You Meng Ying: Interactive Project by Zhang Chao (1650-1709?)
You Meng Ying (Quiet Dream Shadows) is a collection of miscellaneous sayings of the early Qing writer Zhang Chao (b. 1650) with the “critical comments” pingdian from his friends and fellow writers (125 participants). This unique piece of literature at the intersection of two genres, i.e. “notes” biji xiaopin and “critical comments” pingdian, is analyzed as an interactive communication project with the characteristics similar to those of the written communication on the internet, especially, in the microblog format. It is demonstrated how the text can become highly interactive without the internet tools, but with the use of traditional channels of information exchange, such as correspondence, personal meetings, and publishing. In order to highlight specific features of You Meng Ying, it is compared with the traditional interlinear commentary zhushi and with modern collaborative writing.