Pursuing Moral Governance

A millennium ago in Northern Song (960–1127) China, Emperor Huizong initiated the “Eight Virtues of Conduct” in order to recruit morally upright officials. In place of the candidates’ skills in literary composition and understanding of the Confucian classics, this scheme adopted candidates’ moral virtues as their major criterion of selection. This paper analyzes how this scheme was implemented. It also shows that the rejection of certain genuinely virtuous nominees and the recruitment of some candidates who had exhibited objectionable conduct somehow compromised the emperor’s ideal. This analysis is followed by a discussion of the political and social implications of the scheme. Instead of perceiving this promotion channel as a means for Huizong and Chief Councilor Cai Jing to eliminate dissidents and install ideological conformity, the author argues that the scheme was an initiative of the emperor to counter the chief councilor’s dominance and alleviate factional conflicts. The final section examines the extent to which this scheme facilitated social mobility in the Song dynasty.     

民族与时尚:清代的鹿肉消费及其特征

鹿在满人生活中占有重要地位,鹿肉是满人消费的重要对象。清代官方记载食用鹿肉的来源主要有三:东三省进贡、木兰围场和新疆进贡。通过鹿肉赏赐,汉人品尝到具有满族特色的食品,并对鹿肉的美味津津乐道。京城旗人消费鹿肉,皇帝赏赐官员鹿肉,显示了清代鹿肉消费的民族特色。鹿肉产量较少,故鹿肉的赏赐形成了制度。鹿肉价格较贵,对鹿肉的消费始终被限制在一定的阶层范围内。     

论河图洛书与八卦起源

河图洛书,按原始涵义应为龙图出河、龟书出洛,乃伏羲画八卦、夏禹订九畴之象征性原料,非北宋图书学派之所谓黑白点数和异论伪作。伏羲是一种图腾族徽,是在由渔猎时代向农耕时代过渡发展的一个漫长时代的氏族长的总代表和总象征。结合文物考古中发现的“龙”,足以说明“河图”即是图腾,河图和洛书皆为中华民族的崇拜物。八卦的诞生是先民们经过长期“仰观俯察”的结果。     

科学实证与文化阐释:中国新史学之双轨

中国新史学中最常见的两种历史研究方式是科学实证与文化阐释,前者旨在建立历史事实之真或寻求历史演变之理,后者则以探寻历史之意义或彰显切实之史识为目标,此二者可谓中国新史学之"双轨"。中国新史学正是沿此"双轨"向前发展的。从新史学之"双轨"着眼,并依据"新异性的标准",中国新史学界应有"八大家",他们分别是:梁启超、王国维、陈寅恪、胡适、顾颉刚、傅斯年、郭沫若和钱穆。科学实证与文化阐释,这两种不同的历史研究取径,展示了中国新史学研究的多元面相,二者之间是相互融通的,并无根本性的冲突与对垒,其在治史观念与方法上亦可做到相互补益,相得益彰。许冠三在《新史学九十年》中因陷入"科学"迷思的褊狭"新史学观",以科学实证拒斥文化阐释,故而未能将钱穆基于"文化"视角来研究历史的文化史学视为新史学。钱穆的新史学特质主要表现为:在继承中国传统史学遗产之基础上,注重历史研究主体与客体的统一,以文化为本位,以阐释为取径,其典型表现是"以士释史";以中国为立场,注重探寻本国历史文化之意义,探求与本国历史文化相符合之史识,强调历史学的经世致用功能。钱穆的新史学观与后现代主义在批判科学主义历史学、反对文化一元论和西方中心主义历史观等方面多有契合之处,但其以"于客观中求实证"为基础的历史认识论与走向历史虚无主义的后现代主义有着本质的区别。     

雍正引见绿营武官的相关问题

本文在考辨官员引见资料的基础上,结合相关史料,对雍正朝引见的绿营武官的籍贯、民族、身份、年龄等问题作了详尽的数据表列并进行分析,说明了当时选武官轻视武举人、重视战功等现象,揭示了武官的区域分布和民族构成及其与政治社会的关系。     

清代新疆冰岭道建置考

冰岭道作为乾隆平回之后为屯田伊犁而设的首条官方台路,其重要性自不待言。然而,长期以来,学界对这一问题的研究却较为缺乏。近年来,虽有学者对冰岭道做了专门探讨,但对于此路最为重要且变化最为剧烈的建置初期的情形,却由于汉文史料的匮乏而论述简略,考证失实。有鉴于此,本文在吸收前人经验的基础上,充分利用满汉文史料,对冰岭道的建置情形进行了考察。首先,证实了冰岭道建置初期并非仅有两阶段,而是有着层次分明的三个阶段。其次,对三阶段中所设台站的兴废增减进行了梳理,并阐明其调整过程不仅反映了台站职能的变化,更体现了清廷对新疆统治思想的变迁。最后,考证出伊犁驻防建设初期,伊犁地区与外界沟通的官方台路仅有冰岭道一条。     

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.     

榆林25窟一佛八菩萨图研究

在吐蕃统治敦煌时期所开凿的洞窟中,榆林25窟是相对较特殊的一个,窟内南北两壁的观无量寿经变与弥勒经变延续了盛唐洞窟中经变画的构图、风格,而正壁残存的一佛八菩萨图在造像样式上与窟内其他图像则有一定的差别。从正壁残存的主尊、菩萨名号题记中可以发现,唐代不空译《八大菩萨曼荼罗经》能够与之相对应,但是该经对八大菩萨身形的描述与榆林25窟的图像有一定差别。此图像与藏经洞中的部分绢画具有类似的风格特征,其中一部分有藏文题记,表明它们与居住在敦煌的吐蕃信众有密切的关系,而藏经洞中发现的藏文抄写的《八大菩萨曼拏罗经》可以证明此地的吐蕃信众确实信奉这一经典。一佛八菩萨的图像在吐蕃本土拉萨及青海地区屡有发现,其中西藏昌都与青海玉树的两处摩崖石刻由高僧益西央开凿,年代均在九世纪初,这些遗迹说明一佛八菩萨图像在吐蕃本土的流传情况。在这几处图像与榆林25窟的一佛八菩萨的比较中可以发现,吐蕃流行的八大菩萨图样并不十分固定,但其构图和风格是基本接近的,而榆林25窟所采用的图像可能来源于吐蕃地区。     

On Meng Sen’s teaching and lecture notes of Ming and Qing history at Peking University during the 1930s

ABSTRACT

While teaching the histories of the Ming and Qing dynasties, Meng Sen (1869–1937), developed three textbooks in the 1930s: Lecture Notes on the Ming History (明史讲义 Mingshi jiangyi), Lecture Notes on the Qing History (清史讲义 Qingshi jiangyi), and Lecture Notes on the History of the Founding of the Manchu State (满洲开国史讲义 Manzhou kaiguo shi jiangyi). In these book titles, the term “history” refers specifically to “standard history.” In tracing Meng Sen’s original intention in producing these textbooks, all three works suggest the author’s desire to write history. He wrote Lecture Notes on the Ming History to prepare a future revision of the History of the Ming (明史 Mingshi); similarly he wrote Lecture Notes on the Qing History and Lecture Notes on the History of the Founding of the Manchu State with the intention to revise the Draft History of the Qing (清史稿 Qingshi gao). Meng Sen summarized Sima Guang’s (司马光, 1019–86) view of history as “imitating the good and avoiding the bad,” which he believed represented the “essential meaning of history.” Meng followed Sima Guang’s model in compiling the Lecture Notes on the Ming History and Lecture Notes on the Qing History, as shown in their style and format. By comparison, his writing of the Lecture Notes on the History of the Founding of the Manchu State attempted to merge the traditional annals–biographic style with narrative history from the West, or to pour old wine into a new bottle. Meng Sen presented his innovative efforts at Peking University, introducing young scholars to standards for history writing, and doing his utmost to guide and encourage his students; some of whom became noted scholars in the study of Ming and Qing histories.     

A Textual Study of the Myth of Manchu Origin

The myth of Manchu origin was narrated in different versions with the same theme and variant details. Based on Manchu documents, the myth of Manchu origin has two early versions that were written in Manchu with minor differences in the narration of the story. From the earliest version of 1635 to the version compiled in the nineteenth century, all the authors highlight that the origin of the Manchu people as coming from a heavenly being, with the purpose of reinforcing the Qing dynasty’s legitimacy as coming from the heaven, as was officially declared by the Qing government throughout the dynasty. This article makes a comparative study based on evidential research on the facts contained in different versions of the myth and the time periods of composition.