Early China Research Articles

Transformation of Po?adha/Zhai in Early Medieval China (third–sixth centuries CE)

This article attempts to disentangle the semantics of zhai ? in early medieval China, mostly from the third century to the sixth, by examining both Indian and Chinese Buddhist sources. It demonstrates that semantic shifts in the term reflect a changing ritual context, as Chinese Buddhism rapidly took form. The article consists of two parts. The first part looks into how the Po?adha S?tra was first introduced to China and how the word po?adha was employed in early ?gama scriptures and the vinayas translated before the middle of the fifth century. The second part (from p. 89) examines the reception history of the lay po?adha and the transformation that it underwent in early medieval China. The po?adha/zhai in China eventually evolved into a religious feast centred on lay-monastic interaction in association with a variety of ritual elements, especially repentance rites.

Chasing the sun: Qu Leilei's serial images in early post-Mao China

Abstract 'You always treat the sun as though it were yours.' Lining the frame of a pen-and-ink sketch, these words reflect conditions of possibility particular to the contemporaneity of early post-Mao China. Included in his Visual Diary series from the early 1980s, Qu Leilei's image-text turns inward the heavily socialized forms of visual and political expression from the revolutionary era. As instances of the artist's emerging private practice, such works, including etchings, line drawings, and fragments of prose poetry, are seldom addressed in existing scholarship on contemporary Chinese art. This article takes up a selective examination of Qu's diaristic ephemera from this historical moment following the Cultural Revolution (1966–76) to explore how Qu's entries both maintain and transform aspects of revolutionary-era media and visuality. The article further considers the following questions: In what ways does Qu's Visual Diary reconfigure the serial images of revolutionary state-driven practices in the social landscape of still-Maoist Beijing? How do Qu's transfigured image-texts complicate the rejection of Maoist visual vanguardism in cultural practices after the revolution?

AUTHORSHIP AND TEXT‐MAKING IN EARLY CHINA. By HanmoZhang. Library of Sinology, 2. Boston: De Gruyter, 2018. Pp. xii + 363. $57.99.

Religious Studies ReviewVolume 45, Issue 3 p. 407-407 Short Reviews of Recent Publications: East Asia AUTHORSHIP AND TEXT-MAKING IN EARLY CHINA. By Hanmo Zhang. Library of Sinology, 2. Boston: De Gruyter, 2018. Pp. xii + 363. $57.99. First published: 19 September 2019 https://doi.org/10.1111/rsr.14262Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume45, Issue3Special Issue: Jessica Johnson's Biblical Porn September 2019Pages 407-407 RelatedInformation

Trailing Locks and Flowing Robes: Dimensions of Beauty during China's Han dynasty (206bc–ad220)

This inquiry explores images of women from mortuary contexts of China's Han dynasty (206 BC–AD 220). These early images are generally regarded as static illustrations that served to frame deceased individuals and define their social position and moral values. Recent research, however, has suggested that artisans were also interested in conveying images for visual pleasure, and were thus attentive to details, particularly of hairstyle and dress, that expressed ideals of female beauty. Close study of a hairstyle common to images of Han women, which comprised a bun with a single lock of hair trailing out, alongside changes in clothing styles across the period's historical divisions indicate a growing preference for volume and fluidity in presentations of the adorned body. It is demonstrated that the trailing lock is visually and figuratively aligned with clothing styles to enhance silhouette. Moreover, the stylistic dialogue between hairstyle and clothing served as a significant indicator of a woman's grace and comportment, facets of beauty that are often overlooked for early China. Finally, such changes are understood against an historical atmosphere where a more fluid and dynamic aesthetic was increasingly favoured.

Global circulation and local adaptation of tax models: business tax in China, 1931–1949

ABSTRACTIn light of certain conceptual constructs in comparative taxation, this study examines how Chinese tax reformers chose and adopted a particular form of business tax from a variety of tax models and how they justified and implemented the new tax in the political-social-economic conditions of early twentieth-century China. By illustrating a ‘hybrid tax transplant’ at discursive, institutional, and operational levels, or in terms of justification, design, and enforcement of business taxation, it presents a case study of global circulation and national/local adoption and adaptation of a tax model in a changing tax culture in China. The study reinforces the relevance and usefulness of these concepts to historical analyses and interpretations of taxation studies in different countries and offers a comparative case for research in other contexts.

Reluctant guerrillas in early nineteenth century China: the White Lotus insurgents and their suppressors

ABSTRACT At the turn of the nineteenth century, China’s Qing dynasty (1644–1912) was hit by a sectarian rebellion. Commonly considered a breakpoint marking the end of the dynasty’s golden age spanning most of the eighteenth century, the war to suppress the rebels, referred to as the White Lotus War (1796–1804) in this article (‘White Lotus’ was the umbrella name used by both the authorities and some sectarians for their teaching), exposed many structural drawbacks of the Qing political and military systems and depleted the dynasty’s financial resources, which had never been recovered. Reluctant in embracing guerrilla warfare in the beginning, the insurgents quickly turned themselves into master guerrillas. Shuttling in two massive mountain ranges in central China, they managed to prolong their rebellion and fought some successful battles against their suppressors. Superior in manpower, weaponry, and logistical support, the government forces had to adapt to guerrilla warfare, albeit passively and ineptly. This article gives a brief introduction to this little-known episode of guerrilla war at the turn of the nineteenth century in Qing China, expounds the strengths and weaknesses of both sides, and sheds light on the roots of the war’s long duration and the grim consequences to the Qing state.

Birds and Beasts in the Zhuangzi, Fables Interpreted by Guo Xiang and Cheng Xuanying

Birds and beasts often appear in the Zhuangzi, in fables and parables meant to be read analogically as instructions for human thought and behavior. Whereas the analogical significance of some fables is obvious, in others it is obscure and in need of explication, and even the readily accessible can be made to yield more clarity thanks to commentaries. This paper explores contributions made by the commentaries of Guo Xiang (252–312) and Cheng Xuanying (ca. 620–670) to the understanding of such fables. Guo Xiang and Wang Bi 王弼 (226–249) are the two most important figures in the xuanxue 玄學 “arcane learning” or “Neo-Daoism” movement of early medieval China (third to sixth century C.E.), which combined elements of Confucianism with the thought of Daoist foundational texts, especially the Daode jing (Classic of the Dao and Virtue) and the Zhuangzi (Sayings of Master Zhuang). Focus of the movement was the promotion of the concept and practice of the sage-ruler as a catalyst for the regeneration of self and society, leading to the foundation of a worldly utopia. Guo’s is the earliest intact philosophical commentary to the Zhuangzi and one of the most widely read during premodern times. Cheng Xuanying composed the only subcommentary to Guo’s commentary. Its more explicit style is most helpful in deciphering Guo’s too often cryptic and elliptical statements. However, it also tends to shunt Guo’s statecraft reading of the Zhuangzi more in the direction of explicating philosophical and religious dimensions of the text. Whereas Guo’s observations about sagehood, self-fulfillment, and the good life largely focus on the sage-ruler and his relation to his people, Cheng’s approach tends more to explore issues of personal self-realization and individual enlightenment, and, as such, is far more “religious” than Guo’s. However, when it comes to accounts of birds and beasts, parodies and satires, which address the limitations, failures, delusions and faulty assumptions, narrow-mindedness, and other human foibles, both Guo and Cheng see them all rooted in self-conscious thought and knowledge, and thus deadly impediments to enlightenment. Other passages about beasts and birds use animal fables as exemplars of truth concerning endowed personal nature and the natural propensity to stay within the bounds of individual natural capacity. Since the commentaries of Guo and Cheng add important dimensions to these accounts, this study explores these as well.

Theology of Religions and Intertextuality: A Case Study of Christian–Confucian and Islamic–Confucian Dialogue in the Early 20th-Century China

In this paper, I will propose an intertextual theology of religions from a non-Western cultural perspective through the works in The True Light Review, an official magazine of Chinese Baptist churches, and Yue Hua, a prominent and long-lived Muslim magazine. My aim is to show that the religious discourses in these Chinese religious periodicals inform us of an alternative understanding of literary construction of religious plurality and challenge the current versions of theology of religions. With the concept of intertextuality, the differentiation and integration of religious identities indicates that language-constituted realities are multi-dimensional and multi-directional. In some respects, religious believers would like to differentiate themselves in the search for an authentic and meaningful life, but, they are nonetheless already interconnected and interrelated. In some other respects, they approach and embrace each other for integration to assert a common identity among religions in that area, but that could transform their religions with new meaning. Our case study will also further theological reflection of the nature of Christian life in predominantly non-Christian societies as an intertextual religious reality.

Constitutionalist Pu Dianjun and his new cultural movement

ABSTRACTThis article challenges the standard historiography of the New Culture Movement by tracing the important role played by Pu Dianjun, a key member of the Constitution Research Group, in the broader cultural reform movement in early Republican China. It examines Pu’s years as the president and chief editor of Chenbao (1918–1922), which he transformed from a little-read partisan paper to a widely circulated and intellectually influential newspaper in Beijing. It demonstrates that Pu’s cultural endeavors, which consisted of efforts at societal change through individual awakening, were geared toward his political ideal – the transformation of Chinese commoners into capable voters in a constitutional system. Despite his absence from the standard historiography, Pu left important legacies affecting life in China today.

Internal Orientalization or Deorientalization? Disciplinary Conflicts and National Imaginations in China, 1912–1949

Early twentieth-century China, as with other post-imperial states, faced the challenge of creating a nation encompassing different social groups and cultures. How to identify ethnic groups living in the borderlands and generate nationwide social cohesion became a fundamental question that concerned multiple intellectual communities. This article traces the formation of two approaches to ethnicity—ethnology and sociology—at that time. These two approaches, configuring “ethnic differences” in dissimilar ways, were received differently by the public. In the end, the ethnological approach prevailed and the sociological approach was marginalized. This outcome exemplifies a possible hierarchy of knowledge, but also involves the politics of knowledge. This article shows that the disparate visions of “ethnic others” were produced by intellectuals differently positioned within the social context of post-imperial China. The positionalities of these disciplines explain much of their intellectual alignment.

Tao Hongjing and the Reading of Daoist Geography

This article studies ways in which Daoist writers in early medieval China represented sacred lands. It goes beyond the descriptions of Daoist sacred geography to analyze ways in which these texts were tools to disseminate new revelations about the ancient history and ownership of temple lands. It begins by looking at Han dynasty conceptions of mountains, in particular the role of individuals who were privy to the hidden, esoteric knowledge of land formations. The second part of the article focuses on the writings of the fifth century polymath Tao Hongjing. These commentaries provide valuable insight into the kinds of social exchanges that underpin the writing of Daoist geography. These writings about religious geography reflect the interests of a new clerical class of individuals who developed and recreated sacred sites on behalf of royal benefactors.

Humans as Animals and Things in Pre-Buddhist China

This paper examines the way thinkers in the pre-Buddhist world in China viewed the animal-human divide. It argues that the boundaries between humans and animals were porous. The only unique capacities that human beings are credited with were first (widely) the ability to develop their unique potentials (chengren 成人), and, second (in a very few texts), the capacity to respond with greater sensitivity to the resonant world around them. In both contexts, the extant terms make use of two terms, ling 靈 and jingshen 精神. Part II of the essay then turns to examine the most influential Euro-American theories cited in today’s secondary literature regarding the animal-human divide. None of these seem remotely like the theories articulated in early China. In Part III, the essay examines vitalism, which is an unusual instance in early modern Europe where an important theory seems to approach the views of early China, with the express aim of reminding readers that we need not automatically posit an impassable gulf between East and West, but can, instead, profit from wider reading that yields more comparative insights.

The Book of Lord Shang: Apologetics of State Power in Early China, edited and translated by Yuri Pines

The Book of Lord Shang: Apologetics of State Power in Early China, edited and translated by Yuri Pines

A comparison of ancient parasites as seen from archeological contexts and early medical texts in China

This paper integrates our knowledge from traditional Chinese medical texts and archeological findings to discuss parasitic loads in early China. Many studies have documented that several different species of eukaryotic endoparasites were present in early human populations throughout China. Nevertheless, comprehensive paleoparasitological records from China are patchy, largely due to taphonomic and environmental factors. An examination of early Chinese medical texts allows us to fill in some of the gaps and counteract apparent biases in the current archeoparasitological records. By integrating the findings of paleoparasitology with historic textual sources, we show that parasites have been affecting the lives of humans in China since ancient times. We discuss the presence and prevalence of three groups of parasites in ancient China: roundworm (Ascaris lumbricoides), Asian schistosoma (Schistosoma japonicum), and tapeworm (Taenia sp.). We also examine possible factors that favored the spread of these endoparasites among early humans. Therefore, this paper not only aims to reveal how humans have been affected by endoparasites, but also addresses how early medical knowledge developed to cope with the parasitic diseases.

Difference to One: A Nuanced Early Chinese Account of Tong

ABSTRACTThe graph tong同and its associated concepts, such as da-tong (Great tong大同) and xuan-tong (mystic or dark tong玄同), have played important roles in the development of Chinese philosophy. Yet tong has received scant attention from either western or eastern scholarships. This paper is a first attempt to remedy such regret. Unlike usual understandings of tong as sameness or unity, this paper presents a nuanced account from early China, that is, ‘difference to one,’ a definition from the Mozi墨子. This definition can be supported from etymological, textual, and lexical evidence. ‘Difference to one’ should not be solely attributed to a Mohist understanding; it in fact represents a common understanding of tong across philosophical streams in early China. This nuanced account provides new insights into the concept of tong in early philosophical texts, and furthermore breaks solid grounds for further studies of tong and its associated concepts.

Slingerland, Edward, Mind and Body in Early China: Beyond Orientalism and the Myth of Holism

Slingerland, Edward, Mind and Body in Early China: Beyond Orientalism and the Myth of Holism

The Rise of the “Underground” Catholic Church in Early Reform-Era China

This essay aims to present a detailed account of the restoration of the Catholic Church in Shanghai during 1979–1981 and then to explain how the arrests and suppression of Catholic leaders in late 1981 solidified the division between the official and underground Catholic churches. Two of the major factors that lead to the reemergence of the Shanghai Catholic underground community were the release and rehabilitation of veteran priests and other Catholic leaders and the dissemination of a 1978 Vatican decree that gave great latitude to the church, which was functioning in “difficult circumstances.” The essay ends with a discussion of current prospects of the Catholic Church in China.

전설과 역사 사이: 山西省의 堯舜禹

Shanxi province has long been recognized as the homeland of Yao, Shun and Yu, legendary sage kings in Early China. This study examines the reasons and the process why and how the legendary figures became history in Shanxi province. By investigating oracle bone inscriptions of the late Shang, bamboo slips of Chu and the Zuozhuan , I find that a quasi-historic narrative in the Zuozhuan contributed to the beginning of the relationship between Shanxi and the legendary figures. Whereas the “Geographical Records” of the Hanshu quoted the narrative only in part, scholars in the Later Han period began to note the connection entirely. It was not until the Northern Wei, Sui and Tang dynasties when the temples and tombs of Yao, Shun and Yu became prominent in southwestern Shanxi and the Taiyuan area. More than ten such places in Shanxi are enlisted in the Yuanhe junxian zhi and Taiping huanyu ji , the representative of historical geographical texts in the Tang and Northern Song periods, respectively. It goes without saying that the expansion was accompanied with new tombs of Yao, Shun and Yu and, especially, new stories regarding them. This study shows a good case of “inventing history,” in which misrecognitions on the ancient quasi-historical lores caused expansive reproduction of the history regarding Yao, Shun and Yu in traditional China.

Instructions to Women: Admonitions Texts for a Female Readership in Early China

Abstract The texts written for the instruction of women in ancient China are some of the earliest examples of didactic sources aimed at a female readership to be produced anywhere in the world. The oldest surviving texts in the transmitted tradition date to the Han dynasty (206 BCE-220 CE). However, in 2010, Peking University acquired a cache of manuscripts written on bamboo, one of which, the Jiaonü (Instructions to women), predates these Han dynasty admonitions texts by several centuries. This paper provides a full translation of this important text, a discussion of the historical and cultural context in which it was produced, and examines its relationship with the later similar works in the transmitted tradition. The Jiaonü throws new light on the way in which women were educated in appropriate gender roles in ancient China.

Royal Wet Nurses in Seventh- and Early Eighth-Century China: Historiographical Evaluation and Narrative Construction

AbstractThe women who served as wet nurses to powerful and in some cases notorious members of the Tang royal family appear in written materials in various capacities in relation to prominent historical actors. An analysis of historical narratives involving these women indicates that their portrayals were strongly influenced by the historian’s mode of moral assessment, in particular, the historical judgment meted out upon their controversial charges. The manipulation in historical narrative of royal wet nurses thus elucidates a fascinating example of the operation of “praise and blame” in traditional historiography. Wet nurses are used as narrative pawns to emphasize the historical judgment of their famous former charges and become a vehicle or mouthpiece for historical evaluation.