Early Qing Research Articles

Illustrations of Antiquities in Vernacular Short Stories of Late Ming and Early Qing

Illustrations of Antiquities in Vernacular Short Stories of Late Ming and Early Qing

Seo yu-gu's criticism of GuwenshangshuYuanci and early Qing academic feature's influence with its focus on the case of Gu Yan-wu and Zhu Yi-zun

Seo yu-gu's criticism of GuwenshangshuYuanci and early Qing academic feature's influence with its focus on the case of Gu Yan-wu and Zhu Yi-zun

Gu Yanwu’s Mixed Model and the Problem of Two Despotisms

Based on a close reading of Gu Yanwu’s masterpiece of statecraft reform thought, Record of Daily Learning , this article maps out Gu’s attempt to mix two rival “constitutional” systems, the centralized junxian system and devolutionary fengjian model, so as to reorder the late imperial polity. Tapping both Confucian and Legalist streams of reformist political discourse, Gu devised a “mixed constitution” that would solve the basic problems he saw exposed by the fall of the Ming Dynasty – local despotism of predatory elites and centralized despotism of autocratic emperors. Restoring Gu’s ideas to their early Qing context and examining the intellectual sources upon which he drew allows for a clearer picture of his carefully balanced plan for devolutionary centralism that he hoped would ensure both good local governance as well as a strong central state.

Expounding Neo-Confucianism: Choice of Tradition at a Time of Dynastic Change—Cultural Conflict and the Social Reconstruction of Early Qing

明清易代之际, 满汉文化易位、政治权力换手以及士大夫个人命运的转折将传统 的变革推到了个人和群体面前。在所有这些冲突中, 满族统治阶层、汉族理学官僚、 汉族遗民士人对于各自传统的捡拾、遗弃、变换及其决断无可置疑地居于核心地位。 在激烈的政治文化之外, 以理学为代表的儒学, 采取既不批判现实也不反传统的政治 立场, 通过讲理 (讲理学) 与清政权碰触、试探, 确立了新传统; 以康熙为首的清政 权与理学官僚展开了互动, 确立了儒学化的新文化传统; 在亲眼目睹了清政权的文化 选择后, 晚明遗民的政治心态发生了转变, 放弃了其传统观。这些对于传统的抉择, 其特殊时期的视角和激烈的程度以及并非诉诸武力的方式, 颠覆了我们对于中国传统 的种种约定俗成的结论。 关键词: 理学 康熙 儒学化 遗民 During the dynastic change from Ming to Qing, the Manchu and Han cultures also changed places. The transfer of political power and the change in the fortunes of the scholar-officials pushed change in tradition to the forefront for both individuals and groups. In all these conflicts, the crucial element was undoubtedly the way the Manchu ruling stratum, Han Neo- Confucian officials and the Han loyalists of the Ming dynasty retrieved, deserted or changed their own traditions. Outside the intense political culture, Confucianism, typified by Neo- Confucianism, took a political stance that neither criticized existing realities nor opposed tradition. By expounding Neo-Confucianism, its followers made contact with and tested out the Qing regime, establishing a new tradition. The Qing regime, with Emperor Kangxi as its head, interacted with Neo-Confucian officialdom and established a new Confucianized cultural tradition. Having personally witnessed the Qing regime’s cultural choices, the political attitude of the late Ming loyalists underwent a transformation and they relinquished their own view of tradition. These choices in relation to tradition, with differing perspectives depending on the times and differing degrees of intensity, along with the absence of a resort to force, subvert our stereotypical judgments about Chinese tradition.

Empire and Periphery? The Qing Empire’s Relations with Japan and the Ryūkyūs (1644–c. 1800), a Comparison

Analysing Qing China’s relations with her neighbours, a distinction between her continental and maritime border space is evident. The Qing emperors were extremely alert towards their continental borders undertaking military intervention when they considered other countries a threat to them. While great parts of formerly non-Chinese territories in Central Asia were integrated into the Chinese empire and their peoples subdued by military force, maritime space was viewed differently, but as we want to show, not simply as a distant periphery nor as frontier as it is often claimed. China’s relations with Japan and the Ryūkyū Islands are excellent examples to show how differently the Qing rulers viewed these neighbouring countries. Simultaneously, while the early Qing rulers like Kangxi (r. 1662–1722) and Yongzheng (r. 1723–35) maintained a vivid interest in overseas developments, a shift towards disinterest in maritime space occurred only with the Qianlong Emperor (r. 1736–95).

“Preferring Omission over Falsity”

SummaryNeglected in the current scholarship on Qing dynasty court compilations, the dictionary commissioned by the Kangxi emperor in 1710 is an important source for understanding the nature of court-commissioned reference works in the early Qing. TheKangxi Classic of Characters, although typically believed to have improved on Ming and early Qing dictionaries by virtue of its greater inclusion of source materials, in fact had a more complicated relationship with its predecessors. In the process of delegitimizing earlier, privately compiled works, the editors of theKangxi Classic of Charactersactively promoted the exclusive authority of the court in their composition of dictionary definitions. Further, their manipulation of definitions in earlier dictionaries was not a straightforward process of greater inclusion and deletion of redundancy, but rather a reflection of contemporary intellectual developments. This can be seen in the compilers’ attempts to bring the definitions in line with a number of trends in Confucian thought, which were taking form at the court during this period.

Preliminary exploration of the plant culture of <italic>Torreya grandis</italic> in China

The conifer Torreya grandis is endemic to China and is a rare esculent species in the family Taxaceae. The plant culture of Torreya includes classification,food and medicine,landscape gardening,forestry,and related literature. The species was originally recorded on bamboo strips during the reign of the first emperor Qin Shi Huang. All the identifying features of the species have been described since the Ming Dynasty. The species was described scientifically in 1857. Torreya seeds have been used in herbal medicine since the Eastern Han Dynasty. More information on the potency of the species has been revealed since then. The use of the esculent torreya nut can be traced back to the middle of the Tang Dynasty. The cultivated variety,Chinese Torreya(T. grandis cv. Merrillii),was successfully cultivated by grafting. The West Zhejiang and South Anhui provinces are regarded as the origin of this variety. The selection of this species for landscape gardening began in the Western Han Dynasty. The conifer has even been planted in the Luoyang region,far from its natural source region in the Tang Dynasty. The use of the species in forestry can be traced back to the Song Dynasty. Its use reached its peak during the late Ming and the early Qing Dynasty in the Zhejiang and Anhui provinces. The appreciation of this species was encouraged by Su Shi,which led to Chinese torreya becoming fashionable during the Song Dynasty. Many poems were created about the conifer at this time.

Money, Power, and the State: The Origins of the Military-Fiscal State in Modern China

Abstract During the late 1800s, internal rebellion and European imperialism transformed existing patterns of taxation, resource distribution, and government spending in China. Continual preparation for war led to an enormous growth in the state’s extractive capacity, and indirect commercial taxes supplanted the system of direct agrarian levies established in the early Qing era. Authorities earmarked the majority of these new resources for military spending in eastern China in an effort to amass the sinews of politico-economic power. Together these changes laid the initial foundation for the military-fiscal state in modern China, a transformation that parallels the experience of early modern Europe.

Courtesan Editor

This article focuses on female editorship and sexual politics in late Ming and early Qing China, using Hua suo shi, an anthology edited by the courtesan poet Xue Susu, as a case study. It traces textual production and transmission, and reconstructs the literary and cultural contexts of this work to explore the courtesan’s editorial gaze and representation of gender through a close reading of it. The analysis of its two main themes—women as commodities, and women as agents—shows how the courtesan editor re-imagined China’s cultural landscape from her point of view. New examples of female agency are discovered in analyzing the cultural process of editing as a “web of discourses,” providing a window on the emergence of a new female editorial voice in early modern China’s cultural discourse. Cet article se concentre sur le rôle éditorial des femmes et sur les politiques sexuelles en Chine à la fin des Ming et au début des Qing. Une anthologie éditée par la courtisane et poétesse Xue Susu, le Hua suo shi, sert d’étude de cas. Le processus de production et de transmission textuelle est examiné et le contexte littéraire et culturel de l’ouvrage restitué, permettant d’explorer le regard éditorial et le jeu de genre de la courtisane à travers une lecture serrée du texte. L’analyse des deux thèmes dominants — la femme comme marchandise, la femme comme agent — démontre la façon dont la courtisane éditrice ré-imagine le paysage culturel chinois de son propre point de vue. D’autres exemples d’intervention féminine se révèlent lorsqu’on analyse le processus culturel d’édition en tant que “réseau de discours”. Ainsi s’ouvre une fenêtre sur l’émergence d’une nouvelle voix éditoriale féminine au sein du discours culturel chinois au début des temps modernes.

On the Regius Interpretation of Confucian Classics And Its Academic Trends In the early Qing Dynasty

On the Regius Interpretation of Confucian Classics And Its Academic Trends In the early Qing Dynasty

Gardens and Illusions from Late Ming to Early Qing

Noting that gardens are closely tied with various art forms and genres and yet have very real social and sometimes economic functions, Wai-Yee Li ruminates on the boundaries between representations and reality, and between subjective projections and objective constraints. After exploring the social and political meanings of various accounts celebrating non-existent gardens from late Ming to early Qing, Li discusses the aesthetics of illusion in actual gardens in that same period, dealing with such issues as miniaturization and the play with perspectives. With the political turmoil of the Ming-Qing transition, the discourse on gardens and illusions changed, and the tension between aesthetic and ethical values deepened: even as charges of frivolity and self-indulgence arose, many reaffirmed the necessity of illusion as the locus of memory and nostalgia in the midst of ruins and devastation.

NEWS, HISTORY, AND “FICTION ON CURRENT EVENTS”: NOVELS ON SUPPRESSING THE CHUANG REBELLION

In the third month of the lunar year 1644, the Ming Dynasty encountered exactly the same crisis that it once created for its predecessor. Rebel troops led by Li Zicheng 李自成 (1605?– 45), a native of Shaanxi province, captured Beijing, precipitating the suicide of Emperor Chongzhen (r. 1628–44) and the fall of the imperial house. However, the rebellious force did not hold the capital for long. Only six weeks later, the former Ming general Wu Sangui 吳三桂 (1612–78) let Manchu troops enter the Shanhai Pass and Beijing fell to a conquering army for a second time that year. While northern China was experiencing tremendous turbulence, Yao Tinglin 姚廷遴 (b. 1628), a native of Shanghai, entered a line in his diary that piqued interest for later scholars. In his entry for 1644, Yao writes ‘‘less than two months after the capital fell to the rebellious troops, there appeared Jiaochuang xiaoshuo 剿闖小說 [Story on Suppressing the Chuang Rebellion] for sale [my emphasis], recounting the collapse of the capital in great detail.’’ Yao’s observation is worth noting for several reasons. First, in contrast to the tradition of Chinese historical novels, which tended to deal with people or events in the distant past, this novel documents a national event that has just taken place, whose implications for society and history were still unfolding at the timewhen the workwas published. Thus, one unique characteristic of this novel is its contemporaneity, that is, its immediate focus on contemporary rather than historical figures. Second, the novel was written and published less than two months after the uprising, demonstrating how rapidly novelistic writing could react to contemporary socio-political change. Consequently, this type of novel in lateMing served to disseminate public information during a time without mass media. Third, Yao clearly points out that this work was for sale, indicating that there existed a market for consuming this type of work for its unique characteristic, its timely depiction of contemporary major events. The characteristics demonstrated by this particular version of Jiaochuang xiaoshuo evoke a group of works that later came to be collectively known as shishi xiaoshuo 時事小說 (fiction on current events), a unique genre popular in the closing decades of the Ming and early Qing periods that has not yet received the critical scholarly attention it deserves. For example, barely one year after the death of Wei Zhongxian 魏忠賢 (1568–1627), arguably the most powerful eunuch in Chinese history, there appeared three novels focusing on his downfall. Also, after the extremely controversial execution of Mao Wenlong 毛文龍 (1576–1629), the important Ming general whose death allegedly caused the siege of Beijing in 1629 by the Manchus, a number of novels were swiftly published to ‘‘rectify’’ his Ming Studies, 66, 56–75, September 2012

Jesuit Accounts of Chinese History and Chronology and their Chinese Sources

When Jesuit missionaries went to China in the seventeenth century, they discovered that Chinese history was in many regards apparently longer than the history as presented by the Bible. Subsequently, they started to translate Chinese histories, which they sent back to Europe, and which in the eighteenth century were adopted by Enlightenment thinkers for their own purposes. The European side of this story is quite well known, but what about the Chinese side? What sources did the Jesuits use and how did these sources interpret ancient history? As part of a larger project, these questions about the Chinese sources are answered from an intercultural perspective. The missionaries not only used classical Chinese histories written during the Song dynasty (960-1279), but also numerous newly edited or newly composed works from the seventeenth century. While they themselves originated from a Europe in which the ars historica was in full transition, they met a situation in China where new approaches to history had emerged. They used comprehensive histories, such as the one by the late Ming scholar Nan Xuan 南軒, or the more wide-spread genres, such as gangjian 綱鑑 (outline and mirror) histories, which from the late eighteenth century fell into oblivion. In fact, the sources used by the Jesuits not only throw light on their own compilations that were ultimately sent to Europe, but also on the writing of history in China in the late Ming (1368-1644) and the early Qing dynasties (1644-1911).

Cultures of knowledge: technology in Chinese history

Looking at knowledge transmission as a cultural feature, this book isolates and examines the individual factors that affect knowledge in the making and created uniquely Chinese cultures of knowledge. The volume is organized into four sections: Internode, Imperial Court, Agora, and Scholarly Arts. Each has a theoretical introduction, followed by two core contributions from experts in Chinese history. The section concludes with a 'reflection' by a historian of Western Technology who scrutinizes each sphere and identifies the points that reflect universal technological experience. The combination of broadly sketched theoretical introductions and detailed core contributions provides an unparalleled insight into pre-modern Chinese history from the Song to early Qing dynasty, revealing Chinese attitudes towards innovation and invention.

Analysis and Optimization of Form Layout on the Internal Space in Qijiang Ancient Town

Qijiang ancient town is a famous historical and cultural town of Sichuan province with a history of over 2000 years. Most of the buildings in this ancient town were build in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties which are build by western Sichuan style. The street buildup by those buildings were very well protected. There is an 500-meter-long ancient block, containing 5 ancient stages and temples. There are 2 well-preserved stages so far. Qijiang ancient town follow the combination characteristics of contrary space sequence and contrary space behavior, its space form layout is rigorous. The outer space, inner space, inter living space, behaviour and time space are formed orderly. Today the town's space form layout is evolved in a long history and tourism economy developed. With the development of tourism economy, the traditional space pattern has already not adapt to the modern Qijiang town’s development. What make it worse is lack of a comprehensive guide, causing the ancient town’s traditional history and culture and traditional pattern face a new dilemma. From the point of the protection of traditional space pattern and traditional culture, this thesis aimed at Qijiang ancient town’s internal space form layout analysis and research as the key point, making space configuration optimize and adjust. In order to adapt to the development of modern Qijiang town. Provides an example of small towns’ residential environment construction development in China.

The Sichuan Frontier and Tibet: Imperial Strategy in the Early Qing, by Yingcong Dai

The Sichuan Frontier and Tibet: Imperial Strategy in the Early Qing, by Yingcong Dai

Eminent Nuns: Women Chan Masters of Seventeenth-Century China by Beata Grant (review)

Reviewed by: Eminent Nuns: Women Chan Masters of Seventeenth-Century China by Beata Grant Michael Saso (bio) Beata Grant. Eminent Nuns: Women Chan Masters of Seventeenth-Century China. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2009. xi, 242 pp. Epilogue, notes, selected bibliography, index. Hardcover $46.00, isbn 978-0-8248-3202-5. This eminently readable and thoroughly researched work of Beata Grant, a wellknown and acclaimed scholar of literature, Buddhism, and women’s studies in China, presents one of the most valuable, unique insights into the role of female Chan (Zen) masters in seventeenth-century China. One of the most compelling aspects of the work is the faultless series of translations of texts left behind by female Chan masters themselves, or their female disciples, who recorded their literary works. Grant allows the women Linji (Japanese: Rinzai) Chan masters to speak for themselves, in faultless prose, or Chan-style verse, which, indeed, makes Eminent Nuns a treasury of citations to be cherished for their own intrinsic worth. The first and foremost eminent nun, Qiyuan Xinggang (1597–1654), the subject of chapters 3 and 4, laid the groundwork for the disciples and dharma heirs who succeeded her or were inspired to follow in her footsteps. Qiyuan Xinggang’s reasons for becoming a nun—the death of her espoused fiancé, her own personal desire to seek a life of Buddhist practice, and the inspiration of a Linji Chan monk who accepted her as a disciple—were closely related to the social and cultural upheaval of the seventeenth-century transition between the Han Chinese in origin Ming dynasty and the Altaic Manchu in origin Qing rulers. The introduction and chapters 1 and 2 explain the texts and contexts and the sociopolitical factors that influenced the flourishing of Buddhism as part of a sometimes bloody transition between two quite different dynasties. Among more important factors, as seen in Qiyuan Xinggang’s life as well as in the lives of many of her followers, were (1) a high level of classical education among the daughters of traditional literary families; (2) an acceptable recourse for high-ranking, devout women whose husbands were executed or died during the wars preceding and following the first years of the Qing dynasty Manchu rule; and (3) the rebirth of the Linji or huatou (first phrase of a Gongan koan poetic quote) used to inspire sudden Chan insights. The social-spiritual milieu in which the Chan revival occurred, during the early Qing dynasty transition of power, took place mainly in South China (that is, south of the Yangzi River), where Chan masters as well as monastic master-disciple teaching could take place. One of the most telling passages relates Qiyuan Xinggang’s struggle and preliminary success in solving the huatou conundrum proposed in a dialogue between her two male masters, Shiche Tongshen and Jinsu. The passage, quoted on page 46, must be read fully to realize the effect of the nun’s reply to the master’s question, “When you are dead and cremated, where will you be?” (Response: “Red dust rising from the bottom of the Sea.”) [End Page 600] The best known of the seven officially designated dharma heirs of Qiyuan Xinggang is the nun Yikui Chaochen, who wrote the biography quoted in chapter 4 and her own set of Yulu Recorded Sayings, the subject of chapter 5, “Passing on the Lamp.” Her quite moving (to this reviewer) teachings are found on page 100, in which the quiet life in a monastic nunnery and the presence of a devoted and caring master are the basic causes for real success in practice. Due to her governance, the three nunneries under her became centers for laity as well as monastic refuge and succor. Seven of Qiyuan Xinggang’s dharma successors were born and raised in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang cultural areas, which were, during the seventeenth century, strongholds of Confucian as well Buddhist and Daoist classical literary studies. Two of her dharma heirs, whose writings are preserved in the Jiaxing Ming dynasty Buddhist canon (Daxing Dazang Jing, 40 vols., Taipei reprint: Xinwenfeng chubanshe, 1987), were from Hengzhou in Hunan Province: Jizong Xingche, who is the subject of chapter 6, and the late...

Military Culture in Imperial China, edited by Nicola Di Cosmo. and, The Sichuan Frontier and Tibet: Imperial Strategy in the Early Qing, Yingcong Dai.

<i>Military Culture in Imperial China</i>, edited by Nicola Di Cosmo. and, <i>The Sichuan Frontier and Tibet: Imperial Strategy in the Early Qing</i>, Yingcong Dai.

清初遺民詞曲社之文化原生態個案考論——北湖三家與特社

LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in Chinese; abstract also in English.&#x0D; 清初在揚州北湖出現的特社是以詞曲創作、切磋技藝爲主的詞曲社。該社的活動時間大致始於順治二年（1645）至康熙年間，主要成員有遺民詞人徐石麒、范荃、羅煜等人。特社的詞學活動，涉及倡和、評點及詞韻研究三方面。特社諸子在創作上取得了較高的藝術成就。他們提倡風格多樣，崇尚比興寄託，重視詞韻研究。特社的組織形態、詞學活動、創作實績及詞學思想與當時特定的歷史、地理、文化因素及與之相關的遺民心態有著緊密的關聯，在清初廣陵詞壇複雜的結構層次中構築了一道獨特的人文景觀。Founded in North Lake, Yangzhou, in the early Qing dynasty, Teshe was a salon for creative writing of lyrics (ci-poetry) and arias (qu-poetry) and for discussion of related artistic techniques. The salon held its first activities around the second year of the Shunzhi reign-period (1645) and came to an end sometime during the Kangxi reign-period (1662-1722). Core members of Teshe included ci-poets of the late Ming dynasty such as Xu Shiqi (1578-1645), Fan Quan (1633-1705), and Luo Yu. The activities of Teshe all focused on ci-poetry and can be divided into three categories: poetry exchange, commentary, and the study of the ci-poetry rhyme system. The members of Teshe made great accomplishments in creative writing. They promoted diversity in poetic styles, advocated the techniques of allegory and metaphor, and valued the study of the ci-poetry rhyme system. The salon was a peculiar product of the time. Its organization, activities, accomplishments in creation, and literary thought were directly related to the views and attitudes toward history, geography, and culture of the intellectuals who witnessed the downfall of the Ming dynasty they once served. Teshe made up a unique humanities landscape in the multi-layered structure of the early Qing ci-poetry arena in the Guangling area.

Understanding and Evaluation of Spring Autumn-Hak by Academic Circle of the Early Qing Dynasty - Focused on 「Gyeongbu⋅Spring Autumn」, {Sagojeyo}

Understanding and Evaluation of Spring Autumn-Hak by Academic Circle of the Early Qing Dynasty - Focused on 「Gyeongbu⋅Spring Autumn」, {Sagojeyo}