Pub Date : 2023-06-27DOI: 10.1163/24684791-12340068
Hannibal Taubes
{"title":"Gods of Mount Tai: Familiarity and the Material Culture of North China, 1000–2000, written by Susan Naquin","authors":"Hannibal Taubes","doi":"10.1163/24684791-12340068","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/24684791-12340068","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":29854,"journal":{"name":"Ming Qing Yanjiu","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2023-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47938904","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-06-27DOI: 10.1163/24684791-12340070
Joseph Ciaudo
The purpose of this short article is to offer a typology of the speech acts deployed by Chinese scholars who wrote in Western languages in the late Qing era. By identifying passages dealing with Taoism in their writings, and classifying them into five types of arguments – 1) using the orthodox-heterodox dichotomy; 2) ignoring it; 3) presenting it as an already defeated rival to Confucianism; 4) describing it as a superstition; 5) claiming that it is a form of extremism – the present paper argues that the denigration of Taoism by these Chinese scholars writing in Western languages was profoundly affected by transcultural writing practices, and that in the end Taoism was often but a pawn in the intellectual and political projects of these intellectuals. It served as an awful counterpoint when one tried to project a positive light on Confucianism.
{"title":"Denigrating Taoism in the West: A typology of Late Qing Chinese scholars’ discourse in Western languages","authors":"Joseph Ciaudo","doi":"10.1163/24684791-12340070","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/24684791-12340070","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000The purpose of this short article is to offer a typology of the speech acts deployed by Chinese scholars who wrote in Western languages in the late Qing era. By identifying passages dealing with Taoism in their writings, and classifying them into five types of arguments – 1) using the orthodox-heterodox dichotomy; 2) ignoring it; 3) presenting it as an already defeated rival to Confucianism; 4) describing it as a superstition; 5) claiming that it is a form of extremism – the present paper argues that the denigration of Taoism by these Chinese scholars writing in Western languages was profoundly affected by transcultural writing practices, and that in the end Taoism was often but a pawn in the intellectual and political projects of these intellectuals. It served as an awful counterpoint when one tried to project a positive light on Confucianism.","PeriodicalId":29854,"journal":{"name":"Ming Qing Yanjiu","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2023-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48584050","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-06-27DOI: 10.1163/24684791-12340069
Ildikó Gyöngyvér Sárközi
The roots of the genealogy writing tradition of the Chinese Sibe go back to the Qing Dynasty. This tradition has played a crucial role to create a genealogical community of the Sibe: genealogies were the material carriers of knowledge preserved about their ancestors and their past. However, many of the genealogies were lost during the turbulent time of the twentieth century, and although numerous Sibe clans embark on reproducing their own family trees, it is only the memory of the elderly they can most often draw on. This study is intended to present and highlight the significance a specific collection of genealogies compiled by a self-taught Sibe historian, offering valuable sources for conduct research on the history of the Qing-dynasty and the Sibe.
{"title":"A Piece of Qing History","authors":"Ildikó Gyöngyvér Sárközi","doi":"10.1163/24684791-12340069","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/24684791-12340069","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000The roots of the genealogy writing tradition of the Chinese Sibe go back to the Qing Dynasty. This tradition has played a crucial role to create a genealogical community of the Sibe: genealogies were the material carriers of knowledge preserved about their ancestors and their past. However, many of the genealogies were lost during the turbulent time of the twentieth century, and although numerous Sibe clans embark on reproducing their own family trees, it is only the memory of the elderly they can most often draw on. This study is intended to present and highlight the significance a specific collection of genealogies compiled by a self-taught Sibe historian, offering valuable sources for conduct research on the history of the Qing-dynasty and the Sibe.","PeriodicalId":29854,"journal":{"name":"Ming Qing Yanjiu","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2023-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46178661","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-06-27DOI: 10.1163/24684791-12340071
L. Zanini
The Chaliao ji 茶寮記 (A Record of the Tea Retreat) by the scholar-official Lu Shusheng 陸樹聲 (1509–1605) stands out in the vast corpus of essays on tea produced in the late Ming dynasty for two reasons. Firstly, the social status of its author, who held the highest official position among all tea writers of the period, shows that tea appreciation was actively discussed among the highest echelons of the late Ming gentry. Secondly, the Chaliao ji is the earliest publication to bring together the issues of the construction of a private tea room, prescriptions for the preparation of loose-leaf tea, as well as instructions for savouring the beverage, thus further delineating specific aspects of literati tea culture as social markers. This study examines the background and content of Chaliao ji. It first provides an overview of Lu Shusheng’s biography, from his experience in officialdom to his later life in retirement, focusing on his construction of a garden and his commitment to Buddhism and tea appreciation. It then discusses the contents of the text, the several extant editions and issues regarding its authorship. Finally, it provides an English translation of the Chaliao ji accompanied by the Chinese text and commentary.
{"title":"A Record of the Tea Retreat: The Chaliao ji by Lu Shusheng","authors":"L. Zanini","doi":"10.1163/24684791-12340071","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/24684791-12340071","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000The Chaliao ji 茶寮記 (A Record of the Tea Retreat) by the scholar-official Lu Shusheng 陸樹聲 (1509–1605) stands out in the vast corpus of essays on tea produced in the late Ming dynasty for two reasons. Firstly, the social status of its author, who held the highest official position among all tea writers of the period, shows that tea appreciation was actively discussed among the highest echelons of the late Ming gentry. Secondly, the Chaliao ji is the earliest publication to bring together the issues of the construction of a private tea room, prescriptions for the preparation of loose-leaf tea, as well as instructions for savouring the beverage, thus further delineating specific aspects of literati tea culture as social markers.\u0000This study examines the background and content of Chaliao ji. It first provides an overview of Lu Shusheng’s biography, from his experience in officialdom to his later life in retirement, focusing on his construction of a garden and his commitment to Buddhism and tea appreciation. It then discusses the contents of the text, the several extant editions and issues regarding its authorship. Finally, it provides an English translation of the Chaliao ji accompanied by the Chinese text and commentary.","PeriodicalId":29854,"journal":{"name":"Ming Qing Yanjiu","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2023-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45169992","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-12-14DOI: 10.1163/24684791-12340065
I. Pina
It is certainly uncommon for a seventeenth-century observer to have borne witness to two dynastic transitions in places as far apart as the opposite corners of Eurasia – the Iberian Peninsula and China. Álvaro Semedo, a Portuguese Jesuit, is one such case. He was in Madrid, when news arrived that the Portuguese had proclaimed a national king in 1640, bringing sixty years of Iberian Union to an end. Semedo returned to China in 1645, one year after the Qing had taken Peking. In 1650, he witnessed first-hand the siege and reconquest of Canton by the Qing. This article aims to explore the political transition in China through the eyes of a European missionary who had already been caught by the breakup of the Habsburg empire. How did he position himself in both dynastic transitions? What comparisons did he make? Was he aware of the “global crisis”? These are some of the questions that will be addressed.
{"title":"In the Eye(s) of the Storm(s): Álvaro Semedo, an Observer of Two Dynastic Transitions in the Global Crisis of the 17th Century","authors":"I. Pina","doi":"10.1163/24684791-12340065","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/24684791-12340065","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 It is certainly uncommon for a seventeenth-century observer to have borne witness to two dynastic transitions in places as far apart as the opposite corners of Eurasia – the Iberian Peninsula and China. Álvaro Semedo, a Portuguese Jesuit, is one such case. He was in Madrid, when news arrived that the Portuguese had proclaimed a national king in 1640, bringing sixty years of Iberian Union to an end. Semedo returned to China in 1645, one year after the Qing had taken Peking. In 1650, he witnessed first-hand the siege and reconquest of Canton by the Qing. This article aims to explore the political transition in China through the eyes of a European missionary who had already been caught by the breakup of the Habsburg empire. How did he position himself in both dynastic transitions? What comparisons did he make? Was he aware of the “global crisis”? These are some of the questions that will be addressed.","PeriodicalId":29854,"journal":{"name":"Ming Qing Yanjiu","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-12-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45664213","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-12-14DOI: 10.1163/24684791-12340064
C. Gomes, J. Cunha
The “General Crisis of the Seventeenth-Century” as a concept was first applied to Europe, where the Portuguese Restoration of 1640 was one of its most striking episodes, when a national dynasty dethroned a foreign one. Geoffrey Parker extended its use worldwide, having in mind similar events taking place all over the globe, namely in China, where dynastic transition took centre stage. Some parallels can be drawn between the two sides of Eurasia, though sometimes in opposite terms (e.g., while the Braganzas were Portuguese, the Qing were Manchu). Among the coincidences occurring in both countries during dynastic changes, there is mention to omens and wondrous signs, interpreted as manifestations of something about to change, breaking away from the old established order which had lost some sort of divine assent. By using the writings of the Portuguese Jesuit António de Gouveia (1592/94–1677), namely his letters, some of which unpublished, we will seek to see how he interpreted these signs and dynastic change in China, while his own country (Portugal) was going through a similar process. We will make use of materials dating from 1636 to the 1650s, to see what kind of parallelisms Gouveia draws between the Chinese seventeenth-century crisis and the Portuguese case, and how he depicts and characterises the events occurring in China.
“十七世纪的大危机”作为一个概念首次应用于欧洲,1640年葡萄牙复辟是欧洲最引人注目的事件之一,当时一个民族王朝废黜了一个外国王朝。杰弗里·帕克(Geoffrey Parker)将其应用范围扩展到了世界各地,考虑到全球各地都在发生类似的事件,即在中国,王朝过渡占据了中心舞台。欧亚大陆两岸之间可以有一些相似之处,尽管有时是相反的(例如,当布拉干萨人是葡萄牙人时,清朝人是满族人)。在两国王朝更迭期间发生的巧合中,有一种是预兆和奇妙的迹象,被解释为即将发生变化的事物的表现,打破了失去某种神圣认可的旧秩序。通过使用葡萄牙耶稣会士António de Gouveia(1592/94–1677)的著作,即他的信件(其中一些未发表),我们将试图了解他是如何解读这些迹象和中国的王朝变化的,而他的国家(葡萄牙)正经历着类似的过程。我们将利用1636年至1650年代的材料,看看高维亚在17世纪的中国危机和葡萄牙案件之间有什么样的相似之处,以及他如何描述和描述中国发生的事件。
{"title":"“Miseries, Tribulations, and Calamities”: António de Gouveia as an Eye-witness to the Seventeenth-century Eurasian Crisis","authors":"C. Gomes, J. Cunha","doi":"10.1163/24684791-12340064","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/24684791-12340064","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 The “General Crisis of the Seventeenth-Century” as a concept was first applied to Europe, where the Portuguese Restoration of 1640 was one of its most striking episodes, when a national dynasty dethroned a foreign one. Geoffrey Parker extended its use worldwide, having in mind similar events taking place all over the globe, namely in China, where dynastic transition took centre stage. Some parallels can be drawn between the two sides of Eurasia, though sometimes in opposite terms (e.g., while the Braganzas were Portuguese, the Qing were Manchu).\u0000 Among the coincidences occurring in both countries during dynastic changes, there is mention to omens and wondrous signs, interpreted as manifestations of something about to change, breaking away from the old established order which had lost some sort of divine assent. By using the writings of the Portuguese Jesuit António de Gouveia (1592/94–1677), namely his letters, some of which unpublished, we will seek to see how he interpreted these signs and dynastic change in China, while his own country (Portugal) was going through a similar process. We will make use of materials dating from 1636 to the 1650s, to see what kind of parallelisms Gouveia draws between the Chinese seventeenth-century crisis and the Portuguese case, and how he depicts and characterises the events occurring in China.","PeriodicalId":29854,"journal":{"name":"Ming Qing Yanjiu","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-12-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44109359","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-12-14DOI: 10.1163/24684791-12340067
Xiaohua Jiang
Drawing upon food studies, this paper undertakes an analysis of the narrative functions of feasts and food in the novel Honglou meng (A Dream of Red Mansions, or The Story of the Stone). These alimentary elements play a vital role in the social bonds between the Jia family and other elite groups, disclosing the complex distribution of power within the Jia household and displaying internal financial issues and the external threats that have exacerbated the fall of this aristocratic family, manifesting the familial and dynastical trajectories from glory to crisis within the novel.
{"title":"Feasts, Food and Fall of the Aristocratic Jia Family in Honglou meng","authors":"Xiaohua Jiang","doi":"10.1163/24684791-12340067","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/24684791-12340067","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000Drawing upon food studies, this paper undertakes an analysis of the narrative functions of feasts and food in the novel Honglou meng (A Dream of Red Mansions, or The Story of the Stone). These alimentary elements play a vital role in the social bonds between the Jia family and other elite groups, disclosing the complex distribution of power within the Jia household and displaying internal financial issues and the external threats that have exacerbated the fall of this aristocratic family, manifesting the familial and dynastical trajectories from glory to crisis within the novel.","PeriodicalId":29854,"journal":{"name":"Ming Qing Yanjiu","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-12-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48354605","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-12-14DOI: 10.1163/24684791-12340066
Maria João Pereira Coutinho
This essay focuses on the strategy followed by two Jesuits from the Portuguese Padroado, Gabriel de Magalhães and Tomás Pereira, to remain at the court in Beijing at a time when the effects of ethnic and cultural clashes between Han and Manchus were felt, as were those of the natural disasters that devastated China and battered its economy. While the first excelled as a locksmith, the second, who called himself a craftsman, had the ability to draw and could build musical instruments, write music and teach to play instruments. Both managed to create works reconciling art and mechanics, which greatly impressed the Kangxi Emperor. These objects were visually appealing, but they also showed the knowledge these Jesuits active in Beijing had about some European treatises on art and mechanics, namely in the area of hydraulics. By adapting European forms and techniques to Chinese materials both men met Kangxi’s plan of a dynasty open to other cultures, while assuring the “peaceful coexistence” of Jesuits in China, in an age marked by climate change and ethnic clashes.
这篇文章关注的是来自葡萄牙Padroado的两位耶稣会士Gabriel de magalh和Tomás Pereira所遵循的策略,他们在汉满族之间的民族和文化冲突的影响,以及摧毁中国和打击其经济的自然灾害的影响下,留在了北京的朝廷。第一个擅长锁匠,第二个自称手艺人,会画画,会制作乐器,会作曲,还会教别人演奏乐器。两人都成功地创造了艺术与机械相结合的作品,这给康熙皇帝留下了深刻的印象。这些物品在视觉上很吸引人,但它们也显示了这些活跃在北京的耶稣会士对一些欧洲艺术和力学著作的了解,即在水力学领域。通过将欧洲的形式和技术与中国的材料相结合,两人都满足了康熙王朝向其他文化开放的计划,同时确保了耶稣会士在中国的“和平共处”,在一个以气候变化和种族冲突为标志的时代。
{"title":"Craftsmen Working for Kangxi: the “Invention of Curious Things” by the Jesuits Gabriel de Magalhães (1609–1677) and Tomás Pereira (1646–1708)","authors":"Maria João Pereira Coutinho","doi":"10.1163/24684791-12340066","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/24684791-12340066","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This essay focuses on the strategy followed by two Jesuits from the Portuguese Padroado, Gabriel de Magalhães and Tomás Pereira, to remain at the court in Beijing at a time when the effects of ethnic and cultural clashes between Han and Manchus were felt, as were those of the natural disasters that devastated China and battered its economy. While the first excelled as a locksmith, the second, who called himself a craftsman, had the ability to draw and could build musical instruments, write music and teach to play instruments. Both managed to create works reconciling art and mechanics, which greatly impressed the Kangxi Emperor. These objects were visually appealing, but they also showed the knowledge these Jesuits active in Beijing had about some European treatises on art and mechanics, namely in the area of hydraulics. By adapting European forms and techniques to Chinese materials both men met Kangxi’s plan of a dynasty open to other cultures, while assuring the “peaceful coexistence” of Jesuits in China, in an age marked by climate change and ethnic clashes.","PeriodicalId":29854,"journal":{"name":"Ming Qing Yanjiu","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-12-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41485778","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-06-21DOI: 10.1163/24684791-12340060
Johanna Lidén
This article aims at discussing charitable schools in the Ming dynasty, which was one form of primary schooling beside the village schools. Focus is on their aims, founders, teachers, and students, as well as what is possible to infer from the material about the content of studies and the pedagogy. Furthermore, the relation between Neo-Confucianism and primary schooling will be discussed. Several well-known works have been written on the higher levels of education and the examination system, but lower levels such as village schools and charitable schools are still not sufficiently studied. In the present article, I argue that the charitable school as a school form is a part of larger charitable projects established by local officials to improve social welfare. The locations of those schools were not necessarily in rural areas as was the case with the village schools, but more often in urban areas. However, the aims were the same, that is, to transform poor boys into well-behaving and morally good adults and to make them literate, most likely in that order, that is, moral transformation first and practical skills next.
{"title":"Charitable Schools as a Social Welfare Project in the Ming Dynasty","authors":"Johanna Lidén","doi":"10.1163/24684791-12340060","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/24684791-12340060","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000This article aims at discussing charitable schools in the Ming dynasty, which was one form of primary schooling beside the village schools. Focus is on their aims, founders, teachers, and students, as well as what is possible to infer from the material about the content of studies and the pedagogy. Furthermore, the relation between Neo-Confucianism and primary schooling will be discussed. Several well-known works have been written on the higher levels of education and the examination system, but lower levels such as village schools and charitable schools are still not sufficiently studied. In the present article, I argue that the charitable school as a school form is a part of larger charitable projects established by local officials to improve social welfare. The locations of those schools were not necessarily in rural areas as was the case with the village schools, but more often in urban areas. However, the aims were the same, that is, to transform poor boys into well-behaving and morally good adults and to make them literate, most likely in that order, that is, moral transformation first and practical skills next.","PeriodicalId":29854,"journal":{"name":"Ming Qing Yanjiu","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-06-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43134978","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}