forestofglory | The Social Life of Inkstones Read Along: Epilogue and Wrap Up

Welcome to our read a long of The Social Life of Inkstones: Artisans and Scholars in Early Qing China by Dorothy Ko! This is the final post and we are going to talk about the Epilogue and the book over all!

Previous posts:
Introduction
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5

You are welcome to join in at any time!

This chapter warped up the book, so lets talk about it all.

Optional discussion questions

What where the main arguments in the book? Did you find them convincing?

Did any historical figures introduced in the chapter/book stood out to you? In what way?

Did any of the inkstones or other objects in the chapter stand out to you? In what way?

What did this chapter/book make you want to learn more about?

Additionally what about this read along format worked well? And what didn't work? Would you be interested in another read along?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

blueshiftofdeath

WHEW!! FINALLY DONE!

I really enjoyed the book, largely because it was entirely out of my wheelhouse academia wise. I hadn't heard of a lot of the theory that Ko used extensively throughout the book, like that surrounding class in historical China, collections and status, the relationship between the Chinese emperor and scholars... that (in addition to Ko's language and tendency to theorize) also made this a very difficult read for me. I don't remember the last time I finished a book that I found this difficult. In retrospect there's no way I could have kept up with the intended pace of reading the book, even if I was better at managing my time. I'd still be interested in another read along sometime though!

The epilogue really brought the book together for me. I was surprised at how much more I felt I "got" it just based on the last few pages. Ko asserts that the line between "scholar-artisans" and "artisan-scholars" -- and therefore between artisans and scholars -- is so blurred as to be meaningless with the exception of posturing and factors like family lineage. The whole book is such a detailed account of exactly how Qing scholars interacted with inkstones, I find it hard to imagine a reason I'd disagree, at least in terms of how artistry/scholarship related to inkstones, despite how these scholars acted like their relationship with inkstones different from that of craftspeople.

I really appreciated how this conclusion also carried over to gender roles and the perception of the differences in ability or deserved status between men and women. Gu Erniang conveniently stands at the crossroads of being both an artisan and a woman, despite how well-appreciated she was by her patrons at the time.

It also connects easily into other, modern Western observations related to classism, sexism, racism, etc. For example, I recall reading about how brands (I think I specifically read this about a certain car brand?) would sabotage their own chances of getting black women customers, even though of course it'd profit them to have anyone buy their goods, because they worried that if black women were seen with their goods, it would lower their value in the eyes of the public. Just one example of how when there's a status hierarchy like this, be it one built on race, class, or sex, people and brands feel the need to distance themselves from the lower status groups. So many of people's compulsions come back to the anxiety of losing status -- a threat that is ever present because of how meaningless the division between groups in the hierarchy really is. Ko put this really well in her summation of the book in the last few pages, even though it was pretty much entirely about Qing dynasty scholars collecting inkstones.

Lots to think about!!