Guan-Guan: A Visual Cartography of Sound and Structure in the Shijing (Book of Songs)

Authors

Sean Zhai (Syracuse University), Rebecca Ruige Xu (Syracuse University)

Presentation

Session

VISAP Pictorial

Time

Wednesday, Nov 11, 13:24 – 13:36 (US/Eastern) · session 13:00 – 14:30

Location

Hall Essex south

Keywords

cartographic reading; text visualization; Chinese writing system; classical Chinese poetry; Shijing; generative watercolor; spatialization; amplification

Abstract

A map does what a diagram cannot: it stays. Its space can be revisited, learned, and compared; knowledge accumulates as familiarity with place. We bring this power to written language. Organized by graphic structure and semantic affiliation, our map functions as a stable landscape of Chinese characters, where every character holds one position in every text. On this ground, cartographic reading follows: poems turn into journeys, and the sound and language patterns of the Shijing (Book of Songs)—refrain, reduplication, tonal melody—become visible patterns of path and place. Guan-Guan demonstrates the mode: the anthology’s opening poem, ten movements.