Yu Ching Wing 余靖颖

Education:
B.A., The Education University of Hong Kong
M.A., The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Research interests:
Medieval History; Song History; Intellectual History; Regional Studies, Pulu Studies

Self-Introduction:
"Self-introduction" has always intimidated me. I lack particular talent and have few hobbies or interests. In everyday life, I am quite an unremarkable and boring person. If I were to name a personal motto, it would probably be: I have wanted not merely to finish things, but to do them well.
So I arrived in Singapore and NUS, a place that seems similar to Hong Kong in some ways, yet is shaped by a very different intellectual and cultural atmosphere. I wanted to see what another possibility might look like.

Thesis Advisor: Prof Ong Chang Woei

Thesis Title: Cai Xiang’s Pulu and Northern Song Scholarship (tentative)

Thesis Research Area:
Cai Xiang (1012-1067), a native of Xianyou County in Xinghua Prefecture, Fujian Circuit (present-day Xianyou, Putian, Fujian), was one of the Four Remonstrators of the Qingli era. His Cha lu and Lizhi Pu are the earliest extant and most influential pulu on tea and lychee from the Song dynasty, exemplifying a unique phenomenon in the history of pulu writing: a Min scholar compiling two pulu on two distinctive products of the Min region.
Given the knowledge-oriented nature of the pulu genre, it is necessary to recognise that Cai Xiang, beyond the mainstream intellectual traditions represented by figures such as Fan Zhongyan and Ouyang Xiu, actively contributed to the development of Song thought through a different approach and intellectual vision. By examining the content and historical background of Cai Xiang’s compilations, this thesis sheds light on a little-known dimension of Northern Song scholarship.