A Classical Chinese Reader The 'Memoir on the Eastern Barbarians' in Hòu Hàn shu , with notes and glosses for students of Chinese and Korean (2024)

The last of the Han, a tr. of chapters 59 to 63 of the Tzu-chih t'ung-chien of Ssu-ma Kuang

1963

How Do We Do If the Barbarians Have Their Monarchs: The Reading of the Sentence Yidizhiyoujun 夷狄之有君 in the Analects from Song to Qing

The Twelfth International Convention of Asia Scholars (ICAS 12), 2022

The sentence 夷狄之有君，不如諸夏之亡也 from the chapter Bayi 八佾 is one of the controversial sentences in the Analects for its possibility of being read as the exact opposite meanings: besides its literal and obvious meaning as 1. "The barbaric people with rulers are inferior to Chinese polities that are without ones.", most scholars from Song dynasty (968-1279) chose, however, to understand it as 2. "Unlike the Chinese polities that are without their rulers, the barbaric people are with theirs (and hence being better).", including one of the Cheng brothers (Cheng Zi "程子"), recognised founders of Neo Confucianism. Instead of a philological study of the "correct" meaning of the sentence, the focus of this paper lies on how this sentence was read from Song to Qing, with a focus on how Manchurian monarchs in the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) have ingeniously used one of the interpretations to support their legitimacy of rule in China.

" Shu " Traditions and Text Recomposition: A Reevaluation of " Jinteng " 金縢 and " Zhou Wu Wang you ji " 周武王有疾

This essay analyzes the art of narrative in “Zhou Wu Wang you ji” 周武王有疾 (“King Wu of Zhou Suffered from Illness”) and in its counterpart in the modern-script recension of the Shangshu 尚書 to reconstruct the rhetoric of persuasion in these texts. “Zhou Wu Wang you ji” is often misleadingly referred to as “*Jinteng” 金縢 (“Metal-Bound Coffer”) in reference to its Shangshu counterpart. The former dates to the Warring States period and is part of the Tsinghua collection of manuscripts (henceforth Qinghua Manuscripts). By making explicit the strategies by which meaning is constructed in “Zhou Wu Wang you ji” in comparison to its transmitted counterpart, I cast light on their different audiences as well as on their social use in the politico-philosophical discourses of their respective periods. In this, I develop and partly emend my previous reading of “Zhou Wu Wang you ji.”

The Body as Metaphor for the Civil and Martial Components of Empire in Yi Zhou shu, Chapter 32; With an Excursion on the Composition and Structure of the

The Record of King Wu of Zhou's Royal Deeds in the Yi Zhou shu in Light of Near Eastern Royal Inscriptions

Journal of the American Oriental Society, 2018

This paper introduces a new reading of the “Shi fu” (Hauling of Captives), a chapter in the Yi Zhou shu (Leftover Zhou Writings) that is commonly read as an early record of the conquest of China’s first historically attested dynasty of Shang by King Wu of Zhou in the middle of the eleventh century bce . I argue that this conventional reading does not give justice to the structural complexities of the “Shi fu” and disregards the fact that certain compositional units of the text are unrelated to the conquest event. I propose to analyze the “Shi fu” against a better studied corpus of the Near Eastern royal inscriptions where there are surprisingly similar examples of compositionally heterogeneous texts that constitute a textual celebration of successful universal kingship based on military valor. Notably, such a notion of universal kingship is largely alien to the later Chinese tradition where an emphasis is put on the kings’ reign by virtue. While there are no reasons to consider seriously the possibility of the “Shi fu” being immediately influenced by the Near Eastern inscriptions, this parallel can be explained by the structural similarity of the societies that produced them, in particular, the similarity of how royal power was understood, legitimized, and celebrated.

Beyong the Words-Jin Shengtan's Perception of Hidden Meanings in Xixiangji

Text and Ritual in Early China

T'oung Pao, 2008

Chán Master Jìngxiū's 淨修禪師 preface to the Zǔtáng jí 祖堂集 (K.1503): A TEI-based edition (PDF copy)

Database of Medieval Chinese Texts, 2020

MS Word/PDF copy of a TEI-based edition of Chán Master Jìngxiū's 淨修禪師 preface to the Zǔtáng jí 祖堂集 (K.1503) published on the Database of Medieval Chinese Texts.

Han Yu’s “Za shuo” 雜說 (Miscellaneous Discourses)

Journal of the American Oriental Society, 2020

This article highlights the significance of the “Za shuo” 雜說 (Miscellaneous discourses) series for the study of Han Yu’s 韓愈 (768–824) political ideology, which proposes a three-tier system of governance that is made up of the emperor, the feudal lords, and the bureaucrats. The emperor is the pinnacle of the system; he collaborates with his ministers to devise state policies in the inner palace. The feudal lords protect the emperor in the regional areas. The bureaucrats form the machinery of the government and implement its policies. Challenging current scholarship, which treats each of Han Yu’s essays independently, the article proposes a new interpretation of them as a whole It argues that the three essays “Long shuo” 龍說 (Discourse on the dragon), “Yi shuo” 醫說 (Discourse on physicians), and “Ma shuo” 馬說 (Discourse on horses) form an organic unit that provides internally consistent counsel to the ruler for his governance, and that a fourth essay, “Ti Cui Shanjun zhuan” 題崔山君傳 (Forewo...