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Bowuzhi
''Bowuzhi'' (博物志; "Records of Diverse Matters") by Zhang Hua (c. 290 CE) was a compendium of Chinese stories about natural wonders and marvelous phenomena. It quotes from many early Chinese classics, and diversely includes subject matter from Chinese mythology, history, geography, and folklore. The ''Bowuzhi'', which is one of the first works in the literary genre of ''zhiguai'' "tales of anomalies; supernatural stories", records the earliest versions of several myths, such as the white '' yenü'' 野女 "wild women" living south of China in a society without men. Scholars have described the ''Bowuzhi'' as "a miscellany of scientific interest" and "an important minor classic". Author The ''Bowuzhi'' author Zhang Hua (232-300) was a Western Jin dynasty (265-316) scholar, poet, and protoscientist. His biography in the (644) ''Book of Jin'' depicts Zhang Hua as a ''fangshi'' "master of esoterica" who was especially skilled at numerological arts, and a voracious collector of bo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zhang Hua
Zhang Hua (232–7 May 300According to Sima Zhong's biography in ''Book of Jin'', Zhang Hua was killed on the ''guisi'' day of the 4th month of the 1st year of the ''Yongkang'' era of his reign. This corresponds to 7 May 300 永康元年夏四月)癸巳，梁王肜、赵王伦矫诏废贾后为庶人，司空张华、尚书仆射裴𬱟皆遇害...)''Jin Shu'', vol.04), courtesy name Maoxian, was a Chinese poet and politician of the Jin dynasty. He previously served in the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period. He authored ''Bowuzhi'', a compendium of stories about the supernatural. Background and service under Wei Zhang Hua's father, Zhang Ping (), was a commandery administrator in the Cao Wei state during the Three Kingdoms period. He died when Zhang Hua was still young. Zhang Hua's family became impoverished, and he was a shepherd when he was young. The official Liu Fang () was so impressed with Zhang Hua that he arranged for Zhang Hua to marry his daughter. Zh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monkeys In Chinese Culture
Monkeys, particularly macaques and monkey-like gibbons, have played significant roles in Chinese culture for over two thousand years. Some examples familiar to English speakers include the zodiacal Year of the Monkey, the Monkey King Sun Wukong in the novel ''Journey to the West'', and Monkey Kung Fu. Terminology The Chinese language has numerous words meaning "simian; monkey; ape", some of which have diachronically changed meanings in reference to different simians. For instance, Chinese ''xingxing'' 猩猩 originally named "a mythical creature with a human face and pig body", and became the modern name for the "orangutan". Within the classification of Chinese characters, almost all "monkey; ape" words – with the exceptions of ''nao'' 夒 and ''yu'' 禺 that were originally monkey pictographs – are written with radical-phonetic compound characters. These characters combine a radical or classifier that roughly indicates semantic field, usually the " dog/quadruped radica ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Book Of Han
The ''Book of Han'' or ''History of the Former Han'' (Qián Hàn Shū,《前汉书》) is a history of China finished in 111AD, covering the Western, or Former Han dynasty from the first emperor in 206 BCE to the fall of Wang Mang in 23 CE. It is also called the ''Book of Former Han''. The work was composed by Ban Gu (32–92 CE), an Eastern Han court official, with the help of his sister Ban Zhao, continuing the work of their father, Ban Biao. They modeled their work on the ''Records of the Grand Historian'', a cross-dynastic general history, but theirs was the first in this annals-biography form to cover a single dynasty. It is the best source, sometimes the only one, for many topics such as literature in this period. A second work, the '' Book of the Later Han'' covers the Eastern Han period from 25 to 220, and was composed in the fifth century by Fan Ye (398–445). Contents This history developed from a continuation of Sima Qian's ''Records of the Grand Historian'', ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nanyue
Nanyue (), was an ancient kingdom ruled by Chinese monarchs of the Zhao family that covered the modern Chinese subdivisions of Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Hong Kong, Macau, southern Fujian and central to northern Vietnam. Nanyue was established by Zhao Tuo, then Commander of Nanhai of the Qin Empire, in 204 BC after the collapse of the Qin dynasty. At first, it consisted of the commanderies Nanhai, Guilin, and Xiang. In 196 BC, Zhao Tuo paid obeisance to the Emperor Gaozu of Han, and Nanyue was referred to by the Han dynasty as a "foreign servant", i.e. a vassal state. Around 183 BC, relations between the Nanyue and the Han dynasty soured, and Zhao Tuo began to refer to himself as an emperor, suggesting an equal status between Nanyue and the Han dynasty. In 179 BC, relations between the Han and Nanyue improved, and Zhao Tuo once again made submission, this time to Emperor Wen of Han as a subject state. The submission was somewhat superficial, as Nanyue retained autonomy fro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Emperor Wu Of Han
Emperor Wu of Han (156 – 29 March 87BC), formally enshrined as Emperor Wu the Filial (), born Liu Che (劉徹) and courtesy name Tong (通), was the seventh emperor of the Han dynasty of ancient China, ruling from 141 to 87 BC. His reign lasted 54 years – a record not broken until the reign of the Kangxi Emperor more than 1,800 years later and remains the record for ethnic Chinese emperors. His reign resulted in a vast expansion of geopolitical influence for the Chinese civilization, and the development of a strong centralized state via governmental policies, economical reorganization and promotion of a hybrid Legalist–Confucian doctrine. In the field of historical social and cultural studies, Emperor Wu is known for his religious innovations and patronage of the poetic and musical arts, including development of the Imperial Music Bureau into a prestigious entity. It was also during his reign that cultural contact with western Eurasia was greatly increased, directly a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Science And Civilisation In China
''Science and Civilisation in China'' (1954–present) is an ongoing series of books about the history of science and technology in China published by Cambridge University Press. It was initiated and edited by British historian Joseph Needham (1900–1995). Needham was a well-respected scientist before undertaking this encyclopedia and was even responsible for the "S" in UNESCO. To date there have been seven volumes in twenty-seven books. The series was on the Modern Library Board's 100 Best Nonfiction books of the 20th century. Needham's work was the first of its kind to praise Chinese scientific contributions and provide their history and connection to global knowledge in contrast to eurocentric historiography. By asking his grand questions: why did modern science not develop in China, and why China was technologically superior to the West prior to the 16th century, Needham’s ''Science and Civilisation in China'' is also recognized as one of most influential works in stimula ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph Needham
Noel Joseph Terence Montgomery Needham (; 9 December 1900 – 24 March 1995) was a British biochemist, historian of science and sinologist known for his scientific research and writing on the history of Chinese science and technology, initiating publication of the multivolume ''Science and Civilisation in China''. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1941 and a fellow of the British Academy in 1971. In 1992, Queen Elizabeth II conferred on him the Companionship of Honour, and the Royal Society noted he was the only living person to hold these three titles. Early life Needham's father, Joseph was a doctor, and his mother, Alicia Adelaïde, née Montgomery (1863–1945), was a music composer from Oldcastle, County Meath, Ireland. His father, born in East London, then a poor section of town, rose to became a Harley Street physician, but frequently battled with Needham's mother. The young Needham often mediated. In his early teens, he was taken to hear the Sun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Modern Standard Chinese
Standard Chinese ()—in linguistics Standard Northern Mandarin or Standard Beijing Mandarin, in common speech simply Mandarin, better qualified as Standard Mandarin, Modern Standard Mandarin or Standard Mandarin Chinese—is a modern standardized form of Mandarin Chinese that was first developed during the Republican Era (1912‒1949). It is designated as the official language of mainland China and a major language in the United Nations, Singapore, and Taiwan. It is largely based on the Beijing dialect. Standard Chinese is a pluricentric language with local standards in mainland China, Taiwan and Singapore that mainly differ in their lexicon. Hong Kong written Chinese, used for formal written communication in Hong Kong and Macau, is a form of Standard Chinese that is read aloud with the Cantonese reading of characters. Like other Sinitic languages, Standard Chinese is a tonal language with topic-prominent organization and subject–verb–object (SVO) word order. Compared ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lunheng
The ''Lunheng'', also known by numerous English translations, is a wide-ranging Chinese classic text by Wang Chong (27- ). First published in 80, it contains critical essays on natural science and Chinese mythology, philosophy, and literature. Name The title ''Lunheng'' combines ''lun'' 論 or 论 "discuss; talk about; discourse; decide on; determine; mention; regard; consider" and ''heng'' 衡 "crosswise; balance beam; weigh; measure; judge; appreciate". English translations of the title include "Disquisitions" (Alfred Forke), "Critical Essays" ( Feng Yu-lan), "The Balanced Inquiries" (Wing-tsit Chan), or "Discourses Weighed in the Balance" (Joseph Needham). Text The received ''Lunheng'' comprises 85 ''pian'' 篇 "articles; sections; chapters" in 30 ''juan'' 巻 "scrolls; volumes; books", with more than 200,000 characters. Actually, 84 ''pian'' is more accurate because the text only contains the title of Chapter 44 ''Zhaozhi'' 招致. Yang Wenchang (楊文昌) edited t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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