This lecture presents an examination of how food is used for the portrayal of female characters in two important works of the late Imperial Chinese vernacular novel: Jin Ping Mei 金瓶梅 (The Plum in the Golden Vase, 16th Century) and Ernü yingxiong zhuan兒女英雄傳 (A Tale of Lovers and Heroes, 19th century). The former is famous for its verisimilitude in presenting the domestic life of women in a wealthy merchant household, and the latter features an independent and valiant swordswoman who eventually agrees to marry into a Manchu gentry family. Critical discussions about food in relation to women in Chinese fictional narratives often focus on two aspects: food as a supplement or counterpart for sex, and food as a medium for social transactions. This lecture provides a close reading of several passages from the two novels where neither sexuality nor social transactions are a major concern. Instead, the reading focuses on how details about food and dining provide alternative means for depicting the female characters’ personalities and their inner thoughts in the fast-paced and plot-driven narratives. This discussion about the literary functions of food also touches on related subjects such as the stylistic features of vernacular storytelling and the food culture in late imperial China.

Yan Liang is an associate professor of Chinese language and literature at Grand Valley State University. She received her PhD in Comparative Literature at the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2008. Her research interests include late imperial Chinese literature, vernacular fiction and storytelling, Chinese food culture, and Chinese popular culture. Her recent publications include studies about the literary functions of food descriptions in late imperial Chinese vernacular novels and the eighteenth-century poet and gourmet Yuan Mei (1716-1798).