|
Yangsheng (Daoism)
In religious Taoism and Traditional Chinese medicine, ''yangsheng'' (養生, "nourishing life"), refers to various self-cultivaton practices aimed at enhancing health and longevity. ''Yangsheng'' techniques include calisthenics, self-massage, breath exercises, meditation, internal and external Taoist alchemy, sexual activities, and dietetics. Most ''yangsheng'' methods are intended to increase longevity, a few to achieve "immortality"— in the specialized Taoist sense of transforming into a ''Xian'' ("transcendent", who typically dies after a few centuries, loosely translated as "immortal"). While common longevity practices (such as eating a healthy diet or exercising) can increase one's lifespan and well-being, some esoteric transcendence practices (such as "grain avoidance" diets where an adept eats only '' qi''/breath instead of foodstuffs, or drinking frequently poisonous Taoist alchemical elixirs of life) can ironically be deadly. Terminology The word ''yangsheng'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Daoyin
Daoyin is a series of cognitive body and mind unity exercises practiced as a form of Taoist neigong, meditation and mindfulness to cultivate '' jing'' (essence) and direct and refine '' qi'', the internal energy of the body according to Traditional Chinese medicine. These exercises are often divided into yin positions, lying and sitting, and yang positions, standing and moving. The practice of daoyin was a precursor of qigong, and was practised in Chinese Taoist monasteries for health and spiritual cultivation. Daoyin is also said to be a primary formative ingredient in the well-known " soft styles" of the Chinese martial arts, of Taiji quan. and middle road styles like Wuxingheqidao. The main goal of ''daoyin'' is to create flexibility of the mind therefore creating harmony between internal and external environments, which relaxes, replenishes and rejuvenates the body, developing in its practitioners a vital and healthy spirit. In the West, ''daoyin'' is sometimes mistakenly ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elixir Of Life
The elixir of life, also known as elixir of immortality, is a potion that supposedly grants the drinker eternal life and/or eternal youth. This elixir was also said to cure all diseases. Alchemists in various ages and cultures sought the means of formulating the elixir. History Ancient Mesopotamia An early mention of an elixir of life is found in the Epic of Gilgamesh (from the 2nd millennium BC) in which Gilgamesh comes to fear his own declining years following the death of his beloved companion Enkidu. He seeks out Utnapishtim, a Noah-like figure in Mesopotamian mythology in which he was a servant of the great Alchemist of the rain who later became immortal, to seek out the advice of the King of Herod of the Land of Fire. Gilgamesh is directed by him to find a plant at the bottom of the sea which he does but seeks first to test it on an old man before trying it himself. Unfortunately, it is eaten by a serpent before he can do so. China Many rulers of ancient China ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oxford English Dictionary
The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a comprehensive resource to scholars and academic researchers, as well as describing usage in its many variations throughout the world. Work began on the dictionary in 1857, but it was only in 1884 that it began to be published in unbound fascicles as work continued on the project, under the name of ''A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles; Founded Mainly on the Materials Collected by The Philological Society''. In 1895, the title ''The Oxford English Dictionary'' was first used unofficially on the covers of the series, and in 1928 the full dictionary was republished in 10 bound volumes. In 1933, the title ''The Oxford English Dictionary'' fully replaced the former name in all occurrences in its reprinting as 12 volumes with a one- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lexicography
Lexicography is the study of lexicons, and is divided into two separate academic disciplines. It is the art of compiling dictionaries. * Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries. * Theoretical lexicography is the scholarly study of semantic, orthographic, syntagmatic and paradigmatic features of lexemes of the lexicon (vocabulary) of a language, developing theories of dictionary components and structures linking the data in dictionaries, the needs for information by users in specific types of situations, and how users may best access the data incorporated in printed and electronic dictionaries. This is sometimes referred to as 'metalexicography'. There is some disagreement on the definition of lexicology, as distinct from lexicography. Some use "lexicology" as a synonym for theoretical lexicography; others use it to mean a branch of linguistics pertaining to the inventory of words in a particular language. A person ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hanyu Da Cidian
The ''Hanyu Da Cidian'' () is the most inclusive available Chinese dictionary. Lexicographically comparable to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'', it has diachronic coverage of the Chinese language, and traces usage over three millennia from Chinese classic texts to modern slang. The chief editor Luo Zhufeng (1911–1996), along with a team of over 300 scholars and lexicographers, started the enormous task of compilation in 1979. Publication of the thirteen volumes began with first volume in 1986 and ended with the appendix and index volume in 1994. In 1994, the dictionary also won the National Book Award of China. The ''Hanyu Da Cidian'' includes over 23,000 head Chinese character entries, defines some 370,000 words, and gives 1,500,000 citations. The head entries, which are collated by a novel 200 radical system, are given in traditional Chinese characters while simplified Chinese characters are noted. Definitions and explanations are in simplified, excepting classical q ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chinese Bronze Inscriptions
Chinese bronze inscriptions, also commonly referred to as bronze script or bronzeware script, are writing in a variety of Chinese scripts on ritual bronzes such as ''zhōng'' bells and '' dǐng'' tripodal cauldrons from the Shang dynasty (2nd millennium BC) to the Zhou dynasty (11th–3rd century BC) and even later. Early bronze inscriptions were almost always cast (that is, the writing was done with a stylus in the wet clay of the piece-mold from which the bronze was then cast), while later inscriptions were often engraved after the bronze was cast. The bronze inscriptions are one of the earliest scripts in the Chinese family of scripts, preceded by the oracle bone script. Terminology For the early Western Zhou to early Warring States period, the bulk of writing which has been unearthed has been in the form of bronze inscriptions. As a result, it is common to refer to the variety of scripts of this period as "bronze script", even though there is no single such script. The t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oracle Bone Script
Oracle bone script () is an ancient form of Chinese characters that were engraved on oracle bonesanimal bones or Turtle shell#Plastron, turtle plastrons used in pyromancy, pyromantic divination. Oracle bone script was used in the late 2nd millennium BC, and is the earliest known form of Chinese writing. The vast majority of oracle bone inscriptions, of which about 150,000 pieces have been discovered, were found at the Yinxu site located in Xiaotun Village, Anyang, Henan Province. The latest significant discovery is the Huayuanzhuang storage of 1,608 pieces, 579 of which were inscribed, found near Xiaotun in 1993. They record pyromantic divinations of the last nine kings of the Shang dynasty, beginning with Wu Ding, whose accession is dated by different scholars at 1250 BC or 1200 BC. Oracle bone inscriptions of Wu Ding's reign have been radiocarbon dated to 1254–1197 BC±10 years. After the Shang were overthrown by the Zhou dynasty in c. 1046 BC, divining with Achillea millefol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Radical (Chinese Characters)
A Chinese radical () or indexing component is a graphical component of a Chinese character under which the character is traditionally listed in a Chinese dictionary. This component is often a semantic indicator similar to a morpheme, though sometimes it may be a phonetic component or even an artificially extracted portion of the character. In some cases the original semantic or phonological connection has become obscure, owing to changes in character meaning or pronunciation over time. The English term "radical" is based on an analogy between the structure of characters and inflection of words in European languages. Radicals are also sometimes called "classifiers", but this name is more commonly applied to grammatical classifiers (measure words). History In the earliest Chinese dictionaries, such as the ''Erya'' (3rd century BC), characters were grouped together in broad semantic categories. Because the vast majority of characters are phono-semantic compounds (), combi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chinese Character Classification
All Chinese characters are logograms, but several different types can be identified, based on the manner in which they are formed or derived. There are a handful which derive from pictographs () and a number which are ideographic () in origin, including compound ideographs (), but the vast majority originated as phono-semantic compounds (). The other categories in the traditional system of classification are rebus or phonetic loan characters () and "derivative cognates" (). Modern scholars have proposed various revised systems, rejecting some of the traditional categories. In older literature, Chinese characters in general may be referred to as ideograms, due to the misconception that characters represented ideas directly, whereas some people assert that they do so only through association with the spoken word. Traditional classification Traditional Chinese lexicography divided characters into six categories (). This classification is known from Xu Shen's second century dictio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seal Script
Seal script, also sigillary script () is an ancient style of writing Chinese characters that was common throughout the latter half of the 1st millennium BC. It evolved organically out of the Zhou dynasty bronze script. The Qin variant of seal script eventually became the standard, and was adopted as the formal script for all of China during the Qin dynasty. It was still widely used for decorative engraving and seals (name chops, or signets) in the Han dynasty. The literal translation of the Chinese name for seal script, (), is 'decorative engraving script', a name coined during the Han dynasty, which reflects the then-reduced role of the script for the writing of ceremonial inscriptions. Types The general term seal script can be used to refer to several types of seal script, including the large or great seal script ( ; Japanese ; Korean ; Vietnamese ) and the lesser or small seal script ( ; Japanese ; Korean ; Vietnamese ). Most commonly, without any other clarifying ter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Regular Script
Regular script (; Hepburn: ''kaisho''), also called (), (''zhēnshū''), (''kǎitǐ'') and (''zhèngshū''), is the newest of the Chinese script styles (popularized from the Cao Wei dynasty c. 200 AD and maturing stylistically around the 7th century). It is the most common style in modern writings and third most common in publications (after the Ming and gothic styles, which are used exclusively in print). History The ''Calligraphy Manual of Xuanhe Era'' (; Xuānhé Shūpǔ) credit Wáng Cìzhòng () with creating Regular script based on Clerical script in the early Western Hàn. This script came into popular usage between the Eastern Hàn and Cáo Wèi dynasties,Qiú 2000 p. 143 and its first known master was Zhōng Yáo (; sometimes also read Zhōng Yóu), who lived in the Eastern Hàn to Cáo Wèi period, c. 151–230 CE. He is also known as the "father of regular script", and his famous works include the ''Xuānshì Biǎo'' (), ''Jiànjìzhí Biǎo'' (), and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
