This article selects two texts as case studies to show the significant role geographical treatises and travelogues played in the formation of networks of exchange between China and the West. The two works considered are Wuzhou tukao 五洲圖考 [An exploration with maps of the five continents] by Gong Chai 龔柴 (?–1914?), Xu Bin 許彬 (?–1899?), and Xu Li 徐勵 (1851–1932), and Oumei manyou riji 歐美漫遊日記 [Diary of a journey in Europe and the United States] by Chen Yifu 陳一甫 (1869–1948) and his son Chen Dayou 陳達有 (exact dates unknown). This article situates the two texts in the context of historical and textual production in late Qing and Republican China, focusing on the role the texts and their authors played in the formation of extensive spaces of circulation between China and the West. It also looks at relevant human and scientific connections, in particular the function of both textual agency and the epistemic community the authors were part of in generating and spreading “Western knowledge” in late Qing and Republican China.
This research note aims to identify and examine the main materials in Zhu Xi’s (1130–1200) anthology which concern the thinker’s opposition to the arbitrary misrule of duduan that the emperor makes decisions on his own. The texts under examination include the memorial draft of 1189, personal letters, and the imperial statement of 1194. Other less relevant but noteworthy texts are also scrutinized, such as Zhu Xi’s biographicalwritings for his father Zhu Song (1097–1143), and his friends Chen Junqing (1113–1186) and Liu Gong (1122–1178), and mentions of the Tang statesman Lu Zhi (754–805). A faithful reading of the anthology reveals Zhu Xi’s strong and lifelong opposition to arbitrary monarchy, a salient moral-political thought which should be recognized as pivotal in Chinese culture.
The legend of the flesh-body Guanyin represents a significant aspect of beliefs surrounding Guanyin’s manifestations and it plays a pivotal role in the localization of the Guanyin cult in China. Despite its importance, this phenomenon has received limited scholarly attention, largely due to its perceived similarities with other legends of flesh-body bodhisattvas. This article focuses on the legends of Guanyin’s flesh-body manifestations and their conceptual underpinnings. It begins by examining the phenomenon of flesh-body bodhisattvas in Chinese Buddhism and comparing it with the veneration of incorruptible remains in Christian traditions. The study then proposes a threefold typology of flesh-body Guanyin legends based on narrative complexity. Case studies include the Miaoshan legends in Pingdingshan and Yaoxian, as well as the Daoji legend of Fahua Monastery in Huzhou. The paper concludes by examining several exceptional cases that resist categorization within this proposed typological framework.
This study employs a multi-method qualitative approach, incorporating interviewbased language biographies and eight months of field observation, to document the dynamic evolution of the family language policy (FLP) of a Chinese diaspora family in the Czech Republic, including how the family members envisage future policies. Utilizing Language Management Theory (LMT) instead of Spolsky’s tripartite model, the research integrates perspectives from both parents and children. By combining retrospective reflections on the family’s LP, anticipatory perspectives influenced by marital patterns, and participant observations of current language practices, the study offers a comprehensive, dynamic, and cyclical understanding of the FLP development process. In contrast to the typical shift from Fangyan to Putonghua observed in mainland China, we reveal a reversed language shift, from Putonghua to Fangyan, within the diasporic context. Moreover, our results highlight the agency of children in navigating and addressing language-related challenges, as well as the vulnerabilities and difficulties faced by Chinese diaspora families in maintaining Fangyan rather than Putonghua as their heritage language. From a practical perspective, this research provided the family with an opportunity to critically reflect on the formulation, implementation, and adjustment of their FLP, which they had previously overlooked, while fostering a heightened awareness of the importance of planning for future FLP development.
The present article focuses on the employment of three important names of the Qur’ān – Qur’ān, Muṣḥaf, and Lawḥ Maḥfūẓ – in the depiction of the face in Classical Azeri poetry, a unique tradition represented by poets such as ‘Imāduddīn Nesīmī (d.820/1417–18), Jahān Shāh Ḥaqīqī (d. 871/1467), Ni‘matullāh Kishwarī (15th–16th centuries), Shāh Ismā‘īl Khaṭā’ī (d. 930/1524), Ḥabībī (15th century), and Muḥammad Fuḍūlī (d. 963/1556). The theme of “Holy face, Holy book” primarily refers to the poetry of Nesīmī, the martyred Ḥurūfī poet. The face is the most important subject of speculation in heterodox Ṣūfī-Ḥurūfī thought as an exemplification of God’s countenance. Although all three names of the Qur’ān designate the same book, slight differences in their essential and functional meaning can clearly be seen in the metaphorical glorification of Beauty’s face. The paper advances the hypothesis that when using these names, Azeri poets usually adhere to the “whole-for-whole, part-for-part” principle; while the Qur’ān and its attributes/names denote the face as a whole, as an embodiment of God’s countenance exemplifying waḥdat (unity, oneness), the names of the sūrahs (the chaptersof the Qur’ān), the āyahs (the verses of the Qur’ān), short quotes from the sacred text, and personages or episodes from the stories of the Qur’ān stand for the parts of the face – curls, eyes, eyebrows, lips, teeth, dimples, or moles – symbolizing kathrat (multiplicity). To compensate for the shortage of Qur’ānic imagery for the face, the poetry draws on supplementary elements related to the functions of the holy book in Muslimsociety, its practical usage in everyday life, and its connection to pre-Islamic traditions.
