Laitan: The Making of a Chan Cave Temple Site in Sichuan

Laitan 淶灘 is a monumental site in Sichuan, built during the Song Dynasty (960–1279), located approximately 69 km northwest of present day Chongqing. It is the only site in China whose sculpture derives from a comprehensive records of Chan developments. A crowded gathering of famous Chan prelates and anonymous personages of all sizes animate the cave’s walls; they were inspired both by the early Chan phase in Sichuan and the subsequent Song outside Sichuan.

The Economy of The Song Dynasty or The Experience of Failed Modernization: The Boundaries of Institutional Corridors

The article contributes to institutional matrices theory (Kirdina, 2011). On the reforms carried out in China during the Song Dynasty in the second half of the XI century, the hypothesis of the existence of so-called "institutional corridors" is considered. The "institutional corridor" implies a space limited by a set of certain institutions that define the principles of decision-making and the boundaries of institutional environment reform. The article briefly describes the economic situation of China during the Song dynasty, analyzes the main reforms carried out by the first Minister of the empire Wang Anshi and the reasons for their failure. The concept of jing ji is analyzed. Jing ji assumes an integrated approach to regulating the economy in China, based on Confucian ethics' moral and ethical concepts. The concept of jing ji has become the main one in regulating the economy in China. It is concluded that Confucian ideology during the implementation of the Wang Anshi reforms became the defining boundary of the "institutional corridor" of the variable that predetermined the failure of the reforms. The reforms of Wang Anshi, often called a Proto-Keynesian, went beyond the ideological "institutional corridor" and were therefore doomed to failure.

Perniagaan Bahari Sriwijaya Pada Masa Dinasti Song

This paper is a study of the book Chu-fan-chi compiled by Chau Ju-Kua (Zhao Rugua) from 1208 to 1224 or when he was an official at the customs office (Shi-po-shi) of Quanzhou Port. Chu-fan-chi can be considered as documentation of the Trans-Asian maritime trade during the time of the Buddhist Cosmopolis. This period was an era that formed an Asia Civilization with the establishment of economic, political, cultural, and scientific cooperation that grew along with the development of Hindu-Buddhist Religion in the Sino-Indian region since the 7th century. This paper wants to provide an overview of how the conditions of trade routes and activities in Sriwijaya in the 10th to 13th centuries, which is the information from Chau Ju-Kua that describe the dynamic relationship between Sriwijaya and the Song Dynasty in the formation of maritime history and the spice trade in the archipelago. This study also aims to re-examine the bilateral relationship between China and Srivijaya during the heyday of the Buddhist Cosmopolitan period. This study is expected to redevelop historiographic studies of the Buddhist Cosmopolitan period. This study was compiled by collecting data from various historical and archaeological records and works that have been compiled in various secondary sources, especially from the records of Sinology scholars who have studied relics in the form of government reports, travel records, documentation, and journals originating from the Song Dynasty. According to a Chau Ju-Kua, Sriwijaya not just only sought to profit from the hectic trade traffic that crossed the Natuna Sea, Karimata Strait, Malacca Strait, and Sunda Straits, but Sriwijaya was also able to maintain the security and continuity of Trans-Asian trade traffic at that time.

Funeral Epitaph of Zhao Rugua (1170-1231), the Author of Zhufan zhi (“Records of Foreign Peoples”; 1225). Structural-Descriptive and Archaelogical Analysis of the Source

The present work is a continuation of two previously published articles in which the biography of Zhao Rugua 趙汝适 (1170-1231), the author of Zhufan zhi 諸蕃志 (Records of Foreign Peoples; 1225) an important historical geographical source about the foreign lands during the Song dynasty (960-1279), was studied through the usage of the text of his funeral epitaph as well as other historical sources. They also included the translation of the text of inscription into Russian and English [1; 2]. The goal of this article is to deepen the study of Zhao Ruguas funeral epitaph by researching the material features of the source, analyzing the structure of the text and comparing it with other similar sources of Medieval China. In contrast with the previous works the inscription in this article is analyzed both as a textual source and as an object of material culture which enables to understand the context of the creation of the source as well as the extent of detalization of the deceaseds biography.

The Remaining Buddhist Architecture in Fu’an, the Core Hinterland of the Changxi River Basin

The Changxi River Basin is a small root-like watershed, surrounded by mountains on three sides and facing the sea to the southeast. It is located on the border between Fujian and Zhejiang on the southeast coast of China. The area gave rise to the Changxi Culture that began in the Sui and Tang Dynasties and flourished in the Song Dynasty. Buddhism in the Changxi Basin was introduced no later than the 9th century. As the core hinterland of the Changxi Basin, Fu’an has always been an important center for Buddhism in Eastern Fujian. It reached its peak in the 10th to 13th centuries during the Song Dynasty. This article conducts a comprehensive investigation and study of the existing Buddhist temple sites and relics in Fu’an. It highlights these structures’ single-bay pattern of construction, based on rectangular plans in which the longitudinal axis extends along the plan’s direction of depth. This is a pattern rarely seen in the history of Chinese Buddhist architecture. The paper also summarizes a common element in these temples, their petal-shaped corrugated stone pillars which are divided into eight segments. Lastly, it illustrates the evolution of the temples in the Changxi River Basin from single-bay layouts to those with widths of multiple bays and indicates the unique status and associated values of single-bay Buddhist temples in the history of southern Buddhist architecture. The study examines new local findings and ideas for the study of Chinese Buddhist architectural history, providing academic support for the protection and research of Buddhist architectural heritage in Southeast China.

Guo Xi on Painting the Invisible Gaze of the Dao

For the Song dynasty painter and theorist Guo Xi, Daoism runs like veins through his Lofty Appeal of Forests and Streams, helping it become one of the greatest works of landscape painting theory in China. This essay explores the influence Laozi and Zhuangzi had on Guo Xi's thought, paying particular attention to the latter's implementation of spirit, nature, and incompleteness. Guo Xi succeeded in giving these Daoist themes an aesthetic significance that had yet to be fully realized by his predecessors, while expounding them in a manner that remained faithful to the texts from which they were drawn. While Guo Xi was not the first person in China to employ the principles of Daoist philosophy in their discourse on landscape painting, his ability to synthesize them into a cohesive representation of the invisible gaze of the Dao led to his becoming one of the most eminent painters and aesthetic theorists in the history of Chinese aesthetics.