Ghosts and Religious Life in Early China

For modern people, ghost stories are no more than thrilling entertainment. For those living in antiquity, ghosts were far more serious beings, as they could affect the life and death of people and cause endless fear and anxiety. How did ancient societies imagine what ghosts looked like, what they could do, and how people could deal with them? From the vantage point of modernity, what can we learn about an obscure, but no less important aspect of an ancient culture? In this volume, Mu-chou Poo explores the ghosts of ancient China, the ideas that they nurtured, and their role in its culture. His study provides fascinating insights into the interaction between the idea of ghosts and religious activities, literary imagination, and social life devoted to them. Comparing Chinese ghosts with those of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, and Rome, Poo also offers a wider perspective on the role of ghosts in human history.

Construction of Female Awareness and Discourse Authority : Interpretation of Palace of Desire from the Perspective of Feminist Narratology

Palace of Desire is an excellent costume TV series directed by Li Shaohong. There are two screenwriters named Zhen Chong and Wang Yao. They used unique writing strategies to narrate the story of Princess Tai Ping and Empress Wu Zetian who are trapped in a delimma of power and emotion during a special period of Tang Dynasty, showing the confusion of women in the feudal society of ancient China. This article will use the theory of feminist stylistics to analyze the script of Palace of Desire. To be more specific, the paper focuses on narrative voices in Palace of Desire. It is hoped that how the screenwriters construct the narrative authority of women and make the work a feminist classic can be interpreted.

Seeking Horses: Allies, Clients and Exchanges in the Zhou Period (1045–221 BC)

Horses and chariots—and the associated technology and expertise—derived from the steppe contributed to the success of the Zhou conquest of the Shang in c. 1045 BC and remained important throughout Zhou rule in ancient China. On the basis of material cultural patterns, including the style and material used in bridle cheek-pieces found in tombs of the late second and early first millennium BC, this paper points to a northern origin for Zhou horses. Important intermediaries, providing these horses, were the clans whose cemeteries have been identified on the northern edges of the Central Plains. The necessity for repeated exchanges bringing south horses from the north was a consequence of key environmental differences between the steppe and the Central Plains, including climate, geomorphology, essential soil nutrients, and land use. These created significant difficulties in sustainably breeding and pasturing horses of quality. As a result, the people of the Central Plains were bound, over millennia, to seek horses from the northwest, along a cultural corridor that also moved northern materials and technologies, such as gold-, iron- and some bronze-working, into the Central Plains from the steppes.

Research on the origin of clothing from the perspective of the ancient Chinese character etymology and philosophy

The origin of clothing has always been one of the most important topics in the field of apparel culture research. However, academics have different opinions on this issue. Based on the dilemma analysis of the three research routes which include philology, archaeology, anthropology, we can study the essence of the origin of clothing by analysing ancient Chinese character and philosophy. The relative methods of characters etymology in ancient China, archaeology, anthropology and philosophy are adopted in this study in order to further study the origin of clothing. The research shows that: from etymology research on characters in ancient China, Chinese characters associated with clothing can reflect the objective needs of clothing-the carrying tools whose material are cortex. From the perspective of philosophical researches, clothing prototype originated in the cortical belt for carrying in the process of human evolution during the Palaeolithic. It is an important tool for primitive humans to increase their survival rate. And formed clothing is necessary for them to get out of the Africa and expand their living space. First of all, this paper systematically demonstrates the idea that clothing originated from tools based on the analysis of ancient Chinese characters. Secondly, from the perspective of philosophy, this paper demonstrates the great historical role of clothing as a survival tool, based on the viewpoint that the generation of clothing precedes the consciousness of clothing.

A General Survey of Ancient Chinese History

The author reviews the first six chapters of the monograph by John S. Major and Constance Cook “Ancient China: A History” (New York, London: Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group, 2017. 300 p.). The authors of the book made an attempt to briefly review the history of ancient China on the basis of a compilation of factual data from the works of the most prominent researchers of these periods in Europe and the United States. It is shown that the authors of the compilation mainly follow the Chinese historical tradition, repeating the basic information from the classical Confucian treatises of the early Imperial time. It is particularly significant that the authors make mistakes that indicate the formation of their own tradition of writing the history of China in the United States.

Confucian Family Education and Ideological Tradition «Tian Di Jun Qin Shi»

This article will briefly describe the features, methods, goals of family education in ancient China, as well as the relevant educational roles of the father and mother in the family. The article will also analyze one of the most unique characteristics of ancient Chinese family education: in each family fixed a tablet with the words 天地君亲 Tian Di Jun Qin Shi (Heaven, land, rulers, ancestors, sages). In ancient China, people believed that teachers and relatives, and heaven, earth, and monarchs, were objects that people should respect and worship. Obviously, this clearly differs from the traditions of most other countries. The idea of Tian Di Jun Qin Shi first appeared in Guo Yu (国语), and in Xunzi (荀子) you can see the initial form of this thought. Over the next 2000 years, these five words penetrate deeply into people's minds, and people often mention them in their daily lives. Their importance and value in Chinese culture and Chinese life are very important and indispensable. The role played by the idea of Tian Di Jun Qin Shi in ancient Chinese family education is more effective than any classical legal practice.

The legal system for horse protection in ancient China

The concept of "animal welfare" originated relatively recently and refers to fulfilling the basic needs of animals to avoid unnecessary suffering. However, in ancient China, ecological awareness similar to current “animal welfare” had already been awoken and codified in the form of a series of legal systems, among which were specific regulations for horses that entailed giving them a good life, as well as a series of “animal welfare” regulations more in line with the current sense, such as not hitting them in the face, nor using genetically related horses for breeding. This paper analyses the current legal framework of animal protection to trace the legal system on horse protection throughout the history of China.

Study on 24 Jieling Drums as Urban Cultural Landscape in Malaysia

The 24 solar terms, a knowledge system incorporated in the East Asian lunisolar calendar, reflect a typical agricultural life shaped by the astronomical and phenological nature in ancient China. The UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage embodies this Chinese tradition and culture. It is also commonly observed among Chinese diasporas in other parts of the world. Since 1988 when Tan Chai Puan and Tan Hooi Song established 24 Jieling Drums (二十四节令鼓) in Johor Bahru, Malaysia by exploring this Chinese traditional heritage, artistic performances of this vibrant music genre have effectively transmitted drumming aesthetics in Malaysian urban landscape into the Chinese cultural sphere for over three decades. This study explores a characterised link between this millennia-old Chinese cultural heritage and 24 Jieling Drums as an urban cultural landscape in Malaysia, and discusses several issues on the cultural elements applied in a diversified land through the narrative.