New review of "Dynamics of Interregional Exchange in East Asian Buddhist Art, 5th–13th Century"

Congratulations to Dorothy Wong, the author of the book "Dynamics of Interregional Exchange in East Asian Buddhist Art, 5th–13th Century" for receiving a review from Joy Lidu Yi appearing in the journal 'Early Medieval China':

This volume brings together an international group of scholars to reconsider the tradition, transmission, and transformation of Buddhist art in East Asia between the fifth and thirteenth centuries when China exerted a profound influence on neighboring regions and countries, and when the prominent characteristics of East Asian civilizations were formed. The strength of the volume is that all nine essays, instead of discussing the one-way process of Sinicization, choose to look eastward from China to explore cultural disseminations and exchanges. In addition, the essays are all connected to one another in discussing the central discourse of early medieval art: words and images; art and politics; art and state; sacred text and ritual practice, especially repentance rituals. These are central issues not only in art history, but also in East Asian studies as a whole. The volume therefore is a valuable contribution to the field.
[…]
All the contributors in this volume explore divergent art forms and related textual materials in their social, political, and art historical contexts and discuss the cultural exchanges and influences in East Asia at historically important moments. Well researched, the essays are richly informed by literary sources and archaeological material. […] the essays contribute greatly to our understanding of the movement of texts and images in premodern East Asia.

[Extract from book review appearing at the journal 'Early Medieval China', Volume 2024, 2024 - Issue 30. Reviewer: Joy Lidu Yi (Florida International University, USA). https://doi.org/10.1080/15299104.2024.2389747]

You can find the full review here: Early Medieval China

The book is available to order here: "Dynamics of Interregional Exchange in East Asian Buddhist Art, 5th–13th Century"

This volume examines the various patterns of trans-regional exchanges in Buddhist art within East Asia (China, Korea, and Japan) in the medieval period, from the fifth to the thirteenth centuries. A traditional approach to the study of East Asian Buddhist art revolves around the notion of an artistic relay: India was regarded as the source of inspiration for China, and China in turn influenced artistic production in the Korean peninsula and Japan. While this narrative holds some truth, it has the implicit baggage of assuming that art in the host country is only derivative and obscures a deep understanding of the complexity of transnational exchanges. The essays in this volume aim to go beyond the conventional query of tracing origins and mapping exchanges in order to investigate the agency of the “receivers” with contextual case studies that can expand our understanding of artistic dialogues across cultures.

The volume is divided into three sections. In Section I, “Transmission and Local Interpretations,” the three chapters by Jinchao Zhao, Li-kuei Chien, and Hong Wu all address topics of transnational transmission of Buddhist imagery, their figural styles, and subsequent alterations or adaptations based on local preferences and interpretations. Buddhism had important impacts on East Asian countries in the political dimension, especially when the religion and certain Buddhist sutras and deities were believed to have state-protecting properties. The chapters by Dorothy C. Wong, Imann Lai, and Clara Ma in Section II, “Buddhism and the State,” attend to the political aspect of Buddhism in visual representation. Section III, “Iconography and Traditions,” includes chapters by Sakiko Takahashi, Suijun Ra, and Tamami Hamada that closely study the cross-border transmission of and subtle variations in iconography and style of specific Buddhist deities, notably deities of esoteric strands that include the Thousand-Armed Avalokiteśvara (Bodhisattva of Compassion).

Title Dynamics of Interregional Exchange in East Asian Buddhist Art, 5th–13th Century [Paperback]
Edition 1st
ISBN 978-1-64889-637-8
Published in April 2023