The Silver Thread of the Deep (Hardcover)

Language: English

Published by Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass, 2026

0674307437 / 9780674307438

Series: Book 1 of 138 - Harvard East Asian Monographs

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Seller: Grand Eagle Retail, Bensenville, IL, U.S.A.Grand Eagle Retail

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Hardcover. Often gracing the tables of weddings and banquets, shark fin symbolizes opulence and prestige in China and beyond. Yet its rise from offcut to delicacy reveals a complex history of how value is constructed and transformed. Drawing on sources in Chinese and English, as well as materials in French, Japanese, Spanish, and Italian, The Silver Thread tracks how this oceanic product came to have symbolic and material value, particularly during the Ming and Qing periods when domestic affluence deepened and became entangled with transregional commerce. Each chapter revolves around a question, such as: How did shark fin make its way from sea to banquet hall? Who advocated for its classification as a delicacy? How were taste, medicine, and ethics intertwined in its consumption? The Silver Thread explores taste, not as a sensation but as a vocabulary of social and moral difference. Shark fin is both an object and an idea at the crossroads of nature and culture, where ritual and economy are mutually implicated, and where excess and moderation coincide. This book is not an apologia for shark fin consumption. It is, in part, a use of history to revisit tradition. Beyond cuisine, Ronald C. Po reconsiders "maritime China" not merely as a sphere of trade, war, or navigation, but as a porous cultural space shaped by meaning and identity. The rise of shark fin from offcut to prestigious delicacy reveals a complex history of how value is constructed and transformed. The Silver Thread tracks how this product came to have symbolic and material value, particularly during the Ming and Qing periods when domestic affluence deepened and became entangled with transregional commerce. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.…

Seller Inventory # 9780674307438

Title
The Silver Thread of the Deep (Hardcover)
Author
Ronald C. Po
Publisher
Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass
Publication year
2026
Condition
new
Binding
Hardcover
Language
English
ISBN 10
0674307437
ISBN 13
9780674307438
Series
Book 1 of 138: Harvard East Asian Monographs

Grand Eagle Retail

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