The Illusion of Standardizing the Gods: The Cult of the Five Emperors in Late Imperial China

1997 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Szonyi
Keyword(s):  
Social History ◽  
Ritual Practice ◽  
Public Morality ◽  
Epidemic Disease ◽  
Late Imperial China ◽  
Late Imperial ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Imperial China ◽  
Insight Into

Nineteenth-century observers of the Fuzhou area, both Chinese and Western, were struck by the worship of a group of deities associated with pestilence and epidemic disease. The local people called these gods the Five Emperors (Wudi). To Justus Doolittle, an American missionary stationed in Fuzhou, Proclaimed Zuo Zongtang, Governor-General of Fujian and Zhejiang: “the rival societies for getting up processions to parade the idols have from the beginning violated the law and corrupted morals, hence the evil must be stopped without delay” (Zuo 1867, 22). While these two observers each brought his own concern to bear on his perceptions of popular belief and ritual practice, they were united in their focus on the dangers the worship of these deities posed to public morality and order; neither was much interested in the identities or histories of these gods. But a detailed investigation of their identities and histories may explain how the deities were perceived as dangerous to public morality and order, and offers rich insight into the social history of Late Imperial China.

The Printed World: Books, Publishing Culture, and Society in Late Imperial China

2007 ◽  
Vol 66 (3) ◽  
pp. 787-817 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tobie Meyer-Fong
Keyword(s):  
Book History ◽  
The United States ◽  
Cultural Patterns ◽  
Late Imperial China ◽  
Late Imperial ◽  
Production And Consumption ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Imperial China ◽  
Under Construction

Beginning in the late Ming period, China experienced a surge in the production and consumption of books. Printed pages bound into fascicles and housed in cases moved across space and through the social landscape. Their trajectories illuminate larger social, intellectual, economic, and cultural patterns. They also reveal identities under construction—by readers, writers, publishers, and consumers. This article assesses the expanding field of late imperial Chinese book history in the United States and Japan, with some reference to scholarship in China and Taiwan. It looks at the field's move away from its origins in the history of technology and its increasing engagement with social and cultural questions. In particular, the article highlights the field's focus on the “place” of publishing in late imperial China, construed both in terms of regional orientation and the social position of readers and producers of books.

scholarly journals Polluting pharmaceutical atmospheres: Compulsion, resistance, and symbolism of buprenorphine in Norway

2018 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 267-285
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Bartoszko
Keyword(s):  
Social History ◽  
Opioid Substitution Treatment ◽  
Ethnographic Fieldwork ◽  
Ethnographic Studies ◽  
Counter Narrative ◽  
The Social ◽  
Institutional Forces ◽  
History Of ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Opioid Substitution

This article offers a counter narrative to the current ethnographic studies on treatment with buprenorphine, in which notions of promised and experienced normality dominate. In some countries, introduction of buprenorphine led to a perceived “normalisation” of opioid substitution treatment, and this new modality was well received. However, in Norway the response has been almost the opposite: patients have reacted with feelings of disenfranchisement, failure, and mistrust. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Norway, this article offers comparative insight into local experiences and subjectivities in the context of the globalisation of buprenorphine. By outlining the ethnographic description of the pharmaceutical atmosphere of forced transfers to buprenorphine-naloxone, I show that the social history of the medication is as significant as its pharmacological qualities for various treatment effects. An analysis of the reactions to this treatment modality highlights the reciprocal shaping of lived experiences and institutional forces surrounding pharmaceutical use in general and opioids in particular.

Newly-Discovered Manuscripts of a Northern-Chinese Horse King Temple Association

T oung Pao ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 105 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 183-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meir Shahar
Keyword(s):  
North China ◽  
Rural Culture ◽  
Late Imperial China ◽  
Late Imperial ◽  
Agrarian Economy ◽  
The Social ◽  
Religious Perspectives ◽  
Northern Chinese ◽  
Imperial China ◽  
The Village

AbstractWritten documents from rural north China are rare. This essay examines the newly-discovered records of a Shanxi village association, which was dedicated to the cult of the Horse King. The manuscripts detail the activities, revenues, and expenditures of the Horse King temple association over a hundred-year period (from 1852 until 1956). The essay examines them from social, cultural, and religious perspectives. The manuscripts reveal the internal workings and communal values of a late imperial village association. They unravel the social and economic structure of the village and the centrality of theater in rural culture. Furthermore, the manuscripts bring to the fore a forgotten cult and its ecological background: the Horse King was among the most widely worshiped deities of late imperial China, his flourishing cult reflecting the significance of his protégés – horses, donkeys, and mules – in the agrarian economy.

The Economics of the Jiaxing Edition of the Buddhist Tripitaka

T oung Pao ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 94 (4) ◽  
pp. 306-359 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lianbin Dai
Keyword(s):  
Real Income ◽  
Late Imperial China ◽  
Late Imperial ◽  
Economic Information ◽  
Relative Value ◽  
History Of ◽  
Imperial China ◽  
Xviie Siecle ◽  
History Of Books ◽  
Facteurs Économiques

AbstractThis essay draws on economic information in the colophons and catalogues of the Jiaxing Tripitaka to examine the fluctuations of its costs and price in the late Ming and early Qing. The price of the texts included in the Jiaxing Tripitaka increased from the mid-seventeenth century onwards, as did the costs for transcribing and carving wood-blocks. Relative to the value of rice in the Yangzi Delta from 1589 to 1715, the value of a volume of the Tripitaka generally rose. Yet the relative value of a book is not the same as its affordability, which is determined by the book's price, its value relative to other commodities, the real income of the purchaser, and other economic and non-economic elements. It is hoped that this investigation will contribute new views to the history of books in late imperial China. Cette étude se fonde sur les données de nature économique contenues dans les colophons et les catalogues du Tripitaka publié à Jiaxing pour étudier les variations de par son coût de production et de son prix de vente à la fin des Ming et au début des Qing. Le prix des ouvrages inclus dans le Tripitaka de Jiaxing a augmenté à partir du milieu du XVIIe siècle, de même que le coût de la transcription et de la gravure. La valeur des volumes du Tripitaka s'est en général accrue par rapport à celle du riz dans le delta du Yangzi entre 1589 et 1715. Cependant la valeur relative d'un livre n'est pas la même chose que son accessibilité, déterminée par le prix de l'ouvrage, sa valeur par rapport à d'autres produits, le revenu réel de l'acheteur, ainsi que d'autres facteurs économiques ou non. L'on espère que cette recherche apportera de nouveaux éléments à l'histoire du livre dans la Chine impériale tardive.

Buddhism and Healing in China

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalie Köhle
Keyword(s):  
The Body ◽  
Chinese Society ◽  
Hospital Services ◽  
Late Imperial China ◽  
Late Imperial ◽  
History Of ◽  
Imperial China ◽  
Medical Treatises ◽  
Chinese Physicians ◽  
Bear Witness

The history of Buddhism in China is deeply connected with healing. Some of the scriptures that were translated into Chinese discuss Indic conceptions of the body as an amalgamation of elements, and causes of illness in the tridoṣa, that is pathogenic body fluids and internal winds. Others discuss materia medica, and monastic rules on healing and hygiene in the monastery. Yet others set forth the ritual worship of the Medicine Buddha (Skt. Bhaiṣajyaguru; Ch. Yaoshi fo 藥師佛), the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara (Guanyin pusa 觀音菩薩), and other deities that promise healing. Apart from the translated scriptures, there is a huge body of indigenous works that synthesized the wealth of information on Indic healing which arrived in China between the 2nd and 10th centuries ce. Foremost among those are Yijing’s義淨 (635–713) account of Indian monastic practices, Daoxuan’s道宣 (596–667) vinaya commentary, and Daoshi’s道世 (?–683) encyclopedia chapter on illness. Chinese compositions, such as Zhiyi’s 智顗 (538–597) treatises on meditation, and Huizhao’s 慧皎 (497–554) hagiographies bear witness to the hybridity to which the reception of Indic ideas in China gave rise. With the widening reach of Buddhism into every layer of Chinese society during the Sui and Tang dynasties, eminent Chinese physicians, such as Tao Hongjing 陶弘景 (452–536), Chao Yuanfang 巢元方 (550–630), Wang Tao 王焘(670–755), and Sun Simiao 孫思邈 (581–682) also began to incorporate Buddhist ideas into their medical treatises. Chinese Buddhist monasteries introduced hospital services to China, and certain lineages of monks continued to provide medical care to the laity in late imperial China. Their healing was based on Chinese medical theories, however, and there is no evidence that they persisted in applying Indic medical ideas.

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