Encountering Bajiao: Plants, Perception, and Meaning-Making in Premodern China
Friday, November 6, 2026 | 12:30PM-2:00PM | LVL 16 | RSVP

EASC Guest Speaker Series: Talk by Prof. Meimei Zhang (Associate Professor of Asian Studies, Occidental College) with Faculty Moderator Wanmeng Li (EALC 110: East Asian Humanities: The Great Tradition) 

Over the past decade, the emerging field of critical plant studies has challenged anthropocentric approaches to the humanities by asking how plants participate in shaping human perception, culture, and environments. Rather than treating plants merely as symbols or passive objects of representation, scholars have increasingly explored their materiality, agency, and ecological relationships with humans. This talk offers a brief overview of major theoretical approaches in plant humanities before turning to a case study of bajiao (Chinese banana) in premodern Chinese literature and visual culture, and how bajiao became an active participant in the formation of religious thought, sensory perception, regional imagination, literary expression, and garden aesthetics in premodern China.

This event is co-sponsored by the USC East Asian Library.