Yu Xin

Chinese, you know, they were Serbians, you know, they actually would speak at the time, they would speak Serbian, which was a kind of like a, you know, Turkish kind of language, you know, they were speaking, you know, so, but they were also, you know, well versed.

in Chinese, and many young, you know, princes, actually, they were enamored of poetry, you know, and so they were great admirers of these detainees, southern poets, they admired them, they emulated their poetic style, learned from them, you know, one young prince actually even compiled the poetic collection of this poet, Yu Xin, you know, who's featured, you know, prominently in my book, you know, because he was like the most famous, you know, southern poet at the time, you know, and also the northern poets, you know, were often, they were great admirers of his poetry.

So you would have this group of readers.

But at the same time, this diaspora, southern diaspora, you know, they were the captives, the detainees, who very much had the same backgrounds like Yuxin did, you know, they grew up in the South, you know, in a peaceful time, and they were Southern courtiers, and they were very well educated in the norms and in the rules of writing, you know, this Southern kind of court poetry, courtly poetry.

If we just sort of took a military history lens to the time period, we'd kind of get one perspective.

If we just looked at the poetry by itself, we might get a different one.

This book kind of brings a lot of things together and helps us see that Actually, the poetry, the empire building, the military stuff might be a lot more related to each other than we might realize.

So we are going to be talking about poetry, but we're going to be talking about other things, too.

I think, in fact, we're going to have a lot of things to talk about.

So Xiaofei, thank you so much for joining me on the podcast.

So that's one thing.

of the main reasons why I'm just becoming so interested in this period from an early phase in my career.

You know, they were speaking, you know, so but they were also, you know, well versed.

in Chinese, and many young, you know, princes, actually, they were enamored of poetry, you know, and so they were great admirers of these detainees, southern poets, they admired them, they emulated their poetic style, learned from them, you know, one young prince actually even compiled the poetic collection of this poet, Yu Xin, you know, who's featured, you know, prominently in my book, you know, because he was like the most famous, you know, southern poet at the time, you know, and also the northern poets, you know, were often they were great admirers of his poetry.

So you would have this group of readers.

But at the same time, this diaspora, southern diaspora, you know, they were the captives, the detainees who very much had the same backgrounds like Yu Xin did, you know, they grew up in the South, you know, in a peaceful time, and they were Southern courtiers, and they were very well educated in the norms and in the rules of writing, you know, this Southern kind of court poetry, courtly poetry.

So those people, they continue to associate with one another, they continue to have parties.

I imagine they would talk a lot about their past, their lives.

So those Northerners I mentioned earlier, they were not ethnically Han.

Chinese, you know, they were Serbians, you know, they actually would speak at the time, they would speak Serbian, which was a kind of like, you know, Turkish kind of language, you know, they were speaking, you know, so, but they were also, you know, well versed in Chinese, and many young, you know, princes, actually, they were enamored of poetry, you know, and so they were great admirers of these detainees, southern poets, they admired them, they emulated their poetic style, learned from them, you know, one young prince actually even compiled the poetic collection of this poet, Yu Xin, you know, who's featured, you know, prominently in my book, you know, because he was like the most famous, you know, southern poet at the time, you know, and also the northern poets, you know, were often, they were great admirers of his poetry.

So you would have this group of readers.

But at the same time, this diaspora, southern diaspora, you know, they were the captives, the detainees who very much had the same backgrounds like Yu Xin did, you know, they grew up in the South, you know, in a peaceful time, and they were Southern courtiers, and they were very well educated in the norms and in the rules of writing, you know, this Southern kind of court poetry, courtly poetry.

So those people, they continue to associate with one another, they continue to have parties.

I imagine they would talk a lot about their past, their lives.