China’s Evolving Policy towards the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea under Xi Jinping

Despite international pressure to condemn North Korea (DPRK), China’s successive leaderships have dealt carefully with Pyongyang, especially vis-à-vis its nuclear weapons program. This moderate stance reflects the two countries’ decades-long relationship, summarised in the Chinese idiom that Pyongyang and Beijing are “as close as lips and teeth”. Nevertheless, the DPRK’s third nuclear test in February 2013 raised enormous challenges for the new Xi Jinping leadership to maintain the previous DPRK policy focused on the status quo and stability on the Korean Peninsula. China’s attitudes and policies towards the DPRK after the provocative third test signified a possible reorientation of Beijing’s DPRK policy. This generated repercussions in the countries concerned and prompted debates among experts. This article asks how these events should be understood and what their implications are for the Xi leadership’s policy on the DPRK, the stability of the Korean Peninsula, and Northeast Asia. Given China’s competitive relations with other major powers, we conclude that the Xi leadership will not abandon the DPRK; indeed it will reinforce the policy of strengthening China’s influence over it. Nonetheless one aspect of doing so will involve China opening up to other – cooperative, multilateral – approaches to reinforcing stability on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia.     

What can pollen grains from the Terracotta Army tell us?

The provenance of more than 2200-year-old terracotta warriors and horses in the Qin Shihuang Mausoleum is still a mystery, even though some researchers have inferred that the terracotta figures were produced near the mausoleum. The sporomorphs (pollen and spores) extracted from terracotta fragments of a warrior and a horse and compared with those obtained from soil samples from the Qin Dynasty layer in Pit No. 2 of the Qin Shihuang Mausoleum indicate that the pollen spectrum from the terracotta horse is different from that of the warrior, but similar to the local soil samples. Herbaceous pollen was dominant in the warrior sample, while arboreal pollen predominates in the horse and soil samples. Palynological evidence suggests that the terracotta horses were produced at a locality near the mausoleum, while the warrior came from a site which was further afield.     

"天高皇帝近":一个重要的中国思想史命题——雷戈《秦汉之际的政治思想与皇权主义》评介

雷戈所著《秦汉之际的政治思想与皇权主义》一书,认为从秦朝到汉初的思想史发展阶段是中国思想史上皇权主义意识形态的生成和确立时期,并将其概括为"后战国时代";采用独特的"历史-思想"研究法,从政治制度、官场规则和官吏的政治生活中,挖掘特定时期的政治思想共识,为政治思想史研究开辟了新的路径,并扩大了思想史的资料范围;认为秦汉时期生成的皇权主义秩序,把"天高皇帝远"的制度现实变为"天高皇帝近"的观念实存,实现了对人们思想的可控性,从此,思想成为皇权可以控制和规范的领域,达到了有效的思想专制。这是秦汉以降中国思想史发展的基本特征。该书在研究方法的创新和思想深度的开掘上,都做出了独到的贡献。     

《惜抱轩书录》与姚鼐的学术倾向

《惜抱轩书录》为清代著名学者姚鼐所撰的四库提要初稿集,从其提要稿被《四库全书总目》采弃的情况中能充分地看出,姚鼐与当时的《四库全书总目》总纂官在学术观点上存在着一定的分歧,清代的汉宋学术之争由此可见一斑。     

从秦府集团成员仕进状况看区域文化合流

本文结合南北朝至隋末区域文化合流的背景,考察隋末唐初秦府集团成员的仕进状况,其中包括人才类型、家庭政治背景、个体政治势力来源、进入秦府的渠道、个体政治活动空间,认识了以李世民为核心的秦府政治集团,利用争夺天下之机,逐步拓展政治空间,将各地各类精英人才吸纳到秦府集团里来。在此过程中,李世民集团有意识地编织原北周、北齐、南陈入杨隋政治势力后裔,并用关陇、山东、江左这三大政治文化区域人才所长,将他们化入到同一个文化熔炉里融冶,大大推进了区域文化合流的步伐,在中华民族文化融合史上写下了崭新的篇章。     

试论朝鲜王朝尊明贬清的理论基础

明清时期的中朝关系一般被视为典型的朝贡关系,但在文化心态上,朝鲜一直采取尊明贬清的态度。朝鲜把明朝看成中华的化身,把满洲看成夷狄,明朝灭亡以后,朝鲜以“小中华”自居,因现实政治的需要,朝鲜大肆宣扬明朝的正统,贬斥清朝的正统。朝鲜以宋时烈为代表的性理学家,以朱熹的思想为基准,形成了以尊华攘夷为中心的华夷观作为他们处理与清朝外交关系的准则。他们对于正统论的论述,依从朱熹的思想,且只关心中国历史上王朝的正统性,而不关心其本国历史上王朝的正统性。这是朝鲜后期儒家性理学思想的一大特色,也是其尊明贬清的理论基础。     

从社会背景的差异看孔子与朱熹的义利观

孔子是儒家学派的创始人,朱熹是儒家思想传承过程中的重要一环———宋明理学的集大成者。二人的义利观在思想基础是有很大的相似性,但由于所生活的时代不同,社会背景相异,且作为当时代的学者,他们都相当关注当时代人们的生活和思想状况,因而,他们的义利观也因时代背景的差异而有了一些歧出之处。试图挖掘二者义利观的相异之处及其社会原因。     

云梦秦律新解(六则)

本文对云梦睡虎地秦墓出土的秦律文献中六处简文提出不同于睡虎地秦简整理小组注译的解读意见,重新探讨秦人的立法意图,寻求揭示秦法制相关内容的历史真实。     

《巩昌分属图说》初探

《巩昌分属图说》是一套彩绘的中国传统山水画式舆图及图说,为研究明代西北边防的重要图籍。笔者主要结合历史文献,从历史地理角度对舆图绘制的时间、背景、内容作了梳理和考证。