Imperial power, gentry power and clan power: Western and Chinese cultural traditions in a comparative perspective

The differences between China and Western countries in human and physical environment has brought about two distinctive models of state. In the Chinese-style state of quasi-consanguinity, in which family and state have a similar structure, imperial power, gentry power, and clan power are the product of common ownership of consanguineous groups. The similarity in the structures of these three kinds of power derives from the fact that they are all restricted by the power of lineage generated from the self-sufficient small farmer economy, and must obey the conventions of ancestors which hold the benefits of the group as supreme. The relationship between these three kinds of power, is definitely not the one that is based on the division of power that is founded on individual private ownership in Western countries, where ‘public power’ and ‘individual private ownership’ are antithetic, but are three aspects of the patriarchal dictatorship that complement each other. Therefore, village rule in China and autonomy in the West are two totally different concepts, and gentry power is also not the ‘authorized power’ from the state. __________ Translated from the Journal of Tianjin Normal University, 2004: 1     

On the ‘Meishan Phenomenon’ in Song culture

The Song Dynasty enjoyed a splendid culture. Meishan, a small county in Southwest Sichuan, was one of the most developed cultural areas. This is closely related to a large-scale immigration after the collapse of the Tang Dynasty and the ‘Jingkang defeat’ in the Song Dynasty. Meishan was an area receiving more immigrants than other regions. A great number of distinguished families from North China brought with them the advanced culture of the Yellow River areas to Meishan, which combined with native culture, and produced many “cultural clans” from this “clan culture.” Some of these people became elites in various areas through education and the Civil Service Examinations. The so-called “Meishan Phenomenon” was a result of cultural melting. Translated by Li He and Zhang Hai from the Journal of Sichuan University, 2004: 3     

宋代南外宗正司入闽及其影响

南外宗正司是宋代管理外居宗室的机构。宋金交战,为躲避战乱,它辗转迁入福建泉州。南外宗正司的机构非常健全,宗室在闽蓬勃发展。南外宗正司的入闽,对提高泉州乃至福建的历史地位以及促进福建经济文化的繁荣均有深远的影响。     

清代川东道的辖区与职能演变——兼论地方行政制度中道的性质

川东道是解读清代地方行政制度的典型范本。通过考察,再次证明了道由一种临时性的藩臬二司派出机构,逐渐演变成有固定辖区和治所的府以上省以下的地方行政区划和机构。因应时变、灵活性和敏感性,使得川东道在晚清被附加了很多原本不相关的职能。尽管它本身不是一个完全近代化的职官,但由于府以上省以下的空隙过大,这种中层地方机构,在中国历史上始终是需要的。     

Recent Research on Chaco: Changing Views on Economy, Ritual, and Society

Current research on Chaco Canyon and its surrounding outlier communities is at an important juncture. Rather than trying to argue for the presence or absence of complexity, archaeologists working in the area are asking different questions, especially how Chacoan political, economic, ritual, and social organization were structured. These lines of inquiry do not attempt to pigeonhole Chaco into traditional neoevolutionary types, but instead seek to understand the historical trajectory that led to the construction of monumental architecture in Chaco Canyon and a large part of the northern Southwest in the 10th through 12th centuries. This review discusses the conclusions of current research at Chaco including definitions of the Chaco region, recent fieldwork, histories of Chaco archaeology, chronology, paleoenvironmental reconstruction, demography, political organization, outlier communities, economic organization, social organization, ritual, violence, and the post-Chacoan reorganization. Although many issues are hotly debated, there is a growing concensus that power was not based in a centralized political organization and that ritual organization was a key factor in the replication of Chacoan architecture across a vast regional landscape. Exactly how ritual, social, and political organization intersected is a central question for Chaco scholars. The resolution of this problem will prove to be of interest to all archaeologists working with intermediate societies across the globe.     

宋代审计三论

宋代发明并使用了审计一词,但在审计实践中使用最为广泛的则是与审计密切相关的审磨、磨勘、点检等词语,这说明宋代对审计的界定既较为科学,又不够彻底。宋代在中央和地方设立了较为专门而具体的审计机构。这是审计发展的重要标志。但缺乏真正独立的审计机构及其体系。宋代通过不断的审计实践和立法,逐步形成和完善了审计的反应、制约、奖惩机制,一定程度上保证了审汁机构的正常运行,但其作用在不同的时期又是有所区别的。     

1850-1880年越南社会整合情况之分析

近代越南社会的政治制度日趋僵化和阮氏王朝统治者的因循守旧 ,历史上固有的家族和村社制导致了狭隘的价值利益观的形成 ,基督教在越南的传播和发展而滋生出的新的矛盾和冲突 ,这些因素交相并织 ,妨碍了近代越南社会的整合 ,加剧了封建制度的危机 ,引起社会的急速衰退并最终沦为法国的殖民地     

明清科举的正途与异途——关于福建、江西、安徽族谱资料的分析

明清时期,科举制度的推行与家族制度的发展呈现相辅相成的关系,获得功名是许多家族之凝成与延续的重要前提。获得功名的途径大体上分正途与异途两种。从族谱资料的分析可知:家族中的正途出身与异途出身往往相互支撑,共同为家族的延续和发展作出贡献。有的是前期多正途出身,后期多异途出身。有的则先由异途出身,后代逐渐走上正途。从各自的水平和行迹看,异途或许也能在一定程度上起到搜罗遗才的作用。     

One thousand years of historical relics: the Huizhou Documents

The Huizhou Documents are a precious repository of historical memory and they have gradually been collected since 1946. This archive dates from the Southern Song period to 1949, and its content is distinguished by its continuity, specificity, accuracy, and representative nature, all of which make these documents extremely enlightening for scholars. Systematically collecting, organizing, categorizing, and utilizing these documents has not only given birth to a new field, Huizhou Studies, but has also provided valuable material in support of research on politics, the economy, law, education, and the civil examination system in late imperial China.     

The ‘radical humanism’ of ‘Cap Anamur’ / ‘German Emergency Doctors’ in the 1980s: a turning point for the idea,practice and policy of humanitarian aid

Abstract

Historiographies of humanitarian aid and aid agencies alike had suggested an ever-growing politicization and militarization following the end of the ‘cold war’. But already in the 1980s, the field of humanitarian aid underwent extensive changes; new aid agencies no longer relied on Christian ideas of charity or leftist internationalism, short-term aid gained new importance and an ever-growing disaster awareness can be observed. The relief organization ‘Cap Anamur ’/’ German Emergency Doctors’ (GED) was founded in 1979 with the purpose of saving the so-called ‘boat people’. Typical for its time, it ascribed to a pure and innate humanitarian impulse summarized under the term ‘radical humanism’. Using the example of GED the article sets out to scrutinise the policies of this new humanitarianism that can be summarized as ‘controlled demerging’. The article brings into focus humanitarian aid as such, its own logic deriving from a particular idea of humanitarianism, considering both site-specific practices and also specific policies that are not necessarily congruent with political or economic interests. It becomes clear that the basis for the new political meaning humanitarian aid gained from the 1990s onwards was already laid by the humanitarian-aid agencies themselves.