Identifying the Country of Meilugudun and the Significant Value of Zhou Qufei’s Lingwai daida

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-43
Author(s):  
Victoria Almonte
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Song Dynasty ◽  
Social Differences ◽  
Political Consequences ◽  
Southern Song ◽  
The North ◽  
Maritime Silk Road ◽  
Chinese Texts ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The City

Abstract During the last century, considerable interest arose regarding Chinese knowledge of western territories, with a long list of works being published on the topic. Joseph Needham’s Science and Civilisation in China (1959) states that Arab thinking had clearly influenced the Chinese conception of geography over the centuries. Zhang Xinglang analyses the relationship between the Chinese empire and countries overseas, focusing on Islamic countries and particularly those in the north of Africa. Feng Chengjun’s western territories toponyms and Gudai nanhai diming huishi have provided two powerful and even fundamental tools for the research presented here. The first gathers together a large collection of toponyms from various literary works; these are written in western language with their relative transcription or translation in Chinese. The second, the Gudai nanhai diming huishi, is divided in two volumes analysing many Chinese toponyms and their use in several geographical works. Li Qingxin’s Haishang Sichou zhilu, focuses on the development of the Maritime Silk Road and its economic-political consequences for China’s empire. Gabriele Foccardi’s research focuses instead on the motives for Chinese travellers and their expeditions, highlighting the historical and social differences between the different dynasties. Friedrich Hirth and William Rockhill provide a crucial literary resource with their translation of Zhao Rukuo’s work, Zhufanzhi (1966), as does J.V.G. Mills with his annotated translation of Ma Huan’s Yingya shenglan, a journey work of the fifteenth century. Yang Wuquan’s research into Zhou Qufei’s work, published in 1999, identifies several toponyms used by Zhou and compares several foreign geographical works. Zhou Qufei and Zhao Rukuo were both imperial officials during the Southern Song dynasty. They spent many years in the border territories of China: Zhou Qufei in Qinzhou, Guangxi province, and Zhao Rukuo in Quanzhou, Fujian province. Their works mention several toponyms never used before in Chinese texts: ‘Meilugudun’, or ‘Meilugu’ (as written by Zhao Rukuo), is one of these. The identification of this toponym has not been determined until now. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to determine which kingdom was identified with the ‘Meilugudun’ toponym during the Song Dynasty. Two different questions are here discussed and resolved. First, can the land of Meilugudun be identified with the city of Merv in Turkmenistan? Second, do Zhou’s ‘Meilugudun’ and Zhao’s ‘Meilugu’ both stand for the same place? This paper can be divided into four sections. The first section focuses on Zhou Qufei, the second on Zhao Rukuo. The third analyses and compares previous scholars’ studies. The fourth proposes the new identification of the Meilugudun kingdom.

The archaeological survey and excavation of walls and passes of the Hailong Tun site in Zunyi City, Guizhou

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-102
Keyword(s):  
Ming Dynasty ◽  
Song Dynasty ◽  
Archaeological Survey ◽  
Southern Song ◽  
The North ◽  
Comprehensive Survey ◽  
Two Phases ◽  
Iron Pillar ◽  
The City ◽  
North And South

AbstractIn 2013 and 2014, Guizhou Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and other institutions conducted comprehensive survey, mapping and trial excavation to the walls and passes of the Hailong Tun Site. These archaeological activities identified the walls and passes of two phases belonging to the Song and Ming Dynasties respectively and generally made clear the full layout and evolution of the relevant remains through these periods. The extant Bronze Pillar Pass, Iron Pillar Pass, Flying Dragon Pass, Flying Tiger Pass, Chaoqian Pass, Flying Phoenix Pass, Wan’an Pass, West Pass and Rear Pass and the walls built of marlstone are the remains of the Wanli Era of the Ming Dynasty and the north and south walls and the “Earthen wall” on the top of the tun (castle) and the gates associated with them are the remains of the Southern Song Dynasty. These discoveries provided important references for the chronology and periodization of the relevant remains, and also enriched the understandings to the city sites of the Song through the Ming Dynasties in the nearby areas.

Nationalist historiography and the English and Gaelic worlds in the late middle ages

1986 ◽  
Vol 25 (97) ◽  
pp. 1-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven G. Ellis
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Social Differences ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Modern Times ◽  
The North ◽  
Late Middle Ages ◽  
Historical Coverage ◽  
Different Cultures ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

Much more so than in modern times, sharp cultural and social differences distinguished the various peoples inhabiting the British Isles in the later middle ages. Not surprisingly these differences and the interaction between medieval forms of culture and society have attracted considerable attention by historians. By comparison with other fields of research, we know much about the impact of the Westminster government on the various regions of the English polity, about the interaction between highland and lowland Scotland and about the similarities and differences between English and Gaelic Ireland. Yet the historical coverage of these questions has been uneven, and what at first glance might appear obvious and promising lines of inquiry have been largely neglected — for example the relationship between Gaelic Ireland and Gaelic Scotland, or between Wales, the north of England and the lordship of Ireland as borderlands of the English polity. No doubt the nature and extent of the surviving evidence is an important factor in explaining this unevenness, but in fact studies of interaction between different cultures seem to reflect not so much their intrinsic importance for our understanding of different late medieval societies as their perceived significance for the future development of movements culminating in the present.

Non-destructive Raman study on the provenance and firing temperature of Guan Wares in the Song Dynasty

2011 ◽  
Vol 1319 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lan Zhao ◽  
Jianmin Miao ◽  
Bairui Yang ◽  
He Li
Keyword(s):  
Firing Temperature ◽  
Song Dynasty ◽  
Empirical Relationship ◽  
Strongly Correlated ◽  
Southern Song ◽  
Kiln Site ◽  
Raman Study ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Non Destructive ◽  
Beijing China

ABSTRACTNon-destructive Raman spectroscopy was applied to three kinds of porcelain glaze samples: (i) Guan wares of Song Dynasty; (ii) Imitated Guan wares; (Both (i) and (ii) are from the Palace Museum (Beijing, China) collections); (iii) Porcelain shards are collected from the Xiuneisi kiln site which is one of two excavated Guan ware imperial kilns in Hangzhou, the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty. Raman spectra of the glassy phase network were used to discuss the composition and firing temperature of the glaze. The index of polymerization (Ip) is strongly correlated with the firing temperature and the composition of the glaze. According to the Ip values of the glaze, those Guan wares (i) can be classified into three groups. The provenance of Guan wares (i) was discussed by comparing the Ip values to imitations (ii) and shards(iii). The study of classification and provenance are also supported by the X-ray fluorescence data. The Ip values of several recently prepared glazed samples of known firing temperature were measured to build empirical relationship between the Ip value and the firing temperature. Based on the relationship, the firing temperature of the Guan ware glazes was at 1170-1300°C.

scholarly journals DISUSED AREAS AND URBAN REGENERATION. THE HISTORIC CENTRE OF VICENZA, ITALY

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Enrico PIETROGRANDE ◽  
Alessandro DALLA CANEVA ◽  
Ignasi NAVÀS SALVADÓ
Keyword(s):  
Architectural Engineering ◽  
Historic Center ◽  
North East ◽  
The North ◽  
Degraded Area ◽  
Parking Lot ◽  
University Of Padua ◽  
The University ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The City

This work concerns Vicenza, a city located not far from Venice in the north-east corner of Italy, and it specifically refers to an area situated on the outskirts of the city’s urban fabric between the perimeter of its ancient walls and the banks of the Bacchiglione river, in the shadow of the abandoned monastery of St. Biagio. The idea of restoring that physically and socially degraded area of the city of Vicenza has long been the object of discussion on the part of local authorities. Once intimately linked to the city’s historic center, the area gradually lost its functional and social identity becoming first a parking lot and then equipped as a city warehouse. The intent to regenerate the area and the observation that the relationship between the city and its river is constantly refused, or delayed, lead to recognize in the long edge of the area a unique meeting opportunity which allows to repair the water-city association, recuperating rituals and connections from the past. The municipality is presently planning on pursuing a qualitative restoration of the area which will be used for social and cultural enrichment. The final part of the current work outlines some proposals that were developed during the Architectural and Urban Composition 2 course recently offered by the Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering of the University of Padua (Italy).

The Fifteenth-Century Garner at Leadenhall, London

1989 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Samuel
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Common Market ◽  
The West ◽  
Dual Purpose ◽  
Ground Plan ◽  
Documentary Sources ◽  
The North ◽  
City Of London ◽  
The City ◽  
Full Height

Excavation and observations from 1984–6 on the Leadenhall Court site in the City of London revealed elements of the fifteenth-century market building known as ‘The Leadenhall’. The truncated foundations were located in various areas of the site; 177 medieval moulded stones were found reused in later cellar walls; and a fragment of the west wall survived to its full height of 11.17m encased between Victorian buildings. The recording and subsequent study of these features, together with a reassessment of such plans and drawings of the building as have survived, established the ground plan of the quadrangle and chapel, and made possible a complete reconstruction of the north range of this important civic building. The methodology used in the reconstructions is described with particular emphasis upon the analysis of the moulded stones. In conclusion, both the design of the structure and the documentary sources are studied to show how it may have been intended to function.The arcaded ground floor functioned as part of a common market, while the upper floors were intended to be a granary. For convenience, however, this dual-purpose building is referred to as the ‘garner’ throughout the text.

Stages of Decline

2014 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 337-378
Author(s):  
Ari Daniel Levine
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Memory ◽  
Song Dynasty ◽  
The Past ◽  
Southern Song ◽  
Counter Narratives ◽  
Social Trauma ◽  
Imperial Court ◽  
Northern Song ◽  
Historical Fact ◽  
The City

After the fall of the Northern Song [Formula: see text] (960–1127) capital of Kaifeng [Formula: see text] to Jurchen invaders in 1127, diasporic literati of the Southern Song dynasty [Formula: see text] (1127–1279) recreated and revisited its lost sites through textual commemoration, especially in memorabilia literature (biji [Formula: see text], lit. ‘brush notes’). As knowledge of the city passed from communicative memory into cultural memory, its decline and destruction became the focus of nostalgia and indignation for Yue Ke [Formula: see text] (1183–1234), the author of the Pillar Histories (Ting shi [Formula: see text]), a collection of counter-narratives of Northern Song history that expressed the shared experience of social trauma induced by dynastic collapse. Disconnected from their spatial context and even from historical fact, the city’s memory sites became stages for amoralistic declension narrative, in which the city’s destruction and occupation was assumed to have been instigated by the decadence of the imperial court of the passive Emperor Huizong [Formula: see text] (r. 1100–26) and his ‘nefarious ministers’. The most colourful elements of Yue’s ludic and fantastical narratives became the focus of his indignation, which encouraged his readers to denounce the traitors who had betrayed the empire by inviting the Jurchen invasion. In the Pillar Histories, Yue deployed textual imaginaries of nostalgia as forms of resistance by re-contesting the past events that led to dynastic collapse. By reconstructing the city in the cultural memory of his fellow diasporic literati, Yue was creating a vision of an ideal political, cultural and moral community that once existed at the dynasty’s inception, and might be reconstituted in the future, if and when Song subjects recaptured their lost homeland.

On the Water Environment of Kaifeng City of the Northern Song Dynasty

2013 ◽  
Vol 790 ◽  
pp. 437-440
Author(s):  
He Qun Li ◽  
Zhi Yi Song
Keyword(s):  
Song Dynasty ◽  
Water Environment ◽  
The Public ◽  
The North ◽  
Northern Song Dynasty ◽  
Northern Song ◽  
North Water ◽  
Kaifeng City ◽  
Bodies Of Water ◽  
The City

In the Northern Song Dynasty Dongjing city of Kaifeng, there were many rivers, ponds and other bodies of water, which had a certain relationship one another and relative independence. These waters had important influence on the layout of the city, urban economy, the public life and environment. Under its influence, now Kaifeng city has still many lakes, called "the North Water City"

scholarly journals Actors and Structures in Machiavelli’s Istorie Fiorentine

2007 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 45-87
Author(s):  
Sverre Bagge
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Thirteenth Century ◽  
Class Structure ◽  
Gradual Decline ◽  
Structural Forces ◽  
History Of ◽  
Individual Achievement ◽  
Dramatic Narrative ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The City

This article examines Machiavelli's understanding of the relationship between actors and structures in the history of Florence through a study of five selected episodes in the Istorie Fiorentine. Together, these episodes show the gradual decline of virtue in the city, from the relatively healthy conditions of the late thirteenth century to the pathetic incompetence of the Pazzi rebellion in 1478. These episodes also show that the main cause of this decline was not internal struggles, as stated in the preface, but the decline of military virtue which in turn was caused by changes in the class structure. In expressing these conclusions in the form of dramatic narrative and not only explicit reasoning, Machiavelli brings out tension between actors and structures, showing the limits the structural forces set to individual achievement as well as the possibilities for individuals to assert themselves under particular conditions. Generally, the scope for individual achievement increases as a result of the decline from the thirteenth-century republic, dominated by collective forces, to the fifteenth-century oligarchy dominated by the Medici family.

scholarly journals PRECIPITAÇÃO E PERDA DE SEDIMENTOS NA ENCOSTA ITAGIBA, ZONA NORTE DE SANTA MARIA - RS

2013 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Rodrigo Diniz Marques ◽  
Mauro Kumpfer Werlang
Keyword(s):  
Clay Content ◽  
Space Management ◽  
The North ◽  
North Side ◽  
Social Segregation ◽  
Horizontal Flows ◽  
Risk Areas ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The City ◽  
Santa Maria

Occupation in risk areas in the Brazilian cities happens, mainly, because of social segregation and space management. In the city of Santa Maria, occupation in risk areas also occurs. One of these areas is the Itagiba slope, located in the neighborhood of Chácara das Flores, nor- thern zone of the city. The route of the Santa Maria-Uruguaiana railroad, designed by the Belgium Consortium, in 1890, has lead to changes in the north side of Kennedy Town. By modifying the conformation of the landscape, the sectioning of the slope changed the topography. In this sense, this work aims to contribute to the understanding of the erosive process in the slope and establish the relationship between precipitation and total loss of sediment. Aiming at this goal, the volumes of total precipitation and the amount of sediment removed in each event of precipitation were monitored over a period of two years. For this evaluation, the pedological volumes in the Itagiba slope were analyzed in terms of texture and consistency limits. Along a toposequence was also evaluated the coefficient of infiltration. Results showed a positive correlation between the volume of precipitation and the loss of sediments. Higher volume of loss was observed in pedological volumes with higher silt content. The coefficient of infiltration decreased with increasing depth, clay content, and plasticity. The evaluation of the toposequence shows that the increase in depth causes the increase of horizontal flows, and that the conformation of the slope profile is controlled by this process.

Black Migration, White Flight

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leah Platt Boustan
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Highway Construction ◽  
White Flight ◽  
World War ◽  
The South ◽  
Black Migration ◽  
The North ◽  
Economic Forces ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The City

This chapter presents new causal evidence on the relationship between black arrivals to cities and white departures, a trend referred to as “white flight.” The simultaneity of black in-migration from the South and white relocation to the suburbs, both of which peaked from 1940 to 1970, suggests that the two population flows may be related. This chapter uses variation in the timing of black in-migration to the seventy largest cities in the North and West to distinguish white flight from other causes of suburbanization. It argues that while white suburbanization was primarily motivated by economic forces, including rising incomes, new highway construction, and the falling cost of credit in the decades after World War II, white departures from the city were also, in part, a reaction to black in-migration.

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