Premodern China Research Articles

The Importance of Being God-Less: The Unintended Universe and China’s Spiritual Legacy

The idea of a nous as arche, of a single purposive rational mind that creates the world or otherwise accounts for the world being as it is, has dominated most Western thought in one form or another since it was proposed by Plato, quoting Socrates, quoting Anaxagoras, in the Phaedo, particularly in the form given it in monotheist religions and theologies and, less explicitly but still powerfully, in their secular aftermaths. Each of the dominant traditions in pre-modern China is however “God-less” in the sense of lacking just this conception. This article takes a look at the forms of God-less religiousness developed in these traditions, as a way of recovering some of the ethical and epistemological alternatives obscured by the idea of God idea in monotheistic cultures.

A Politico-Economic Play from a Pre-Modern to a Modern State: The Comparative Case of the Meiji Restoration and the Xinhai Revolution

Economists often identify a reduction in the share of agricultural employment as a quantitative indication of the economic growth of nations. But this process did not occur in earnest in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) until the 1980s and to some extent in Japan until well into the mid-20th century. Were extractive political regimes, commonly regarded as the primary drivers of economic performance, solely responsible for the lateness of these developments? This article deals with this question from a strategic perspective by examining the interactions between the polity and the economy in both countries. It begins by characterizing the complementary nature of the peasant-based economy and the agrarian-tax state in premodern China and Japan. It then describes how endogenous strategic forces evolved from among the intermediate organizations in each country to challenge the incumbent dynastic ruler in response to the commercialization of the peasant-based economy on one hand and the fiscal and military weakening of the agrarian-tax state on the other. The article then introduces a three-person game model between a ruler and two challenging organizations, derive conditions for multiple equilbria and their comparative static. The analytical results help to identify the endogenous strategic forces that led the Meiji Restoration and the Xinhai Revolution to move from a premodern state of play to nation-state building and modern economic regimes in each country.

Primers and Poetry in Ancient China: Shenglu fameng and Beyond

This article examines the history of primers on shenglu (tone and rhythm) in pre-modern China. The first section of the article investigates the original version of Zhu Ming’s (Yuan Dynasty) Shenglu fameng (A Primer of Shenglu ), as well as its sequel and revisions. The increased use and popularity of shenglu primers, especially in primary education from the Song forward, is explored in section 2. The third section illustrates how shenglu primers emphasized an integration of yun (rhyme) and dui (paired phrasing or parallelism). While tracing the rise of shiyun shu (poetic rhyme books) during the Song-Yuan transition period, the author argues that shenglu primers focused instead on tone and rhyme, aestheticizing the rules of couplet composition and tailoring couplets for singing. Through a discussion of several key developments in pairing rules and standards, the final section reveals the curious interaction between the taste of the poetry elites and that of the masses educated and informed by such popular poetry primers.

The Richness of Ambiguity: A Mencian Statement and Interpretive Theory and Practice in Premodern China

The four-character statement “Yi yi ni zhi” 以意逆志 by Mencius on how to interpret the Book of Poetry has won praise from critics of all persuasions for nearly a millennium. How could this Mencian statement become a credo for so many different and often mutually opposed interpretive traditions? The extraordinary “versatility” of the Mencian statement, this article suggests, has much to do with the rich inherent ambiguity of uninflected classical Chinese. By adroitly exploiting the ambiguities of the words yi 意, ni 逆, and zhi 志 as well as its syntax, traditional Chinese critics continually reinterpreted the Mencian statement in a way that justified their novel interpretive approaches. So, by investigating the continual reinterpretation of the Mencian statement, this article maps out the rise of diverse interpretive approaches from pre-Han times through the Qing. It also discovers two distinctive thrusts of these approaches and sheds light on the underlying dynamic unity of the Chinese interpretive tradition.

Chinese Perspectivism: Perspectivist Cosmologies in Zhuangzi and Journey to the West

Perspectivism as a cosmology, according to which all beings perceive themselves as humans, has been discussed mainly in connection with the Amazo- nian region, for the term perspectivism stems from Eduardo Viveiros de Castro, who applied it to the indigenous worldview of that particular region. To a lesser extent, it has also been studied in North Asia and some other hunter-gatherer societies. In this article I wish to demonstrate that perspectivism may be more widespread than previously thought, and its occurrence is not necessarily limited to hunter-gatherer cultures. Perspectivism can also be found in pre-modern China, which can be seen from such well-known texts as Zhuangzi (4th-3rd century BCE) and Journey to the West (16th century). The connecting link that makes the occurrence of perspectivism possible both in South America and East Asia is probably shamanism, which is present in both of these regions. It is characteristic of Chinese perspectivism that the multiple perspectives are not equal, but there is one proper perspective that is at the same time also the moral perspective. Chinese cosmology can contribute to the understanding of American perspectivism with its concept of cosmological rela- tions, which fits the model of perspectivism.

Economic and Political Transitions from Premodern to Modern States in the Meiji Restoration and Xinhai Revolution: A Strategic Approach

Economists often identify a reduction in the share of agricultural employment as a quantitative indication of the economic growth of nations. But this process did not occur in earnest in the People’s Republic of China until the 1980s and to some extent in Japan until well into the mid-20th century. Were extractive political regimes, commonly regarded as the primary drivers of economic performance, solely responsible for the lateness of these developments? This paper deals with this question from a strategic perspective by examining the interactions between the polity and the economy in both countries. It begins by characterizing the complementary nature of the peasant-based economy and the agrarian-tax state in premodern China and Japan. It then describes how endogenous strategic forces evolved from among the intermediate organizations in each country to challenge the incumbent dynastic ruler in response to the commercialization of the peasant-based economy on one hand and the fiscal and military weakening of the agrarian-tax state on the other. The paper then introduces a three-person game model between a ruler and two challenging organizations, and derives conditions for multiple equilbria and their comparative static. The analytical results help to identify the endogenous strategic forces that led the Meiji Restoration and the Xinhai Revolution to move from a premodern state of play to nation-state building and modern economic regimes in each country.

Land, Men, Taxation -- An Application to Pre-Modern China and Europe -- Erik Jones' 'European Miracle' Revisited

Eric Jones has found that excessive taxes were detrimental for pre-modern China’s economic growth whereas moderate taxes were conducive for Europe’s economic growth. This paper provides a political-economic answer to the question why these two tax systems came about. Taxation is only feasible when men and land can be linked as a single bundle. Taxation of land is not feasible without men, and taxation of men is not feasible without land. A tax maximizing bureaucrat has to combine the two variables in such a way that tax revenues are maximized given the constraints of land and men in his country. China’s contiguous geography allows bureaucrats to establish an autocratic tax system whereas Europe’s split geography enforces a competitive tax system. Therefore often contiguous states reveal to be stable states whereas split states turn out to be unstable and prone to collapse.

Buddho–Daoism in medieval and early pre-modern China: A report on recent findings concerning influences and shared religious practices

This comprises a report on a project conducted at the Ruhr University, Bochum, on the interrelationship and exchanges between China's two major religious traditions, Buddhism and Daoism, during the medieval and early pre-modern periods. While the departure for the research was primarily concerned with the mutual exchanges of ritual techniques and technology, i.e.~ritual practices in general, concepts of ritual, ritual implements, ritual language, rituals in specific cultic contexts etc., I gradually expanded my interest to include a wider range of topics relating to the exchanges between Buddhism and Daoism in China including the appropriation of divinities and saints, integrated beliefs and practices involving elements from both religions, apocryphal writings, conceptualizations concerning specific religious themes in which ideas and beliefs from both Buddhism and Daoism were brought together. Among other issues dealt with is the manner in which such concepts of “secrecy” and “the netherworld” were formulated and constructed in the Buddho–Daoist exchanges.

Disappearing Objects/Elusive Subjects

This paper examines changes in the philosophical and literary representations of mirrors—and mirroring—in a foundational period of Chinese history beginning with the pre-classical period and ending in the medieval Tang Dynasty. Inspired by the peculiarity of this object, which acts upon subjects at least as much as it is acted upon by them, this study of the literary mirror, of reflection and reflexivity, provides a glimpse into the larger issue of the construction of subjectivity in premodern China. Through the examination of each stage of the literary mirror’s gradual transformation from metaphor, to lyrical stimulus, and ultimately to its subsumption as an evocative predicate, it is possible to observe concomitant shifts in the construction of the literary subject as it displays increasing—but never absolute—degrees of specificity, distinctness, and autonomy.

Mechanism of the China's Hegemony in the Relationship between pre-Modern Korea and China:'Complex Game' of Conflicts and Cooperations

Mechanism of the China's Hegemony in the Relationship between pre-Modern Korea and China:'Complex Game' of Conflicts and Cooperations

License Not Budgets: How Taxless Administrative Financing Isn't Corruption

What happens when local bureaucracies in China fail to receive sufficient state budgeted funds? Focusing on Zouping, a county in Northern China, this essay examines the strategies that empower local agencies to self-finance personnel and administrative costs. The overarching logic of these strategies, which I label taxless administrative financing, can be summed up in a colloquial Chinese phrase: “license not budgets” (gei zhengce bu gei qian). Instead of allocating budgeted funds from tax revenue to fund public administration fully, the state enacts policies that “license” local bureaucracies to self-finance, such as by collecting fees or earning revenue through market activities. An account of taxless administrative financing has two important implications. First, it is distinguished from popular perceptions of local bureaucracies as corrupt agents who extract revenue arbitrarily and in defiance of state policies. Instead, it emphasizes that the state makes policies that license agencies to generate revenue for self-financing. Second, it highlights the continuity and adaptation of prebendal practices in pre-modern China in a contemporary context of market reform, placing the self-financing measures of local bureaucracies in historical and comparative light.

A Comparative Political Economic Analysis of Fables of the Bees and Chi-Mi

The Fable of the Bees of Bernard Mandeville and Chi-mi of The Book of Guan Zi have much similarity in their economic reasoning. Both argue that extravagance in consumption spending will stimulate economic activity. The social political objectives of the two works are however very different. While The Fable of the Bees strives against religious and moral restraints on consumption, Chi-mi advocates extravagance as a political strategy to strengthen the control of the sovereign over powerful lords and officers and rich merchants. The amoral reasoning of The Fable of the Bees inspired classical economics. On the other hand, the economic analysis of Chi-mi had no significant impact on Chinese thinking given the tradition of suppression of commerce in pre-modern China.

For a Compassionate Killing: Chinese Buddhism, Sericulture, and the Silkworm God AŚvaghoṣa

AbstractFor thousands of years in China, silk producers have developed ritual technologies and pantheons of deities intended to ensure healthy silkworms and abundant silk crops. Buddhist rites and deities have likewise long served the commercial interests of Chinese religionists, but so far we have little understanding of the relationships between the Buddhist institution and the ubiquitous sericulture industry. This essay represents the initial stages of a larger effort to investigate these relationships in premodern China. Here I examine a specific instance in which Buddhism was promoted as integral to silk production—as the true origin of the sericulture process, as the proper moral and soteriological framework within which to understand silkworm rearing (and killing), and as the ritual tradition most efficacious for sericulturists. These claims were advanced in medieval Chinese sources depicting the ancient Indian Buddhist patriarch Aśvaghoṣa as a local god of silk. Through this figure in particular, ...

Real estate prices in Beijing, 1644 to 1840

This paper provides the first estimates of housing price movements for Beijing in late pre-modern China. We hand-collect from archival sources transaction prices and other house attribute information from the 498 surviving house sale contracts for Beijing during the first two centuries of the Qing Dynasty (1644–1840), a long period without major wars, political turmoil, or significant institutional change in the Chinese capital. We use hedonic methods to construct a real estate price index for Beijing for the period. The regression analysis explains a major proportion of the variance of housing prices. We find that house prices grew steadily for the first half-century of the Qing Dynasty and declined afterwards in both nominal and real terms through the late eighteenth century. Nominal prices grew starting in the late eighteenth century and declined from the early nineteenth century through 1840. But these price changes occurred with contemporaneous price changes in basic measures of the cost of living: there was little change in real terms to the end of our period.

Transcending the limitations of physical form: a case study of the Cang Lang Pavilion in Suzhou, China

This paper attempts to explore the legibility and meanings of traditional Chinese architecture through a specific case study of the Cang Lang Pavilion. The process of architectural creation in pre-modern Chinese society consisted of both physical and literary methods, undertaken by the builders and the literati respectively. The meaning of architecture thus can be formulated independently in text and narrative, thereby instructing daily life. From comparing the social meanings of hall and pavilion, these two structures seem have represented two opposite social dispositions: conformity and dissent. To some extent, the political system, together with social, cultural and intellectual traditions in pre-modern China downplayed the role of architecture in evoking social awareness and promoting various ideologies. However, the literary creation of architecture transcended the limitations of physical form. The legibility of architecture is largely acquired from reading the life and meanings inherent in and beyond physical form.

Affiliation and Transmission in Daoism: A Berlin Symposium by Florian C. Reiter (review)

researched and beautifully written book. It will, in my humble estimation, become a must-read for all scholars of any Buddhist tradition; and it is to inspire the appearance of other works researched with similar care.12 I eagerly look forward to the author’s further publications. JINHUA CHEN The University of British Columbia FLORIAN C. REITER, ed., Affiliation and Transmission in Daoism: A Berlin Symposium. Abhandlungen für die Kunde des Morgenlandes, vol. 78. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2012. viii, 300 pp. J68 (pb). ISBN 978-3447 -06761-4 This is a collection of papers presented at the eponymous ‘‘International Symposium on Affiliation and Transmission in Daoism,’’ hosted by the Humboldt University, Berlin, June 27–29, 2011, and the fifth volume in an informal series of collected conference papers.1 Only Stephen R. Bokenkamp, John Lagerwey, and Florian C. Reiter have had contributions in all volumes since the first one—Scriptures, Schools and Forms of Practice in Daoism—was published in 2005, four years after the first Berlin Symposium was held in 2001. Terry Kleeman has had papers in four consecutive volumes, starting with Purposes, Means and Convictions in Daoism (2007), derived from a second symposium (2005). Articles by Hsieh Tsung-Hui 謝聰輝, Lee Fongmao 李豐楙, and Lü Pengzhi 呂鵬志 appear in three volumes, beginning with Foundations of Daoist Ritual (2009), based on a third symposium (2007). Contributions by Chang Chaojan 張超然, Hsieh Shu-Wei 謝世維, Lin Wei-Ping 林瑋嬪, and Tam Wai Lun 譚偉倫 are found in the last two volumes, starting with Exorcism in Daoism (2011). Only Paul R. Katz has a single paper in the fifth volume. Beyond these twelve scholars, fifteen have had papers published at least once in the first four volumes, out of a total of twenty-seven contributors. In this group, Asian scholars, in the minority for the first volume, have become the majority from the fourth volume onwards,2 and there is only one female scholar (Lin). The acknowledgements in each of the papers from the present volume tend to confirm that these twelve scholars share an ‘‘affiliation’’—our first theme— 12 A noteworthy monograph-size study on the Aja ta satru legend that has been partly inspired by Radich’s work is now capably made available by Wu Juan 吳娟, a new doctoral graduate under the guidance of Max Deeg of Cardiff University. See Juan Wu, ‘‘From Perdition to Awakening: A Study of Legends of the Salvation of the Patricide Aja ta satru in Indian Buddhism’’ (PhD dissertation, 2012, Cardiff University, UK). 1 The first four volumes are: Scriptures, Schools and Forms of Practice in Daoism: A Berlin Symposium, ed. Poul Andersen and Florian C. Reiter (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2005); Purposes, Means and Convictions in Daoism: A Berlin Symposium, ed. Florian C. Reiter (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2007); Foundations of Daoist Ritual: A Berlin Symposium, ed. Florian C. Reiter (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2009); and Exorcism in Daoism: A Berlin Symposium, ed. Florian C. Reiter (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2011). 2 Proportion of Western/Asian scholars in the five volumes: 8/2 (2005), 8/4 (2007), 8/6 (2009), 6/9 (2011), and 5/7 (2012). 180 BOOK REVIEWS although not necessarily in the institutional sense.3 A bibliographical analysis of the volume would perhaps result in the definition of a cluster of preferred secondary sources, ‘‘transmitted’’—our second theme—by means of repeated references.4 Thus may Affiliation and Transmission eventually prove its value as a primary source for the sociological and ideological study of sinology at the turn of the twenty-first century. The contributions—seven of which concern ancient or pre-modern China and the remaining five, modern or contemporary China—are unequal in length, scope, and scientific importance. Some are short, mainly descriptive, with poor annotations and meager bibliographical references; others offer detailed analysis, dense footnotes and up-to-date bibliographies. Most being far beyond the limited expertise of this reviewer, the following remarks can hardly do justice to what is, in its major parts, a laudable effort of collective scholarship. Reiter’s opening paper on the school of complete integrity (Quanzhen 全真) and the exorcistic Five Thunders rites (Wulei fa 五雷法) in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries—a ‘‘crucial’’ period in the development of Taoism—sets fairly decent heuristic standards (pp. 1–18...

“Age Inflation and Deflation” in Medieval China


 
 
 Using the twelve-year animal cycle, this paper uncovers and examines the dual phenomena of “age inflation” and “age deflation” in medieval China. While the first part raises serious doubt on the accuracy of the conventional method for calculating birth year in premodern China, the second section examining the deflation phenomenon provides yet another proof of the omnipotent law of economic rationality.
 
 

THE INTELLECTUAL PERSUASION IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY: A CONVERSATION WITH PETER K. BOL

Interviewer’s Note: Peter K. Bol is the Charles H. Carswell Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University. A leading scholar in the field of Chinese intellectual history, the much-published Professor Bol has long been an active figure in academic conferences and research collaborations. Professor Bol’s influential works on Neo-Confucianism, especially the monograph, “This Culture of Ours”: Intellectual Transitions in T’ang and Sung China and his recent book, Neo-Confucianism in History, present a compelling delineation of the transformation and magnification of intellectuals’ roles from the seventh century to the seventeenth century. Professor Bol is also a distinguished Harvard faculty member, being its first director of the Center for Geographic Analysis, first director of the China Biographical Database project, and department chair from 1997 to 2002. He won the prestigious honor of College Professor in recognition of his dedication to teaching.I first met Professor Bol in the spring of 1997 when I participated in a symposium he organized for graduate students in the field of premodern China. During the 2008–09 academic year, I was a visiting professor at Harvard Divinity School and had the opportunity to tour his Center for Geographic Analysis and meet with him from time to time to discuss the CBDB project. I also visited his class and interacted with his students. I sensed that Professor Bol’s vision and passion as a humanist and his dedication to education are very similar to those of Neo-Confucians of the Song-Yuan-Ming eras, save for his acute interest in global politics and, especially, the state of affairs in the US and China. Inspired by this encounter, I made a request for interviewing him for CHR readers. Professor Bol graciously accepted my request. Here is the interview.

WARFARE ETHICS IN SUNZI'S ART OF WAR? HISTORICAL CONTROVERSIES AND CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES

Contemporary English and Chinese scholars alike have interpreted Sunzi's Art of War as advocating amoralism in warfare. That charge has a long history in pre-modern China and has not been fully refuted. This essay argues that the alleged amoral Machiavellianism is more appropriate for ancient Qin military thought than for Sunzi. The third chapter of Sunzi's treatise contains a distinctive moral perspective that cannot be found in the military thought of the state of Qin, which succeeded in defeating all other states in the Period of the Warring States. Such a moral perspective contains both ad bellum and in bello norms. I submit that my interpretation of Sunzi's warfare ethics can provide an important resource for the People's Liberation Army of China to construct full-scale just war ethics that is similar to Western understandings.

THE ART OF WAR CORPUS AND CHINESE JUST WAR ETHICS PAST AND PRESENT

ABSTRACTThe idea of “just war” is not alien to Chinese thought. The term “yi zhan” (usually translated as “just war” or “righteous war” in English) is used in Mencius, was renewed by Mao Zedong, and is still being used in China today (zhengyi zhanzheng). The best place to start exploring this Chinese idea is in the enormous Art of War corpus in premodern China, of which the Seven Military Classics is the best representative. This set of treatises served as the military bible in imperial China from 1078 CE. Ideas analogous to ius ad bellum and ius in bello can be found in these texts. These norms are present in these military texts, elaborated in subsequent commentaries, understood as a matter of fact in Chinese political history, and recently and briefly acknowledged by a few Chinese military scholars in the mainland and in Taiwan. This Chinese just war ethics has its distinctiveness vis‐à‐vis James Turner Johnson's articulation of the Western classic view. It differs from Johnson's claims that military lethal violence is intrinsically morally neutral and that last resort is not a primary consideration in deciding for war. Contemporary Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) military publications show that the PLA understands the general idea of just war, but they acknowledge only the ad bellum part, not the in bello components.