Sinophone Europe

The Mediterranean Through Chinese Eyes (MeTChE):
An Analysis Based on Geographical and Travel Sources from the Song to Qing Dynasties (960–1911)

In the postnational era, the demand to rethink national borders and embrace inclusive sentiments of shared interests and belonging is prompting scholars to explore new avenues of research. The MeTChE project aims to understand how China perceived the Mediterranean as a transcultural space during the Imperial era, specifically from the Song to the Qing dynasties.

Relying on the theoretical approach provided by Mediterranean studies and benefitting from previous case-studies of descriptions of specific European countries and nationalities in Chinese sources, this project intends to take advantage of the Research Units’ competencies in the study of Chinese and Arab geographical and travel literature to investigate the Chinese perception of the Mediterranean from the Song era to the Qing dynasty (960–1911) in geographical works and travelogues written during the last four imperial dynasties. In particular, it aims to assess through which channels and to what extent the Mediterranean came to be described and perceived as a “transcultural space” in China in the concerned period.

For more information, please visit https://www.unipa.it/progetti/china-mediterranean/en/.