Winner, 2023 Morris D. Forkosch Prize, Journal of the History of Ideas

The scholarly culture of Ming dynasty China (1368–1644) is often seen as prioritizing philosophy over concrete textual study. Nathan Vedal uncovers the preoccupation among Ming thinkers with specialized linguistic learning, a field typically associated with the intellectual revolution of the eighteenth century. He explores the collaboration of Confucian classicists and Buddhist monks, opera librettists and cosmological theorists, who joined forces in the pursuit of a universal theory of language.

Drawing on a wide range of overlooked scholarly texts, literary commentaries, and pedagogical materials, Vedal examines how Ming scholars positioned the study of language within an interconnected nexus of learning. He argues that for sixteenth- and seventeenth-century thinkers, the boundaries among the worlds of classicism, literature, music, cosmology, and religion were far more fluid and porous than they became later. In the eighteenth century, Qing thinkers pared away these other fields from linguistic learning, creating a discipline focused on corroborating the linguistic features of ancient texts.

Documenting a major transformation in knowledge production, this book provides a framework for rethinking global early modern intellectual developments. It offers a powerful alternative to the conventional understanding of late imperial Chinese intellectual history by focusing on the methods of scholarly practice and the boundaries by which contemporary thinkers defined their field of study.

"A highly interesting and important book, not just for those specializing in late imperial China, but also for outsiders to the field, who are curious about the historical study of language." - Journal of Chinese History

"Vedal’s work illuminates the veiled context of Ming philology and reflects its moral motivation, thus offering another mirror for observing the culture and knowledge of language in China." - The Chinese Historical Review

"A brilliant and stimulating book . . . It should be required reading for anyone who works in early modern China." - China Review International

"On the basis of a large body of still under-studied Chinese philological texts from the 16th and 17th centuries, Vedal documents in impressive detail an important transformation in knowledge production in Chinese philological tradition." - Monumenta Serica

"Vedal makes a point to draw from largely unknown thinkers to produce a more nuanced portrait of Ming intellectual culture, an intellectual culture not dominated by a handful of eminent personalities but populated by a sprawling constellation of scholars." - Asian Studies Review

"The Culture of Language in Ming China not only reinvigorates discussions on Chinese philology in East Asian studies but also encourages further insights into early modern history and literature from non-European perspectives" - Renaissance Studies

"Erudite, incisive, and thoroughly researched . . . [This book] will be of immense value to scholars of late imperial intellectual history and also essential reading for those interested in the traditions of intellectual investigation of language, writing, music, lexicography, grammatology, numerology, and cosmology." - Journal of Asian Studies

"The Culture of Language in Ming China opens a window into an exciting, diverse intellectual world that is alien from what we thought we knew and yet replete with its own coherence. As such, the book is a history of science of the best kind, one with which every future investigation of knowledge in late imperial China will have to engage." - Journal of Chinese Studies