The Other China Hunger: Part II

Worldview ◽  
1976 ◽  
Vol 19 (6) ◽  
pp. 43-48
Author(s):  
Miriam London ◽  
Ivan D. London
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Tang Dynasty ◽  
The Other ◽  
Chinese History ◽  
Chinese Cities ◽  
The Tang Dynasty

It's nothing new in Chinese history to impress the foreigner for the sake of the country's face,” said a young escaper last year in Hong Kong, who by no means intended to denigrate his country. “When people from other countries came to the ancient capital of Ch'ang An in the Tang Dynasty, it was so gorgeously decorated, those foreigners were astounded….If the rulers today desire not to let foreigners see anyone wearing patched clothes, that can easily be arranged. And if they want to show foreigners trees in Peking with silk hanging from the branches, that is also possible.”Visitors from afar viewing today what B. Michael Frolic describes as “the peaceful blues and grays and whites of Chinese cities” would certainly smile at the thought of brocades waving in the breeze.

Managing a Multicurrency System in Tang China: The View from the Centre

2013 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 223-244
Author(s):  
CHANG XU ◽  
HELEN WANG
Keyword(s):  
Money Supply ◽  
Tang Dynasty ◽  
The Other ◽  
Tax System ◽  
Short Supply ◽  
The Tang Dynasty ◽  
The Government

When the Tang dynasty took power in 618, it inherited the multicurrency system of earlier dynasties. The zuyongdiao tax system, in effect from the start of the dynasty, required each taxpayer to submit taxes in grain, labour and cloth. At the same time, the government also minted coins, which constituted some 10 per cent of the total money supply. A persistent shortage of copper limited the number of minted coins the government could issue. Accordingly, officials tried to ensure that sufficient coins and textiles circulated so that both forms of money remained in use. They displayed no consistent preference for one form of money over the other but devised policies to encourage the use of whichever form was then in short supply.

scholarly journals Could phenological records from Chinese poems of the Tang and Song dynasties (618–1279 CE) be reliable evidence of past climate changes?

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 929-950
Author(s):  
Yachen Liu ◽  
Xiuqi Fang ◽  
Junhu Dai ◽  
Huanjiong Wang ◽  
Zexing Tao
Keyword(s):  
Tang Dynasty ◽  
Climate Changes ◽  
Background Information ◽  
Chinese History ◽  
Validity And Reliability ◽  
Past Climate ◽  
Tang And Song Dynasties ◽  
The Tang Dynasty ◽  
Past Climate Change ◽  
Phenological Records

Abstract. Phenological records in historical documents have been proven to be of unique value for reconstructing past climate changes. As a literary genre, poetry reached its peak in the Tang and Song dynasties (618–1279 CE) in China. Sources from this period could provide abundant phenological records in the absence of phenological observations. However, the reliability of phenological records from poems, as well as their processing methods, remains to be comprehensively summarized and discussed. In this paper, after introducing the certainties and uncertainties of phenological information in poems, the key processing steps and methods for deriving phenological records from poems and using them in past climate change studies are discussed: (1) two principles, namely the principle of conservatism and the principle of personal experience, should be followed to reduce uncertainties; (2) the phenological records in poems need to be filtered according to the types of poems, background information, rhetorical devices, spatial representations, and human influence; (3) animals and plants are identified at the species level according to their modern distributions and the sequences of different phenophases; (4) phenophases in poems are identified on the basis of modern observation criteria; (5) the dates and sites for the phenophases in poems are confirmed from background information and related studies. As a case study, 86 phenological records from poems of the Tang Dynasty in the Guanzhong region in China were extracted to reconstruct annual temperature anomalies in specific years in the period between 600 and 900 CE. Following this, the reconstruction from poems was compared with relevant reconstructions in published studies to demonstrate the validity and reliability of phenological records from poems in studies of past climate changes. This paper reveals that the phenological records from poems could be useful evidence of past climate changes after being scientifically processed. This could provide an important reference for future studies in this domain, in both principle and methodology, pursuant of extracting and applying phenological records from poems for larger areas and different periods in Chinese history.

Semi-Automating the Transformation of Chinese Historical Records Into Structured Biographical Data

2019 ◽  
pp. 228-246
Author(s):  
Lik Hang Tsui ◽  
Hongsu Wang
Keyword(s):  
Tang Dynasty ◽  
Chinese Language ◽  
Asia Pacific ◽  
Chinese History ◽  
Historical Records ◽  
Important Process ◽  
Biographical Data ◽  
Chinese Studies ◽  
Latin Script ◽  
The Tang Dynasty

This chapter explores and analyzes the new methods that the China Biographical Database (CBDB) project team has developed and adopted to digitize reference works about Chinese history, which is part of the important process of turning them into structured biographical data. This workflow focuses on the Tang Dynasty (618-907) and has implications for the continued improvement in the technologies for digitization and research into historical biographies in the Chinese language. These explorations and outcomes also demonstrate attempts in the Chinese studies field to transform large amounts of texts in non-Latin script into structured biographical data in a semi-automated fashion, and are expected to benefit digital humanities research, especially initiatives focusing on the Asia-Pacific region.

The Pathway from Negatives to Question Particles

2007 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 23-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pei-chuan WEI
Keyword(s):  
Tang Dynasty ◽  
Han Dynasty ◽  
Dynamic Interaction ◽  
The Other ◽  
Negative Part ◽  
The Tang Dynasty ◽  
Chinese Dialects ◽  
The Way

There is a great number of question particles in Chinese dialects that can be traced back to the negatives bu 不 and wu 無, which appeared in the negative part of A-not-A questions before turning into question particles. It remains debatable when and how this change occurred. We pinpoint the time when these two negatives changed into question particles according to several criteria in this paper. The time when bu became used as a question particle can be roughly dated to the Later Han dynasty and that of wu to the Tang dynasty, and the characters for these two words were then replaced by others. The interaction between bu and wu in history draws a picture of dynamic interaction. Some dialects show an extension from bu to wu, and some the other way round; the former is predominant in Middle Chinese, and the latter after the Tang dynasty. The way that bu changed into a question particle appears different from wu, which can be depicted as follows: The negative bu might have been seen as equivalent to the question particles hu 乎 and ye 耶 by holding a position identical to these two particles, which lost their function of interrogation and, as a result, were supplanted by bu subsequently. As a negative, wu is not only parallel with bu in syntactic behaviors, but also overlaps with the latter in the history, which made wu turn into a question particle after bu had done so.

scholarly journals Radiocarbon dating of ancient Japanese calligraphy sheets and the discovery of 45 letters of a lost manuscript

2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 331-334
Author(s):  
H. Oda ◽  
H. Yasu ◽  
K. Ikeda ◽  
M. Sakamoto ◽  
Y. Yoshizawa
Keyword(s):  
Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Accelerator Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Tang Dynasty ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Ninth Century ◽  
The Other ◽  
Paper Sheet ◽  
Radiocarbon Age ◽  
Buddhist Scripture ◽  
The Tang Dynasty

Abstract The Miidera-gire is an ancient paper sheet with different, elegant calligraphy on both sides. One side contains a part of a Buddhist scripture from around the ninth to the twelfth century and written in cursive hand, while the other side contains a part of Monzen (an anthology of Chinese literary works). The paleographical style of this Monzen seems to be older than that of the Buddhist scripture and is similar to some Chinese manuscripts written in the Tang Dynasty (AD 618–907). However, amid these elegant calligraphic writings, there exist many copies and counterfeits that were written several centuries later. We, therefore, measured the radiocarbon age of the Miidera-gire by using accelerator mass spectrometry. The calibrated radiocarbon age indicated 666–776 [cal AD] (2σ error), thus leading to the conclusion that the Monzen was first written on the obverse side, and long afterwards, the Buddhist scripture was written on the reverse side. Since only a few incomplete books of Monzen were written before the ninth century, this calligraphy is one of the oldest of the existing Monzen manuscripts.

scholarly journals The Representation of Military Troops in Pingcheng Tombs and the Private Household Institution of Buqu in Practice

Asian Studies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 221-243
Author(s):  
Chin-Yin Tseng
Keyword(s):  
Tang Dynasty ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Social Institution ◽  
Chinese History ◽  
Life After Death ◽  
Point Of Interest ◽  
Mural Paintings ◽  
Archaeological Materials ◽  
The Tang Dynasty ◽  
Northern Wei

In Northern Wei tombs of the Pingcheng period (398–494 CE), we notice a recurrence of the depiction of armed men in both mural paintings and tomb figurines, not in combat but positioned in formation. Consisting of infantry soldiers alongside light and heavy cavalry accompanied by flag bearers, such a military scene presents itself as a point of interest amidst the rest of the funerary setting. Is this supposed to be an indication that the tomb occupant had indeed commanded such an impressive set of troops in life? Or had the families commissioned this theme as part of the tomb repertoire simply in hopes of providing protection over the deceased in their life after death? If we set the examination of this type of image against textual history, the household institution of buqu retainers that began as early as the Xin (“New”) Dynasty (9–23 CE) and was codified in the Tang Dynasty (618–907 CE), serving as private retainer corps of armed men to powerful families, appears to be the type of social institution reified in the archaeological materials mentioned above. The large-scale appearance of these military troops inside Pingcheng period tombs might even suggest that with the “tribal policy” in place, the Han Chinese practice of keeping buqu retainers became a convenient method for the Tuoba to manage recently conquered tribal confederations, shifting clan loyalty based on bloodline to household loyalty based on the buqu institution, one with a long social tradition in Chinese history.  

scholarly journals Apologeticism in Chinese Nestorian Documents from the Tang Dynasty: Notes on Some Early Traces of Aristotelianism in China

Asian Studies ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 53-70
Author(s):  
Jan VRHOVSKI
Keyword(s):  
Tang Dynasty ◽  
Chinese Language ◽  
Early Period ◽  
The Other ◽  
Christianity In China ◽  
Concurrent Transmission ◽  
The Tang Dynasty ◽  
The One

Founded on the fact of otherwise deep connections of Nestorianism to the Aristotelian philosophy, this article hopes to shed some light on the possibility of a concurrent transmission of Aristotelianism (with Nestorianism) to China. This writing proposes that the transmission already took place during the early period of the presence of this form of Christianity in China. Taking a brief look into some representative writings about the Nestorian doctrine written in the Chinese language, this writing hopes to establish some modest, though still relevant, connections between Aristotelian concepts on the one hand, and some fragments of the mentioned Chinese writings on the other.    

scholarly journals Tang Dynasty Aesthetic Criteria: Zhang Huaiguan’s Shuduan

2014 ◽  
Vol 41 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 148-169
Author(s):  
Yolaine Escande
Keyword(s):  
Tang Dynasty ◽  
Aesthetic Theory ◽  
Chinese History ◽  
European Tradition ◽  
The Tang Dynasty

The Shuduan 《書斷》 (Judgments on Calligraphers) by Zhang Huaiguan of the Tang dynasty comprises classifications of calligraphy that Chinese theoreticians still refer to. This article aims at considering the functioning and efficacy of such evaluations through a study comparing this work to other treatises and, when relevant, to the European tradition. Its main objective is to examine how Chinese aesthetic theory responded to new evaluative needs that appeared during this crucial period in Chinese history. Thus, it seeks to clarify the nature of the criteria adopted by Zhang Huaiguan for his gradings: are they material, ideological, aesthetic, or of another nature?

Northern and Southern Dynasties and the Course of History Since Middle Antiquity

2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 88-119
Author(s):  
Li Zhi’an
Keyword(s):  
Song Dynasty ◽  
Tang Dynasty ◽  
Chinese History ◽  
Southern Song ◽  
The North ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Tang Dynasty ◽  
The Yuan Dynasty ◽  
Southern Dynasties ◽  
Southern Institutions

Abstract Two periods in Chinese history can be characterized as constituting a North/South polarization: the period commonly known as the Northern and Southern Dynasties (420ad-589ad), and the Southern Song, Jin, and Yuan Dynasties (1115ad-1368ad). Both of these periods exhibited sharp contrasts between the North and South that can be seen in their respective political and economic institutions. The North/South parity in both of these periods had a great impact on the course of Chinese history. Both before and after the much studied Tang-Song transformation, Chinese history evolved as a conjoining of previously separate North/South institutions. Once the country achieved unification under the Sui Dynasty and early part of the Tang, the trend was to carry on the Northern institutions in the form of political and economic administration. Later in the Tang Dynasty the Northern institutions and practices gave way to the increasing implementation of the Southern institutions across the country. During the Song Dynasty, the Song court initially inherited this “Southernization” trend while the minority kingdoms of Liao, Xia, Jin, and Yuan primarily inherited the Northern practices. After coexisting for a time, the Yuan Dynasty and early Ming saw the eventual dominance of the Southern institutions, while in middle to late Ming the Northern practices reasserted themselves and became the norm. An analysis of these two periods of North/South disparity will demonstrate how these differences came about and how this constant divergence-convergence influenced Chinese history.

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