The Promise and Peril of Things
Language: English
Published by Columbia University Press, US, 2022
- Hardcover
- New
Seller: Rarewaves USA, HEBRON, KY, U.S.A.Rarewaves USA
AbeBooks seller since June 10, 2025
Condition: New
£ 128.84
Quantity: Over 20 available
Add to basketItem description from seller
Seller Inventory # LU-9780231201025
- Title
- The Promise and Peril of Things
- Author
- Wai-yee Li
- Publisher
- Columbia University Press, US
- Publication year
- 2022
- Condition
- New
- Binding
- Hardback
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 0231201028
- ISBN 13
- 9780231201025
Our relationship with things abounds with paradoxes. People assign value to objects in ways that are often deeply personal or idiosyncratic yet at the same time rooted in specific cultural and historical contexts. How do things become meaningful? How do our connections with the world of things define us? In Ming and Qing China, inquiry into things and their contradictions flourished, and its depth and complexity belie the notion that material culture simply reflects status anxiety or class conflict.
Wai-yee Li traces notions of the pleasures and dangers of things in the literature and thought of late imperial China. She explores how aesthetic claims and political power intersect, probes the objective and subjective dimensions of value, and questions what determines authenticity and aesthetic appeal. Li considers core oppositions―people and things, elegance and vulgarity, real and fake, lost and found―to tease out the ambiguities of material culture. With examples spanning the late sixteenth to the mid-eighteenth centuries, she shows how relations with things can both encode and resist social change, political crisis, and personal loss.
The Promise and Peril of Things reconsiders major works such as The Plum in the Golden Vase, The Story of the Stone, Li Yu’s writings, and Wu Weiye’s poetry and drama, as well as a host of less familiar texts. It offers new insights into Ming and Qing literary and aesthetic sensibilities, as well as the intersections of material culture with literature, intellectual history, and art history.
"Synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
About the Author
"About the title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Shipping rates within U.S.A.
| Item | 8 to 11 business days | 8 to 11 business days |
|---|---|---|
| First item | £ 0.00 | £ 0.00 |
Payment methods
Seller's business information
Rarewaves USA
10100 West Sample Road, Ste 101
Coral Springs, FL U.S.A. 33065
Right of withdrawal
If you are a consumer you can withdraw from the contract in accordance with the following. Consumer means any natural person who is acting for purposes which are outside his trade, business, craft or profession.
Information regarding the right of withdrawal
Statutory right to withdraw
You have the right to withdraw from this contract within 14 days without giving any reason.
The withdrawal period will expire after 14 days from the day on which you acquire, or a third party other than the carrier and indicated by you acquires, physical possession of the last good or the last lot or piece.
To exercise the right of withdrawal, electronically fill in and submit a clear statement on our website, under "My Purchases" in "My Account". We will communicate to you an acknowledgement of receipt of such a withdrawal on a durable medium (e.g. by e-mail) without delay.
To meet the withdrawal deadline, it is sufficient for you to send your communication concerning your exercise of the right of withdrawal before the withdrawal period has expired.
Effects of withdrawal
If you withdraw from this contract, we will reimburse to you all payments received from you, including the costs of delivery (except for the supplementary costs arising if you chose a type of delivery other than the least expensive type of standard delivery offered by us).
We may make a deduction from the reimbursement for loss in value of any goods supplied, if the loss is the result of unnecessary handling by you.
We will make the reimbursement without undue delay, and not later than 14 days after the day on which we are informed about your decision to withdraw from this contract.
We will make the reimbursement using the same means of payment as you used for the initial transaction, unless you have expressly agreed otherwise; in any event, you will not incur any fees as a result of such reimbursement.
We may withhold reimbursement until we have received the goods back, or you have supplied evidence of having sent back the goods, whichever is the earliest.
You shall send back the goods or hand them over to Rarewaves USA, Coral Springs, Florida, U.S.A., without undue delay and in any event not later than 14 days from the day on which you communicate your withdrawal from this contract to us. The deadline is met if you send back the goods before the period of 14 days has expired. You will have to bear the direct cost of returning the goods. You are only liable for any diminished value of the goods resulting from the handling other than what is necessary to establish the nature, characteristics and functioning of the goods.
Exceptions to the right of withdrawal
The right of withdrawal does not apply to:
- The delivery of newspapers, journals or magazines with the exception of subscription contracts; and
- The supply of digital content which is not supplied on a tangible medium (e.g. on a CD or DVD) if you accepted when you placed your order that we could start to deliver it, and that you could not withdraw once delivery had started.
Shipping terms
Please note that we do not offer Priority shipping to any country.
We currently do not ship to the below countries:
Afghanistan
Bhutan
Brazil
Brunei Darussalam
Channel Islands
Chile
Israel
Lao
Mexico
Russian Federation
Saudi Arabia
South Africa
Yemen
Please do not attempt to place orders with any of these countries as a ship to address - they will be cancelled.