Communicating Civilization Through Rituals: Mount Tai Pilgrimages in Song China, 960-1279

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 335-362
Author(s):  
Lifeng Han

This paper examines the imperialfeng封 andshan禪 ritual at Mount Tai in 1008 and its connection with popular pilgrimages among the Mount Tai cult. It aims to demonstrate how ritual can be used as a tool of the imperial state in communicating its political and cultural agenda.Placing the imperial pilgrimage within its historical context at the turn of the eleventh century, it can be understood as an effort to secure mass identification with the state and its authority. More importantly, it could be used to establish ownership of Chinese civilization by the Song dynasty (960-1279) in its competition with the Khitan, who had long adopted Chinese institutions and ideology. Various strategies were deployed by the throne to communicate the imperial symbolism of the mountain. The mountain, therefore, had become valuable symbolic capital. Through the composition of temple inscriptions, the literati were able to redefine the popular ritual practices of the Mount Tai cult and brought them into a hegemonic discourse on the mountain. This facilitated the construction of an imperial cultural identity accessible to all social groups and allowed an abstract concept of Chinese culture to be communicated through the fabric of society.

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (7) ◽  
pp. 860
Author(s):  
Yuying Li ◽  
Yuming Zhang

With the significant growth of China's comprehensive national power, Chinese culture should not only "bring in" but also "go out". Chinese culture is extensive and profound, and classical literature has reached its peak in the Tang and Song dynasties. Jiangxi has been full of natural resources and outstanding people since ancient times, especially in the Song dynasty, when people of talent came forth in large numbers and created brilliant heritage of classic literary works for their offspring. Therefore, study on the translation of classics by JX native literati of Song Dynasty has very important academic value, application value and popularization meaning. Based on the modern translation aesthetics theory, this paper discusses how English translation of Chinese classics represents the beauty and the aesthetic value of the original from the perspective of rhetorical devices, form, images, and emotion respectively, in the hope to carry forward Chinese classics and Chinese culture.


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 629
Author(s):  
Yuying Li ◽  
Wandi Hu

With the convening of the 19th NCCPC and at the call of “Building stronger cultural confidence and helping socialist culture to flourish.” the going global of Chinese cultural classics has gained increasing importance. Jiangxi Province is the birthplace of literati and scholars throughout the ages, especially in the Song Dynasty. Among the Eight Great Literati of the Tang and Song Dynasties three were JX natives. Therefore, the study on the English translation of the classic works by them would be of great academic and practical values as well as significance for popularization. Taking Chesterman’s Translation Memetics as the guidance and from the aspects of Expectancy Norms and Professional Norms, the study analyses and explores the translation strategies and skills of Chinese classic, in the hope to contribute the author’s pygmy to the translation and spread of traditional Chinese culture.


Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 909
Author(s):  
Yue Dai

In 2008, in the course of excavating the site of the pagoda foundations of the former Nanjing Da Bao’en Monastery 南京大報恩寺, archaeologists discovered Buddhist relics enshrined in nested reliquaries along with some two hundred offering objects. The most impressive finding was a specially designed, richly decorated reliquary stūpa, known as the Seven-Jeweled Aśoka Stūpa 七寶阿育王塔, created in the Song Dynasty (960–1279 CE). This paper begins with the history of the site where a series of famous Buddhist structures had been built since the Wu Kingdom (222–280 CE), and which has long been associated with the cult of King Aśoka and relic worship. It then goes on to examine the form and features of the reliquary stūpas prevalent in the Wuyue period (907–978). Through comparisons between the Aśoka stūpas commissioned by Wuyue King Qian Chu 錢俶 (929–988) and those by laypeople around the same time, I will demonstrate that the Seven-Jeweled Aśoka Stūpa is distinct in its secular features. It is not a Buddhist reliquary that strictly conforms to the conventions of reliquary-making in terms of scale, inscription, and functionality; besides relic worship, it also features a remarkable manifestation of laypeople’s beliefs and expectations, sacred or secular. Viewed in its historical context, in which the Song emperors imposed political control over religious affairs and Buddhism became increasingly secular, the stūpa was a product of negotiation between the political authorities and local Buddhist communities in the Song Dynasty.


Religions ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 72
Author(s):  
Nathan Eric Dickman

I want to know whether Chan masters and students depicted in classical Chan transmission literature can be interpreted as asking open (or what I will call “genuine”) questions. My task is significant because asking genuine questions appears to be a decisive factor in ascertaining whether these figures represent models for dialogue—the kind of dialogue championed in democratic society and valued by promoters of interreligious exchange. My study also contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of early Chan not only by detailing contrasts between contemporary interests and classical Chan, but more importantly by paying greater attention to the role language and rhetoric play in classical Chan. What roles do questions play in Chan encounter dialogues, and are any of the questions genuine? Is there anything about the conventions of the genre that keeps readers from interpreting some questions in this way? To address these topics, I will proceed as follows. First, on a global level and for critical-historical context, I survey Chan transmission literature of the Song dynasty in which encounter dialogues appear, and their role in developments of Chan/Zen traditions. Second, I zoom in on structural elements of encounter dialogues in particular as a genre. Third, aligning with the trajectory of performative analyses of Chan literature called for by Sharf and Faure, I turn to develop and criticize a performative model of questions from resources in recent analytic and continental philosophy of language and I apply that model to some questions in encounter dialogue literature.


Humaniora ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 281
Author(s):  
Temmy Temmy

Chinese culture elements accepted for the first time by the Western countries was ceramic and silk. China's silk was found in ancient Greece during the Roman era and since then China has become the “Country of Silk”. Chinese ceramics came to the West a bit later. It was during the Song Dynasty that Western countries started accepting Chinese ceramics, and soon after that Chinese Ceramics had became a new surprise to the Western Countries and had China known as the “Country of Porcelain”. Porcelain as a cultural element is considered not only as material but also as a spirit. When the Europeans came to know the porcelain material, they had gradually been influenced by its spiritual content. Delicateness of ceramic slowly became a widely accepted aesthetic style, added with other factors that shaped the formation of the Rococo style that became very popular in Europe. This article used desk study to analyze and summarize the following three aspects: first, the impact of Chinese ceramic art on Western Rococo art, second, the art appreciation of Rococo art and third, to elaborate the influence of Chinese Ceramic and aesthetic in Western Countries.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (10-4) ◽  
pp. 159-165
Author(s):  
Teng Yue

The song dynasty (960-1279) in Chinese history is divided into two stages: the Northern and southern song, and includes a total of eighteen emperors who reigned for a total of three hundred and nineteen years. The song dynasty attached great importance to literature and despised force. The song dynasty era is an era of prosperity for China’s commodity economy, culture, education, science. The song dynasty’s “Ci” genre is a kind of musical literature. The full name of the genre is “song dynasty Ci”, abbreviated as “Ci”. The song dynasty Ci are an integral treasure of Chinese culture and are cultural symbols of the era that cannot be ignored.


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