Conflicting Loyalties: Fugitives and “Traitors” in the Russo-Manchurian Frontier, 1651-1689

2009 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 333-358 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrey Ivanov

AbstractFor many contemporary historians, the 1689 Treaty of Nerchinsk was not only the first diplomatic treaty between China and a European power, but also an example of a peaceful boundary settlement, which ended the protracted conflict between the two expanding empires. Yet despite modern emphasis on territorial demarcation, clarity of border signs hardly dominated this seventeenth century conflict in the Far East. In fact, careful examination of the published Russian archival record of Muscovite-Qing diplomatic correspondence reveals that competition for tributary allegiances of indigenous and settler populations proved to be a much greater source of tension between the two empires. Ultimately, the mercurial loyalties of local Tungus and Mongol tribes as well the cross-nation desertions of Cossacks, military commanders and Ming loyalists drove both Qing and Muscovite officials to stabilize their shared frontiers through negotiation.

2020 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
pp. 953-990
Author(s):  
Mario Cams

In the mid-seventeenth century, as the first full atlas of East Asia became available on the European book market, a dramatic shift took place in textual and visual representations of the Far East. The atlas, titled “Novus Atlas Sinensis” (1655), was the product of a cooperation between Joan Blaeu, who headed one of Europe's foremost commercial publishing houses, and Martino Martini, a prominent Jesuit missionary to China. This study shows how the Martini-Blaeu atlas thoroughly challenged the worldview of late Renaissance audiences by tracing and reconstructing a series of displacements that facilitated its production process.


1960 ◽  
Vol 92 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 32-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. K. Bassett

Much has been written about British activities in the Far East, particularly in China, in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries, especially by American historians. Dr. H. B. Morse's monumental Chronicles of the East India Company trading to China was first in the field and Professor E. H. Pritchard and J. K. Fairbank have been worthy successors. English scholarship on the subject is naturally somewhat older but, possibly for that reason, the work done has not usually been as detailed or thorough: an exception is Michael Greenberg's recent book, British Trade and the Opening of China, 1800–42. To find general surveys of Anglo-Chinese relations by British writers which extend back into the seventeenth century, it is necessary to turn to the books of A. J. Sargent and J. Bromley Eames. But as far as the seventeenth century is concerned historical research has been scanty. That Greenberg should have regarded a summary of events before the period with which he was immediately concerned as sufficient for his purpose was only natural. Fairbank's introductory chapters are more comprehensive but show greater interest in the attitude of the Chinese to external intruders than in the efforts of the East India Company to intrude. Sargent, as he himself acknowledged, was mainly concerned with the nineteenth century and his attempt to provide a historical background was very superficial. Eames paid considerable attention to early British contacts with China but was prone to errors of fact which make him unreliable.


2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (28) ◽  
pp. 127
Author(s):  
Luc Bachelot

Résumé: L’apparition de l’écriture, pour la première fois dans le monde, en Mésopotamie à la fin du quatrième millénaire av. J.-C., fut et reste perçue comme une véritable révolution, comme la manifestation d’un saut qualitatif de la civilisation d’autant plus spectaculaire qu’il était imprévisible. Telle est notre perception occidentale, répétée au fil des siècles depuis l’antiquité grecque, mais qui n’est pas universelle. L’Extrême-Orient a une tout autre conception de l’écriture. L’examen attentif des faits, tout comme l’abondante littérature qu’ils ont suscitée, incite à se demander si la véritable aventure de l’écriture ne fut pas en vérité la mésaventure que constitue cette historiographie maintenant millénaire qui n’a cessé de générer une suite quasi ininterrompue d’études, de discours, de mythes et d’histoires visant à décrire son origine. Nous tenterons d’emprunter les issues qui en elle permettent, une sortie de cette mésaventure. Issues que constituent lestravaux de Leroi-Gourhan, Derrida et A.-M. Christin, ainsi que les avancéesrécentes de la neuro-physiologie, celles de G. Rizzolatti notamment. L’écriture comme la parole est une manifestation de l’activité symbolique sans que la première soit nécessairement soumise à la seconde. La relation de l’une à l’autre n’est pas verticale, mais horizontale. L’écriture apparaît donc, quand un champ notionnel est suffisamment élaboré pour être exprimé par un moyen autre que celui de la langue. Resumo: A aparição da escrita, pela primeira vez no mundo, na Mesopotâmia no final do quarto milênio antes de Cristo, foi e continua sendo percebida como uma verdadeira revolução, como a manifestação de um salto qualitativo da civilização tão espetacular quanto imprevisível. Esta é a nossa percepção ocidental, repetida ao longo dos séculos desde a Antiguidade grega, mas que não é universal. O Extremo Oriente tem uma concepção de escrita bem diferente. O exame atento dos fatos, assim como a abundância literária que suscitaram, incita a nos perguntarmos se a verdadeira aventura da escrita não foi na verdade uma desventura, que constitui essa historiografia agora milenar que não cessou de gerar uma sequência quase ininterrupta de estudos, discursos, mitos e histórias visando a descrever a sua origem. Vamos tentar tomar emprestadas questões que permitem uma saída desta desventura. Trata-se de questões que fazem parte dos trabalhos de Leroi-Gourhan, Derrida e A.-M. Christin, assim como dos avanços recentes da neuro-fisiologia, notadamente aqueles realizados por G. Rizzolatti. A escrita, assim como a palavra, é uma manifestação da atividade simbólica sem que a primeira esteja necesariamente submetida à segunda. A relação entre uma e outra não é vertical, mas horizontal. A escrita aparece então quando um campo de noções está suficientemente elaborado para poder ser exprimido por um outro meio que não aquele da língua. Abstract: For the first time in the world, the appearance of writing in Mesopotamia at the end of the fourth millennium BC was and continues to be perceived as a true revolution, as the manifestation of a qualitative leap of civilization, so spectacular and unpredictable. This is our Western perception, repeated over the centuries since the ancient Greeks, although it is not universal. There is a completely different perception of the writing for the Far East. The careful examination of the facts, along with the emerging abundant scholarship, raisesthe question whether the true adventure of writing wasin fact a mishap, which constitutes the now millenarian historiography that has not ceased to generate an almost uninterrupted sequence of studies, discourses, myths and histories in order to describe its origin. We will try to borrow questions that allow us to get out of this misadventure. Questions that form part of the work of Leroi-Gourhan, Derrida and A.-M. Christin, as well as recent advances in neurophysiology, notably those by G. Rizzolatti. Writing, as speech, is a manifestation of symbolic activity, without the former necessarily being subjected to the second. The relationship of one to the other is not vertical but horizontal. The writing then appears when a notional field is sufficiently developed to be expressed by means other than that of language.


Author(s):  
John P. Doyle

The Collegium Conimbricense (‘Coimbra group’) or the Conimbricenses were late sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century Jesuit philosophy professors at the University of Coimbra, specifically in the College of Arts, which in 1555 had been placed under the direction of the Society of Jesus. Encouraged by their religious superiors and especially by Pedro da Fonseca, between 1592 and 1606 the Conimbricenses published five volumes containing eight treatises of commentary on Aristotle. Distributed particularly through the Jesuits, these volumes were widely influential in Europe, America, and the Far East, including Japan and China. On this last, Sommervogel (1891) has cited the seventeenth-century Jesuit, Athanasius Kircher, to the effect that by his time all the Coimbra commentaries had been translated into Chinese.


2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (33) ◽  
pp. 223-250
Author(s):  
Luc Bachelot

O termo “aventuras”, no plural, tal como ele aparece no título deste artigo, evoca ao mesmo tempo uma multiplicidade de episódios ou realizações e seu caráter inesperado, surpreendente. No que diz respeito à escrita, a diversidade dos contextos de seu surgimento, como a de suas manifestações, legitima amplamente essa designação. Mas além do número e da variedade dos sistemas de escrita conhecidos até agora, e tendo em vista o interesse fascinado das sociedades ocidentais pelos espetaculares avanços culturais que lhes são atribuídos (transmissão de conhecimentos, aceleração do progresso, dos conhecimentos, administração de grupos humanos, gestão econômica, etc.), o aparecimento da escrita, pela primeira vez no mundo, na Mesopotâmia, no final do quarto milênio a.C., foi e continua sendo percebido como uma verdadeira revolução. O que não deixou de ser entendido como um salto qualitativo da civilização, tanto mais espetacular quanto imprevisível. Tal é a nossa percepção ocidental, repetida e reforçada ao longo dos séculos, desde a antiguidade grega, mas que, contudo, não é universal. O Extremo Oriente, por exemplo, tem uma concepção completamente diferente de escrita. O exame cuidadoso dos fatos, assim como a abundante literatura que eles suscitaram, nos convidam a perguntar se a verdadeira aventura da escrita não foi, de fato, a desventura que constitui essa historiografia, agora milenar, que a assumiu e que até o momento não cessou de produzir uma sequência quase que ininterrupta de estudos, análises, discursos ou narrativas, mitos e histórias para descrever sua origem. Objetivo duplamente problemático: em si, –retornaremos a este ponto –, e em sua orientação em direção a um objeto que não pode ser descoberto, mas sim a um pressuposto que ela busca legitimar. Pressuposição segundo a qual a escrita seria essencialmente um produto derivado da língua. Após relembrar as linhas de força que estruturam essa abundante literatura, tentaremos empregar estratagemas que, apesar de tudo, permitem uma saída dessa desventura. Subterfúgios representados pelos trabalhos de Leroi-Gourhan, Derrida e A.-M. Christin, bem como pelos recentes avanços da neurofisiologia, sobretudo aqueles apresentados por G. Rizzolatti. Mas, de início, é imperativo que façamos uma nota sobre as definições mais comuns de escrita e os muitos estudos especializados nos quais elas se apoiam.Abstract: For the first time in the world, the appearance of writing in Mesopotamia at the end of the fourth millennium BC was and continues to be perceived as a true revolution, as the manifestation of a qualitative leap of civilization, so spectacular and unpredictable. This is our Western perception, repeated over the centuries since the ancient Greeks, although it is not universal. There is a completely different perception of the writing for the Far East. The careful examination of the facts, along with the emerging abundant scholarship, raisesthe question whether the true adventure of writing wasin fact a mishap, which constitutes the now millenarian historiography that has not ceased to generate an almost uninterrupted sequence of studies, discourses, myths and histories in order to describe its origin. We will try to borrow questions that allow us to get out of this misadventure. Questions that form part of the work of Leroi-Gourhan, Derrida and A.-M. Christin, as well as recent advances in neurophysiology, notably those by G. Rizzolatti. Writing, as speech, is a manifestation of symbolic activity, without the former necessarily being subjected to the second. The relationship of one to the other is not vertical but horizontal. The writing then appears when a notional field is sufficiently developed to be expressed by means other than that of language.  


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