Texts and Technologies in Chinese Silver Metallurgy, Twelfth to Nineteenth Centuries

The silver metallurgy of late imperial China has rarely been the subject of specific studies because silver exploitation has long been considered of minor importance and traditional sources are scarce. This article is an attempt at filling the research gap of the period from the Song to the late Qing. With a focus on the silver mines of the Southwest and the adjoining borderlands and employing an approach that combines textual analysis with the study of remains and oral histories, it presents a systematic discussion of process steps and traces technological transformations.

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CORPSE ADMONITION: WU KEDU AND BUREAUCRATIC PROTEST IN LATE QING CHINA

Journal of Chinese History ◽

10.1017/jch.2017.14 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

pp. 109-143

Author(s):

Ying-kit Chan

Keyword(s):

Twentieth Century ◽

Unintended Consequence ◽

Late Imperial China ◽

Political Issues ◽

Late Qing ◽

Late Imperial ◽

Arbitrary Power ◽

Late Qing China ◽

Imperial China ◽

Further Development

AbstractIn late imperial China, an extremely small number of bureaucrats adopted corpse admonition (shijian尸諫) to protest with their death what they regarded as inadequacies or failings in the imperial structure. This article introduces the case of Wu Kedu 吳可讀, who killed himself to protest the designation, by the late Qing empress dowagers Ci'an and Cixi, of Guangxu as the emperor, and as the adopted son of Xianfeng and not as the heir to Tongzhi. The article argues that Wu Kedu's suicide, which was highly praised during and after its time, was an attempt to sway bureaucratic opinion to put a check on the arbitrary power of empress dowagers, but instead had the unintended consequence of reinforcing it. More importantly, Wu Kedu's corpse admonition was a precursor of the outpouring of voices of remonstrance over political issues at the turn of the twentieth century, leading to further development of the Chinese “constitutional agenda.”

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Biographies of Buried Memory in Late Imperial China - Burying Autumn: Poetry, Friendship, and Loss. By Hu Ying. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Asia Center, 2016. ix, 380 pp. ISBN: 9780674737204 (cloth). - Fiction's Family: Zhan Xi, Zhan Kai, and the Business of Women in Late-Qing China. By Ellen Widmer. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Asia Center, 2016. xvi, 329 pp. ISBN: 9780674088375 (cloth).

The Journal of Asian Studies ◽

10.1017/s0021911818000062 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 77 (2) ◽

pp. 495-500

Author(s):

Nanxiu Qian

Keyword(s):

Harvard University ◽

Late Imperial China ◽

Late Qing ◽

Late Imperial ◽

Late Qing China ◽

Imperial China

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The Origins of Prejudice: The Malintegration of Subei in Late Imperial China

Comparative Studies in Society and History ◽

10.1017/s0010417500018351 ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 35 (2) ◽

pp. 211-238 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Antonia Finnane

Keyword(s):

Chinese Society ◽

Lu Xun ◽

Late Imperial China ◽

Usual Practice ◽

Late Imperial ◽

True Story ◽

Place Of Origin ◽

The Subject ◽

Imperial China ◽

Native Place

The convention for introducing biography in the Chinese textual tradition is to identify the subject not only by his name but also by his native place. The classic formula used for this purpose is set out in the preface to “The True Story of Ah Q,” in which Lu Xun remarks that “when writing biography, it is the usual practice to begin ‘so-and-so, from such-and-such place’ ” (Lu 1959 [1921]: 93). This formula was adopted in official documents, popular stories, obituaries and tomb epitaphs as well as in formal biographies or biographical notices. There were variations in its form, in which the person was identified as being “native of this place, living in that place” or “originally of this place, now of that place.” But in any event, a man was, and still is, normally identified by both his personal name and the name of his place of origin, just as a woman was usually identified by the names of her father and her husband. The problem for Lu Xun as fictional biographer was that Ah Q's name was a matter of debate and his place of origin unknown: He floated unmoored through Chinese society.

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A “Glorious” Dream of Awkward Romance: Humor and Desire in Wang Yun’s (1749-1819) Fanhua meng

NAN Nü ◽

10.1163/15685268-00212p04 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 21 (2) ◽

pp. 276-304

Author(s):

Yanbing Tan

Keyword(s):

Women Writers ◽

Dream Content ◽

Late Imperial China ◽

Late Imperial ◽

Male Privilege ◽

Female Protagonist ◽

The Subject ◽

Imperial China ◽

Male Dominated

AbstractWang Yun’s (1749-1819) Fanhua meng (A Dream of Glory, 1769) is one of the very few extant chuanqi plays written by women in late imperial China. Its female protagonist, who is frustrated by social restrictions placed on women, transforms into a man in a dream. The dream content revolves around the protagonist’s romantic adventures, which feature many awkward and laughable moments. As a fantasy about transgender experience, Fanhua meng has been the subject of critique for its embrace of patriarchal values as well as praise for its reflection on patriarchal depravity. These conflicting views attest to the complexity of Wang Yun’s use of humor in the play. This article explores how and why Wang Yun depicts her protagonist’s journey of desire in a comic mode, and how Wang’s contemporary male readers responded to Wang’s humor. It argues that Wang’s use of humor provides a palatable coating for a provocative reflection on the male privilege of being a desiring subject. As a whole, Wang’s play challenges the vision of worldly success promoted by the long-established and male-dominated chuanqi drama tradition. As a case study, this article draws attention to humor as a mode of self-writing for women writers in late imperial China.

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Buying and Selling Law Books in Qing Beijing

East Asian Publishing and Society ◽

10.1163/22106286-12341308 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 7 (2) ◽

pp. 94-126

Author(s):

Ting Zhang

Keyword(s):

Central Government ◽

Book Market ◽

Late Imperial China ◽

Early 19Th Century ◽

Late Qing ◽

For Profit ◽

Late Imperial ◽

Administrative Information ◽

Imperial China ◽

National Book

AbstractBeijing was an emerging legal publishing center in late imperial China and at least 60 commercial editions of law books were published there in the Qing. Beijing commercial publishers established close connections with the central government, which enabled them to obtain internal legal and administrative information and to print it for profit. Thanks to their close connections with other printing centers in places like Jiangnan and Jiangxi, Beijing publishers had convenient access to fine editions of legal books in the national book market. In the early 19th century when Jiangnan editions rose to dominance, Beijing publishers adjusted their publishing strategies by republishing Jiangnan editions and reducing the number of their own editions. During the Taiping war, Beijing publishers took the opportunity to expand their business. In the late Qing, Beijing was a flourishing legal printing center, selling a variety of legal books at affordable prices to readers who wanted to learn the law.

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