Guan Yu

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barend J. ter Haar
Keyword(s):  
Song Dynasty ◽  
Decisive Role ◽  
Third Century ◽  
Oral Culture ◽  
Literary Traditions ◽  
The Song Dynasty ◽  
Oral Practice ◽  
Imperial China ◽  
Violent Action ◽  
A Minor

Guan Yu was a minor general in his own day, who supported one of numerous claimants to the throne in the early third century CE. He was captured and executed by enemy forces in 219. He eventually became one the most popular and influential deities of imperial China under the name Lord Guan or Emperor Guan, of the same importance as the Buddhist bodhisattva Guanyin. This is a study of his cult, but also of the tremendous power of oral culture in a world where writing became increasingly important. The book follows the rise of the deity through his earliest stage as a hungry ghost, his subsequent adoption by a prominent Buddhist monastery during the Tang (617–907) as its miraculous supporter, and his recruitment by Daoist ritual specialists during the Song dynasty (960–1276) as an exorcist general. It continues on with his subsequent roles as a rain god, protector against demons and barbarians, and, eventually, moral paragon and almost messianic saviour. Throughout his divine life, the physical prowess of the deity, more specifically Lord Guan’s ability to use violent action for doing good, remained an essential dimension of his image. Most research ascribes a decisive role in the rise of his cult to the literary traditions of the Three Kingdoms, best known from the famous novel by this name. This book argues that the cult arose from oral culture and spread first and foremost as an oral practice.

Connecting with the Local, or Not: The Song Emperor’s Terrace

2020 ◽  
pp. 89-119
Author(s):  
Helena Y.W. Wu
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
Thirteenth Century ◽  
Song Dynasty ◽  
Filial Piety ◽  
Cultural Icon ◽  
The Song Dynasty ◽  
Imperial China ◽  
Late Nineteenth

By taking the Song Emperor’s Terrace as the main object of analysis, Chapter 4 takes a step into history. The Terrace was once a popular cultural icon, for that it was valorized as a rock that stood witness to the royal visit paid to Hong Kong by the last two Song emperors at the end of the Song Dynasty in the thirteenth century—because of this event, the terrace became an oft-cited chanting object among the émigré-literati who fled China to Hong Kong during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. To vent frustration at the loss of their home(land), nostalgia for ancient (Imperial) China and adherence to virtues such as loyalty and filial piety, the Terrace became a place of gathering for these literati in everyday life and an object that frequently appeared in their creative works, ranging from verses, calligraphy to paintings. With an eye to the special bond between the émigré-literati and the rock and David Der-wei Wang’s notion of “post-loyalism”, this chapter challenges the presumed collectivity of this literati community by unfolding their varying political aspirations, worldviews and connections to “Hong Kong” through the relationships they constructed with the rock.

Women Rulers in Imperial China

NAN Nü ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keith McMahon
Keyword(s):  
Song Dynasty ◽  
Tang Dynasty ◽  
Extreme Case ◽  
Han Dynasty ◽  
The Song Dynasty ◽  
Women Rulers ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Tang Dynasty ◽  
Imperial China

“Women Rulers in Imperial China”is about the history and characteristics of rule by women in China from the Han dynasty to the Qing, especially focusing on the Tang dynasty ruler Wu Zetian (625-705) and the Song dynasty Empress Liu. The usual reason that allowed a woman to rule was the illness, incapacity, or death of her emperor-husband and the extreme youth of his son the successor. In such situations, the precedent was for a woman to govern temporarily as regent and, when the heir apparent became old enough, hand power to him. But many women ruled without being recognized as regent, and many did not hand power to the son once he was old enough, or even if they did, still continued to exert power. In the most extreme case, Wu Zetian declared herself emperor of her own dynasty. She was the climax of the long history of women rulers. Women after her avoided being compared to her but retained many of her methods of legitimization, such as the patronage of art and religion, the use of cosmic titles and vocabulary, and occasional gestures of impersonating a male emperor. When women ruled, it was an in-between time when notions and language about something that was not supposed to be nevertheless took shape and tested the limits of what could be made acceptable.

A Neighbourless Empire? The Forgotten Diplomatic Tradition of Imperial China

2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 245-267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bjørnar Sverdrup-Thygeson
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Song Dynasty ◽  
Chinese Foreign Policy ◽  
State System ◽  
Diplomatic Relations ◽  
Chinese History ◽  
The Song Dynasty ◽  
Imperial China ◽  
State Relations

Summary In the diplomatic canon, where the field has been demarcated by a central distinction drawn between suzerain and parity-based state relations, Imperial China has squarely been designated to the former category, and thereby as inherently alien to the diplomatic tradition. However, this image of a monolithic 2000-year-long rigid, hierarchical system betrays a too shallow assessment of Chinese history, and fails to acknowledge a noteworthy strain of parity-based relations running through Imperial Chinese foreign policy. This strain was at its most pronounced during the four centuries of the Song Dynasty, where China’s relations with a set of important neighbouring states were handled on egalitarian terms that were far more reminiscent of a full-fledged diplomatic multi-state system than what is popularly acknowledged. Based on a case study of the diplomatic relations of the Song Dynasty, this article argues that Imperial Chinese foreign policy on a set of occasions showed itself to adhere to principles immanent to classical diplomacy, and that these eras thus should naturally, and beneficially, belong to the historical canon of diplomacy.

WHO GETS IT WHEN YOU GO: THE LEGAL CONSEQUENCES OF THE ENDING OF HOUSEHOLDS (JUEHU) IN THE SONG DYNASTY (960-1279 C.E.)

2000 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 314-363 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian McKnight
Keyword(s):  
Song Dynasty ◽  
Normal Pattern ◽  
Social Trends ◽  
The Song Dynasty ◽  
The Family ◽  
Imperial China ◽  
The Rich ◽  
The Government ◽  
Laws And Policies ◽  
Legal Consequences

AbstractIn imperial China the normal pattern for the passing on of property across generations, giving assets to daughters as dowry at marriage and bequeathing the family estate in equal portions to sons upon the deaths of the parents, was distorted when both parents died without there being a living son, a situation called the extinguishing of the household (jeuhu). Under some dynasties the state attempted to deal with this phenomenon by mandating the posthumous adoption of sons, but during the Song (960-1279 C.E.) the government accepted the fact of the frequent ending of household (and family) lines, and established an elaborate set of laws and policies to assure the orderly transfer of assets. Song policy in this regard was prompted by the state's desire to avoid the concentration of land in the hands of the rich and the potential loss of tax revenues. Song policies both reflected and supported two social trends, the increasing independence of smaller stem family units from the influence of larger kin groupings and the increasing control of property by women, because most of those receiving juehu assets were women.

An Economic Cycle in Imperial China? Revisiting Robert Hartwell on Iron and Coal

2007 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 398-423 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Wright
Keyword(s):  
Song Dynasty ◽  
Iron Production ◽  
Chinese History ◽  
Global History ◽  
Economic Cycle ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
The Song Dynasty ◽  
Production And Consumption ◽  
Imperial China ◽  
Per Capita

AbstractRobert Hartwell's article published in 1967 in this journal has had an extensive influence in both Chinese and global history. The present article reviews the reception and use made of Hartwell's arguments by secondary sources over the last forty years. It focuses on three aspects: the Song economic revolution; Hartwell's quantitative estimate for iron production; and Hartwell's proposition that coal and iron production and consumption peaked in the Song dynasty, at least on a per capita basis. It argues that a consistent set of estimates are needed for coal and iron development over the last thousand years of imperial Chinese history. En 1967 Robert Hartwell publia un article dans ce journal qui a fortement influencé l'historiographie chinoise et mondiale. Cette contribution passe en revue l'acceptation et l'utilisation des arguments de Hartwell qu'on trouve dans les sources secondaires parues depuis quarante ans. Elle traite surtout de trois aspects de sa thèse, la révolution économique sous les Song; l'estimation quantitative de la production de fer, et la proposition qui veut que la production et la consommation du charbon et du fer par tête furent maximales sous la dynastie Song. La contribution témoigne de la nécessité de disposer d'une série cohérente d'estimations traitant du développement du charbon et du fer durant le dernier millénium de l'histoire de la Chine impériale.

scholarly journals The Word ‘Lebai’ and Its Ethnic Origins: Reassessing an Early Designation for Muslim Religious Officials in the Malay World

2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Wain
Keyword(s):  
Song Dynasty ◽  
Religious Service ◽  
The Song Dynasty ◽  
Early Stages ◽  
A Minor ◽  
Ethnic Origins

This article proposes a new etymon for the Malay word lebai (minor religious official/scholar), namely the Sino-Muslim term libai (禮拜, worship or religious service conducted in a mosque). Scholars have traditionally argued that lebai, a loanword introduced during the early stages of Islamization, derives from the Tamil leppai (or lebbai), likewise signifying (amongst other things) a minor religious official/scholar. On this basis, it has been argued that Tamil Muslims acted as Southeast Asia’s earliest Islamic officials. This article critically reassesses the evidence underlying this attribution. By tracing the earliest known Malay usage of lebai to Java –where it emerged alongside Sino-Muslim influences associated with Cirebon, Gresik and Demak– the etymon libai is proposed: since the Song dynasty (960-1279), Sino-Muslims have used the noun libai as a designate for religious affairs (particularly prayers) conducted in a mosque. This study suggests that lebai originates with this term, making it indicative of Sino-Muslim influence during Java’s Islamization.

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