Silent conversation through Brushtalk (筆談): The use of Sinitic as a scripta franca in early modern East Asia

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
David C. S. Li ◽  
Reijiro Aoyama ◽  
Tak-sum Wong
Keyword(s):  
South Korea ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
East Asia ◽  
Ming Dynasty ◽  
North Korea ◽  
East Asian ◽  
Cultural Practice ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
Late Ming

AbstractLiterary Sinitic (written Chinese, hereafter Sinitic) functioned as a ‘scripta franca’ in sinographic East Asia, which broadly comprises China, Japan, South Korea and North Korea, and Vietnam today. It was widely used by East Asian literati to facilitate cross-border communication interactively face-to-face. This lingua-cultural practice is generally known as bĭtán 筆談, literally ‘brushtalk’ or ‘brush conversation’. While brushtalk as a substitute for speech to conduct ‘silent conversation’ has been reported since the Sui dynasty (581–619), in this paper brushtalk data will be drawn from sources involving transcultural, cross-border communication from late Ming dynasty (1368–1644) until the 1900s. Brushtalk occurred in four recurrent contexts, comprising both interactional and transactional communication: official brushtalk (公務筆談), poetic brushtalk (詩文筆談), travelogue brushtalk (遊歷筆談), and drifting brushtalk (漂流筆談). For want of space, we will exemplify brushtalk using selected examples drawn from the first three contexts. The use of Sinitic as a ‘scripta franca’ seems to be sui generis and under-researched linguistically and sociolinguistically. More research is needed to unveil the script-specific characteristics of Sinitic in cross-border communication.

Writing-Mediated Interaction Face-to-Face: Sinitic Brushtalk (漢文筆談) as an Age-Old Lingua-Cultural Practice in Premodern East Asian Cross-Border Communication

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-233
Author(s):  
David C. S. Li
Keyword(s):  
East Asia ◽  
Ming Dynasty ◽  
East Asian ◽  
Social Activity ◽  
Cultural Practice ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Synchronous Communication ◽  
Language Functions ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
Interactional Pattern

Abstract In Western societies, speaking is construed as an interactive social activity while writing is widely perceived as a solo or private endeavor. Such a functional dichotomy did not apply to the “Sinographic Cosmopolis” in premodern East Asia, however. Based on selected documented examples of writing-mediated cross-border communication spanning over a thousand years from the Sui dynasty to the late Ming dynasty, this paper demonstrates that Hanzi 漢字, a morphographic, non-phonographic script, was commonly used by literati of classical Chinese or Literary Sinitic to engage in “silent conversation” as a substitute for speech. Except for a “drifting” record co-constructed by Korean maritime officials and Chinese “boat people,” all the other examples featured Chinese–Japanese interaction. While synchronous cross-border communication in written Chinese has been reported in scholarly works in East Asian studies (published more commonly in East Asian languages than in English or other Western languages), to our knowledge no attempt has been made to examine such writing-mediated interaction from a linguistic or discourse-pragmatic point of view. Writing-mediated interaction enacted through Sinitic brushtalk (漢文筆談) is compatible with transactional and interactional language functions as in speech. In premodern and early modern East Asia, it was most commonly conducted using brush, ink, and paper, but it could also take place using a pointed object and a flat surface covered with a fluid substance like sand, finger-drawing using water or tea on a table, and so forth. Such an interactional pattern appears to be unparalleled in other regional lingua francas written with a phonographic script such as Latin and Arabic. To facilitate research into the extent to which this interactional pattern is script-specific to morphographic sinograms, a “morphographic hypothesis” is proposed. The theoretical significance of writing-mediated interaction as a third or even fourth known modality of synchronous communication—after speech and (tactile) sign language—will be briefly discussed.

scholarly journals Sulfur hexafluoride (SF<sub>6</sub>) emissions in East Asia determined by inverse modeling

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (9) ◽  
pp. 4779-4791 ◽  
Author(s):  
X. Fang ◽  
R. L. Thompson ◽  
T. Saito ◽  
Y. Yokouchi ◽  
J. Kim ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Korea ◽  
East Asia ◽  
Inverse Modeling ◽  
North Korea ◽  
Sulfur Hexafluoride ◽  
A Priori ◽  
East Asian ◽  
Atmospheric Measurements ◽  
Per Capita ◽  
Year 2000

Abstract. Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) has a global warming potential of around 22 800 over a 100-year time horizon and is one of the greenhouse gases regulated under the Kyoto Protocol. Around the year 2000 there was a reversal in the global SF6 emission trend, from a decreasing to an increasing trend, which was likely caused by increasing emissions in countries that are not obligated to report their annual emissions to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. In this study, SF6 emissions during the period 2006–2012 for all East Asian countries – including Mongolia, China, Taiwan, North Korea, South Korea and Japan – were determined by using inverse modeling and in situ atmospheric measurements. We found that the most important sources of uncertainty associated with these inversions are related to the choice of a priori emissions and their assumed uncertainty, the station network as well as the meteorological input data. Much lower uncertainties are due to seasonal variability in the emissions, inversion geometry and resolution, and the measurement calibration scale. Based on the results of these sensitivity tests, we estimate that the total SF6 emission in East Asia increased rapidly from 2404 ± 325 Mg yr−1 in 2006 to 3787 ± 512 Mg yr−1 in 2009 and stabilized thereafter. China contributed 60–72% to the total East Asian emission for the different years, followed by South Korea (8–16%), Japan (5–16%) and Taiwan (4–7%), while the contributions from North Korea and Mongolia together were less than 3% of the total. The per capita SF6 emissions are highest in South Korea and Taiwan, while the per capita emissions for China, North Korea and Japan are close to global average. During the period 2006–2012, emissions from China and from South Korea increased, while emissions from Taiwan and Japan decreased overall.

scholarly journals Sulfur hexafluoride (SF<sub>6</sub>) emissions in East Asia determined by inverse modeling

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 21003-21040 ◽  
Author(s):  
X. Fang ◽  
R. L. Thompson ◽  
T. Saito ◽  
Y. Yokouchi ◽  
J. Kim ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Korea ◽  
East Asia ◽  
Inverse Modeling ◽  
North Korea ◽  
Sulfur Hexafluoride ◽  
A Priori ◽  
East Asian ◽  
Atmospheric Measurements ◽  
Per Capita ◽  
Taiwan Region

Abstract. Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) has a global warming potential of around 22 800 over a 100 yr time horizon and is one of the greenhouse gases regulated under the Kyoto Protocol. Around circa 2000 there was a reversal in the global SF6 emission trend, from a decreasing to an increasing trend, which was likely caused by increasing emissions in countries that are not obligated to report their annual emissions to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. In this study, SF6 emissions during the period 2006–2012 for all East Asian countries, including Mongolia, China, the Taiwan region, North Korea, South Korea and Japan, were determined by using inverse modeling and in-situ atmospheric measurements. We found that the most important sources of uncertainty associated with these inversions are related to the choice of a priori emissions and their assumed uncertainty, the station network as well as the meteorological input data. Much lower uncertainties are due to seasonal variability in the emissions, inversion geometry and resolution, and the measurement calibration scale. Based on the results of these sensitivity tests, we estimate that the total SF6 emission in East Asia increased rapidly from 2437 ± 329 Mg yr−1 in 2006 to 3787 ± 512 Mg yr−1 in 2009 and stabilized thereafter. China contributed 58–72 % to the total East Asian emission for the different years, followed by South Korea (9–19%), Japan (5–16%) and the Taiwan region (4–7%), while the contributions from North Korea and Mongolia together were less than 3% of the total. The per-capita SF6 emissions are highest in South Korea and the Taiwan region, while the per-capita emissions for China, North Korea and Japan are close to global average. During the period 2006–2012, emissions from China increased rapidly and emissions from South Korea increased slightly, while emissions from the Taiwan region and Japan decreased overall.

scholarly journals Regional variability in black carbon and carbon monoxide ratio from long-term observations over East Asia: assessment of representativeness for black carbon (BC) and carbon monoxide (CO) emission inventories

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yongjoo Choi ◽  
Yugo Kanaya ◽  
Seung-Myung Park ◽  
Atsushi Matsuki ◽  
Yasuhiro Sadanaga ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Monoxide ◽  
South Korea ◽  
East Asia ◽  
Black Carbon ◽  
North Korea ◽  
Northeast China ◽  
Emission Inventory ◽  
East China ◽  
Co Emission

Abstract. The black carbon (BC) and carbon monoxide (CO) emission ratios were estimated and compiled from long-term, harmonized observations of the ΔBC∕ΔCO ratios under conditions unaffected by wet deposition at four sites in East Asia, including two sites in South Korea (Baengnyeong and Gosan) and two sites in Japan (Noto and Fukuoka). Extended spatio-temporal coverage enabled estimation of the full seasonality and elucidation of the emission ratio in North Korea for the first time. The estimated ratios were used to validate the Regional Emission inventory in ASia (REAS) version 2.1 based on six study domains (“East China”, “North China”, “Northeast China”, South Korea, North Korea, and Japan). We found that the ΔBC∕ΔCO ratios from four sites converged into a narrow range (6.2–7.9 ng m−3 ppb−1), suggesting consistency in the results from independent observations and similarity in source profiles over the regions. The BC∕CO ratios from the REAS emission inventory (7.7 ng m−3 ppb−1 for East China – 23.2 ng m−3 ppb−1 for South Korea) were overestimated by factors of 1.1 for East China to 3.0 for South Korea, whereas the ratio for North Korea (3.7 ng m−3 ppb−1 from REAS) was underestimated by a factor of 2.0, most likely due to inaccurate emissions from the road transportation sector. Seasonal variation in the BC∕CO ratio from REAS was found to be the highest in winter (China and North Korea) or summer (South Korea and Japan), whereas the measured ΔBC∕ΔCO ratio was the highest in spring in all source regions, indicating the need for further characterization of the seasonality when creating a bottom-up emission inventory. At levels of administrative districts, overestimation in Seoul, the southwestern regions of South Korea, and Northeast China was noticeable, and underestimation was mainly observed in the western regions in North Korea, including Pyongyang. These diagnoses are useful for identifying regions where revisions in the inventory are necessary, providing guidance for the refinement of BC and CO emission rate estimates over East Asia.

Picturing Commerce in and from the East Asian Maritime Circuits, 1550-1800

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
East Asia ◽  
East Asian ◽  
Musical Instruments ◽  
American Colonies ◽  
East And Southeast Asia ◽  
Ceramic Vessels ◽  
The Look ◽  
Visual Cultures

Combining strikingly new scholarship by art historians, historians, and ethnomusicologists, this interdisciplinary volume illuminates trade ties within East Asia, and from East Asia outwards, in the years 1550 to 1800. While not encyclopedic, the selected topics greatly advance our sense of this trade picture. Throughout the book, multi-part trade structures are excavated; the presence of European powers within the Asian trade nexus features as part of this narrative. Visual goods are highlighted, including lacquerwares, paintings, prints, musical instruments, textiles, ivory sculptures, unfired ceramic portrait figurines, and Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Southeast Asian ceramic vessels. These essays underscore the significance of Asian industries producing multiples, and the rhetorical charge of these goods, shifting in meaning as they move. Everyday commodities are treated as well; for example, the trans-Pacific trade in contraband mercury, used in silver refinement, is spelled out in detail. Building reverberations between merchant networks, trade goods, and the look of the objects themselves, this richly-illustrated book brings to light the Asian trade engine powering the early modern visual cultures of East and Southeast Asia, the American colonies, and Europe.

Implementing the London Dumping Convention in East Asia

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 247-267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyuan Zou ◽  
Lei Zhang
Keyword(s):  
South Korea ◽  
East Asia ◽  
Carbon Storage ◽  
Marine Pollution ◽  
East Asian ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
New Challenges ◽  
The Republic ◽  
London Protocol ◽  
First Time

In 1972, the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter (London Convention) was negotiated. It is a global treaty, for the first time, to regulate dumping of waste at sea worldwide. Following this global endeavor, the Protocol to the London Convention (London Protocol) was later agreed to further modernize the London Convention so as to reinforce the management of dumping of waste at sea. While in East Asia, only China, Japan, the Republic of Korea (South Korea) and the Philippines have acceded to the Convention and its Protocol, other countries do not show their willingness to sign them. Against this background, this article will address the responses of these East Asian states to the implementation of the London Convention, and analyze and assess their relevant laws and regulations with particular reference to China’s practice. In addition, it will focus on new challenges, such as offshore carbon storage, to the London Convention.

The Curious Journey of “Copyright” in East Asia

2019 ◽  
pp. 21-61
Author(s):  
Fei-Hsien Wang
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
East Asia ◽  
East Asian ◽  
English Word ◽  
Local Culture ◽  
Printed Books ◽  
National Survival ◽  
The Right ◽  
Chinese Term

This chapter traces how the English word “copyright” became the Chinese term “banquan,” which literally means “the right to printing blocks.” It examines the negotiations and struggles of the early East Asian promoters and practitioners of copyright with the understandings of ownership of the book. The chapter looks at the use of words the early promoters associated with the notion of copyright. It discusses the practices they and their contemporaries undertook in the name of “the right to printing blocks” as a crucial subject of inquiry. The early promoters of copyright in East Asia portrayed copyright as a progressive universal doctrine completely alien to the local culture, one that, for the sake of national survival, needed to be transplanted artificially. The chapter also points out the “new” ways contemporaries used to declare banquan ownership that were derived from some early modern practices whereby profits were secured from printed books.

The Transnational Archive of the Sinosphere: The Early Modern East Asian Information Order

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kiri Paramore
Keyword(s):  
Information Systems ◽  
Early Modern ◽  
East Asia ◽  
Chinese Language ◽  
East Asian ◽  
Global History ◽  
Early Modern Japan ◽  
Information Order ◽  
Modern Information

This chapter argues for the existence of an intellectually Confucian-centred, Classical Chinese language delivered archive of knowledge across early modern East Asia. I argue that this broad, transferable, and often commercially delivered Sinosphere archive supported the creation of state-led information orders in early modern East Asia. This argument resonates with recent work in South Asian and Global History demonstrating the role of regional early modern information orders in facilitating global flows of knowledge. I focus particularly on the transregional nature of the literary, pedagogical, and book culture that underlay the information order of early modern East Asia, and the state’s prime role in its development in early modern Japan. The article thus employs the concept of archivality to analyse early modern information systems, demonstrating patterns of trans-regional knowledge development in East Asia which resonate with other early modern global examples.

scholarly journals Regional variability in black carbon and carbon monoxide ratio from long-term observations over East Asia: Assessment of representativeness for BC and CO emission inventories

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yongjoo Choi ◽  
Yugo Kanaya ◽  
Seung-Myung Park ◽  
Atsushi Matsuki ◽  
Yasuhiro Sadanaga ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Korea ◽  
East Asia ◽  
North Korea ◽  
Northeast China ◽  
Emission Inventory ◽  
East China ◽  
Road Transportation ◽  
Regional Variability ◽  
Co Emission

Abstract. The BC/CO emission ratios were estimated and compiled from long-term, harmonized observations of the ΔBC/ΔCO ratios under conditions unaffected by wet deposition at four sites in East Asia, including two sites in Korea (Baengnyeong and Gosan) and two sites in Japan (Noto and Fukuoka). Extended spatio-temporal coverage enabled estimation of full seasonality and elucidation of the emission ratio in North Korea, for the first time. The estimated ratios were used to validate the Regional Emission inventory in Asia (REAS) version 2.1 based on six study domains (East China, North China, Northeast China, South Korea, North Korea, and Japan). We found that the ΔBC/ΔCO ratios from four sites converged into a narrow range (6.2–7.9 ng m−3 ppb−1), suggesting consistency in the results from independent observations and similarity in source profiles over the regions. The BC/CO ratios from the REAS emission inventory (7.7 ng m−3 ppb−1 for East China – 23.2 ng m−3 ppb−1 for South Korea) were overestimated by factors of 1.1 for East China to 3.0 for South Korea, whereas the ratio for North Korea (3.7 ng m−3 ppb−1 from REAS) was underestimated by a factor of 2.0, most likely due to inaccurate emissions from the road transportation sector. Seasonal variation in the BC/CO ratio from REAS was found to be the highest in winter (China and North Korea) or summer (South Korea and Japan), whereas the measured ΔBC/ΔCO ratio was highest in spring in all source regions, indicating the need for further characterization of seasonality when creating a bottom-up emission inventory. At levels of administrative districts, overestimation in Seoul, the southwest regions of South Korea, and Northeast China was noticeable, and underestimation was mainly observed in the western regions in North Korea, including Pyongyang. These diagnoses are useful for identifying the regions where revisions in the inventory are necessary, providing guidance for refinement of BC and CO emission rate estimates over East Asia.

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