Tibetan policy of the Mongols (1205–1235)

The article discusses the relationships of the Mongols with Tibet in the short period between the first Mongol campaign against the Tangut state of Western Xia (Xi Xia) in 1205 and the Great Kurultai of 1235 to resolve the issue of the intentions of the two first Mongol khans to subjugate Tibet. Tibetan and late Mongolian historiographies are full of reports about an invasion of Tibet by Genghis Khan himself and about his successfully implemented plans to annex this country, as well as about his adoption of Buddhism; however, this information is legendary. An analysis of the whole set of sources at our disposal as well as the experts’ opinions reveals the following. Most likely, during the lifetime of Genghis Khan and Ogedei, the Mongols had no plans to seize Tibet, and all reports concerning Mongol military operations in this country refer only to the border areas in Eastern Tibet, through which nomads encompassed the hostile states of Jin and later – Southern Song from the right flank. The results fully confirm the conclusions already made by some scholars: the vast, desolate, remote from trade routes and poor lands of Tibet were not of primary interest to the Mongols. Despite the decision taken in 1235 to conquer most of the countries known to the Mongols, the first reconnaissance recorded in the literature took place only in 1240, and the real inclusion of the “Land of Snows” into the Mongol Empire dates back even later.

The Metrics of Seto Choral Laments in the Context of Runosong Metrics

The aim of this paper is to get an overview of the lament metrics in Seto oral song tradition, which belongs to the southern border area of the Finnic song tradition, and the placement and historical development of lament metrics in the framework of the whole Seto oral song tradition. In the paper the metrical structures of two main genres of Seto choral laments – choral bridal laments and death laments – are analysed that share common features with solo laments and are similar to the structures of Seto runosongs. Metrical structures of the laments are detected based on sound recordings, taking into account the linguistic structure of the lines and the varied realization of it in a musical performance rhythm. The analysis showed that laments’ metrics where 5-unit end structures play an important role, differs the most from the main body of runosongs and is structurally more similar to a group of runosongs with refrains and varying line length. Outlining the development patterns of the metrical system of Seto songs, the influences of local unique musical tradition with varied rhythmic structures atypical of the most runosong area, specific functions of ritual song genres, historical changes in language, as well as possible external connections to early eastern and southern song cultures are highlighted.

Tea Bowl with Decoration of Standing Cranes (Tachizuru): Made-to-order Ceramics Produced in the Japan House Kilns

The Japan House (Korean: waegwan; Japanese: wakan) in the port city of Pusan, was a Japanese outpost during the Chosŏn dynasty. In the period 1639 to 1718, the Sō clan of Tsushima, commissioned made-to-order ceramics here, reflecting Japanese requirements, and a long-standing Japanese enthusiasm for kōrai chawan (“Korean tea bowls”), as demanded by the tea authorities in Japan. The focus of this paper is a group of tea bowls with decoration of standing cranes, the most representative type of made-to-order tea bowls produced at the Japan House kilns. Historical records and recent excavations of kiln sites have revealed that the type of tea bowl with standing crane design enjoyed popularity and continued to be produced until the closure of the Japan House kilns. A bowl of the deep, cylindrical shape adheres closely to early Koryŏ prototypes, while its notched foot resembles those of soft porcelain bowls made for ritual use. The subject of its design motif can be traced back to the ubiquitous cranes of Koryŏ inlaid celadon. The ethereal crane, traditionally associated with longevity, was popular in East Asian pictorial culture. The standing crane design on this type of tea bowl displays a combination of influences from the crane painting by the Southern Song painter Muqi (act. ca. 1240-75) and its reinterpretation by the Kano painters. This paper seeks to define the characteristics of the Japan House kiln products by examining its best-known type of tea bowl with decoration of standing cranes. It elucidates how the tea bowl with standing crane design is clearly not an imitation of early Koryŏ celadon but shows a range of decorative styles that reflect the tastes of the Edo-period daimyo tea world. While adapted to the tastes of Japanese consumers, the tea bowl with standing crane design produced at the Japan House kilns display influences from regional kilns in Chosŏn Korea. In this light, the type of tea bowl with decoration of standing cranes manifests a hybrid state of shifting boundaries and demarcations where Japanese and Korean influences coexisted and encountered with difference.

Cluster Analysis and Visualization for the Legend of the Condor Heroes Based on Social Network

The Legend of the Condor Heroes (LCH) is one of the fifteen well-known Wuxia novels penned by Jin Yong. It portrays a number of characters in the background of the Southern Song Dynasty. In this research, we attempt to analyze the relationship of characters in LCH based on social network, including network feature analysis, cluster analysis, and data visualization. Moreover, the approach can be extended to other literary works because our research provides a general framework for analyzing character relationships. We first perform lexical analysis on the corpus to extract character names and then utilize co-word analysis to build a social network of character relationships. We reckon characters as nodes and count the cooccurrences of characters as weights of links. By applying the social network analysis of created network, we can obtain network features of LCH. Furthermore, a hierarchical clustering algorithm is implemented to study the structure of LCH network. Both the dendrogram and Venn diagram are used for data visualization. An improved approach of visualizing the clustering results is advanced in order to display the group and hierarchical structure better. The final experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method shows a good effect.

500 years of Old Chinese phonology

This article introduces research on Old Chinese phonology before the Qing dynasty by reviewing the important relevant literature of recent intellectual historians. The article has six parts. The first section is an introduction. The second through fourth parts review the views and arguments over how to understand the works of several important linguists, treating respectively the Southern Song (§ 2, containing Wú Yù 吳棫, Zhū Xī 朱熹 etc.), the Yuan (§ 3, containing Dài Tóng 戴侗, Liú Yùrǔ 劉玉汝, Xióng Pénglái 熊朋來 etc.), and the Ming (§ 4, containing Yáng Shèn 楊慎, Jiāo Hóng 焦竑, Chén Dì 陳第 etc.). Section 5 discusses several methodological issues that concern researchers today, including the historical emergence of three methodologies and methodological issues in researching the history of scholarship. Finally, I point out those topics in need of further investigation.

Characterization of glass beads from Nanhai I shipwreck and new evidence of lead tin yellow type II in China

Glass beads excavated from Nanhai I shipwreck were investigated with scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectrometer (SEM–EDS), Raman spectroscopy, multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (MC-ICP-MS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Dating back to the Southern Song Dynasty, these beads help to study Chinese maritime trades during the twelfth–thirteenth century. The bead samples are categorized into five groups by color, i.e., yellow, orange-red, blue, dark red and light red. All beads are of K2O-PbO-SiO2 and PbO-SiO2 glass systems and in form of coil bead, which further confirms the Chinese origin of them. Lead tin yellow type II was identified in the opaque yellow coil beads, and K2SnxPb(1-x)Si3O9 crystals were found in both yellow and orange-red samples. Through the preparation of glass with the same formula as the ancient yellow beads, lead tin yellow type II was probably synthesized beforehand and added as colorant because its raw materials tend to form K2SnxPb(1-x)Si3O9 crystals in the K2O-PbO-SiO2 glass during firing. As lead tin yellow type II is an atypical colorant in China, these beads from Nanhai I shipwreck may serve as the first clear evidence of lead tin yellow type II presenting in the Chinese glass system. The lead isotope ratios of the yellow beads suggest they were produced in Fujian Province, China. The introduction of the lead tin yellow coloring technique might have a close connection to the glass making in the Southeast Asia and these beads seemed to be made specifically for overseas markets.