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Oracle Bone
Oracle bones are pieces of ox scapula and turtle plastron which were used in pyromancya form of divinationduring the Late Shang period () in ancient China. '' Scapulimancy'' is the specific term if ox scapulae were used for the divination, ''plastromancy'' if turtle plastrons were used. A recent count estimated that there were about 13,000 bones with a total of a little over 130,000 inscriptions in collections in China and some fourteen other countries. Diviners would submit questions to deities regarding weather, crop planting, the fortunes of members of the royal family, military endeavors, and similar topics. These questions were carved onto the bone or shell in oracle bone script using a sharp tool. Intense heat was then applied with a metal rod until the bone or shell cracked due to thermal expansion. The diviner would then interpret the pattern of cracks and write the prognostication upon the piece as well. Pyromancy with bones continued in China into the Zhou dynasty, bu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shanghai Museum
The Shanghai Museum is a municipal public museum of ancient Chinese art, situated on the People's Square in the Huangpu District, Shanghai, Huangpu District of Shanghai, China. It is funded by thShanghai Municipal Culture and Tourism Bureau Rebuilt at its current location in 1996, it is famous for its large collection of rare cultural pieces. History The museum was founded in 1952 and was first open to the public in the former Shanghai Racecourse club house, now at 325 West Nanjing Road. The founding collections came principally from three sources: a batch of artifacts gathered by the Communist 3rd Field Army during the civil war from accidental finds and confiscations of private property and brought to Shanghai upon the Communists' conquest of the city; artifacts confiscated by the customs service; items sold by private collectors due to political pressure during political purges and purchased by the government. The former Shanghai Municipal Museum was also merged into the new ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wang Yirong
Wang Yirong (; 1845–1900) was a director of the Chinese Guozijian, Imperial Academy, best known as the first to recognize that the symbols inscribed on oracle bones were an early form of Chinese writing. His work on the oracle bone script was curtailed when he accepted a local command during the Boxer Rebellion, despite his belief that the cause was futile. When an international force Battle of Peking (1900), occupied Beijing in August 1900, Wang committed suicide, together with his wife and daughter-in-law. A museum devoted to Wang is located in his birthplace of Yantai, Shandong. References * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wang, Yirong 1845 births 1900 deaths Qing dynasty generals Politicians from Yantai Suicides in the Qing dynasty Suicides by poison Writers from Yantai Scientists from Shandong Generals from Shandong Chinese epigraphers 1900 suicides ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bronze Inscriptions
Chinese bronze inscriptions, also referred to as bronze script or bronzeware script, comprise Chinese writing made in several styles on ritual bronzes mainly during the Late Shang dynasty () and Western Zhou dynasty (771 BC). Types of bronzes include ''zhong'' bells and '' ding'' tripodal cauldrons. Early inscriptions were almost always made with a stylus into a clay mold, from which the bronze itself was then cast. Additional inscriptions were often later engraved onto bronzes after casting. 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 term usually includes bronze inscriptions of the preceding ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Liu E (writer)
Liu E (; also spelled Liu O; 18 October 1857 – 23 August 1909), courtesy name Tieyun (), was a Chinese writer, archaeologist and politician of the late Qing Dynasty. Government and politics Liu was a native of Dantu (modern day Zhenjiang). In the government, he worked with flood control, famine relief, and railroads. He became disillusioned with official ideas of reform and became a proponent of private economic development modeled after western systems. During the Boxer Uprising he speculated in government rice, distributing it to the poor. He was cashiered for these efforts, but shrewd investments had left him wealthy enough to follow his pioneering archaeological studies and to write fiction. Literature Liu's best known work is '' The Travels of Lao Can'', which the critic C.T. Hsia calls the "most beloved of all the novels" in the last decade of the Qing. Liu E's novels borrowed allusions and images from classical Chinese literature and used extensive symbolism ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guozijian
The Guozijian,Yuan, 194. sometimes translated as the Imperial College, Imperial Academy, Imperial University, National Academy, or National University, was the highest level academic and educational institution throughout most of imperial China's history. It was created under the reign of Emperor Wu of Jin (r. 265–289) and became the highest level academic institution in China over the next 200 years. After the demise of the Song dynasty (960–1279), it became synonymous with the previous highest level academic institution, the '' Taixue''. The Guozijian was abolished in 1907 during the Qing dynasty. History Origin The Guozijian (''Directorate of Education'') was founded under Emperor Wu of Jin (r. 265–289) to educate the nobility. After the nine rank system was introduced for grading bureaucrats in the Chinese government, the Guozijian was created for persons rank five and above, effectively making it the educational institution for nobles, while the Taixue was releg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chinese Bronzes
From , elaborately decorated bronze vessels were deposited as grave goods in the tombs of royalty and nobility during the Chinese Bronze Age. Documented excavations have found over 200 pieces in a single royal tomb. They were produced for an individual or social group to use in making ritual offerings of food and drink to his or their ancestors and other deities or spirits. Such ceremonies generally took place in family temples or ceremonial halls over tombs. These ceremonies can be seen as ritual banquets in which both living and dead members of a family were supposed to participate. Details of these ritual ceremonies are preserved through early literary records. On the death of the owner of a ritual bronze, it would often be placed in his tomb, so that he could continue to pay his respects in the afterlife; other examples were cast specifically as grave goods. Indeed, many surviving examples have been excavated from graves. The bronzes were likely not used for normal eating and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shandong
Shandong is a coastal Provinces of China, province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural and religious center for Taoism, Chinese Buddhism and Confucianism. Shandong's Mount Tai is the most revered mountain of Taoism and a site with one of the longest histories of continuous religious worship in the world. The Buddhist temples in the mountains south of the provincial capital of Jinan were once among the foremost Buddhist sites in China. The city of Qufu was the birthplace of Confucius, and later became the center of Confucianism. Shandong's location at the intersection of ancient and modern north–south and east–west trading routes has helped establish it as an economic center. After a period of political instability and economic hardship beginning in the late 19th century, Shandong has experienced rapid growth in recent de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Poultice
A poultice or cataplasm, also called a fomentation, is a soft moist mass, often heated and medicated, that is applied to the skin to reduce inflammation, soothe pain, promote healing, or otherwise treat wounds or ailments. Soft materials like cereals are used as a base, to which agents intended to affect the body, transdermally, may be added. The preparation is usually spread on cloth, which is then applied to the body part to be treated. The cloth is used to keep the preparation in place, or additional bandaging to hold the poultice may be employed. Direct topical application (without cloths) is also used. Poultice may also refer to a porous solid, filled with a solvent used to remove stains from porous stone such as marble or granite. The word ''poultice'' comes from the Greek word transformed to the , , ' porridge'. History Asia North America * Native Americans have thousands of plants for the making of poultices. Preparation and composition * Some Native America ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in 2009 by the International Union of Geological Sciences, the cutoff of the Pleistocene and the preceding Pliocene was regarded as being 1.806 million years Before Present (BP). Publications from earlier years may use either definition of the period. The end of the Pleistocene corresponds with the end of the last glacial period and also with the end of the Paleolithic age used in archaeology. The name is a combination of Ancient Greek () 'most' and (; Latinized as ) 'new'. The aridification and cooling trends of the preceding Neogene were continued in the Pleistocene. The climate was strongly variable depending on the glacial cycle, oscillating between cold Glacial period, glacial periods and warmer Interglacial, int ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Traditional Chinese Medicine
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medicine, alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. A large share of its claims are pseudoscientific, with the majority of treatments having no robust evidence of effectiveness or logical mechanism of action. Some TCM ingredients Traditional Chinese medicine#Safety, are known to be toxic and cause disease, including cancer. Medicine in traditional China encompassed a range of sometimes competing health and healing practices, folk beliefs, Scholar-official, literati theory and Confucianism, Confucian philosophy, Chinese herbology, herbal remedies, Chinese food therapy, food, diet, exercise, medical specializations, and schools of thought. TCM as it exists today has been described as a largely 20th century invention. In the early twentieth century, Chinese cultural and political modernizers worked to eliminate traditional practices as backward and unscientific. Traditional practitioners then selec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dragon Bones
''Long gu'' are remains of ancient life (such as fossils) prescribed for a variety of ailments in Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chinese medicine and Chinese herbalism, herbalism. They were historically believed, and are traditionally considered, to be the remains of Chinese dragon, dragons. Description Long gu are generally mammal fossils, petrified wood, or even oracle bones. Animals which can be identified as long gu include rhinoceros, bears, hipparion, stegodon, hyena, mastodon, orangutan, porcupine, and giant panda. History Background Depictions of Chinese dragons (龍, ''lóng'') first appear in the archaeological record circa 3000 BC, before any literary descriptions appear. Dragon worship may have its origin in constellations associated with the lengthening days and rainfall in spring, later being given more abstract meanings. However, "the dragon flourished in art without a set of specific associations." Ancient and traditional use Dragon bones have been pre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anyang
Anyang ( zh, s=安阳, t=安陽; ) is a prefecture-level city in Henan, China. Geographical coordinates are 35° 41'~ 36° 21' north latitude and 113° 38'~ 114° 59' east longitude. The northernmost city in Henan, Anyang borders Puyang to the east, Hebi and Xinxiang to the south, and the provinces of Shanxi and Hebei to its west and north respectively. Anyang had a total population of 5,477,614 as of the 2020 Chinese census, 2020 census, 2,675,523 of whom lived in the built-up (or metro) area made of four urban districts and Anyang and Tangyin counties, now largely agglomerated with the city proper. Anyang is the location of the ancient city of Yinxu, Yin, which was the capital of the Shang dynasty and the first stable capital of China. As the ancient capital of the Seven Dynasties and one of the birthplaces of Chinese civilization, Anyang is rich in historical and cultural resources and has a number of world-class and national historical sites. At the end of 1986, it was recogniz ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
