The Pinghu Literati In The Cultural Exchange Between China And Japan In The Middle Qing Dynasty

This study aims to explore the stories of the cultural exchanges between Pinghu literati and Japanese literati in the mid Qing Dynasty,based on the important position of Zhapu Port in Pinghu of Zhejiang Province at that time.As a common literati lived in the Pinghu area before the mid-19 th century,Jintai Huang has not been to Japan but has had written exchanges with Japanese literati.However,the academic researchers today has not been paid attention to him so far.Therefore,this study will explore his communication with Japanese scholars and his views on Japan,investigating what Japan was like in the eyes of an ordinary scholar during that period,which could also fill in the gap in the study of cultural exchanges between China and Japan in the Qing Dynasty.This paper is divided into four chapters.The first chapter introduces the background of the cultural exchanges between China and Japan in the mid Qing Dynasty,including the important position of Zhapu Port and the communication between Pinghu literati and Japanese literati at that period.The second chapter specifically analyses the life,the circle of friends and the study life of Jintai Huang.The third chapter introduces the written communication between Jintai Huang and Japanese literati Hirose Tansou and Ootomo Enka,as well as the transmission of Huang’s poems to Japan.The last chapter explores Jintai’s view of Japan,through analyzing his two essays "Preface to the Poems of Hirose of Japan" and "Preface to the External History of Dragonfly Island",and also examines the reasons why he was willing to write a preface for Japanese scholars.