18th century literature and culture

Hongloumeng

Nalan Xingde

Qing history and politics 

I received my doctoral degree from the ANU in 2021 for my thesis entitled “Ways of Reading The Story of the Stone”, which adopts a multidisciplinary approach to the study of China’s most celebrated novel Hongloumeng. My current research builds on my PhD thesis by focusing on “Bannerman Literature” — writing by members of the multi-ethnic social political class unique to the Manchu Qing empire known as the Eight Banners. Currently, I’m writing a short biography of the Manchu poetess Xilin Chun, who is more well-known by her Chinese name Gu Taiqing.

In 2016, I won the Australian Association for Literary Translation (AALITRA) Translation Prize for poetry. As a result, I was given the opportunity to work with the award-winning Australian author Brian Castro and helped to translate his series of poems entitled Macau Days into Chinese. Working with John Minford and Carol Ong, my latest translation Ordinary Days: A Memoir in Six Chapters, is a memoir jointly written by the distinguished scholar Leo Ou-fan Lee and his wife, the painter Esther Yuk-ying Lee.