The club undertakes a ten-lesson exploration of exile, examining how physical displacement forged the greatest works in the Chinese literary canon. They map the harsh socio-political landscapes of the Warring States period, the High Tang, and the Northern Song. They contrast Qu Yuan's devastating choice to die with his falling state, Du Fu's outward-looking sorrow as a wartime refugee, and Su Shi's astonishing resilience in the disease-ridden jungles of the south. Finally, they confront the uncomfortable sociological truth of banishment: that the privilege of being exiled belonged only to the elite, while the common people simply perished.