.  Qing literary culture was contingent, historically situated, and closely linked successively to processes of cultural consolidation, centralized state building, and to localization. This talk therefore emphasizes the significant change over time that took place below and within the dynastic framework.