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.     

‘A wonderful city of palms and dates’: Salamis-Constantia in transition from Late Antiquity to the early Middle Ages (ca. 600–ca. 800 CE)

The article focuses on Salamis-Constantia, the political and ecclesiastical capital of the island of Cyprus, from the 360s to the tenth century, marking the passage from Late Antiquity to the early Middle Ages. The aim here is to debunk the historiographical model proposed for interpreting the declining fortunes of Cypriot urban sites, while at the same time applying the category of transition in order to explain the changes experienced in the local economic life, material culture and socio-political structures.     

Cultural geographies of the contact zone: Gaels,Gallsand overlapping territories in late medieval Ireland

In writing about the social and cultural geographies of the past, we frequently reinforce notions of difference by using neatly delineated ethnic terms of reference that often superscribe the complexities of reality on the ground. Referring to ‘Gaels’ and ‘Galls’, demarcating ‘native’ and ‘foreign’ worlds in late medieval Ireland, is but one example. We often exaggerate, too, the boundedness of geographical space by speaking more of frontiers and less of overlapping territories. Using the context of late medieval Ireland, I propose in this paper the application and broadening of the concept of the contact zone—prevalent in postcolonial studies for a number of years—to address this specific issue of overstating social and cultural geographical cohesion and separation in the past. The use of the concept of the contact zone in geography has been largely confined to the modern period, which in the extant literature has received priority for various reasons, not least of which is the wider availability of source material. However, in this paper, I suggest that its relevance to the study of the medieval period is equally as strong, and perhaps its application can serve to deflect our imaginings of earlier geographical worlds as somehow more static and less complicated, and instead open the possibility of reading the fluidity and interconnections of the more distant past.     

Chinese Objects in Eurasian Empire: On the Cultural Meaning of Chinese Art in Russia in the Late 17th–Early 18th Centuries

This article examines special features of “Chinoiserie” or “Chinese fashion” (“Kitaischina”) in Russia from the late 17th to the early 18th century: The reign of Peter the First. It discusses this cultural phenomenon’s historical origins, demonstrates the role of Chinese luxury goods and art objects in the era’s Russo-Chinese cultural exchange, and illustrates how Chinese decorative arts were used in Russian palaces. While Chinoiserie in Russia was influenced by similar trends in Western Europe, it was rooted in the unique history of regular contacts between Russia and the Qing Empire. Chinese objects not only appeared as commodities in the higher levels of Russian society, they also contributed to the prestige of the Russian state. Peter the First had a political purpose behind the collection, display and imitation of Chinese art objects in Russian palaces, as these practices demonstrated the growing wealth and power of newly established Russian Empire, which enjoyed trade connections with the Qing Empire. While contemporary perceptions of China in Russia were derived mostly by the exotic images of export art, ethnographic collections of genuine Chinese utensils, which were founded during that period, also contributed to Russian views of China. This research uses a comprehensive methodology, combining studies of material objects preserved in Russian museums and written sources, including archival records.     

对2005年海峡两岸政党交往的回顾与思考

中华民族的血缘历史脐带,两岸对和平的共同诉求,使得2005年两岸政党交往有了现实可能。从国民党、亲民党、新党三党角度而言,两岸政党交往具有缅怀先烈、寻根祭祖、政党之间的政治和解、推动两岸的经贸合作等诉求和特点。两岸政党交往影响深远:增进了彼此的了解与理解,为发展两岸关系奠定了现实基础;建立了政党定期沟通平台,为两岸关系发展提供了新枢纽;促进了两岸的经贸合作,为发展两岸关系添加了润滑剂。     

皖江城市带空间经济联系的网络特征及优化方向研究

基于社会网络分析的视角,分析了皖江城市带城市空间经济联系的网络特征,提出了其经济联系的优化方向。结果显示:从网络密度看,空间经济联系网络还处于弱联结状态;就点度中心度来说,芜湖的点出度最大,合肥的点入度最大;由接近中心度与中间中心度可知,合肥、芜湖、马鞍山等城市的经济联系最紧密,但网络中还存在不均衡。通过凝聚子群分析得出,网络中存在四个子群,其中芜湖、马鞍山联系最紧密,边缘区城市间经济联系较少。结合皖江城市带空间经济联系的网络特征,从内、外两方面,抽象出其经济联系的优化方向。     

Writing the History of Archaeology in the Pacific: Voices and Perspectives

ABSTRACT

In histories of world archaeology to date the Pacific is all but missing. There has been some investigation into the history of archaeology in Australia and New Zealand, and other piecemeal work focusing on single countries or biographies of individuals, but much remains to be done. We offer a critical overview of general literature on the history of archaeology in the Pacific and stress the potential for a deeper knowledge of archaeology's histories in the region to transform current archaeological theory and practice. We then suggest important avenues for further investigation, including the historiography of Pacific archaeology, diverse national and linguistic traditions, international linkages between scholars and practitioners, pre-World War II excavations, theories about trans-Pacific contacts, and the often-hidden importance of women and Indigenous scholars and interlocutors in the field. Each of these themes is addressed by one or more of the papers in this special issue.     

Interethnic Dynamics among the Indigenous Peoples of Southern Siberia (Demographic Aspect)*

This study presents an overview of the ethnic and demographic characteristics of Turkic indigenous peoples living in the Sayan-Altai region, including dynamics in marital structure, ethnically assortative marriage, and level of admixture among the Kumandins in the Altai Territory; the Shor in the Kemerovo Province; the Altai-Kizhi, Kumandins, Telengits, Tubalars, and Chelkans in the Altai Republic; and the Khakas (Kachin, Koibal, Kyzyl, and Sagai) in the Republic of Khakassia. Temporal and territorial differences in levels of interethnic mixing within the selected communities are revealed. The study shows that during the period 1940–2009, the rate of monoethnic marriages decreased and the number of interethnic marriages in virtually all communities under investigation increased with the exception of the southern Altaians and the Khakas-Sagai. Specific features of interethnic mixing are identified. Marriage to representatives of the migrant (Russian-speaking) population prevails among the northern Altaians (Kumandins, Tubalars, and Chelkans), Khakas-Kyzyl, and Shor of the mountain taiga region, Kemerovo Province. Marriages to members of other indigenous peoples in southern Siberia are common among the Khakas-Koibal, Khakas-Kachin, and the Abakan Shor. These trends illustrate the nature of ethnic and demographic development in the Sayan-Altai region.