A Quasi-Nondestructive Evaluation Method for Physical-Mechanical Properties of Fragile Archaeological Wood with TMA: A Case Study of an 800-Year-Old Shipwreck

Archaeological wood is a kind of ‘new material’ that has deteriorated due to long-term degradation. The existing wood science theory and evaluation methods are not fully applicable to archaeological wood. Moreover, current physical-mechanical evaluation methods are inadequate for fragile archaeological wood due to their insufficient accuracy and the large sample amount required, causing difficulties in many necessary physical-mechanical repeatability tests. In light of these limitations, the representative samples on Nanhai No. 1, a merchant shipwreck in the Song Dynasty, were selected as the research objects in this paper. The shipwreck is a typical waterlogged wooden artifact. A quasi-nondestructive physical-mechanical evaluation technique for archaeological wood was developed with the thermomechanical analyzer (TMA). This study used TMA to evaluate the bending strength of representative waterlogged archaeological samples of Nanhai No. 1 shipwreck and sound wood with the same species. Besides, the thermal linear expansion coefficients in the ambient temperature range were obtained. The sizes of the samples used in the tests were only 2 mm × 8 mm × 0.3 mm and 1 cm × 1 cm × 1 cm, respectively. Bending strength results of archaeological wood by the TMA method conformed to the tendency that the bending strength decreases with the increase of decay degree. In addition, the longitudinal linear expansion coefficients of archaeological wood reached 80%–115% of those in the transverse grain direction, which were about 10 times higher than those of the sound wood. The linear expansion coefficients of archaeological wood in three directions were similar. Based on the results of Fourier transform infrared analysis (FT-IR), the significant differences in the physical-mechanical properties of the archaeological wood and the sound wood were induced to be mainly ascribed to the decomposition and the loss of hemicellulose in the archaeological wood. The cell wall substrate could not stabilize the cellulose skeleton, which led to the instability of the tracheid structure of the archaeological wood. This study provided a proven quasi-nondestructive method for the preservation state evaluation of waterlogged archaeological wood (WAW) from the Nanhai I shipwreck and other similar waterlogged wooden relics.

Textual Research on the Litigation Office in the Northern Song Dynasty

During the period of Yuanyou and Yuanfu in the Northern Song Dynasty, “litigation offices” were established respectively. Although the names of the two are the same, the purpose of setting is completely opposite. The party dispute where the litigation was located played a very negative role in the change from political opinions to mood disputes, and accelerated the demise of the Northern Song Dynasty.

Laitan: The Making of a Chan Cave Temple Site in Sichuan

Laitan 淶灘 is a monumental site in Sichuan, built during the Song Dynasty (960–1279), located approximately 69 km northwest of present day Chongqing. It is the only site in China whose sculpture derives from a comprehensive records of Chan developments. A crowded gathering of famous Chan prelates and anonymous personages of all sizes animate the cave’s walls; they were inspired both by the early Chan phase in Sichuan and the subsequent Song outside Sichuan.

The Economy of The Song Dynasty or The Experience of Failed Modernization: The Boundaries of Institutional Corridors

The article contributes to institutional matrices theory (Kirdina, 2011). On the reforms carried out in China during the Song Dynasty in the second half of the XI century, the hypothesis of the existence of so-called "institutional corridors" is considered. The "institutional corridor" implies a space limited by a set of certain institutions that define the principles of decision-making and the boundaries of institutional environment reform. The article briefly describes the economic situation of China during the Song dynasty, analyzes the main reforms carried out by the first Minister of the empire Wang Anshi and the reasons for their failure. The concept of jing ji is analyzed. Jing ji assumes an integrated approach to regulating the economy in China, based on Confucian ethics' moral and ethical concepts. The concept of jing ji has become the main one in regulating the economy in China. It is concluded that Confucian ideology during the implementation of the Wang Anshi reforms became the defining boundary of the "institutional corridor" of the variable that predetermined the failure of the reforms. The reforms of Wang Anshi, often called a Proto-Keynesian, went beyond the ideological "institutional corridor" and were therefore doomed to failure.

Ethnobotanical Study on Garcinia (Clusiaceae) in China

The genus Garcinia L. (Clusiaceae) is gaining increasing scientific attention worldwide owing to its ethnobotanical and pharmacological significance. In China, even though Garcinia plants have long been used for food, ethnomedicine, building materials, and other purposes, a comprehensive ethnobotanical study of the genus is notably limited. In the current study, the ethnobotanical importance of Garcinia plants has been extensively investigated through field surveys and literature reviews. Our studies revealed that Garcinia plants have been used in folk medicine since ancient times in China, including the Northern Song Dynasty, 960–1127 AD. Through their extensive interactions with genus, the Chinese people have gained various traditional knowledge, which is reflected in the following six aspects: food, traditional medicines, ornamental trees, construction and technology, cultural and spiritual significance, and miscellaneous uses. In particular, the four species: Garcinia hanburyi , G. paucinervis , G. xanthochymus , and G. oblongifolia , have cultural or spiritual values, among which G. paucinervis could be considered a cultural keystone species in the local communities, considering its crucial contribution to people’s cultures, spirits, and community identity. However, in general, some concerns originating from swift socio-economic changes have also been identified in the knowledge and Garcinia species. Strategies are needed to conserve traditional botanical knowledge, as well as plants.

A Preliminary Study of Relationship between Chinese Elegant Ideology and Environmental Mobilization

This study investigated the relationship between “Chinese elegant ideology" and environmental mobilization to explore a new possibility of consciousness awakening for environmental protection. The author considered the life posture of scholar-emits in the Tang and Song Dynasties. It conveyed a demand for the inheritance of ideas and civilizations as well as elegant and sustainable life orientation. The study will further identify the ideological and spiritual guidance and practical demonstration of cultural ideology for environmental movements by considering the causes and influential factors of environmental mobilization in modern society. It is supposed to get a trade-off between natural integration and social integration. The given elegant life dynamics of the Tang and Song Dynasty will construct an interaction between nature and mainstream human social behavior, which dramatically reduces the segregation and contradiction between social and natural integration. This study will advocate a sustainable and contracted "new form" that appeals to human spirits by studying the selection of the scholar-emits in the Tang and Song dynasties.