Editing, Circulating, and Reading Huang Zhong’s Hai yu 海語

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elke Papelitzky

Abstract Huang Zhong’s 1536 Hai yu is a short text about foreign countries and products connected to the sea. To compile his book, the author mainly used information based on what seafarers told him in his native place Nanhai, Guangdong, making the text a unique source for Chinese maritime history during the early sixteenth century. In the Ming dynasty, at least three different versions were circulating, all of which are now lost. Luckily, all three editions were preserved in congshu of the late Ming and Qing dynasties. The Hai yu was read and quoted by later scholars, especially those from the Jiangnan area, who valued the book for its expertise on products and animals. Through the analysis of two full text databases of Chinese texts and gazetteers, this article examines the history of reading of Huang Zhong’s book, as well as the circulation of knowledge and the changes and adaptions Huang Zhong’s knowledge went through.

1995 ◽  
Vol 22 ◽  
pp. 349-358 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Shen

For a long time, scholars have known that the ancient Sino-East Africantrade relationship produced valuable accounts of East Africa in the Chinese imperial archives. Particularly, the historical documents compiled during the T'ang, Sung, and Ming dynasties contain several insightful snapshots of East Africa over the span of 800 years. Unfortunately, due to the difficulty of translating ancient Chinese texts, scholars have not been able to utilize these documents fully. In other cases, scholars have misused the translations to derive conclusions that may not be supported by the original text. In this essay I propose to re-examine the original Chinese sources and the way these sources have been used by subsequent scholars. Furthermore, I shall explore the real or potential contribution of these texts to our understanding of East African coastal history.The primary source of Chinese knowledge about East Africa during the T'ang dynasty (618-907) comes from Ching–hsing Chi (“Record of Travels”) and Yu–yang Tsa–tsu (“Assorted Dishes from Yu–yang”). During the Sung dynasty (960-1279), most of the information is recorded in Chu-fan-chih (“Gazetteer of Foreigners”) and Ling–wai Tai–ta (“Information from Beyond the Mountains”). Finally, the record of the Ming (1368-1644) naval expedition into the western Indian Ocean is preserved in Wu–pei–chih (“Notes on Military Preparedness”), Hsing–ch'a Sheng–lan (“Triumphant Vision of the Starry Raft”), and Ming Shih (“History of the Ming Dynasty”).


2013 ◽  
Vol 477-478 ◽  
pp. 1152-1155
Author(s):  
Jie Zheng ◽  
Jin Ping Wang

Ming Taiyuan County ,as the main component of Jinyang City relics, is the bond of cultural evolution from ancient to modern times. The ancient county pattern still exists from which can clearly see overall appearance of culture development in the Taiyuan area after the Ming and Qing Dynasties. It is of great significance for the study of the history of Ming and Qing Dynasty in Taiyuan area. This paper analyzes the historical background, settlement patterns, layout of streets and lanes of the Ming Taiyuan County, and summarizes the characteristics of the value of ancient town.


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mir Kamruzzman Chowdhary

This study was an attempt to understand how the available alternative source materials, such as oral testimonies can serve as valuable assets to unveiling certain aspects of maritime history in India. A number of themes in maritime history in India failed to get the attention of the generation of historians, because of the paucity of written documents. Unlike in Europe, the penning down of shipping activities was not a concern for the authorities at the port in India. The pamphlets and newsletters declared the scheduled departure of the ship in Europe but, in India, this was done verbally. Therefore, maritime history in India remained marginalised. Hence, in this article, I make an endeavour to perceive how the oral testimonies can help shed some new light on certain aspects of maritime history in India, such as life on the ship, maritime practices, and perceptions among the littoral people in coastal societies. This article also outlines an approach on how the broader question on the transformation of scattered maritime practices among coastal societies can be adapted and transferred into an organised institution of law by the nineteenth century, and how these can be pursued in future. I also suggest in this article that the role of Europeans, especially the British, in the process of transformation, can be investigated further through oral testimonies in corroboration with the colonial archival records.


Transfers ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 127-130
Author(s):  
Mariana C. Françozo

Located at the old harbor of the city of Genoa, the modern Galata Museo del Mare was inaugurated as part of the commemoration of Genoa as the 2004 European Capital of Culture. Only twelve years later, the museum proudly welcomes 200,000 visitors annually into its twenty-eight galleries, organized in an impressive exhibition space of 10,000 square meters, showcasing 4,300 objects. While the aim of the museum is to tell the maritime history of Genoa—ranging from Christopher Columbus to an open-air space showcasing the story of the Genoese shipyard—it is the exhibition on migration to and from Italy that will truly impress the visitor.


Author(s):  
Ivars Orehovs

In a literary heritage with a developed tradition of genres, works whose main purpose is to attract the attention of readers to a selected geographical location, are of particular culture-historical and culture-geographical interest. The most widespread in this respect is travel literature, which is usually written by travellers and consist of impressions portrayed in prose after visits to foreign lands. Another type of literary depiction with an expressed poetic orientation, but a similar goal, is characteristic of dedicatory poetry. The author’s position is usually saturated with emotional expressiveness as well as the artistry of symbols, encouraging the reader or listener to feel the formation of a spontaneous attitude. It is possible to gain confidence in the engagement of the author of the poetry as an individual in the depicted cultural-geographical environment, which can be conceptually expressed by words or pairs of words ‘resident’, ‘native place’, ‘patriot’. With regard to the devotional depictions on the Latvian urban environment, one of the earliest examples known in the history of literature is the dedicatory poem in German by Christian Bornmann to the town Jelgava with its ancient name (Mitau, 1686/1802). The name of Liepāja town in this tradition of the genre has become an embodiment later – in the poetry selection in German, also using the ancient name of the town (Libausche Dichtungen, 1853), but in terms of contemporary literary practice with Imants Kalniņš’ music, there is a convincing dominance of songs with words of poetry. The aim of the article is, looking at the poetry devoted to Liepāja in the 19th century and at the turn of the 20th/21st century in the comparative aspect, to present textually thematic peculiarities as well as to provide the analytical interpretative summary of those.


Conventional accounts often conceive the genesis of capitalism in Europe within the conjunctures of agricultural, commercial, and industrial revolutions. Challenging this widely believed cliché, this volume traces the history of capitalism across civilizations, tenth century onwards, and argues that capitalism was neither a monolithic entity nor exclusively an economic phenomenon confined to the West. Looking at regions as diverse as England, South America, Russia, North Africa, and East, South, West, and Southeast Asia, the book explores the plurality of developments across time and space. The chapters analyse aspects such as historical conjunctures, commodity production and distribution, circulation of knowledge and personnel, and the role of mercantile capital, small producers, and force—all the while stressing the necessity to think beyond present-day national boundaries. The book argues that the multiple histories of capitalism can be better understood from a trans-regional, intercontinental, and interconnected perspective.


1990 ◽  
Vol 95 (1) ◽  
pp. 173
Author(s):  
Timothy J. Runyan ◽  
A. G. Jamieson

Author(s):  
В.В. Хутарев-Гарнишевский

Публикуемый источник является отрывком из дневника депутата Московской городской Думы Н.П. Вишнякова (1844-1927). Автор лично не принимал участия в боевых действиях, но находился в самом эпицентре боевых действий между «красными» и «белыми», так как проживал с семьей в центре города. Именно эти события часто называют началом полноценной Гражданской войны. Его дневник отражает психологическое состояние мирного горожанина, оказавшегося заложником гражданского противостояния на улицах Москвы.Особый интерес представляют описания особенностей быта москвичей, циркулирующие среди них слухи, домыслы, их надежды и страхи, а также поведенческие стратегии различных социальных слоев. Особую ценность представляет то, что автор делал свои записи два-три раза в день, подробно фиксируя происходящее. Подобного рода источники крайне немногочисленны.Мемуарное и эпистолярное наследие Н.П. Вишнякова давно признано уникальным источником по истории общественно-политической, культурной и экономической жизни Москвы, но никогда не было опубликовано полностью. Лишь дважды публиковались небольшие отрывки.Данная публикация является частью работы по подготовке полного издания эпистолярного наследия Н.П. Вишнякова, который был вовлечен почти во все политические и экономические процессы Москвы времен правления императора Николая II. Он был депутатом (гласным) Московской Думы с 1873 по 1917 гг. с пятилетним перерывом в 1892--1897 гг., мировым судьей, известным ученым-геологом и краеведом.Для публикации были раскрыты многочисленные сокращения топонимов, а также расшифрованы индивидуальные, характерные для автора сокращения.Особую трудность представляет почерк Н.П. Вишнякова, подчас очень сложный для понимания и в отдельных случаях не поддающийся расшифровке.Эпистолярное наследия Н.П. Вишнякова весьма обширно, а сам дневник охватывает события с 1872 по 1918 гг. Published is an excerpt from a diary of N.P. Vishnyakov (1844–1927), a Moscow Duma deputy. Nikolay Petrovich has never personally participated in the events, but was in the epicenter of the October battles between the Red and the White movements, as he and his family lived in the centre of Moscow. Those events in particular are often referred to as the beginning of the real Civil War. His diary shows us the mental state of a peaceful citizen caught as a hostage during the civil confrontation on Moscow streets. Depicted are certain peculiarities of everyday life, rumors and doubts, hopes and fears of Moscovites, as well as behavioral strategies of different social groups.Most valuable is that the author made 2–3 diary entries a day, registering the events in details. Such sources are very few in number.N.P. Vishnyakov's memoirs and epistolary heritage have never before were fully published and were marked as a unique source on the history of political, cultural and economic life in Moscow between 1873--1918.This is a part of an upcoming publication of the complete texts of N.P. Vishnyakov's epistolary heritage. Nukolay Petrovich was fully engaged into almost every political and economical process in Moscow during the times of Nicholas II. He was a deputy of the Moscow Duma from 1873 to 1917, with a short break in 1892--1897, a magistrate judge, a well-known geology scientist and ethnographer.For this publication shorten forms of toponymies and some personalized abbreviations have been deciphered. It is sometimes very difficult to follow and understand N.P. Veshnyakov’s handwriting.


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