Presentation Schedule
The Wooden Clogs in Shishuo Xinyu: Everyday Use, Gracious Bearing, and Official Seclusion (101698)
Session Chair: Chunyao Li
Saturday, 7 February 2026 14:15
Session: Session 3
Room: Opal 107 (Level 1)
Presentation Type: Oral Presentation
In A New Account of the Tales of the World (Shishuo Xinyu), the footwear described as wooden clogs appears eight times. In the three anecdotes about Zheng Xuan and two other figures, the clogs are ordinary daily items with little cultural significance. By contrast, in the three anecdotes about Ruanfu and the Wang brothers (Wang Xianzhi and Wang Huizhi), the clogs embody the Wei–Jin temperament. Ruanfu’s preference for wooden clogs over wealth suggests his engagement with the external world is aesthetic rather than utilitarian, a stance praised by contemporaries. The Wang brothers’ preference for “high-toothed wooden clogs” signals unrestrained personalities and disdain for secular ritual proprieties. When confronted with a fire, their responses differ: on the one hand, Wang Xianzhi’s magnanimity somewhat exceeds Wang Huizhi’s; On the other hand, this entry also hints at the aristocracy’s dress fashions of the time. The clogs also reflect nobles’ ambivalent attitudes within official life. Shishuo Xinyu records Yu Liang, disappointed in politics, wearing wooden clogs to mingle with subordinates; another entry notes Yu Liang wearing wooden clogs to visit hermit Zhai Tang, but donning formal footwear (lǚ) when visiting hermit Zhou Shao, a contrast that illuminates the Wei–Jin era’s nuanced mindset of heroes navigating between officialdom and withdrawal (shi and yin).
Authors:
Chunyao Li, Nanfang College Guangzhou, China
About the Presenter(s)
Dr Chunyao Li is a University Postdoctoral Fellow or Instructor at Jinan University in China
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