烟草：魔鬼之赐

2004年9月13日中国国家税务总局公布2003年度纳税百强排行榜,34家烟厂上榜,共纳税850．64亿元,烟草加工业依然是中国纳税百强中的第一大税源。     

北宋赐茶初探

赐茶,作为皇帝笼络大臣的手段之一,北宋时期得到较大的发展,不仅赐茶的数量增加了、范围扩大了,而且形成了森严的等级制度。北宋赐茶之所以得到较大的发展,一方面与北宋经济的发展、茶叶产量提高有关,另一方面也是皇帝运用皇权密切君臣关系,使臣下竭力效忠于自己,以便巩固统治地位。作为皇权手段之一,赐茶基本上实现了统治者的初衷,但是,也带来了一定消极影响。     

明代赐赙初探

赐赙指朝廷向死者家属赐予一定数额的钱物作为丧葬费,是一项以经济援助为表现形式的政治行为。朝廷参考死者的功业、地位及与皇室的关系,通过赏赐数额不同的钱物为已故者构建起身后的荣耀。与前代相比,明代赐赙从必得之典变为赏功之赐,且钱物数量和受赐群体都有缩减,并长期以皇帝特恩赐予的形式存在,但其贯彻了明尊卑、辨亲疏的赐赙原则,适应了当时的历史条件,使宗室、外戚、文武官员在明代丧礼中各有其位,促进了礼制的建设。     

明代赐尚方剑制度

专制主义中央集权制度，围绕着君主或权威这根主轴运动，一切制度建立和修订，总是以在位君主和权威的统治利益和运用方便为取舍标准，尽量体现和扩大君主与权威的权势。这种高度集权于上的制度，显然不能应付复杂而不断变化的社会。尤其是，当社会发生变乱时，更显得力不从心。因此，在特殊情况下授予一些地方官吏及军事将领一定范围的专断乃至专杀的权力，就显得十分必要。“赐尚方剑”制度是明王朝在迫不得已的情况下采取的临时措置，被赐予尚方剑，意味着拥有者具有专杀、专断及便宜行事的权力。虽然君主不愿意将这种权力授出，但迫于形势需要，又不得不放权，是一种无奈之举。该制度既反映出君主心理的矛盾，又关系到实行时复杂的政局，是颇有特色的制度。     

文柄自决:唐宋间“赐进士”考论

皇帝在科举考试之外特赐进士及第,这一现象在唐后期开始出现,但它只是作为一种偶见性举措,属于皇帝在科举制外的"文柄自决"。经过五代宋初的发展,特赐进士及第逐渐制度化。与此同时,宋初还将"赐进士"普遍化,通过进士科考试者都被"赐进士",进士以外诸科亦以"赐"的形式给予出身,这标志着所有科举出身者都成为皇帝"文柄自决"的产物。唐后期五代统治者针对科举制存在的问题采取过诸多举措,但直到宋初"赐进士"的普遍化与殿试制度相结合,特赐进士及第所代表的皇帝"文柄自决"权威被引入科举体制中,这些问题才得到一定程度的解决。     

帝王为福建赐县名

江采苹,唐玄宗妃,生年不详,死于唐天宝十五年(756年)的安史之乱。民间相传,她家在莆田县东华村(4-荔城区黄石镇江东村),9岁时就能读《诗经》中的《周南》和《召南》。因诗中有《采苹》篇,她父亲就给她取名为“采苹”。     

张志老赐赠墨宝记

今年四月七日上午卜时许，卜居永和市的张老乡长志韩光生打电话给我，说他收到本刊（《黔人》杂志）发出的信，已经写好一幅字，庆祝香港回归，希望我便中去他府上取回，因他年迈，近年几乎是足不出户。他老人家的情况，我很了解，的确婉谢一切应酬，多年已不出门，以便颐养天年，所以我立刻回答，如果他老人家认为方便，今天下午两点多钟到他府上，他老人家说可以，就此约定。我准时前往，婆婆（我们晚辈习惯上对志老夫人的尊称）开门，迎我进入客厅，特别给我沏了一杯茶。志老知我已到，很快出来。他说，麻烦我跑这一趟，甚感抱歉，同时拱…     

虎臣与赐臣

西周时期的虎臣有官员、士兵双重内涵。虎臣分左右、正侧,是周王朝征伐、抵御外敌的重要军事力量。西周金文中屡见赐臣现象。西周时期的被赐之臣主要来自周以外的地方,外地的进贡、致送是其主要来源。赐臣的地位低下,且有家、夫的差别。赐臣是西周时期自上到下的一种普遍现象。     

唐代官员赐服初探

唐代官员赐服是在特殊情况下或有特殊功绩,由皇帝亲自颁赐紫绯常服、玉金腰带或鱼(龟)袋,是官员权力地位的象征。促使皇帝赐服的动因,有国家运转的需要,张大国威的要求和笼络权贵的必要,亦有官员自身因素所在。     

宋代赐第问题研究

宋代赐第对象主要集中在节度使、前割据政权统治者、皇亲贵戚、重臣功臣、殁于王事者、归明归正人等群体。宋代赐第产权问题较为复杂,一是受赐者拥有居住权,分为暂时和永久居住权;二是受赐者拥有产权。宋代赐第带来一系列问题,如赐第数量逐年增加,渐呈泛滥趋势,耗费了国家大量资财,在中后期引发了较为严重的社会问题。     

哈密魔鬼城

哈密是古丝绸之路上一颗璀璨的明珠,在这方神奇的土地上孕育了众多的文化名胜和自然景观。就在距哈密市不远的大漠深处,分布着一片大自然巧夺天工、刻意雕塑的天下奇观——哈密雅丹地貌,也叫哈密魔鬼城。哈密魔鬼城,一个听起来让人毛骨悚然的名字,一个想起来让人想一探究竟的神秘地方,也是宁浩新电影《无人区》的拍摄地。     

Clovis Lithic Technology: The Devil Is in the Details

Clovis is the best known early development in North America buts its lithic technology is poorly documented and often from animal kill sites. This evidence has been used to picture Clovis peoples as mobile, colonizing, big-game hunters and explanations of lithic technological practices have been framed largely in materialist terms. Increasing documentation suggests views about how the complex Clovis biface and blade production strategies relate to subsistence, land use, and specific kinds of mobility patterns are questionable and often difficult to test with archaeological data. We need to seriously consider the role of Clovis people's worldview in structuring their thought and technical actions.     

爱的礼物

二月十四,情人节与春节交叠之日,甜蜜之意融于欢庆气息;当举杯邀悦,挑选精心礼物赠予挚爱之人;此等心意,无须言语赘述。     

温泉是大自然的恩赐

素有世界屋脊和地球第三极之称的青藏高原,因其独特的地质基础,使得地下热水资源极为丰富、分布广泛,形成了各种类型的温泉。西藏是世界上海拔最高的温泉区,据2000年《西藏温泉志》记载,西藏共计发现温泉677处。这里平均地势高、冰雪高山众多、天气寒冷,而分布有温泉的区域,一年四季都热气腾腾,周围的地面也较温暖,一股股白色的蒸汽常年缭绕不断。     

Fairies and the Devil in early modern England

This article considers the fate of fairies in late-Elizabethan and seventeenth-century England. Specifically, it asks whether these “doubtful spirits” were demonised in the period. Drawing on a wide selection of devotional, literary, and demonological texts, the article argues that English Protestants associated fairies with Satan, but this did not necessarily imply that fairies were reclassified as demons. Rather, they were embedded in a complex of beliefs that connected them with falsehood, Catholicism, and the invisible wiles of the Devil. The operation of these beliefs is examined in the context of cases of witchcraft, as well as the representation of fairies in cheap print.     

The Gift We Bring

Abstract

Miroslav Volf’s A Public Faith invites religious traditions, especially Christianity, to bring their best elements into the public square in a spirit of hospitality and engagement for the common good. With regard to Christianity, he claims that one of the best elements we can offer the public square is a complexly relational vision of the human person made to love self, others, God. In this essay Dávila proposes that the preferential option for the poor is a particular expression of this anthropological vision of Christianity that is well poised for public engagement based on humility and care for the most vulnerable members of society. Following Volf’s proposal, the option for the poor functions as a paradigm for imaginative and creative engagement in the public square that might help people of faith navigate seemingly intractable political and cultural disagreements in the public square.     

Gift Exchange as Sensory Experience Among the Anganen

Gift exchange among the Anganen of the Southern Highlands Province (PNG) may be a complex, multifaceted sensory experience for participants and audience alike. This article primarily looks at the sensory dimensions of the organisation of space, with attention also given to sound, the immense heat of large pork distributions and the possibility of heightened emotional states such as trepidation or expectation that may feature in some events. These provide the ambience for the specific meaning of exchange to emerge. I compare a number of exchanges primarily through focusing on what I term politicisation (which may variously concern prestige, the degree of social opposition, or the amount of aggression displayed). Be it through contextual factors, or the inherent structural orientation of any exchange, political intensity varies due to different manifestations of sensory criteria. Gender and space are a major focus. In events that lack overt political intensity such as the marriage ceremony, women occupy centre stage. However, in more overtly politically intense events such as the yasolu ceremonial pork distribution, it is men who command centrality. As far as sound is concerned, while oration may feature, most interest is directed at the role of silence at marriage, the keening of women mourners at mortuary exchange, and a number of non‐discursive utterances by men in politically intense events that express aggression or exuberant pride. The argument is that these are not incidental but constitutive aspects of the politics of exchange. As such, the sensory dimensions of sight concern more than just the amount of wealth given, while the audible dimensions must go beyond oration alone.