越南燕行使者的清宫游历与戏曲观赏

本文以越南汉文燕行文献为主要素材,参证相关中国史料,对清代来华的越南使者游历清宫和观赏宫廷戏曲的实况作了扼要的介绍。文章既讨论越南使者笔下的清宫游历与清宫图像,又部分披露了清代乾隆、道光、同治三朝越南使者入清宫听戏的文字实录。文中抉发的越南伶工入宫参与乾隆八十寿辰演出详情,及同治间慈禧、慈安两宫太后一同垂帘听戏的近距离目击实录等,均为中国史料中未见的新发现。     

晚清大词人况周颐笔记中的故宫学史料──以光绪朝宫中元旦典礼史料为例

故宫学是一门方兴未艾的综合性学科,郑欣淼先生曾经指出,故宫学的研究范围大致有六个方面,包括故宫古建筑(紫禁城)、故宫博物院所收藏的百万件文物、宫廷历史文化遗存、明清档案、清宫典籍以及近八十年的故宫博物院的历程。本文内容属于上述第三个研究范畴"宫廷历史文化遗存"。作者拟透过对晚清大词人况周颐的一则故宫史料笔记的初步考察,说明历史文献是研究故宫宫廷历史文化遗存最不可或缺的领域,而曾经在京任官的文人及其集部著作,正是研究这个范围的故宫学亟待系统发掘、整理和研究的文献史料根源之一。     

董邦达《四美具合幅图》的创作、陈设及其意涵

本文以图像、文献和档案为基础,试图藉诸种材料的分析,阐述董邦达奉乾隆皇帝之命绘制《四美具合幅图》的缘由,以及作者对绘画主题、题材、风格、构图的选取,通过分析作品从母本到成品的制作过程,力求揭示出皇帝、词臣和画家在创作中的意愿和互动。作者试图借助个案分析,揭示词臣画家在乾隆宫廷内艺术风格的形及其发展过程中的种种复杂性。此外,作者对绘画史研究     

历史时期大清河南系的变迁研究——兼谈与白洋淀湖群的演变关系

海河水系以"清"为名的大清河其实只是相对于位居其南、其北著名浊流滹沱河与永定河而言的"清"河。历史时期,随着上游水土流失的日益加剧,大清河南系各河含沙量不断增高,干流段决徙逐渐频繁。本文利用历史文献,对先秦以来在自然与人类活动共同影响下的大清河南系的变迁进行了探讨,揭示和总结了两千余年来水系格局变动的基本过程及主要特点。大清河南系又是白洋淀湖群地表径流补给最大的水源,上述研究结论还将是理解和分析这一著名湖群演变不可忽视的重要基础。     

Archaeological Ethnography,Heritage Management,and Community Archaeology: A Pragmatic Approach from Crete

This article examines the introduction of archaeological ethnography as an approach to establish positioned research and bring context-specific and reflexive considerations into community archaeology projects. It considers recent critiques of heritage management in archaeology and the role of archaeologists as experts in it, contending that smaller and less prominent sites exist in different contexts and pose different problems than large-scale projects usually addressed in the literature. We describe how the ‘Three Peak Sanctuaries of Central Crete’ project, investigating prehistoric Minoan ritual sites, involves communities and stakeholders and what demands the latter pose on experts in the field. Archaeological work is always already implicated in local development projects which create and reproduce power hierarchies. It is therefore important that archaeologists maintain their critical distance from official heritage discourses, as they are materialized in development programmes, while at the same time engaging with local expectations and power struggles; they also have to critically address and position their own assumptions. We use examples from our community archaeology project to propose that these goals can be reached through archaeological ethnographic fieldwork that should precede any archaeological project to inform its methodological decisions, engage stakeholders, and collaboratively shape heritage management strategies.     

Chinese Engagement with Africa: The Case of Madagascar

Using field work in Madagascar as the foundation for a case study, two U.S.-based geographers examine the complex relations developing between many African nations and the Chinese government as well as ethnic Chinese citizens and guest-workers who live and work in Africa. The study investigates changes in the perceptions of Malagasy citizens of the Chinese presence and long-term effects of Chinese investments in Madagascar's economy. Although the Chinese living in Madagascar tend to be viewed as "cut from the same cloth," the study demonstrates that there is considerable differentiation depending on the length of residence, rates of intermarriage with Malagasy citizens, and feelings toward the recent "economic" immigrants and guest workers. The paper integrates archival data with interviews involving recent Chinese guest-workers living in Antananarivo in 2011 as well as results of a systematic survey of most active French-language "blogs" dedicated to Sino-Malagasy relations, with the goal of presenting a comprehensive account of past and present Chinese influences and behavior in Madagascar.     

Sight and Sound on the Western Front: Surveyors,Scientists, and the ‘Battlefield Laboratory’, 1915–1918

Abstract

The Japanese were a race who considered themselves to possess a mission in the world, and were a military race from beginning to end. In a comparatively short space of time Japan had brought three wars to a successful conclusion.

Admiral Earl Beatty, First Sea Lord (1919–1927), 3 July 1925

it is on record that one young samurai… was so convinced at first that bravery by itself was sufficient to overcome the power of the western ‘barbarians’, that he swam out to Perry's flag-ship with his sword in his teeth, intending to fight the whole ship's company single-handed. This man was Yamagata, who died but recently.

Captain M.D. Kennedy, Military Language Officer in Japan (1917–1920), 1928     

Taxonomy and historical inertia: Clidastes (Squamata: Mosasauridae) as a case study of problematic paleobiological taxonomy

I review the taxonomic history of two problematic mosasaur species, Clidastes liodontus and Clidastes moorevillensis. The genus Clidastes is thought to represent an early radiation of a diverse clade known as the Mosasaurinae. However, most phylogenetic analyses recover the genus as paraphyletic with respect to more highly nested mosasaurines such as Mosasaurus, Prognathodon, and Globidens. The fragmentary holotype of Clidastes liodontus was never figured or fully described, and was destroyed in World War II. Over 20 years after destruction of the holotype, relatively complete specimens were referred to Clidastes liodontus based upon a single, variable character. Another taxon, originally designated Clidastes liodontus moorevillensis in a master’s thesis and then elevated to Clidastes moorevillensis in a separate dissertation, has never been formally described and lacks definitive diagnostic characters that differentiate it from the contemporary concept of Clidastes liodontus. Clidastes provides an excellent example of how historical inertia in taxonomic nomenclature can build over decades and skew our interpretations of the diversity, paleobiology, biogeography, and biostratigraphy of a taxon. Clidastes liodontus is a nomen dubium and Clidastes moorevillensis a nomen nudum. I recommend that both names be abandoned. Removal of those names frees us from a burdensome taxonomy and eliminates cognitive biases that hinder objective understanding and exploration of early-diverging mosasaurines, and is a necessary first step toward a taxonomic revision of the lineage(s) involved.     

The Italian Communist Party,local government and the Cold War

The Italian national elections of 18 April 1948 handed power to the Christian Democratic Party. The Italian Communist Party had, however, gained significant municipal control in the local elections of 1946. For the Communists, the local level became the testing ground where administrative practices, political initiatives, social alliances and economic projects were developed. The leaders and the intellectuals worked to outline the cultural framework of a political project which could challenge national politics from town councils. Meanwhile, with a view to making gains in the local elections of 1951–1952, propaganda was used in an attempt to diffuse and proselytise municipal political programmes among different social classes in a divided socioeconomic environment.