Qing Research Articles

Research on the regenerative design and practice of the residential architecture atlases in Jiangnan during the Ming and Qing dynasties: a case study of the Mingyue Bay village in Suzhou

ABSTRACT The residential architecture atlases, chronicling the design motifs and craftsmanship of residences in Jiangnan during the Ming and Qing dynasties, serves as a cornerstone in deciphering the cultural metamorphosis and unearthing the subtle architectural essence specific to the region. With the advent of modern digital paradigms, this atlas has undergone a regeneration, evolving into a digital, real-time, and interactive embodiment of architectural lore. This study delves into the contents and characteristics of traditional and informational architectural atlases in Jiangnan during the Ming and Qing dynasties. It includes detailed surveys and mappings of the Mingyue Bay village in Suzhou, focusing on its geographic location, historical culture, and residential architectures. Utilizing AutoCAD and Photoshop, the study delineates the architectural plan atlas, elevation atlas, wooden frame atlas, and decoration atlas. It suggests regenerative design strategies for these traditional atlases. Furthermore, through MasterGo and SketchUp, this study elaborated on the regenerative design strategies of residential architecture information atlases in the Mingyue Bay village, including spatial-temporal information atlas, cultural tourism service atlas, scene experience atlas, model simulation atlas, and game interaction atlas. These atlases are integrated into a service platform of rural intelligent tourism, aimed at fostering the global inheritance of residential architecture culture and the revitalization of rural intelligent tourism.

Cultural Sustainable Development Strategies of Chinese Traditional Furniture: Taking Ming-Style Furniture for Example

In view of the gradual decline and near-stagnant crisis of traditional furniture art from the late Qing Dynasty, the article studied the cultural sustainable strategies of Chinese traditional furniture represented by Ming-style furniture, hoping to promote the revitalization of traditional furniture and good inheritance of traditional culture in modern society. Based on the theory of “Methodology of Affairs”, the article proposes that the sustainable strategies of traditional furniture can be understood as a correlation system under the joint action of “internal factors” (shape, function, technology, etc., of furniture) and “external factors” (social environment, economic environment, humanistic environment, etc., in which furniture develops). Starting from the two aspects, the article finally analyzed the improved translation of internal factors in five parts: shape and function, structure and connection, material and process, color and furnishing, decoration and aesthetics, and studied the adaptive changes in external factors from five dimensions: politics, economy, culture, society, and users. The article hopes to help this endangered Chinese traditional furniture art develop in a sustainable direction, and also provide a reference for scholars working in the field of the inheritance and development of traditional culture.

Non‐invasive analysis of Chinese traditional dyes in royal textiles of the Qing dynasty by excitation–emission matrix fluorescence

AbstractChinese royal textiles of the Qing dynasty are widely collected around the world, creating a significant demand for dye identification in these textiles. However, the need for sampling in conventional analytical methods greatly limits their applicability. To address this issue, a non‐invasive analysis method based on excitation–emission matrix (EEM) fluorescence was developed. In this study, the EEM spectra of 18 typical natural dyeing recipes used for royal textiles of the Qing dynasty were systematically characterized. The results demonstrated that EEM fluorescence is effective in discriminating between natural dyes with similar colour hues and various dyeing techniques. Furthermore, the dyeing recipes of two historical kesi cushions in the Palace Museum, Beijing, were non‐invasively decoded.

How does business credit environment affect exports performance of small and medium-sized enterprises: Evidence in China

This paper uses matched data from the CSMAR database and the China City Statistical Yearbook through a fixed effects model to examine the impact of business credit environment on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) exports at the city level in China. Considering the possible endogenous problems, this paper chooses the number of scholars in Ming and Qing dynasties as the instrumental variable of urban commercial credit environment. The empirical results show that: Firstly, the improvement of urban business credit environment has a significant contribution to the export growth of enterprises; Secondly, the mechanism of the role of urban business credit environment on SMEs exports is mainly expressed through promoting R&D investment and enhancing market dynamics; Thirdly, the business credit environment is more obvious to state-owned enterprises, eastern regions and cities with less trade freedom. With the development of urban business credit environment, individuals or companies join the competition in the industry through new start-ups to stimulate corporate exports, and existing SMEs promote corporate exports through local preferential policies, increased investment in R&D, and optimized innovation policies as well as resource allocation.

Research on the yingzao chi restoration of palace buildings sans dougong in Ming and Qing Dynasties: a case study of Chongqing

As a unit of measurement for Chinese ancient construction, the yingzao chi (yingzaochi 营造尺) is of great significance to study long-term transformation of culture, construction skills, and the scale design rule of Chinese regional architectural heritage. But few scholars study the restoration method of the yingzao chi of palace buildings sans dougong (斗拱) in Chinese Ming and Qing Dynasties. Based on the yingzao chi theory, this paper studies and improves a theoretical method to help restore the yingzao chi of palace buildings sans dougong in Ming and Qing Dynasties. This method is not limited by the lack of reference of vernacular chi (xiangchi 乡尺) and can restore the yingzao chi of a single building through surveying data, and there is a smaller error in the calculation process. Three typical palace buildings without dougong in Ming and Qing Dynasties in Chongqing are selected as examples. The results show that the restored yingzao chi of these three buildings is highly similar, most likely 320.7–323.6 mm, which can verify the reliability of this method. This study can help to improve the research of yingzao chi and provide theoretical support for the protection of this kind of architectural heritage. Besides, the restoration of the yingzao chi provides a potential opportunity to explore how the technological and cultural of palace architecture spread, develop and blend.

Government Intervention, Internationalization Model and Higher Education Resource Flow: An Analysis of Higher Education in Late Qing Dynasty and Modern China

With the purpose of saving the country, the Qing Dynasty built new institutions of higher learning to impart western knowledge, which played a role in promoting the development of modern higher education in China. In order to explore the development context of China's higher education under different backgrounds in the late Qing Dynasty and modern times, this study reviews the relevant theoretical basis in recent years. This paper summarizes the formation of the education system in the late Qing Dynasty and modern China, the specific intervention of the government in higher education, and the flow of higher education resources in recent years, and analyzes its internal flow and external flow. Through the analysis of higher education in the late Qing Dynasty and modern times, it can be seen that the innovation and development of the internationalization mode of higher education is the inevitable requirement to realize the transformation of the internationalization power of higher education into the internationalization power of higher education. In addition to the classic model, co-construction model, satellite model and education cluster model, we should also actively explore and develop other new international education models, further expand the vision of running schools, enhance international awareness, accelerate the internationalization process of higher education, and achieve beyond the traditional higher education power. In order to provide reference for the future development of China's higher education internationalization under the background of "double first-class" construction.

The Influence of Jianjiang on Modern and Contemporary Landscape Painting

Jianjiang is a pioneering landscape painter in the late Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty. His works are austere, cool, dry and quiet. Jianjiang learned from tradition and nature, combined with his own emotional personality, formed a unique painting language and artistic outlook. The formal language in Jianjiang landscape painting works is rich, and the schema presented is unique. Jianjiang's painting art has been around for hundreds of years. When reading Jianjiang's works, people still feel a strong sense of form and times. His distinctive painting language and spiritual connotation have a very profound influence on future generations of painters.

Trade in Liushun (Port Arthur) at the Turn of the 19th and 20th Centuries

The history of the city of Port Arthur at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries in the literature is revealed primarily from the military point of view, which led to the emergence of numerous studies and works, while the role of the city as a commercial center has not received proper coverage either in Russian or Chinese historiography. The fact that contemporaries themselves perceived Port Arthur only as a military fortress also played an important role in this. This circumstance explains the fragmentary nature of the source base. The article reconstructs the history of trade in the city of Liushun during the Qing dynasty (until 1898) on the basis of archival materials, sources of personal origin and periodicals. The author concludes that the importance of Port Arthur as a temporary trading port was quite high before the foundation of Dalniy city. The construction of a military port in the 1880s stimulated the development of the city and promoted local Chinese trade. After Port Arthur was leased to the Russian Empire in 1898, the city became dominated by Russian capital. During the period of Russian rule, changes were made in the city's life that allowed Port Arthur to develop along Western lines and attracted immigrants and investment that further developed the city's industry and commerce. However, the purpose of such changes was to establish Port Arthur as a military stronghold of the Russian Empire in the Far East, which made the development of trade in the city unbalanced.

The Scholar-Fighter: Chang Nai-zhou and His Book on Martial Art

The article explores the theoretical foundations, practical techniques and social context of the martial art school created in the late 18th century by Chang Naizhou, a native of Henan рrov. An educated man, Chang left a detailed description of the principles and methods of his school. The legacy of Chang Naizhou and the emergence of a large number of enthusiasts of martial arts among the educated elite of society indicates the formation in Qing China a new synthesis of elite and popular culture, which combined the traditions of Confucianism, Taoist and Buddhist selfcultivation and the folklore motifs. A stratum of professional fighters emerged, closely integrated both with the local society and its paramilitary formations (self-defense units, sworn brotherhoods, associations of participants in temple festivals, schools of martial arts, etc.) and the ruling elite of the empire and its military administration. At the heart of Chang Naizhou's method is the concept of configurations of force (shi 势), which are created by the action of the vital energy of the organism (so-called qi 气) and in turn strengthen and direct this action. The primary substrate of this energy is the so-called "centered qi", which in the spiritual-somatic practice of martial arts generates a great variety of properties and qualities of life experience and makes possible the unity of consciousness and physical body. The force in this case is the result of an interaction of the polar elements of Being. Chang Naizhou introduces many original concepts and techniques of martial art, but his outlook is determined by the common arsenal of Chinese tradition. Thus, his school reflected the nature of the whole Chinese civilization: the diversity of forms rooted in a comprehensive structural unity.

A Comprehensive Study of the Prefaces and Postscripts in Qing Dynasty Female Poets’ Anthologies

A Comprehensive Study of the Prefaces and Postscripts in Qing Dynasty Female Poets’ Anthologies

“Where Treasures Arise:” Mining Knowledge, Mining Sites, and the Spatial Rationalities of Mineral Resources in Qing China

A comparison between nineteenth-century Europe and Qing-dynasty Yunnan reveals how mining knowledge shaped ways of understanding and organizing mineral resources in space. In Europe, stratigraphic geology, prospecting technologies, and mapmaking generated new rationales to understand mineral resources and their distribution in space, a process entangled with the rise of the nation-state and its exercise of power over the qualities of its territory. In Qing China, due to the lack of modern mining and geological knowledge and the gulf between miners and officials, mineral resources and their distribution were understood purely by reference to mining sites, in particular chang (廠 mine, literally “factory”). Territorial administration, taxation, and transportation were the primary mechanisms utilized to organize these mining sites, and through them governments and officials controlled information on mineral resources and envisaged their spatial distribution. The map was not an authoritative tool for presenting mineral resources in space but instead demonstrated more the Qing's hegemony and local governance than the pursuit of precision. Drawing upon Margo Huxley's insights into spatial rationality, this study problematizes space in the epistemic understanding of mineral resources in a pre-modern context and reassesses historical implications of the legibility of nature for political rationalities governing natural things.

The historical origins of earnings management: a geographical discontinuity design based on the Great Wall

PurposeDoes the history of the bureaucratic system, along with the establishment of the Great Wall during the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368–1911), affect firm behavior across the borderlands of the Great Wall?Design/methodology/approachThe Ming and Qing dynasties built a centralized administrative system in the borderlands on the south side of the Great Wall, in contrast to the “feudal lordship” system on the north side. Employing a regression discontinuity analysis framework with the Great Wall as a geographical discontinuity, we examine the long-run effects of the Great Wall on firms’ earnings management.FindingsUsing a large sample of nonlisted firms in the central core frontier region, we show that the earnings management of firms in the region south of the Great Wall is significantly curtailed compared with firms in the north of it, and this effect is more pronounced for non-SOEs. Our findings are robust to a battery of tests to account for alternative explanations.Practical implicationsOverall, by emphasizing the role of institutions, like legal system, shaped in history on firms’ earnings management, this study sheds new light on institutional determinants of firms’ behaviors in earnings information disclosure.Originality/valueFirst, we enrich our understanding of the institutional determinants of firms’ financial reporting outcomes. Second, our findings shed new light on the long-term effects of historical ruling styles on modern corporate behavior.

Changing Identity in Chinese Fashion: Self-Choice and Preference During Late Qing Dynasty and Republican China

Fashion is now seen as a form of identity associated with everyday life in human society. However, it did not originate as a term with this definition. Instead the concept has been polished through the course of history. The transition from clothing as political tool, to fashion as identity, in the Chinese context did not happen overnight. This study unpacks the complex transition that not only unfolded through vital periods and various iconic events in China, but also involved and impacted upon individuals in their daily lives. Drawing on historical records in clothing/costume museums in Beijing and Shanghai, the study investigates the shift from premodern clothing toward an understanding of modern Chinese identity and clothing. In particular, the article focuses on the multiple interpretations of hybrid dress in Shanghai during the transitional period from late Qing to Republican China. The research finds that the evolving of identity of fashion was embedded in the changing identity of wearers as well as other participants in the fashion chain, which are interlocked and mutually reinforced each other in this socio-political cultural environment.

Virtual Restoration of Ancient Mold-Damaged Painting Based on 3D Convolutional Neural Network for Hyperspectral Image

Painted cultural relics hold significant historical value and are crucial in transmitting human culture. However, mold is a common issue for paper or silk-based relics, which not only affects their preservation and longevity but also conceals the texture, patterns, and color information, hindering cultural value and heritage. Currently, the virtual restoration of painting relics primarily involves filling in the RGB based on neighborhood information, which might cause color distortion and other problems. Another approach considers mold as noise and employs maximum noise separation for its removal; however, eliminating the mold components and implementing the inverse transformation often leads to more loss of information. To effectively acquire virtual restoration for mold removal from ancient paintings, the spectral characteristics of mold were analyzed. Based on the spectral features of mold and the cultural relic restoration philosophy of maintaining originality, a 3D CNN artifact restoration network was proposed. This network is capable of learning features in the near-infrared spectrum (NIR) and spatial dimensions to reconstruct the reflectance of visible spectrum, achieving the virtual restoration for mold removal of calligraphic and art relics. Using an ancient painting from the Qing Dynasty as a test subject, the proposed method was compared with the Inpainting, Criminisi, and inverse MNF transformation methods across three regions. Visual analysis, quantitative evaluation (the root mean squared error (RMSE), mean absolute percentage error (MAPE), mean absolute error (MEA), and a classification application were used to assess the restoration accuracy. The visual results and quantitative analyses demonstrated that the proposed 3D CNN method effectively removes or mitigates mold while restoring the artwork to its authentic color in various backgrounds. Furthermore, the color classification results indicated that the images restored with 3D CNN had the highest classification accuracy, with overall accuracies of 89.51%, 92.24%, and 93.63%, and Kappa coefficients of 0.88, 0.91, and 0.93, respectively. This research provides technological support for the digitalization and restoration of cultural artifacts, thereby contributing to the preservation and transmission of cultural heritage.

In Pursuit of Temporal Illusion: the Reproduction and Imitation of Antiquities under the Yongzheng Emperor (r. 1723–35)

Abstract The practice of reproducing and imitating antiquities during the Qing period (1644–1911) has attracted the attention of many scholars, especially those specialised in Qing imperial art production, who have delved into such practice initiated particularly under the Kangxi (r. 1662–1722) and Qianlong (r. 1736–95) emperors. The Yongzheng reign (1723–35), however, appears relatively overlooked in the ongoing discussion. This article aims to fill this research gap by examining the reproduction and imitation of archaic ceramics under the Yongzheng emperor. Both two-dimensional pictures and three-dimensional objects produced after archaic ceramics will be examined together with relevant imperial archival records in order to penetrate how antiquities would take on new forms, functions, and meanings and speak to an imagined, multi-layered past constructed at the court. Building upon this, the article will re-examine the definition of ‘antiquities’ in the Yongzheng context and unveil the pattern of thinking behind the illusionistic archaising practice in relation to Emperor Yongzheng’s dual identity as the Manchu ruler and a cultivated literatus engaged with Han Chinese traditions.

“They will know and fear the law” – Emperor Yongzheng’s Preface in the Great Qing Code of 1740

Abstract The biography of the Yongzheng Emperor by Pei Huang (1974) bears the title “Autocracy at Work” and Mote (2010: 887) calls this Qing dynasty emperor a “secretive, awesome autocrat”. The translation and analysis of the Manchu text of Yongzheng’s sioi/preface to the Great Qing Code reveals the correctness of these statements about this emperor’s type of government. Embedded in statements of truthfulness to the original Chinese legal ideas and an extensive quote ascribed to the Zhou Li, dedications of benevolence of the emperors in their rulings and judgments of cases, filial piety towards the emperors before him and especially his father, Emperor Kangxi, lie obvious and also between the lines statements that the emperor had the last say in every matter of state. He was dedicated to the ruling of the empire, which made him initiate reform and revision of the imperial administration, obviously also including the legal system. This attitude led Yongzheng to prioritize the formal revision of the structure of the Qing legal system and the publication that would later be known as the Daiqing guruni fafuni bithe kooli, the 大清律例 (Da Qing Lüli) – the Great Qing Code (GQC), a continuation of Kangxi’s effort in this regard and completed under Qianlong in 1740. He mentions twice the expectation, that with an effective and just judiciary, and the people being educated in what the laws and regulations are, a betterment of social stability would ensue. In terms of autocracy, the emperor is here the entity which ultimately rules alone, but also bears the responsibility to maintain stability within society by judging, assessing, revising and promulgating what is legal. The upkeep of the cosmic order and hence the dynasty depended on it.

The concept of "Nine Stars in the Sky, Nine Provinces on Earth" guided the urban design in ancient China

One of the core concepts of ancient Chinese civilization is the "harmony between humanity and nature", emphasizing that the way of human conduct should imitate the way of heaven and earth. In architectural practice, the concept of "Nine Stars in the Sky, Nine Provinces on Earth" is a typical reflection of this ideology. This paper first succinctly outlines the concepts of the Nine Stars, Nine Provinces, and Nine Sectors, along with their interrelations and correlations. It then discusses in detail the application of this concept in the context of specific examples such as the Jiuzhou Qingyan in the Old Summer Palace (a large imperial garden during the Qing Dynasty from 1724 to 1860) and the Jiuzhou Pond in Luoyang (an important royal garden in the Ziwei City which was the imperial city of Luoyang during the Sui and Tang dynasties). Finally, the paper provides a systematic exposition on the application of this concept in the practical engineering project of the Luoyang Jiuzhou Pond, offering insights for researchers in architectural history and architects alike.

Research on Composition and Spiritual Expression of the Titles of Scenic Spots in Temporary Palaces for Emperor’s Inspection Tour in Qing Dynasty

Research on Composition and Spiritual Expression of the Titles of Scenic Spots in Temporary Palaces for Emperor’s Inspection Tour in Qing Dynasty

Population, Land, and the Development of the Commodity Economy: Evidence from Qing Dynasty China

Population growth exacerbates the pressure on land carrying capacity, affecting the sustainability of agricultural production, and also impacts non-agricultural industries. This paper utilizes grain price data from southern China during the Qing Dynasty (1776–1910) to examine the impact of population and land pressure on the development of the commodity economy under the “involution” of smallholder agriculture. This study finds that under conditions of stagnant technological advancement and limited natural resources, population growth during the Qing Dynasty created significant “Malthusian” population pressure. This pressure on land first resulted in the over-concentration of agricultural labor and saturation of the farming population. Surplus labor, unable to be absorbed by agriculture, shifted to non-agricultural sectors, engaging in the transportation and trade of grain. The pressure on land carrying capacity facilitated the cultivation and processing of cash crops, and product trade was supported by efficient waterway transportation. These activities generated commercial profits that alleviated survival pressures and promoted the prosperity of the commodity economy. However, this prosperity did not accompany significant productivity improvements; instead, it was a product of “involution” agriculture under high population density pressures.

The Literati in Cultural Integration: On the Ma Brothers and Their Cultural Circle in the Qing Dynasty

The Literati in Cultural Integration: On the Ma Brothers and Their Cultural Circle in the Qing Dynasty