scholarly journals EARLY CHINESE MANUSCRIPT WRITINGS FOR THE NAME OF THE SAGE EMPEROR SHUN 舜, AND THE LEGACY OF WARRING STATES-PERIOD ORTHOGRAPHIC VARIATION IN EARLY CHINESE RECEIVED TEXTS

Early China ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
pp. 63-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam D. Smith

AbstractThe graph used to write the name of the mythical emperor Shun 舜 in received texts is a puzzling one. It is not obvious that any component in the graph, as it appears today, is semantically motivated, nor is there any element well suited to representing the name Shun phonetically. Texts like theShuowen jiezi說文解字 preserve an alternate writing of the name under the rubric “guwen古文,” but this too is hard to analyze in terms of the semantic and phonological motivation of the graph components. Without a clear understanding of why the name Shun is written the way it is, a reliable reconstruction of its Old Chinese pronunciation is difficult, and many of the graphic and phonological associations with “Shun” and related words made by early Chinese script, texts, and commentaries would be opaque.A graph that is clearly writing the name Shun, seen for the first time in two of the Warring States-period manuscripts from Guodian 郭店, partially resolved these difficulties, and in particular the question of the phonological spelling of the name. This in turn allows a series of interesting textual problems to be resolved. This article presents a selection of these, and discusses their implications for the history of the Chinese script and for textual transmission.

1938 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 98-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. P. V. D. Balsdon

The available evidence concerning the history of the Extortion Court, the quaestio repetundarum, at Rome is tabulated opposite page 114. In view of the bulk of this evidence, it is at first sight surprising that this should be one of the most confused chapters of Roman history. Indeed, it is improbable that all Roman historians would agree upon any more precise statement of certainty than the following: that C. Gracchus, whether by a lex Sempronia iudiciaria, or by a lex Sempronia de repetundis, or by a lex Acilia de repetundis which may, or may not, be reproduced in the lex repetundarum, fragments of which are preserved at Naples and at Vienna (CIL i, 583), established equites (selected either from owners and past owners, within certain age limits, of the equus publicus, or from all those who possessed the equestrian census) either in place of, or in association with, senators as jurors in the quaestio de repetundis; that Q. Servilius Caepio, probably in his consulship in 106 B.C., proposed, and perhaps carried, a judiciary law in the interest of the Senate; that C. Servilius Glaucia either in m (Mommsen), 108 (Carcopino) 104 (Last) or 101 B.C. (Niccolini) carried a lex repetundarum and perhaps other judiciary laws in which he possibly either gave for the first time, or restored, to the equites complete possession of the juries and certainly effected two reforms in procedure, (a) by legalising the prosecution not only of recent magistrates and pro-magistrates, but also of their accomplices and (b) by introducing the form of ‘double action’ known as comperendinatio; that M. Livius Drusus, as tribune in 91 B.C., endeavoured unsuccessfully to establish, or to re-establish, as the case may be, mixed juries of senators and equites, and to make equestrian as well as senatorial jurors liable to prosecution for accepting bribes; that in 89 B.C. by a lex Plautia of the tribune M. Plautius Silvanus mixed juries were established, certainly for trials of maiestas, and perhaps for repetundae too. After this, the way is clearer, Sulla re-established senatorial juries, which survived until 70 B.C., when, by the lex Aurelia, jurors were selected from three panels—from senators, equites and tribuni aerarii.


2006 ◽  
Vol 95 (02) ◽  
pp. 373-379 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward Tuddenham ◽  
Cathy Turner ◽  
Ben Lavender ◽  
Stuart Lavery ◽  
Katerina Michaelides

SummaryHaemophilia A is an X-linked, recessive, inherited bleeding disorder which affects 1 in 5000 males born worldwide. It is caused by mutations in the FactorVIII (F8) gene on chromosome Xq28. We describe for the first time two mutation specific, single cell protocols for pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) of haemophilia A that enable the selection of both male and female unaffected embryos. This approach offers an alternative to sexing, frequently used for X-linked disorders, that results in the discarding of all male embryos including the 50% that would have been normal. Two families witha history of severe haemophilia A requested carrier diagnosis and subsequently proceeded to PGD. The mutation in family1 isa single nucleotide substitution c. 5953C>T, R1966X in exon 18 and in family 2, c. 5122C>T, R1689C in exon 14 of the F8 gene. Amplification efficiency was compared between distilled water and SDS/proteinase K cell lysis (98.0%, 96/98 and 80%, 112/140 respectively) using 238 single lymphocytes. Blastomeres from spare IVF cleavage-stage embryos donated for research showed amplification efficiencies of 83.3% (45/54) for the R1966X and 92.9% (13/14) for the R1689C mutations. The rate of allele dropout (ADO) on heterozygous lymphocytes was 1.1% (1/93) for R1966X and 5.94% (6/101) for R1689C mutations. A single PGD treatment cycle for family1 resulted in two embryos for transfer but these failed to implant. However, with family 2, two embryos were transferred to the uterus on day 4 resulting in a successful singleton pregnancy and subsequent live birth of a normal non-carrier female.


2002 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-9
Author(s):  
Hao Shiyuan

When viewed from the perspective of history, China has not had a flourishing anthropology and ethnology. However, China's traditions of ethnographic-like perspectives have flourished for a long time. Since the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC) and Warring States Period (475-221 BC), multiethnic structure and social relations have been recorded in China's history. Ever since Sima Qian's Shi Ji (the Historical Records), the first general history of China compiled around 100 BC, the social history and cultural customs of ethnic minorities had been covered in each dynasty's history. Moreover, some special chapters had been dedicated to keeping the records of ethnic minorities. Of course such records were not completely unbiased.


Author(s):  
Yuri Pines

This chapter starts with introducing major textual, archeological, and paleographical sources for the history of the Warring States period. It then focuses on the inter-state dynamics following the de facto dissolution of the state of Jin in 453 bce and up to the Qin unification of 221 bce. In particular, the chapter explores the rise and fall of the state of Wei as the major hegemonic power in the end of the fifth and the first half of the fourth centuries bce; the subsequent rise of Qin and attempts to block it through formation of anti-Qin alliances; and, finally, the collapse of these alliances and the acceleration of Qin’s territorial expansion in the third century bce.


2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 132-145
Author(s):  
Gyula Szvák

It would be too early to try and summarize the way in which the issue of Russia’s “state historical and remembrance policy” has evolved or foresee its possible outcomes, as the standard uniform set of schoolbooks has not yet been approved. The media-voting competitions presented in this essay, however, clearly demonstrate the national social climate and its trends, which would have to be moulded into some form of an “all-Russian socium” by such a new approach to history. As contemporaries we might curiously await the next rounds of the “identity battle,” but as historians we must give voice to scepticism in regards to hopes of any form of quick success. Yet most of all, we have to stand by the deep conviction that only a pluralistic approach to history based on free research and the freedom to present freely conceived alternatives can help in the crystallization of a realistic national self-image. P.S.: For the first time in the history of Russia a statue has been erected for Ivan IV (the Terrible, the Fearsome) in the city of Oryol on 15 October 2016. The countdown has begun.


2015 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 475-491 ◽  
Author(s):  
MORITZ FÖLLMER ◽  
MARK B. SMITH

How can we write the history of urban societies in Europe after 1945? This article offers an interpretative overview of key developments in both Eastern and Western Europe, while also discussing some key conceptual issues. Along the way, it takes stock of the relevant historiography (much of which is very recent) and introduces a selection of papers from a cycle of three international workshops held between 2011 and 2013. The papers range geographically from Britain to the Soviet Union and cover topics as diverse as post-war reconstruction and alternative communities in the 1970s. Their respective approaches are informed by an interest in the way societies have been imagined in discourses and reshaped in spatial settings. Moreover, the papers move beyond case studies, urban history's classic genre, and can therefore facilitate synthetic reflection. It is our hope that, in so doing, we can make urban history more relevant to contemporary European historians in general.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 241-258
Author(s):  
Catalin Pavel

The present paper aims to offer Anglophone researchers a selection of translated quotes from Mihai Eminescu’s non-literary oeuvre, relevant to the philosophy of history of the most complex Romanian author of the nineteenth century. It should thus become possible to reconsider Eminescu’s position within the concert of European philosophers of history. The fragments gathered here stem mainly from his activity as a cultural and political journalist, throughout which he voiced, albeit unsystematically, his views on history. Although he did not ultimately articulate an academic philosophy of history per se, these fragments, now available in English for the first time, may give valuable insights into Eminescu’s conception of history. Above all else, they meaningfully complement whatever can be gleaned from Eminescu’s already translated poetry or literary prose. Hopefully the fragments presented here will aid scholars in establishing more precisely what Eminescu’s views on history owe to Schopenhauer’s metaphysics and what to the proper philosophy of history he could find in Hegel. This is a double allegiance scholars have also recognized in Maiorescu’s work. By the same token, it would further be important to chart Eminescu’s ambivalence towards Hegel, an ambivalence also visible in the works of Romanian philosopher Vasile Conta. Finally, the fragments below may help to bring to the fore the complex interplay between Hegelian theodicy and Kantian teleology in Eminescu’s historical thought.


2017 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 421-450
Author(s):  
Richard A. Keogh

The passage of the Emancipation Act in 1829 presented an opportunity for Catholics to reimagine their loyalty as equal subjects for the first time under the union between Great Britain and Ireland. This article explores the way Catholic loyalty was conceived in the decades that followed the act of 1829 through to the mid 1870s, when there was renewed focus on the civil allegiance of Catholics following the declaration of Papal infallibility. Historians are increasingly exploring a range of social, political and religious identities in nineteenth century Ireland, beyond the rigid binary paradigm of Catholic nationalisms and Protestant loyalisms that has dominated Irish historiography. However, Catholic loyalty in particular remains an anachronism and lacks sufficient conceptual clarity. Our understanding of a specifically Catholic variant of loyalty and its public and associational expression, beyond a number of biographical studies of relatively unique individuals, remains limited. By providing an exposition of episodes in the history of Catholic loyalty in the early and mid-Victorian years this article illuminates the phenomenon. It demonstrates that Irish Catholic loyalty took on different expressive forms, which were dependent on the individuals proclaiming their loyalty, their relationship to the objects of their loyalty, and its reception by the British state and Protestant establishment.


2015 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 237-241
Author(s):  
Lucy Grig

Let's start at the very beginning: that is, at the beginning of the history of Rome. This latest volume of the Oxford Readings in Classical Studies makes a clear case for the virtue of reprinting old articles even in an age of supposedly wide digital availability. An obvious virtue here is the fact this collection includes no fewer than seven articles that have been translated into English for the first time. In making this collection, the editors hope to show the continuing lively debate on the nature of the ancient historiographical tradition. Rather than taking a particular editorial line, the collection includes scholars with differing views as to the reliability of this tradition when it comes to early Roman history. That being said, it is not surprising that scholarship that aims wholeheartedly to uphold the historicity of the traditional accounts is definitely outnumbered by studies demonstrating instead the construction of historiographical tradition(s). Nonetheless, Andrea Carandini begins the collection by arguing once more for the congruence of the archaeological evidence and the literary tradition. The articles that follow vary somewhat in approach and in degrees of scepticism – for instance, Fausto Zevi admits a historical core to stories about Demoratus and the Tarquins, whereas Michael Crawford is forthright in his rejection of historicity in the earliest list of Roman colonies. The editors have taken the helpful decision to focus rather more on ‘stories’ than individual authors and this certainly helps shape a thought-provoking collection that can be read with profit rather than just put on the shelf for future reference. In particular, the editors’ suggestion that this volume could profitably be given to students in place of a single ‘authoritative’ version of the history of early Rome, so that they can see that there are indeed different ways of ‘doing’ ancient history, is persuasive. Finally, any selection of papers is, of course, subjective but an article focusing rather more particularly on non-literary historical traditions might have rounded out the picture more fully.


1965 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 119-140
Author(s):  
Donald J. Munro

Although there is no detailed definitive Chinese Communist interpretation of the thinkers of the 100 Schools Period, this does not mean that one cannot isolate certain constants from which deviation is not permitted. The sayings of Marx-Engels and Mao Tse-tung which are directly relevant to the early thinkers, if not strictly about them, have obviously been the primary guidelines for the scholar in Communist China. Especially in the material produced since 1957, when relatively intensive study of the period began, one becomes aware of more specific trends in interpretation. With the basic tenets of Marx and Engels as tools for interpretation, it is axiomatic that understanding the class struggle of a given time is the key to understanding the thought of that time. The “contention” among the 100 Schools is taken to be a reflection of the intensity of class struggle in the Warring States Period. It is also axiomatic that the history of the struggle between progressive and reactionary forces is reflected in the enduring philosophical struggle between materialism and idealism. But the philosophical concepts associated with materialism and idealism are not native to China; nor are their Marxist definitions universally accepted in the history of Western philosophy. Therefore, in interpreting the thought of the 100 Schools Period, scholars most frequently cite Marx-Engels definitions as support for their own interpretations or to criticise those of others. Engels states that all those who take spirit as prior to the existence of the natural world and thus in the last analysis admit a creator (Old Testament variety or the more sophisticated Absolute Spirit of Hegel) belong in the idealist camp.


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