The culture of food and drink occupies a central role in the development of Chinese civilization, and the language of gastronomy has been a vital theme in a range of literary productions. From stanzas on food and wine in the Classics of Poetry to the articulation of refined dining in The Dream of the Red Chamber and Su Shi’s literary recipe for attaining culinary perfection, lavish textual representations help explain the unique appeal of food and its overwhelming cultural significance within Chinese society. These eight essays offer a colorful tour of Chinese gourmands whose work exemplifies the interrelationships of social and literary history surrounding food, with careful explication of such topics as the importance of tea in poetry, “the morality of drunkenness,” and food’s role in objectifying women.

Isaac Yue is assistant professor of Chinese in the University of Hong Kong. His research interest falls into two broad areas nineteenth-century China-West studies and imperial Chinese literature since the Song dynasty. He has published in these fields in such journals as Victorian Literature and Culture, Journal of Oriental Studies, and Études Chinoises. Siufu Tang is assistant professor in the School of Chinese, the University of Hong Kong. His research focuses mainly on early Confucianism and its relevance to the modern world. He has published papers on various aspects of the thought of the early Confucian thinker Xunzi, and also on Confucianism and liberalism. He is currently working on a project about the understanding of self and authenticity in the Xunzi.