Ancient China: Chinese Civilization from Its Origins to the Tang Dynasty

Abstract This article argues that interpreters are crucial figures in the recording of history. Evidence taken from historical texts in ancient China is used to verify the claim that interpreters’ notes might have been used as a reference in composing historical records. By documenting the Tang dynasty (AD 618-907) policy to have interpreters interview foreign envoys and submit the relevant accounts to the Bureau of Historiography, this article provides background for the link between interpreters’ interview notes and history compilation in China. Evidence is further drawn from the history of the Sui dynasty (AD 581-618), whereby an interpreter’s mediated account of the emperor’s conversation with a Japanese envoy was directly adapted. Most interestingly, pictorial and written documents of foreign peoples made in the mid-6th century during the Liang dynasty (AD 502-557) were found to be very similar to the written accounts about these foreign peoples in Liangshu, the history of the Liang dynasty, completed in the early 7th century. Apparently, there is a solid link between the interview accounts and historical accounts about foreign peoples in China. Thus, there is a strong possibility that interpreters’ notes, in the form of reports, provide important, if not primary, sources for history compilation in China.

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Textual Research on Henna Art Introduced into Ancient China Through the Silk Road

Asian Social Science ◽

10.5539/ass.v16n9p21 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 16 (9) ◽

pp. 21

Author(s):

Xue Yang ◽

Yu Liu

Keyword(s):

Tang Dynasty ◽

Ancient Egypt ◽

Silk Road ◽

Ancient China ◽

Chinese Traditional Culture ◽

Jin Dynasty ◽

Mixed Use ◽

The Tang Dynasty ◽

Textual Research ◽

The Silk Road

Since ancient Egypt, henna has been widely used as dyes for women’s henna body art. Through the Silk Road, China assimilated cultures of its Western Regions, India, and Persia, such as the henna art. In Ancient China the "garden balsam" is always called "henna". Nevertheless, they belong to two different kinds of flowers. Folks’ mixed use of these two kinds of flower names reflects the profound impact of the henna art on Chinese traditional culture of decorative nails. This textual research results revealed that in ancient China the customs of dye red nails are affected by foreign henna art and there were three development stages: the introduction period (from the Western Jin Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty), the development period (in the Song-Yuan Dynasty) and the popularity period (in the Ming-Qing Dynasty).

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Reconstruction designs of an early Chinese astronomical clock with a waterwheel steelyard clepsydra

Mechanical Sciences ◽

10.5194/ms-12-891-2021 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (2) ◽

pp. 891-911

Author(s):

Zeng-Hui Hwang ◽

Tsung-Yi Lin ◽

Hong-Sen Yan

Keyword(s):

Tang Dynasty ◽

Design Methodology ◽

Historical Records ◽

Ancient China ◽

Design Specifications ◽

Astronomical Clock ◽

Technological Level ◽

The Tang Dynasty ◽

Ancient Times ◽

Original Device

Abstract. During the 8th century, ancient China began to use a steelyard clepsydra to control the waterwheel, giving it a time-keeping function for use in hydromechanical astronomical clocks. In the Tang Dynasty, the monk I-Hsing (683–723 CE) and Liang Lingzan jointly built a water-powered celestial globe (shuiyun huntian), which, according to historical records, was China's first hydromechanical astronomical clock with a waterwheel steelyard clepsydra. However, the original device has since been lost. The objective of this study is to use the design methodology for the reconstruction of lost ancient machinery to systematically reconstruct this lost clock. The methodology included the study of ancient literature to formulate reconstruction design specifications. Through the process of generalization and specialization, the target device was analyzed to determine its function, and different mechanical configurations that achieved the same function were developed. Thereafter, an atlas of possible mechanical sketches that were consistent with the technological level of ancient times was built. A computer 3D reconstruction of the waterwheel steelyard clepsydra, time-reporting device, and astronomical device was carried out, and 50 possible configurations were developed. One was selected to build a physical model.

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Ancient Chinese Bronze Casting Methods: The Dilemma of Choice

MRS Advances ◽

10.1557/adv.2017.298 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 2 (33-34) ◽

pp. 1743-1768

Author(s):

Michael R. Notis ◽

DongNing Wang

Keyword(s):

Tang Dynasty ◽

Warring States Period ◽

Ancient China ◽

Warring States ◽

The Past ◽

Mold Casting ◽

Spring And Autumn Period ◽

History Of ◽

The Tang Dynasty ◽

Bronze Casting

AbstractThe history of the manufacture of the magnificent bronze castings produced in ancient China has been reinterpreted a number of times during the past hundred years or so. These bronzes were first believed to be fabricated by lost wax (cire perdue) casting, but this gave way to a belief that piece mold casting was the dominant, if not the sole method of manufacture from the Shang (1700-1100 BCE) until possibly as late as the Tang dynasty (618-907 CE). This has been reinforced by the finding, a number of years ago, of the Houma piece mold foundry, as well a number of more recent similar finds. However, this stance was challenged by the discovery of openwork bronze objects as early as in the 1920s, and more strongly challenged in the late 1970s by finds of intricately cast interwoven openwork bronze objects at the Tomb of the Marquis of Yi, dated to the Warring States Period (475-221 BCE). Since then many other similar bronze objects have been found. Questions exist concerning the very existence of the lost-wax process as early as the Spring and Autumn Period (771 to 476 BCE), and was it independently developed in China, or was it introduced from the outside.

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