Not Just a Jesuit Atlas of China: Qing Imperial Cartography and Its European Connections

In the literature, the ‘Overview Maps of Imperial Territories’ or Huangyu quanlan tu 皇輿全覽圖, is mostly referred to as ‘the Jesuit atlas of China’. The reason is that this early eighteenth-century atlas of all Qing China’s territories plus Korea and Tibet is assumed to have resulted from European missionaries importing European cartographic practices. In this essay, I argue that this view is outdated and can no longer be sustained. By revisiting the background of the missionaries’ involvement in cartographic exchanges between Asia and Europe, the techniques used for surveying Qing territories and the production of the resulting atlases, I show that the mapping project behind the ‘Overview Maps of Imperial Territories’ is best understood as a creative answer to the unique needs of Qing frontier management and imperial control, made possible by the integration, in mensurational and in representational terms, of European and East Asian cartographic practices.     

Sourcing copper ores for production of bronzes excavated at Shuangyantang,a Western Zhou (1046–771 <Emphasis Type="SmallCaps">bc</Emphasis>) site in Chongqing (Southwest China): evidence from lead isotope analysis

Energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) and lead isotope analyses were applied to 12 Western Zhou (1046–771 bc) bronzes unearthed from the Shuangyantang site in Wushan County, Chongqing (southwest China), to investigate their chemical compositions and possible mineral source(s). The results showed that (1) the investigated bronzes were mostly bronzes with low, common lead and (2) their lead isotopic values almost all fall into a relatively narrow range, suggesting possibly the use of raw materials from a common copper mine. The comparison between lead isotopic values for Shuangyantang bronzes and those already published for copper mines and other bronzes produced and used about at the same times leads us to believe that the Shuangyantang bronzes probably used the same copper ores as used in bronzes from the Peng and Jin states in Shanxi Province. However, it would not be possible at this point to come up with a clear idea of where exactly these copper ores may come from. Candidate copper mines might be the Tonglvshan mines in Hubei Province, the Zhongtiaoshan mines in Shanxi Province, or the Dajing copper mines in Inner Mongolia.     

Restituting Church Buildings and Negotiating Church Factions： Missionary Mapmakers and the Making of Local Networks （1712-1716）

At the turn of the 18th century, the Kangxi emperor initiated a large project to map the vast territories of the Qing. The land surveys that ensued were executed by teams of Qing officials and European missionaries, most of them French Jesuits first sent to China in 1685 and actively supported by the French crown. Early 18th century Jesuit publications foster a much-heralded claim that these missionary-mapmakers drew on their status of imperial envoys during the surveys to locally advance the position of the Catholic church. This article strives to explore the format/on of such local networks by these missionaries as they passed through the cities and towns of the Chinese provinces. On the basis of archival material, details emerge of contacts with local Qing administrators and Chinese Christians, and of attempts to purchase and recover local churches. This is then discussed against the background of the Rites Controversy, in an attempt to evaluate how such local networks relate to the rivalry between missionaries of different orders. The article emphasizes that there was （and perhaps is） no such thing as ＂pure science＂ by underscoring that important technical achievements such as the Qing mapping project are often shaped by complex networks and historical contingencies.     

潘祖荫金石跋尾三则

甲申仲夏,苏州博物馆在对一批碑帖作抢救性整理时,在三种原拓经折装本后发现有清潘祖荫的亲书跋尾考证文字,此三种分别为<古义士伯夷叔齐二公碑并序>、<宋故朝议大夫致仕赠光禄大夫黄公神道碑铭>和<唐白鹿泉神君祠碑>.查阅<滂喜斋丛书>①中的<京畿金石考>二卷、<吴郡金石目>一卷、<宝铁斋金石文跋尾>三卷和<日本金石年表>,均未发现有这三篇跋尾的记载.     

我国古代刑法中的身份探究

考察我国古代刑法中的身份具有重要的现实意义。可将我国古代刑法中的身份分为五个方面：(1)基于生物学特征之身份。又可分为两类：一类是年龄和疾病;另一类是妇女和孕妇。(2)基于职务、职业之身份。(3)亲属身份。具体包括亲属相犯、亲亲相隐、族诛与缘坐、亲属相奸等方面。(4)社会等级身份。具体包括等级特权和良贱相犯。(5)共同犯罪中的身份。其中,唐律的有关规定最为细致、完备。     

《清代榷关制度研究》读后

近年来,无论是中国断代史研究,还是中 国社会经济史研究,皆已由大而化之的宏观论 述逐渐发展到个案研究的微观突破,其中不乏 兼具理论缜密思考和史料深刻剖析相得益彰的 研究佳作。祁美琴女史所撰《清代榷关制度研 究》(内蒙古大学出版社,2004年3月)无疑 就是上述研究范式重大转变的典型范例。这一     

高原东陲的璀璨明珠--川口镇文化巡览

雄伟的阿拉古山,似一道巨大的天然屏障,屹立在川口古镇之北,湟水自西部源头滚滚而来,从阿拉古山南麓向东流去,在享堂峡南口结束了她的独行之旅,在此似乎放慢了脚步,向哺育她的故土深情回眸。而后,默默汇入由北而南再迂回东流的大通河,开始了她更为壮阔的旅程,奔向黄河母亲的怀抱。天堑似的享堂峡,一衣带水的大通河,成为甘青两省自然的分界线。河西岸就是青海东陲民和川口镇。民和回族土族自治县县城所在地的川口镇,因其地理位置而被称为高原门户、青海东大门,是人们心仪神奇美丽的青藏高原和三江源头,前来朝圣而必经的门口,好似一颗镶嵌在高…     

Joint geophysical measurements to investigate the Rossano of Vaglio archaeological site (Basilicata Region,Southern Italy)

A high resolution geophysical survey was carried out in the archaeological site of Rossano di Vaglio (Basilicata Region, Southern Italy), where an important ancient sanctuary is located. It was built during the IV century B.C. and devoted to the goddess Mephitis. The sanctuary rises in an area affected by a multiple and retrogressive rototraslational landslide, historically and presently subject to reactivation. The main objective of this work was the identification of buried structures of archaeological interest in an area designated by the Archaeological Superintendence of the Basilicata Region. The study was performed by means of the use of high resolution geophysical surveys. In particular, we made use of the joint application of three highly sensitive and non-invasive geophysical techniques, namely the Geoelectrical, the Magnetic and the Ground Probing Radar (GPR) methodologies. In such a way, we obtained two important results: first, we provided the archaeologists with information about the limits of the areas to be excavated; second, we could verify in real time the reliability of the geophysical results. The experimental results showed four main magnetic anomalies in the area of study, in agreement with the GPR results obtained for the same target. Finally, a partial excavation test of the investigated area revealed a buried building structure, located in correspondence of an anomaly identified by means of the geophysical prospecting.     

“吃讲茶”:成都茶馆、袍哥与地方政治空间

作为公共空间的茶馆成为袍哥的活动中心,他们在那里联络、聚集和开会,成为袍哥社会网络的一个重要部分。袍哥在茶馆里活动形成了他们独特的语言和行为,"摆茶碗阵"便是他们经常使用的联络方法。茶馆作为地方政治空间可以表现在很多方面,不过,"吃讲茶"仍然是最为典型和最具代表性的活动,这个实践显示了市民的相对自治状态,他们试图在没有官方介入的情况下解决冲突,说明一种国家之外社会力量的存在。     

Book Reviews

A Feng 阿风, Ming Qing shidai funü de diwei yu quanli: yi Ming Qing qiyue wenshu, susong dang’an wei zhongxin 明清时代妇女的地位与权利——以明清契 约文书,诉讼档案为中心 (The status and rights of women during Ming and Qing times: focused on contractual documents and litigation archives of the Ming and Qing);Eli Alberts, A History of Daoism and the Yao People of South China;Robert Ford Campany, Making Transcendents: Ascetics and Social Memory in Early Medieval China;Barbara Hendrischke, The Scripture on Great Peace: The “Taiping Jing” and the Beginnings of Daoism (Daoist Classics);Jin Jiang, Women Playing Men: Yue Opera and Social Change in Twentieth-Century Shanghai;Ma Liangkuan 马亮宽, Fu Sinian shehui zhengzhi huodong yu sixiang yanjiu 傅 斯年社会政治活动与思想研究 (A study of Fu Sinian’s thought and social-political work);Daniel J. Meissner, Chinese Capitalists versus the American Flour Industry, 1890–1910: Profit and Patriotism in International Trade;Rong Xinjiang 荣新江, Sui Tang Chang’an: xingbie, jiyi ji qita 隋唐长安: 性别, 记忆及其他 (Sui-Tang Chang’an: gender, memory, and other);Wen-hsin Yeh, Shanghai Splendor: Economic Sentiments and the Making of Modern China, 1843–1949