Monday, October 31, 2016

The Foundations of Celestial Reckoning: Three Ancient Chinese Astronomical Systems

Author:
Christopher Cullen

Publisher:
Routledge

Publication Date:
November 28, 2016




Abstract:

The Foundations of Celestial Reckoning gives the reader direct access to the foundational documents of the tradition of calculation created by astronomers of the early Chinese empire between the late second century BCE and the third century CE. The paradigm they established was to shape East Asian thought and practice in the field of mathematical astronomy for centuries to come. It was in many ways radically different from better known traditions of astronomy in other parts of the ancient world.

This book includes full English translations of the first three systems of mathematical astronomy adopted for use by imperial astronomical officials, together with introductory material explaining the origin and nature of each system, and a general introduction to the work as a whole. The translations, which are accompanied by the original Chinese text, give a consistent rendering of all technical terms, and include detailed explanatory notes. The text in which the second of the three systems is found also includes a unique collection of documents compiled around 178 CE by two experts in the field, one of whom was the author of the third system translated in this book. Using material transcribed from government archives of the two preceding centuries, these scholars carefully document and review controversies and large-scale official debates on astronomical matters up to their own time. Nothing equivalent in detail and clarity has survived from any other ancient culture. The availability of the totality of this material in English opens new perspectives to all historians of pre-modern astronomy.


Table of contents: 

Chapter 1. General Introduction 
A. The world of early imperial China  
B. What was a li , and what did it do? 
C. How did a li work? 
D. Dates  
E. How was a li calculated? 
F. How were the data of a li determined? 
G. A note on translating computational procedures 
H. Arrangement of the text 
I. Works consulted 

Chapter 2. The Triple Concordance astronomical system: San tong li 三統曆
I. Introduction 
A. An astronomical system and its creator B. Structure of the system 
C. Organisation of the text  D. Text used 

II. Text, translation and comments 
A. Concordance constants B. Sequence Constants  C. The Five Pacers 
D. Concordance Workings E. Sequence Workings F. Year Workings  G. [The Twelve Stations] H. The 28 Lodges I. [The Nine Roads] J. [Concordances and Rule Heads] K. APPENDIX 1: Intercalations in theory and practice 

Chapter 3. The Han Quarter Remainder system: Han si fen li 漢四分曆

I. Introduction 
A. The system and its background B. Authorship of the text C. Structure of the system D. Organisation of the text E. Methods of calculation F. Text used 

II. Text, translation and comments 
A. Methods for [astronomical] systems B. Basic solar and lunar constants C. [Lunar eclipse constants] D. Procedures for sun and moon E. Planetary constants F. Planetary Procedures G. Planetary Motions H. [Months, qi and lodges] I. [The solar table] J. The system origin K. Discussion 

Chapter 4. The Uranic Manifestation astronomical system: Qian xiang li 乾象曆

I. Introduction 
A. Liu Hong 劉洪 and his work B. The historical background of Liu Hong's work C. The structure of the system D. Organisation of the text E. The question of 'months' and the finding of true lunar motion F. Text used 

II. Text, translation and comments 
A. [System Origin] B. [Basic solar and lunar constants] C. [Predicting times of lunar and solar events] D. [Predicting positions of sun and moon] E. [Lunar eclipses] F. [Predicting hexagrams and phases in effect] G. [Finding times of day of events] H. Advance and retardation I. [Retardation and acceleration of lunar motion] J. [Lunar speed sequence] K. [Lunar speed constants] L. [Calculating true lunar motion] M. [Lunar latitude] N. [Constants for lunar latitude] O. [Calculating lunar latitude] P. [Epoch; repeated] Q. Predictions for the Five Stars [sc. planets] R. [Constants for the Five Planets] S. Predictions for the Five Planets T. [Planetary Phases] U. [Planetary Motions] 

Chapter 5. Han discussions of astronomical systems and their development: two texts 

I. Introduction 

II. Ban Gu 班固 on li c. 90 CE 
A. [Astronomical systems from High Antiquity to Qin] 
B. [The Grand Inception reform] 
C. [Zhang Shouwang] 
D. [Liu Xiang 劉向 and Liu Xin 劉歆] 

III. The Documentary Collection of Cai Yong 蔡邕 and Liu Hong, 178 CE 
A. [Materials presented] 
B. [Failure of the Grand Inception system in early Eastern Han; proposals for revision deferred.] C. [Observed errors in lunar eclipse predictions in 62 - 69 CE lead to experiments in partial use of Quarter Remainder methods.] 
D. [The fruitless discussions of 66 CE; increased divergence of prediction from observation; Zhangdi's commission of 85 CE to Bian Xin 編訢 and Li Fan 李梵.] 
E. [The edict of March 18th 85 CE reviews the imperative need for revision, and commands use of the Quarter Remainder system.] 
F. [Bian Xin and Deng Fan propose use of an initial long month; Jia Kui 賈逵successfully controverts this.] 
G. [The memorial of Jia Kui, 92 CE] 
H. [103 CE: The edict to construct Jia Kui's instrument; failure of officials to use it.] 
I. [Jia Kui on the varying speed of lunar motion] 
J. [Editorial note on two late Eastern Han attempts to reconstruct a 'Nine Roads' procedure for the moon] 
K. [Seasonal changes in clepsydra graduations] 
L. [Eastern Han disputes on system origin: introduction.] 
M. [Lunar eclipses: Eastern Han discussions.] 

Bibliography 
Index

Saturday, October 29, 2016

The History and Archaeology of the Koguryo Kingdom

Editor:
Mark E Byington

Publication Date:
July 2016

Publisher:
University of Hawai'i Press




Abstract:

This volume contains twelve studies on the history and archaeology of the Koguryo kingdom, which existed from the first century B.C. to 668, its territories encompassing the northern part of the Korean peninsula and much of southern Manchuria. The studies presented here were written by specialists in various disciplines, covering issues in Koguryo’s political history, its archaeological remains, its mortuary system and tomb art, and its place in historiography.

Table of Contents:

Introduction. Mark E. Byington

Part One: History
1 Koguryo State Formation and Han’s Xuantu Commandery. Mark E. Byington
2 East Asia in the Fourth Century and Changes in Koguryo’s Foreign Policies. Yeo HoKyu
3 Koguryo and Its Political and Cultural Impact on East Asia. Lee Sungsi

Part Two: Archaeology
4 Recent Archaeological Discoveries and Studies on Koguryo in Liaoning Province. Li Xinquan 
5 The Discovery and Study of Koguryo Remains in Jilin Province. Jin Xudong
6 North Korean Research on Koguryo Remains: Status and Results. Baek Jong-oh 
7 Findings from Research on Koguryo Remains in South Korea. Choi Jongtaik

Part Three: Tombs and Funerary Art
8 Historical Changes in Koguryo Tombs. Azuma Ushio
9 Koguryo Tomb Painting: Definition, Sources, Comparisons, Context. Nancy Shatzman Steinhardt
10 A Reassessment of the Emergence of the Images of the Four Animals of the Cardinal Directions in Koguryo Funerary Art. Ariane Perrin

Part Four: Historiography
11 On Parhae as Successor to Koguryo. Song Ki-ho
12 The Perception of Koguryo in Silla and Koryo. Noh Taedon

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

[Dissertation] Ethnographic Identities and the Politics of Legitimacy in Late Roman and Early Medieval Chinese Historiography

Author:
Ford, Randolph

Publication Year:
2016

School: 
New York University 

Advisors:
Levene, David S.; Tseng, Lillian

Abstract: 

The dissertation is a comparative study in the ethnographic traditions of Greco-Roman and Chinese civilizations from their beginnings up through the early medieval period. In concentrating on the ways in which the Wars of Procopius of Caesarea and the Jinshu [晉書] of the Tang Bureau of Historiography engaged with their classical ethnographic precedents, the dissertation examines the tension inherent in efforts to emulate and restore the ideals of the past while acknowledging and coming to terms with the realities of the present, a tension that characterized the cultural and political imaginations of literary elites of the Roman and Chinese Empires. 

This comparative approach throws into stark relief what appears as an all the more significant absence of ethnic identity as a criterion in the discourse of political legitimacy in the Wars of Procopius. It is argued here that this aspect of late antique political thought has its roots in the earlier Greco-Roman historiographical and political traditions, and that it allowed for the conceptual possibility of legitimate political centers of power within the former imperium that were not required to identify themselves ethnically with the Roman state. The officials of the Tang Bureau of Historiography, on the other hand, despite the fact that they worked under a ruling dynasty that itself had strong ties to the steppe and inner-Asian traditions, nevertheless re-drew a stark line of distinction between a Chinese center and a barbarian periphery. The dissertation thus provides an ideological explanation for the marked contrast in strategies of political identification in the late-Roman and early Tang periods.

Monday, October 24, 2016

周- 理想化された古代王朝

Author:
佐藤信弥 (Sato, Shinya)

Publisher:
中央公論新社

Publication Date:
September 20, 2016




Abstract:

紀元前11世紀から前256年まで続いた古代中国の王朝である周。太公望や周公旦などの建国の功臣、孔子や老子といった諸子百家、斉の桓公ら春秋の五覇などが名高い。また、封建制や共和制など、周に由来するといわれる政治システムは多く、孔子ら儒家によって理想化されて伝えられてきた。では、その実態はいかなるものだったのか。近年、陸続と発掘される金文や甲骨文などの当時の史料から、王朝の実像を再現する。

Table of Contents:

はしがき
序章 新出史料から明らかになる周代の歴史
 一 伝世文献と出土文献
 二 西周期と東周期
第1章 創業の時代―西周前半期Ⅰ
 一 王朝成立以前
 二 殷周革命
 三 反逆する殷の遺民
第2章 周王朝の最盛期―西周前半期Ⅱ
 一 諸侯の封建
 二 周王の主催する会同型儀礼とは
 三 南征に斃れた昭王
第3章 変わる礼制と政治体制―西周後半期Ⅰ
 一 礼制改革
 二 王朝を動かす執政団
第4章 暴君と権臣たち―西周後半期Ⅱ
 一 追放された暴君
 二 中興の光と闇
 三 西周の滅亡
第5章 周室既に卑し―春秋期
 一 周の東遷
 二 覇者、斉の桓公と晋の文公
 三 東周王朝の祀と戎
第6章 継承と変容
 一 礼制の再編、孔子の登場
 二 断章取義する春秋人
終章 祀と戎の行方―戦国期以後
 一 王朝の終焉
 二 周の祀は継承されたか
あとがき
主要参考文献
図版出典

引用金文等索引

Sunday, October 23, 2016

[New Digital Publication] Jades for Life and Death

(via Keith Knapp) 

The Smithsonian’s Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery launches Jades for Life and Death catalog online

The catalog can be found at: 
http://www.asia.si.edu/publications/jades/default.php


Thursday, October 20, 2016

The Zoomorphic Imagination in Chinese Art and Culture

Editors:
Jerome Silbergeld; Eugene Yuejin Wang

Publisher:
University of Hawaiʻi Press

Publication Date:
2016



Abstract:
China has an age-old zoomorphic tradition. The First Emperor
was famously said to have had the heart of a tiger and a wolf. The
names of foreign tribes were traditionally written with characters
that included animal radicals. In modern times, the communist
government frequently referred to Nationalists as “running dogs,”
and President Xi Jinping, vowing to quell corruption at all levels,
pledged to capture both “the tigers” and “the flies.” Splendidly
illustrated with works ranging from Bronze Age vessels to
twentieth-century conceptual pieces, this volume is a
wide-ranging look at zoomorphic and anthropomorphic imagery
in Chinese art. The contributors, leading scholars in Chinese art
history and related fields, consider depictions of animals not as
simple, one-for-one symbolic equivalents: they pursue in depth,
in complexity, and in multiple dimensions the ways that Chinese
have used animals from earliest times to the present day to
represent and rhetorically stage complex ideas about the world
around them, examining what this means about China, past and
present.

In each chapter, a specific example or theme based on real or
mythic creatures is derived from religious, political, or other
sources, providing the detailed and learned examination needed
to understand the means by which such imagery was embedded
in Chinese cultural life. Bronze Age taotie motifs, calendrical
animals, zoomorphic modes in Tantric Buddhist art, Song
dragons and their painters, animal rebuses, Heaven-sent
auspicious horses and foreign-sent tribute giraffes, the fantastic
specimens depicted in the Qing Manual of Sea Oddities, the
weirdly indeterminate creatures found in the contemporary art of
Huang Yong Ping—these and other notable examples reveal
Chinese attitudes over time toward the animal realm, explore
Chinese psychology and patterns of imagination, and explain
some of the critical means and motives of Chinese visual culture.

Table of Contents:

The taotie motif on early Chinese ritual bronzes / Sarah Allan

Labeling the creatures : some problems in Han and Six Dynasties iconography / Susan Bush

Representing the twelve calendrical animals as beastly, human, and hybrid beings in medieval China / Judy Chungwa Ho

The didactic use of animal images in Southern Song Buddhism : the case of Mount Baoding in Dazu, Sichuan / Henrik H. Sørensen

The evolution of soushan tu paintings in the Northern Song period / Carmelita Hinton

Animals in Chinese rebus paintings / Qianshen Bai

The pictorial form of a zoomorphic ecology : dragons and their painters in Song and Southern Song China / Jennifer Purtle

The political animal : metaphoric rebellion in Zhao Yong's painting of heavenly horses / Jerome Silbergeld

How the giraffe became a qilin : intercultural signification in Ming Dynasty arts / Kathlyn Liscomb

Weird science : European origins of the fantastic creatures in the Qing court painting, The manual of sea oddities / Daniel Greenberg

Huang Yong Ping and the power of zoomorphic ambiguity / Kristina Kleutghen

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

[Dissertation] The Formation and Circulation of Early Yanzi Lore, Fourth Century B.C. - Third Century A.D.

Author:
Yang, Li

Publication Year:
2016

School:
University of Washington

Advisor: 
William G. Boltz

Abstract: 

In this project I provide a textual study of two bodies of manuscripts related to Yanzi 晏子 (d. 500 B.C.), from the fourth century B.C. to the second century A.D. with particular attention to the nature of textual variation among the manuscripts and the matching texts in the received literature. Both manuscripts, the Yinqueshan 銀雀山 Western Han bamboo strips and the three texts from the Shanghai museum collection of Warring States period Chu strips, together with other Han discoveries pertaining to Yanzi reveal that before the official version of the most important transmitted literature on Yanzi, the Yanzi chunqiu 晏子春秋, was fixed by Liu Xiang (77-6 B.C.) Yanzi lore had been in wide circulation: the Yingqueshan manuscripts correspond to about eight percent of the received Yanzi chunqiu and are fairly close to the received texts at the level of individual anecdotes; the three Chu manuscripts, “Jing gong nüe 景公瘧” (Commonlord Jing suffered from malaria) “Lu bang da han 魯邦大旱” (The great drought on the State of Lu) and “Zhao wang hui shi 昭王毀室” (King Zhao demolished his palace) reflect an earlier stage in the process of shaping some of the Yanzi tales as we have them transmitted to us today. 

The formation and circulation of early Chinese texts tend to be composite and irresolute in contrast to the Western textual world in which a single authorship and a relatively resolute tradition can often be identified. Basic principles of textual criticism are used as guidelines but with reservations in analyzing textual variation due to this difference in the contexts and nature of text formation and circulation between the Western classical world and the early Chinese periods. 

The analysis of textual variation between the manuscripts and the received Yanzi chunqiu suggests that all the Yingqueshan accounts discussed in this study were most likely composed before the received counterparts; and the textual study of the three Warring States period manuscripts reveals that besides text passages, literary motifs can be composite and can be adapted into different textual settings as well. 

Table of Contents:

Chapter One: Introduction
Chapter Two: The Yinqueshan Yanzi Manuscripts (Third Century A.D.)
Chapter Three: Three Warring States Manuscripts of the Shanghai Museum Collection
Chapter Four: Conclusion

Sunday, October 16, 2016

敦煌から奈良・京都へ

Author:
礪波護 (Tonami Mamoru)

Publication Date:
2016. 10

Publisher:
法蔵館



Abstract:

高度な研究を平易に語ることで定評のある東洋史の碩学による、シルクロードや中国の歴史・文化・人物、中国学を牽引した内藤湖南・宮崎市定等に関するユーモア溢れる随筆集。

Table of Contents:

第Ⅰ部 敦煌から奈良へ
 敦煌 
 トゥルファン
 シルクロード紀行
 シルクロードの歴史
 シルクロード人物伝 (民族と宗教〉
  

第Ⅱ部 大谷の響流
 隋唐仏教史の研究
 冬扇
 世界人、大拙の英文の墨跡
 主上臣下、法に背き義に違し〈私と親鸞〉
 大谷瑩誠と神田喜一郎と
 北京版西蔵大蔵経の請来
 趙樸初の墨跡
 漢俳の最初
 唐代長安の景教碑と洛陽の景教経幢
 大学図書館の共生と特化
 神田鬯盦博士寄贈図書善本書影 解説二種
  ニュウホフ著『東インド会社派遣中国使節紀行』
  キルヒャー著『中国図説』

第Ⅲ部 京洛の書香
 内藤湖南の欧州紀行
 内藤湖南の『華甲壽言』
 内藤湖南の漢詩文
 宮崎市定コレクション――西洋の地理書と古地図
 十七字詩と漢俳
 胡宝華編著『20世紀以来日本中国史学著作編年』序言
 二〇一一年の漢字「絆」のイメージ

第Ⅳ部 先学の顕彰
 内藤湖南の学風
 内藤湖南――邪馬台国から満洲史まで研究
 内藤湖南を主題とする講演
 桑原隲蔵著『考史遊記』解説(岩波文庫)
 宮崎市定著『中国古代史論』
 佐伯富先生と井上靖『通夜の客』
 京都における唐長孺先生
 追悼・谷川道雄博士

第Ⅴ部 京都の中国学
 『京大東洋学の百年』まえがき
 羅振玉・王国維の東渡と敦煌学の創始
 土肥義和編『燉煌氏族人名集成(氏族人名篇・人名篇)(索引篇)』
 京大以文会
 宮崎市定の[地理学教室主任]兼担
 森鹿三と人文科学研究所
 近衛家煕考訂文『大唐六典』の研究
 京都の中国学

あとがき

Monday, October 10, 2016

Early China 39 (2016) 《古代中國》第39期



Table of Contents:

Letter from the Editor


LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
Sarah Allan

Obituaries


IN MEMORY OF A GREAT SINOLOGIST: NOEL BARNARD
Cheung Kwong-Yue (Alex)

ZHOU FENGWU 周鳳五 (1947–2015)

Kuan-yun Huang

Articles

THE PROBLEM OF TYPOLOGY IN CHINESE ARCHAEOLOGY
Anke Hein

THE XINIAN: AN ANCIENT HISTORICAL TEXT FROM THE QINGHUA UNIVERSITY COLLECTION OF BAMBOO BOOKS
Olivia Milburn

VARIETIES OF TEXTUAL VARIANTS: EVIDENCE FROM THE TSINGHUA BAMBOO-STRIP *MING XUN MANUSCRIPT
Edward L. Shaughnessy

DATING A PRE-IMPERIAL TEXT: THE CASE STUDY OF THE BOOK OF LORD SHANG
Yuri Pines

SUNZI VERSUS XUNZI: TWO VIEWS OF DECEPTION AND INDIRECTION
Lisa Raphals

EVALUATING SWORDS: INTRODUCTION AND TRANSLATION OF A HOW-TO GUIDE FROM THE HAN-XIN PERIOD
Charles Sanft

Review Articles

CHEN WEI 陳偉 (ED.), QIN JIANDU HEJI 秦簡牘合集 [CORPUS OF QIN DOCUMENTS WRITTEN ON BAMBOO AND WOOD]: A REVIEW ARTICLE
Olivier Venture

SARAH ALLAN, BURIED IDEAS: LEGENDS OF ABDICATION AND IDEAL GOVERNMENT IN EARLY CHINESE BAMBOO-SLIP MANUSCRIPTS: A REVIEW ARTICLE
Mark Edward Lewis

Reviews

REVIEW: THREE PERSPECTIVES ON THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF ANCIENT CHINA - Li Liu and Xingcan Chen . The Archaeology of China from the Late Paleolithic to the Early Iron Age. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012. Rowan Flad and Pochan Chen . Ancient Central China, Centers and Peripheries along the Yangzi River. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013. Gideon Shelach-Lavi . The Archaeology of Early China, from Prehistory to the Han Dynasty. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2015.
Sarah Milledge Nelson

Erica Fox Brindley . Ancient China and the Yue: Perceptions and Identities on the Southern Frontier, c. 400 BCE–50 CE. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015. xxii + 279 pp.
Brian Lander

Lisa Raphals . Divination and Prediction in Early China and Ancient Greece. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013.
Paul R. Goldin

Charles Sanft . Communication and Cooperation in Early Imperial China. Albany: State University Press of New York, 2014.
Karen Turner

Ralph D. Sawyer , with the bibliographic collaboration of Mei-chün Lee Sawyer, Ancient Chinese Warfare. New York: Basic Books, 2011.
John S. Major

Review of Zhao Dingxin . The Confucian-Legalist State: A New Theory of Chinese History. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015, xx + 447 pp.
Yuri Pines

Bibliography

DISSERTATION ABSTRACTS WENYI HUANG, COMP.

ANNUAL BIBLIOGRAPHY WENYI HUANG, COMP.

Thursday, October 6, 2016

The People between the Rivers: The Rise and Fall of a Bronze Drum Culture, 200-750 CE

Author:
Catherine Churchman

Publisher:
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Publication Date:
20160923



Abstract:

This fundamental study provides the first comprehensive history in any language of the lands between the Red and Pearl Rivers in southern China and the people who resided there over a span of a thousand years. Bringing to life the mysterious early people known as Li 俚 and Lao 僚 who inhabited the area, Catherine Churchman explores their custom of casting large bronze kettledrums. As the symbols of political authority and legitimacy for the Li and Lao rulers, the abundance of drums found in the archaeological record is an indication not only of the great number of such rulers, but also of their great wealth and power, which increased significantly from the third century CE even as the Chinese Empires tightened their control over surrounding districts. 

Drawing on a combination of Classical Chinese sources and scholarship in archaeology, anthropology, and historical linguistics, the author explains the political and economic factors behind the rise to power and subsequent disappearance of the indigenous leadership and its drum culture. She fills significant gaps in our understanding of the early interactions between China and northern Southeast Asia, challenging many widely held assumptions about the history of Chinese settlement and ethnic relations in the region, including those concerning the relationship between the Chinese Empires and the lands that would form the heart of a future Vietnamese state. A crucial work for understanding historical developments in the highland regions south of the Yangzi valley, it examines the first steps in the Sinic penetration of this highland world, one that has continued to the present. Bringing unprecedented attention to the historical identity of a previously overlooked region and a people, this book creates a new category in East Asian history.

Table of Contents:

Introduction

Chapter One: Digging up Drums

Chapter Two: The Two Rivers and the Lands Between—a Geographical Outline

Chapter Three: Why are the Li and Lao?—The shifting meanings of Ethnonyms

Chapter Four: ‘Masters of their Small Domains’—Local and Imported Traditions of Leadership

Chapter Five: ‘To Overawe the Li and Lao’—Attempts at Military Conquest

Chapter Six: Gold, Silver, Snakes and Slaves: Highland-Lowland Trade Relations

Chapter Seven: ‘Last of the Bronze Drum Chiefs’—The Rise and Fall of the Great Families

Conclusion