Jealousy and Domestic Violence by Women in Early and Medieval China

Beginning in the early imperial era, Chinese texts recorded instances of domestic violence perpetrated by women living in polygynous households. These acts of abuse were commonly understood to be the result of sexual jealousy. Marital disharmony was a cause of great concern to the elite, as a result of which legal and historical texts, as well as the literature of the period, provide a rich vein of evidence concerning domestic violence perpetrated by women. Furthermore, there are some surprisingly sympathetic accounts of the psychological pressures that led to such abuse by wives. As the importance of this material in the history of marital relationships and domestic life in China has been neglected, this study provides an overview of some of the key sources, particularly the recently discovered Han dynasty narrative poem, Wang Ji 妄稽.

The Ambiguity of the Gender of Avalokiteśvara: A Comparative Study on the Representations of Avalokiteśvara from India and China during Sui-Tang-Period

Buddhism was transmitted to China during the Han Dynasty (202 BCE-220 CE) and integrated with existing Chinese cultures such as Confucianism and Taoism. Within Buddhism itself, Avalokiteśvara, a Bodhisattva who is believed to have made a great vow to assist sentient beings in times of difficulty and postpone his Buddhahood until he has assisted every sentient being in achieving nirvana, experienced a long process of change. One of the striking changes in the image of Avalokiteśvara in China is the shifting of the gender of Avalokiteśvara. The great Sui-Tang dynasties patronized Buddhism as a state cult during the more significant portion of their reign. Many scholars like Wu Yan, Jiao Jie, Sun Xiushen, Cui Feng, etc. observed that the Sui-Tang period was the turning point for the gender transformation of Kuan-yin.[1] In this paper, I am going to do a comparative study on the representations of Avalokiteśvara from both India and China broadly from the seventh to tenth centuries, to see how Kuan-yin transformed in China and whether there might be influences from India in the ways that Kuan-yin’s gender is constructed in the iconography.

Exotica, Fashion and Immortality: The New Use of Gold in Han Dynasty China (206 bce–ce 220)

This article explores the use of gold in the elite tombs of Han dynasty China, the popular use of which originated outside the Chinese cultural milieu, and its integration into the Han portfolio of materials representing people's expectations for the afterlife, such as immortality and well-being. In contrast to jade, which had a long history of use in China, gold was in itself a ‘new’ element of Chinese culture. This article outlines the introduction of gold objects from Europe and Central Asia via the Eurasian Steppe and borderland of China from around the eighth century bce. The unprecedented use of gold in the Han-specific jade suits, and the process by which foreign types of zoomorphic motifs were adopted and connected with local motifs, are explored. In light of the political change from multiple competing states before the first unification in Chinese history in the third century bce, and the development in ideology and concept of an ideal and eternal afterlife, this article explains the reasons and meanings of the new use of gold in Han dynasty China and the composite system of motifs, materials and objects.

Synthesis and Medicalization in Early Han Views of Mental Illness

Chapter 5 discusses the “syncretic” view of madness and mental illness in early Chinese texts. This view is mainly associated with the syncretistic texts of the early Han Dynasty, such as Huainanzi and Chunqiu Fanlu. The syncretists reject both the negative and positive views, arguing that a complex of nature, circumstances, and individual activity is responsible for most mental illness, and that the key to avoiding or eliminating mental illness is the undermining of conceptualization and elimination of desires. The syncretic view of mental illness and cultivation creates the groundwork for the development of naturalistic medical texts such as the Huangdi Neijing, constructed during the Han.

Evolution of the inscriptions on the Bronze Mirror of Han Dynasty in the Furnace Smoke

The Chinese characters evolution fromseal script to clerical script in Han Dynasty underwent one a new process of development and stability from top-level design to folk application, where the most important relic, inscriptions of bronze mirror, together with the bamboo slips and stele inscriptions, constituted the basic calligraphy aestheticsat that time, forming historical legends in the smoke of casting. Among the mirrors of Han Dynasty, there are a lot of surviving inscription mirrors, the chirography on which has extremely rich subjective design, showing important aesthetic characteristics. Most of the previous writings have tended to study explanation and entry, and there are few studies based on the chirography. The classification and analysis of the considerable and complex inscriptions of bronze mirror based on archaeological typology indicate that at different stages and in different regions, the sources of popular materials are similar, with typical styles gradually appearing, different creative effects, as well as fresh and interesting cases. Comparing the inscription chirography with bamboo and wood slips and calligraphy on rubbings, it is possible to see the combination of “mirror caster” and “ Daobili (petty official drawing up indictments)”, new calligraphic patterns appear in the smoke of the fire. The calligraphy is applied to bronze mirrors, and is cut and transformed by the craftsmen to be suitable for deformation, so that the character shape is integrated with bronze and stone tablet casting, presenting a unique decorative taste and design meaning, carrying the open and inclusive spirit of Han Dynasty.