Friday, August 28, 2015

A Garden of Marvels: Tales of Wonder from Early Medieval China

Author:
Robert Ford Campany

Publication Year:
2015

Publisher:
University of Hawaii Press




Abstract:

Between 300 and 600 C.E., Chinese writers compiled thousands of accounts of the strange and the extraordinary. Some described weird spirits, customs, and flora and fauna in distant lands. Some depicted individuals of unusual spiritual or moral achievement. But most told of ordinary people’s encounters with ghosts, demons, or gods; sojourns in the land of the dead; eerily significant dreams; and uncannily accurate premonitions. The selection of such stories presented here provides an alluring introduction to early medieval Chinese storytelling and opens a doorway to the enchanted world of thought, culture, and religious belief of that era. Known as zhiguai, or “accounts of anomalies,” they convey a great deal about how people saw the cosmos and their place in it. The tales were circulated because they were entertaining but also because their compilers meant to document the mysterious workings of spirits, the wonders of exotic places, and the nature of the afterlife.

A collection of more than two hundred tales, A Garden of Marvels offers an authoritative yet accessible introduction to zhiguai writings, particularly those never before translated or adequately researched. This volume will likely find its way to bedside tables as well as into classrooms and libraries, just as collections of zhiguai did in early medieval times.


Table of Contents:
Jiling ji (item 1) --
Jingyi ji (items 2-4) --
Jiyi ji (items 5-7) --
Kongshi zhiguai (items 8-11) --
Lieyi zhuan (items 12-21) --
Lushi yilin (item 22) --
Luyi zhuan (items 23-28) --
Qi Xie ji (items 29-37) --
Shen lu (items 38-39) --
Shenguai zhi (item 40) --
Shengui zhuan (items 41-42) --
Shenyi ji (items 43-44) --
Shenyi jing (items 45-46) --
Shuyi ji / by Zu Chongzhi (items 47-84) --
Shuyi ji / by Ren Fang (items 85-90) --
Soushen houji (items 91-102) --
Xiao shuo (item 103) --
Xu Qi Xie ji (items 104-105) --
Xuanyan ji (items 106-110) --
Xuanzhong ji (items 111-114) --
Xuyi ji (items 115-119) --
Yi yuan 異苑 (items 120-183) --
Youming lu 幽明錄 (items 184-208) --
Zhenyi zhuan 神異傳 (items 209-218) --
Zhi guai 志怪/ by Zu Taizhi (items 219-220) --
Other assorted accounts (items 221-225)

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

The Dragon and the Eagle: The Rise and Fall of the Chinese and Roman Empires

Author:
Sunny Y Auyang

Publisher:
Routledge

Publication Year:
2014




Abstract:
This stimulating, uniquely organized, and wonderfully readable comparison of ancient Rome and China offers provocative insights to students and general readers of world history. The book's narrative is clear, completely jargon-free, strikingly independent, and addresses the complete cycles of two world empires. The topics explored include nation formation, state building, empire building, arts of government, strategies of superpowers, and decline and fall.

Table of Contents:

Introduction : mirrors from the deep past

Pt. I. The Roman Republic and pre-imperial China
Nation formation ; State building ; Empire building ; Winning the peace

Pt. II. The Roman and early Chinese empires
Courses of empire ; Arts of government ; Strategies of superpower ; Decline and fall

Appendices
Timelines
Maps


Sunday, August 23, 2015

Imperial China and Its Southern Neighbours

Editors:
Victor H Mair, Liam Kelley

Publication Year:

2015

Publisher:

Institute of Southeast Asian Studies



Table of Contents:

Imperial China and Its Southern Neighbours, by Victor H Mair, Liam Kelley

1. Introduction: Imperial China Looking South, by Wang Gungwu

2. Layers of Meaning: Hairstyle and Yue Identity in Ancient Chinese Texts, by Erica F. Brindley

3. Sinicization and Barbarization: Ancient State Formation at the Southern Edge of Sinitic Civilization, by Nam C. Kim

4. Clothes Make the Man: Body Culture and Ethnic Boundaries on the Lingnan Frontier in the Southern Song, by Sean Marsh

5. What Makes a Chinese God? Or, What Makes a God Chinese?, by Hugh R. Clark

6. Dragon Boats and Serpent Prows: Naval Warfare and the Political Culture of Chinas Southern Borderlands, by Andrew Chittick

7. Inventing Traditions in Fifteenth-Century Vietnam, by Liam Kelley

8. Epidemics, Trade, and Local Worship in Vietnam, Leizhou Peninsula, and Hainan Island, by Li Tana

9. Southeast Asian Primary Products and Their Impact on Chinese Material Culture in the Tenth to Seventeenth Centuries, by Derek Heng

10. New Evidence on the History of Sino-Arabic Relations: A Study of Yang Liangyao's Embassy to the Abbasid Caliphate, by Rong Xinjiang

11. The Peacock's Gallbladder: An Example of Tibetan Influence in Late Imperial China,  by Rebecca Shuang Fu, Xiang Wan

12. Transformation of the Yunnanese Community along the Sino-Burma Border During the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries, by Yi Li

13. How the North Tried to Pacify the South Through Ritual Practices: On the Origins of the Guan Suo Opera in the Nineteenth Century, by Sylvie Beaud

14. Realms within Realms of Radiance, Or, Can Heaven Have Two Sons? Imperial China as Primus Inter Pares among Sino-Pacific Mandala Polities, by Andrew J. Abalahin

Friday, August 21, 2015

Law, State, and Society in Early Imperial China: A Study with Critical Edition and Translation of the Legal Texts from Zhangjiashan Tomb no. 247 (《早期中華帝國的法律、國家與社會》)

Editors and Translators:
Anthony J. Barbieri-Low and Robin D.S. Yates

Publisher:
Brill

Publication Year:
2015





Abstract:

In Law, State, and Society in Early Imperial China, Anthony J. Barbieri-Low and Robin D.S. Yates offer the first detailed study and translation into English of two recently excavated, early Chinese legal texts. The Statutes and Ordinances of the Second Year consists of a selection from the long-lost laws of the early Han dynasty (206 BCE-220 CE). It includes items from twenty-seven statute collections and one ordinance. The Book of Submitted Doubtful Cases contains twenty-two legal case records, some of which have undergone literary embellishment. Taken together, the two texts contain a wealth of information about slavery, social class, ranking, the status of women and children, property, inheritance, currency, finance, labor mobilization, resource extraction, agriculture, market regulation, and administrative geography.

Table of Contents:

Note to the Reader

1.1 Acknowledgments 
1.2 Chinese Dynasties 
1.3 Recognized Rulers of the Qin and Han Dynasties and the Xin Period 
1.4 Equivalents for Weights and Measures Mentioned in the Zhangjiashan Legal Texts and Other Parallel Texts 
1.5 Early-Han Orders of Rank Mentioned in the Zhangjiashan Legal Texts 
1.6 Official Titles Mentioned in the Zhangjiashan Legal Texts 
1.7A Place-Names Mentioned in the Zhangjiashan Legal Texts 
1.7B Map of Place-Names Mentioned in the Zhangjiashan Legal Texts (Boundaries, 187–186 BCE) 
1.8 Types of Punishments and Associated Crimes in the Zhangjiashan Legal Texts
1.9A Placement of Slips in the Statutes and Ordinances of the Second Year Text 
1.9B Placement of Slips in the Book of Submitted Doubtful Cases Text 

Introductory Study

2.1 Discovery, Conservation, Publication, and Previous Studies of the Zhangjiashan Texts 
2.2 Principles of Translation and Working Methodology 
2.3 Introduction to the Statutes and Ordinances of the Second Year Text
2.4 Forms of Legislation and Their Enactment 
2.5 Introduction to the Book of Submitted Doubtful Cases Text 
2.6 The Judicial Process in a Criminal Case 
2.7 The Punishments 
2.8 Conclusions 

Translation, Part One: Statutes and Ordinances of the Second Year (Ernian lüling 二年律令)

3.1 “Statutes on Assault” (Zei lü 賊律) 
3.2 “Statutes on Robbery” (Dao lü 盜律) 
3.3 “Statutes on the Composition of Judgments” (Ju lü 具律) 
3.4 “Statutes on Denunciations” (Gao lü 告律) 
3.5 “Statutes on Arrest” (Bu lü 捕律) 
3.6 “Statutes on Abscondence” (Wang lü 亡律) 
3.7 “Statutes on Impoundment” (Shou lü 收律) 
3.8 “Statutes on Miscellaneous Matters” (Za lü 襍律) 
3.9 “Statutes on Cash” (Qian lü 錢律) 
3.10 “Statutes on the Establishment of Officials” (Zhili lü 置吏律) 
3.11 “Statutes on Equalizing Transportation” (Junshu lü 均輸律) 
3.12 “Statutes on Food Rations at Conveyance Stations” (Zhuanshi lü 傳食律) 
3.13 “Statutes on Agriculture” (Tian lü 田律) 
3.14 “Statutes on [Passes and] Markets” ([Guan]shi lü [關]市律) 
3.15 “Statutes on the Forwarding of Documents” (Xingshu lü 行書律) 
3.16 “Statutes on Exemption from Taxes” (Fu lü 復律) 
3.17 “Statutes on Bestowals” (Ci lü 賜律) 
3.18 “Statutes on Households” (Hu lü 戶律) 
3.19 “Statutes on Checking” (Xiao lü 效律) 
3.20 “Statutes on Enrollment” (Fu lü 傅律) 
3.21 “Statutes on Establishment of Heirs” (Zhihou lü 置後律) 
3.22 “Statutes on Ranks” (Jue lü 爵律) 
3.23 “Statutes on Levies” (Xing lü 興律) 
3.24 “Statutes on Government Service” (Yao lü 徭律) 
3.25 “Statutes on Finance” (Jinbu lü 金布律) 
3.26 “Statutes on Salaries” (Zhi lü 秩律) 
3.27 “Statutes on Scribes” (Shi lü 史律) 
3.28 “Ordinances on Fords and Passes” (Jinguan ling 津關令) 

Translation, Part Two: Book of Submitted Doubtful Cases (Zouyan shu 奏讞書)

4.1 The Absconding Indigenous Conscript 
4.2 The Absconding Female Slave 
4.3 The Eloping Lovers from Qi 
4.4 A Mutilated Man Unwittingly Marries an Absconder 
4.5 Sword Fight between a Runaway ‘Slave’ and a Thief Catcher 
4.6 Beating to Death an Illegally Held Slave 
4.7 A Crooked Widow Tries to Cheat Her Runaway Slaves 
4.8 A Male Slave Escapes and a Border Guard is Punished 
4.9 Falsifying the Account Books (1) 
4.10 Falsifying the Account Books (2) 
4.11 Counterfeiting a Horse Passport 
4.12 A Delay in Forwarding Documents 
4.13 A Small Bribe Results in a Large Fine 
4.14 A Judiciary Scribe Harbors an Unregistered Person
4.15 A County Magistrate Robs Grain 
4.16 A County Magistrate Orders the Murder of a Judiciary Scribe 
4.17 A Successful Appeal of a Conviction Gained by False Accusation and Torture 
4.18 The Benevolent Magistrate and the Chu Insurgency 
4.19 Shi You Solves the Case of Hair and Grass in the Lord’s Food 
4.20 An Assistant Scribe Robs Grain and Confucian Principles 
4.21 A Scribe of the Commandant of the Court Overturns a Sentence for Illicit Intercourse 
4.22 A Cunning Scribe Solves a Robbery and Attempted Murder 

5.1 Bibliography 
5.2 Index


Thursday, August 20, 2015

City of Marvel and Transformation: Chang’an and Narratives of Experience in Tang Dynasty China

Author:
Linda Rui Feng

Publication Year:
2015

Publisher:
University of Hawaii Press




Abstract:

During the Tang dynasty, the imperial capital of Chang’an (present-day Xi’an) was unrivaled in its monumental scale, with about one million inhabitants dwelling within its walls. It was there that one of the most enduring cultural and political institutions of the empire—the civil service examinations—took shape, bringing an unprecedented influx of literati men to the city seeking recognition and official status by demonstrating their literary talent. To these examination candidates, Chang’an was a megalopolis, career launch pad, and most importantly, cultural paradigm. As a multifaceted lived space, it captured the imaginations of Tang writers, shaped their future aspirations, and left discernible traces in the writings of this period.

City of Marvel and Transformation brings this cityscape to life together with the mindscape of its sojourner-writers. By analyzing narratives of experience with a distinctive metropolitan consciousness, it retrieves lost connections between senses of the self and a sense of place. Each chapter takes up one of the powerful shaping forces of Chang’an: its siren call as a destination; the unforeseen nooks and crannies of its urban space; its potential as a “media machine” to broadcast images and reputations; its demimonde—a city within a city where both literary culture and commerce took center stage. Without being limited to any single genre, specific movement, or individual author, the texts examined in this book highlight aspects of Chang’an as a shared and contested space in the collective imagination. They bring to our attention a newly emerged interval of social, existential, and geographical mobility in the lives of educated men, who as aspirants and routine capital-bound travelers learned to negotiate urban space.


Both literary study and cultural history, City of Marvel and Transformation goes beyond close readings of text; it also draws productively from research in urban history, anthropology, and studies of space and place, building upon the theoretical frameworks of scholars such as Michel de Certeau, Henri Lefebvre, and Victor Turner. It is a welcome addition to the growing body of scholarship in Chinese studies on the importance of cities and city life. Students and scholars of premodern China will find new ways to understand the collective concerns of the lettered class, as well as new ways to understand literary phenomena that would eventually influence vernacular tales and the Chinese novel. By asking larger questions about how urban sojourns shape subjectivity and perceptions, this book will also attract a wide range of readers interested in studies of personhood, spatial practice, and cities as living cultural systems in flux, both ancient and modern.

Table of Contents:

Preface and Acknowledgements 
Introduction 
1. Narrating Liminality and Transformation 
2. The Lure of Chang’an 
3. Navigating the City Interior 
4. Staging Talent in Urban Arenas 
5. Negotiating the Pleasure Quarters 
Epilogue

Monday, August 17, 2015

Ancient China and the Yue:Perceptions and Identities on the Southern Frontier, c.400 BCE–50 CE

Author: 
Erica Brindley

Publication Year:
2015

Publisher:
Cambridge Press




Abstract:
In this innovative study, Erica Brindley examines how, during the period 400 BCE–50 CE, an embryonic Chinese empire interacted with peoples referred to as the Yue/Viet along its southern frontier. Brindley provides an overview of current theories in archaeology and linguistics concerning the peoples of the ancient southern frontier of China, the closest relations on the mainland to certain later Southeast Asian and Polynesian peoples. Through analysis of warring states and early Han textual sources, she shows how representations of Chinese and Yue identity invariably fed upon, and often grew out of, a mutually defining process of centering the self while de-centering the other. Examining rebellions, pivotal ruling figures from various Yue states, and key moments of Yue agency, Brindley demonstrates the complexities involved in identity formation and cultural hybridization in the ancient world and the ancestry of cultures associated with southern China and Vietnam to the present day.

Table of Contents:

Part I. Orientations: Definitions and Disciplinary Discussions: Introduction: concepts and frameworks
1. Who were the Yue?
2. Linguistic research on the Yue/Viet
3. The archaeological record

Part II. Timelines, Maps, and Political Histories of the Yue State and Han-Period Yue Kingdoms, 500 BCE–110 BCE:
4. Political histories of the Yue state and Han-period Yue kingdoms, 500 BCE–110 BCE

Part III. Performing Hua-Xia, Inscribing Yue: Rhetoric, Rites, and Tags:
5. The rhetoric of cultural superiority and conceptualizations of ethnicity
6. Tropes of the savage: physical markers of Yue identity
7. Savage landscapes and magical objects

Part IV. Performing Yue: Political Drama, Intrigue, and Armed Resistance:
8. Yue identity as political masquerade and ritual modeling
9. Yue identity as armed resistance to the Han imperium

Conclusion
Bibliography
Index

Saturday, August 15, 2015

Crossroads, Vol 9 (2014); Special Issue: Trade and Interaction in Ancient Northeast Asia: Reassessing Archaeological and Documentary Sources

Editors:
Barbara Seyock and Angela Schottenhammer




Table of Contents:

Introduction
Barbara SEYOCK

Memories from Abroad: Han 漢 Chinese and Nomadic Heritage in Korean and Japanese Archaeological Contexts
Barbara SEYOCK

Diplomacy from the Grave: Interactions between Western Japan and the East Asian Continent from a Burial Point of View
Linda Gilaizeau

Distribution of Lead–Barium Glasses in Ancient Japan
Tomomi TAMURA, Katsuhiko OGA

Relationships between Silla 新羅 and Yamato 大和
Sarah M. Nelson

Comparison of Texts between the Accounts of Han 韓 in the Sanguo zhi 三國志, in the Fragments of the Weilüe 魏略, and in the Hou-Han shu 後漢書
Gina Barnes, Mark Byington

Abstracts (in English, Chinese, Japanese and Korean)

Link:
http://www.eacrh.net/ojs/index.php/crossroads/issue/view/8/showToc


Friday, August 14, 2015

From Mulberry Leaves to Silk Scrolls: New Approaches to the Study of Asian Manuscript Traditions

Editors:
Justin Thomas McDaniel & Lynn Ransom

Publication Year:
2015

Publisher:
University of Pennsylvania Press




Table of Contents:
Preface
—Lynn Ransom

Introduction
—Justin Thomas McDaniel

PART I. THE ART OF THE BOOK
Chapter 1. The Characteristics of Elephants: A Thai Manuscript and Its Context
—Hiram Woodward
Chapter 2. Representations of Space and Place in a Burmese Cosmology Manuscript at the British Museum
—Alexandra Green
Chapter 3. Stories Steeped in Gold: Narrative Scenes of the Decorative Kammavaca Manuscripts of Burma
—Sinead Ward

PART II. INSCRIBING RELIGIOUS PRACTICE AND BELIEF
Chapter 4. Drawn to an "Extremely Loathsome" Place: The Buddha and the Power of the Northern Thai Landscape
—Angela S. Chiu
Chapter 5. Shifting Modes of Religiosity: Remapping Early Chinese Religion in Light of Recently Excavated Manuscripts
—Ori Tavor
Chapter 6. Living with Ghosts and Deities in the Qin ? State: Methods of Exorcism from "Jie ? " in the Shuihudi Manuscript
—Daniel Sou

PART III. TECHNOLOGIES OF WRITING
Chapter 7. Spoken Text and Written Symbol: The Use of Layout and Notation in Sanskrit Scientific Manuscripts
—Kim Plofker
Chapter 8. Abbreviations in Medieval Astronomical and Astrological Manuscripts Written in Arabic Script
—Sergei Tourkin
Chapter 9. Creating a Codicology of Central Asian Manuscripts
—Susan Whitfield
Chapter 10. Providing Access to Manuscripts in the Digital Age
—Peter M. Scharf

Friday, August 7, 2015

中国中世四川地方史論集

Author:
中林史朗

Publication Year:
2015

Publisher:
勉誠出版

Abstract:
中国古代~中世の巴蜀地方(現代の四川地方)の歴史を専門とする著者の過去の論文をまとめた一冊。近年、四川省を主にその周辺地域からも数々の遺跡が発見されたことから、考古学的資料に基づく四川地方史の研究が盛んになっている。これを機会に、巴蜀の地域史研究に意義あると思われるもの十五点を選び本書に収録。20年間、巴蜀(広義での益州)とその周辺地域を中心とする氏族・豪族集団政権の興亡、経済の浮沈、文化の盛衰等の歴史を時代(上古から中世期)順に、数多くの文献を駆使して研究した論文集。




Table of Contents:

序 進藤英幸(元明治大学教授)

第一編 先秦両漢篇
第一章 古代巴蜀地方について-「蜀王本紀」の世界より-
第二章 西漢時代における益州について-巴蜀地方を中心として-
第三章 東漢時代における益州について-「後漢書」を中心として-
第四章 後漢末晋初における地方学者の動向-譙周グループを中心として-
第五章 試論・蜀漢政権の成立過程とその存在意義-ドラマとしての三国鼎立-

第二編 両晋篇
第一章 西晋初期政治史の一断面-征呉問題と巴蜀人士-
第二章 李氏集団の展開とその性格-西晋末益州の状況を繞って-
第三章 晋代巴蜀地方における諸変乱の性格について-五斗米教の余風-
第四章 杜弢の乱始末-建鄴軍府と巴蜀流民の動向-
第五章 周・毛二氏と譙縦の乱-東晋末益州の状況を繞って-

第三編 南北朝篇
第一章 南朝時代における巴蜀地方について-人々の軌跡を追いながら-
第二章 南朝時代における巴蜀地方についての補論-北朝に仕えた人々-

附論
其の一 袁宏管見-政治的動勢と『後漢紀』-
其の二 廬江・何氏考-南朝貴族の一形態-
其の三 温子昇管見-政治的動勢と文学的評価-

あとがき(含、初出一覧)

Monday, August 3, 2015

Debating War in Chinese History

Editor:
Peter Allan Lorge

Publisher:
Brill

Publication Year:
2013



Abstract:
Chinese rulers and statesmen were naturally concerned about the issue of war, when to wage it, when it was justified, and when to avoid it. Although much has been asserted about how these issues were understood in Chinese culture, this work is the first study actually to focus on the debates themselves. These debates at court proceeded from specific understandings of what constituted evidence, and involved the practical concerns of policy as well as more general cultural values. The result is a decidedly messy portrait of Chinese decision making over two millenia that is neither distinctly Chinese nor entirely generic.

Table of Contents:

List of Maps ... vii 
List of Contributors ... ix 
Introduction ... 1 Peter Lorge 

Righteous, Furious, or Arrogant? On Classifications of Warfare in Early Chinese Texts ... 13 Paul van Els 

Debates and Decision-Making: The Battle of the Altai Mountains (Jinweishan 金微山) in AD 91 ... 41 Shu-hui Wu 

The Debate Between Wang Hui and Han Anguo: A Case Study of Early Han Military Addresses ...79 Garret Olberding 

Fighting Against Empire: Resistance to the Later Zhou and Song Conquest of China ... 107 Peter Lorge 

Debates in the Field During Bayan's Campaigns Against Southern Song China, 1274-1276 ... 141 David Curtis Wright 

As Close as Lips and Teeth: Debating the Ming Intervention in Korea ...163 Kenneth M. Swope 

To War or Not to War: Decisions for War in Late Imperial China, 1870s-1900...191 David Pong 

Debating War in China: The Decision to Go to War, July-August 1937 ... . 237 Parks M. Coble Index ... 257


Saturday, August 1, 2015

漢代を遡る奏ゲン―中国古代の裁判記録

Editor:
池田雄一 (Ikeda Yūichi)

Publisher:
汲古書屋

Publication Year:
2015


Table of Contents:

序 章  漢代を遡る奏ゲン

 ― 中国裁判における審級制の起源      池田 雄一

    一  奏ゲン制の導入 ― 高祖七年の詔

  二  秦楚漢の再審

    三  景帝の奏ゲン詔               

  四  張家山漢簡『奏ゲン書』案例17~案例22

    五  秦代の裁判                

  六  嶽麓書院藏秦簡の奏ゲン案例

    七  張家山漢簡『奏ゲン書』と漢代を遡る奏????ゲン  

  八  ゲン字の音読

第一章  張家山漢簡『奏ゲン書』訳注稿            

  案例17(釈文・訳注・口語訳)~案例22(同前)

    池田 雄一・飯島 和俊・矢澤 悦子・鈴木 直美

    板垣  明・宮坂弥代生・森本  淳・高遠 拓児

      中川 正明・山元 貴尚・池田 夏樹

第二章 『奏ゲン書』関連論説・翻訳

  『奏ゲン書』案例19・案例22に見える文物について                       板垣  明

  〔翻訳〕李学勤「《奏ゲン書》解説(下)」

  飯島 和俊・板垣  明・宮坂弥代生(訳)

  〔翻訳〕彭浩「談《奏ゲン書》中秦代和東周時期的案例」

  飯島 和俊・板垣  明・宮坂弥代生(訳)

編集後記/索 引