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An Analysis of the Relationship between Pierre Hoang and British Sinologist Edward Harper Parker’s Writings on Chinese Religions

Li Qiang

Abstract:British Sinologist Edward Harper Parker’s studies on Chinese religions were greatly influenced by Pierre Hoang, a Chinese Catholic scholar in the late Qing dynasty.This essay attempts to reveal the little-known academic exchanges between them by analyzing their writings on Chinese religions and their correspondence.To be more specific, Fr.Hoang’s book Jishuoquanzhen provided reliable material for Prof.Parker to conduct his research on Chinese religions.Moreover, their correspondences helped the latter solve a particular academic dispute in Western sinological circles.The academic exchanges between them shows the diversity of research activities on Chinese religion by modern sinologists, and also provides a unique perspective for us to understand Fr.Hoang and his works on religion.

Key words:Pierre Hoang, Edward Harper Parker, Sinologist, studies on Chinese Religions

On Du Halde’s Interpretation of the History of the Song Dynasty (960-1279)

Sun Jian

Abstract:Du Halde’s Description Géographique, historique, chronologique, politique et physique de l’Empire de la Chine et de la Tartarie Chinoise was one of the most important, comprehensive researches on Chinese history in 18th-century Europe.Although he claimed that he only played the role of an objective historian,his interpretation of Chinese history can still be found to be religiously driven.Du Halde schematically set a systematic structural framework and themes with clear viewpoints, then sought suitable materials in Chinese history, and adapted them into religious and moral stories to serve as sermons.He then classified them under each theme, which led to the fragmentation of Chinese history.His perspective of observing Chinese history was religious rather than historical, and his narration of the history of the Song dynasty mostly deviated from the actual historical significance of events.Thus the image of the Song dynasty in his work showed a specious distortion.

Key words:Du Halde, Description Géographique, historique, chronologique, politique et physique de l’Empire de la Chine et de la Tartarie Chinoise, Song dynasty, historiography

Gail Hershatter’s Study on Chinese Women

Wang Yan

Abstract:Gail Hershatter, the well-known U.S.historian specializing in the history of modern Chinese women, experienced the process of the history of women in the United States from its initial stage to its mature one.She is not only the follower of the trend, but also anacademic pioneer of the field.She follows the approaches of Euro-American historiography and American women’s and gender studies.And she is the first to adopt the theory of post-modernism and to take the social gender perspective to study the history of China with the attempt to highlight the role of women.In addition, she is open-minded and often inspired by cross-cultural studies.She looks for various marginal voices of women in her studies and pays attention to individual historical experience.After 2010, she places more emphasis on the combination of gender perspective with other perspectives in her studies, and gradually wins the recognition of Chinese scholars.

Key words:Gail Hershatter, Chinese women’s history in the U.S., gender history

Aoki Masaru’s China Nostalgia

Ma Baomin

Abstract:This study takes Aoki Masaru’s nostalgia for Chinese culture as the entry point, traces the background of its emergence, analyzes its expression, and explains its uniqueness.It argues that Aoki Masaru’s nostalgia of Chinese culture originated from his unlimited approach to Chinese culture, which was also the fundamental reason for his in-depth interpretation of the aesthetic psychology of Chinese literary thoughts and natural concepts.Meanwhile, his criticism of the vulgarity and poverty of modern Chinese culture and his concern for Chinese academic circles constituted another aspect of his nostalgia.However, Aoki Masaru still had high hopes for the future of China, which was exactly his goodwill towards the nostalgia of Chinese culture.

Key words:Japanese Sinology, Aoki Masako, Chinese cultural nostalgia, homesick mentality

Social Investigations and Map Descriptions of the Late Ming Dynasty in European Jesuits’ Cartography

Guo Liang

Abstract:In the late Ming Dynasty, European Jesuit missionaries created a classic case of cartography for China.However, the missionary maps published in Europe added unprecedented contents to the graphics.Especially in the eyes of Europeans, the expression of Ming Dynasty’s social culture, scenes of customs, descriptions of Chinese people, and geographical landscapes established an interesting relationship in the atlas between the textual description, observation and manner of depiction in the atlas.Martino Martini’s New Atlas of China published in the Netherlands uses the typical style of the Flemish cartographic school.It vividly presents the ritual scenes of Ming people in the map, juxtaposesa wide range of geographical space with the fixed perspective of realistic painting,trying to strike a delicate balance between the tradition of appreciation of European paintings and maps and the exotic Ming social landscape and sense of painting.The map of Martino Martini was the beginning of Europe’s deep understanding of China in the Ming Dynasty.Its descriptions complemented each other with the description of map texts, which has deeply influenced the way Europeans describe China in their texts.

Key words:Martino Martini, New Atlas of China, map, cartography, images of late Ming dynasty, genre scenes

Confucian-Christian Hermeneutics from the Word ‘Heaven’ to the Word ‘Lord of Heaven’:An Analysis of The Discourse on the Confucian Notions of Heaven, Taiji and on the Lord of Heaven in the Vatican Library

Wang Ge

Abstract:The Vatican Library’s collection of the transcript The Discourse on the Confucian notions of Heaven, Taiji and on the Lord of Heaven has not received much attention so far, and it should be an evidential document brought to the Vatican by Carlo Orizi (1673—1755)to criticize the Jesuits’ missionary strategies in China.The author interpreted the Confucian “heaven” into the Christian “God” and further discussed “god”from the perspective of the Neo-Confucian Taiji as monotheism and made further comprehensive interpretations based on Confucianism.The doctrinal orientation and strategies in it obviously followed and inherited the Jesuits’missionary strategies in China.To a certain extent, this transcript at least showed that the essential beliefs and basic strategies that Jesuit missionaries wanted to spread had been well received, understood and applied among the lower class of Chinese scholars.

Key words:The Discourse on the Confucian notions of Heaven, Taiji and on the Lord of Heaven,syncretism, hermeneutics

The Understanding of Confucianism by the French Jesuit Louis Daniel Le Comte in His Writing Nouveaux mémoires sur l’état présent de la Chine

Li Shenwen

Abstract:Sent by King Louis XIV to extend the influence of France in Eastern Asia, five French Jesuits,“the King’s Mathematicians”, arrived in China in 1687.Two members from this French mission, Jean-François Gerbillon (1654-1707)and Joachim Bouvet (1656-1730)were detained at the imperial court by Emperor Kangxi,while Jean de Fontaney (1643-1710), the superior of the mission, as well as Louis Daniel Le Comte (1655-1728)and Claude de Visdelou (1656-1737)were allowed to preach Christianity in the provinces.During the intensive period of the Chinese “Rites Controversy”, Le Comte published his book Nouveaux mémoires sur l’état présent de la Chine in Paris in 1696, in which he defended the Jesuit’s missionary approach in China.The book would be banned by the Sorbonne in 1700, yet it contained very rich information on Chinese culture and society, including on Confucius, Confucian morality and traditional ritual practices.It influenced the philosophers of the Enlightenment, including Voltaire, Quesnay and Leibniz.This paper studies Le Comte’s perception of Confucianism through his interpretation of Confucian classics and traditions.

Key words:Jesuits, French mission, Louis-Daniel Le Comte, New Reports on the Present Condition of China (Nouveaux mémoires sur l’état présent de la Chine), Confucius, Confucianism

A Comparative Study of the King’s Mathematicians’ Scientific Division of Labor and Their Expedition in China

Lü Ying

Abstract:The five “King’s Mathematicians” sent to China by King Louis XIV of France were different from former missionaries to China.They were the first group directly sent and sponsored by a secular monarch, and they shouldered the dual missions of preaching their religion and conducting scientific investigation.At present,it is generally believed that the mission was very loose and their research activities were completely unrelated.By comparing the scientific division of the labor of each member with their investigation in China, this paper reveals that the results of their research not only complemented each other, but also implemented the original program.

Key words:King’s Mathematicians, Jesuit, missionary sinology, Sino-French Cultural Exchange

A Comparative Study of Pre-Qin Historical Documents in the Palace Examination of the Ming Dynasty of China and the Li Dynasty of Korea

Chen Long & Yang SuKyeong

Abstract:Historical documents of Pre-Qin dynasty were one of the important contents often quoted in the palace examination of the Ming dynasty of China and the Li dynasty of Korea.Based on a statistical analysis and comparison of the quantity, frequency, content and nature of the pre-Qin historical documents quoted in the palace examination of the two countries, this paper investigates the similarities and differences of the quotations in the two countries, makes an in-depth analysis of the different evaluations of pre-Qin history under the same cultural background due to the differences of regional politics and national conditions, and investigates the dissemination and development of the palace examination, a carrier of traditional culture.

Key words:Ming Dynasty of China, Li Dynasty of Korea, Palace Examination, Pre-Qin historical documents, Comparison

Introduction of Western Wine into Shanxi during the Ming and Qing Dynasties

Liu Bojun

Abstract:Grapes were imported into China via the Silk Road around the time of the Han dynasty, and they were used to make wine in the early Tang dynasty.By the end of the Ming dynasty, when Catholicism entered China, grape planting and the technology of wine making were inferior to that in the West, and the quality of the wine was worse.It could not meet the qualifications and demand of religious usage.Taiyuan grapes, with its superior quality and quantity, were praised by Marco Polo, which became the reason for the Jesuits to successfully make wine in Shanxi.This high-quality wine not only solved the missionary problems, but also was accepted by Shanxi people, objectively promoting cultural exchanges between China and the West.

Key words:wine, missionary, Shanxi

On the Representation of Traditional Chinese Fiction in Contemporary Western Histories of Chinese Literature: Centered on The Columbia History of Chinese Literature and The Cambridge History of Chinese Literature

Zhang Hongbo & Wei Chongxin

Abstract:The Columbia History of Chinese Literature and The Cambridge History of Chinese Literature are the most representative histories of Chinese Literature in the West today.Their accounts of traditional Chinese fiction manifest the latest achievements and new horizons of Sinologyin the West.This essay sorts out the present state of the knowledge system of traditional Chinese novels in these two histories, analyzes the different ways of narration of traditional Chinese novels, and then discusses the Western academic perspectives and methods reflected behind them, while analyzing their successes and failures.

Key words:The Columbia History of Chinese Literature, The Cambridge History of Chinese Literature,western history of Chinese literature, Chinese ancient fictions

The Spread and Acceptance of Modern and Contemporary Chinese Literature in Eastern Europe

Chen Lifeng

Abstract:There were two upsurges in the translation and spread of modern and contemporary Chinese literature in Eastern Europe.One was in the 1950s with the establishment of diplomatic relations with New China,and the other was in the 21st century.During this time, it experienced two low points.One was the alienation of relations between Eastern Europe and China in the mid-1960s, and the other was the years after the dramatic changes in Eastern Europe in 1989.Generally speaking, the literary relationship between China and Eastern European countries was closely related to the international political situation, the countries’ diplomatic relations,and the improvement of the countries’ overallstrength.It was also subject to the dual constraints of the production environment of the source-language country and the acceptance of the environment.

Key words:Modern and contemporary Chinese literature, Eastern Europe, Sinology, translations,dissemination

A Study onWing-tsit Chan’s English Translation of Chuanxilu from the Perspective of Metonymy

Xin Hongjuan & Fei Zhouying

Abstract:Maria Tymoczko put forward that translation is metonymy, and believes that the metonymics translation is a process of recreation, and translators should choose appropriate translation methods according to different objective environments to serve the corresponding translation purposes.On the other hand, the metonymics of translation is also reflected in partiality.Translation stands for the original text by highlighting specific segments or parts, or by allowing specific attributes of the original text to dominate and represent the entire original text.This paper intends to explore the linguistic and cultural metonymic features of the translated version of Chuanxilu by Wing-tsit Chan from both the micro and macro perspectives.His translation focuses directly on the differences between Chinese and western languages and philosophies.By metonymic substitution and cultural interpretation, he presents the differences between the philosophical systems of China and the West in the texts.The comparatively philosophical translation of texts is enlightening to the construction of the system of overseas Chinese academic discourse.

Key words:Wing-tsit Chan, Chuanxilu, translation, metonymics

A Study on the Shoo King Translated by W.H.Medhurst

Liu Liyi

Abstract:As the first complete translated version of Shujing in the English-speaking world, W.H.Medhurst’s work laid an important foundation for subsequent English versions.Based on Shuji zhuan by Cai Chen,Medhurst’s translation tried to integrate the textual research of Chinese history and culture into the translation notes, showing the academic orientation of the translation.The translator adopted the strategies of canceling philosophical explanations and adding the textual research and criticism in the translation of the Confucian classics in the Chinese discourse system to construct a chronicle history of ancient China, which opened the way for the study of the classics using modern Western historical methods.Generally speaking, the translator held a fair attitude in the translation of the text, but was influenced by the historical view of Christianity, thus the translation had its limitations.

Key words:Confucian classics, the methodology of history, sinology, W.H.Medhurst, Shu jing, English translation

The Acceptance of Denglou fu and the Creation of Cifu in the Li Dynasty of Korean

Liu Siwen

Abstract:Wang Can’s Denglou fu was especially valued in the period of the Li dynasty of Korea after it had spread to the Korean Peninsula.It was passed on by scholars as a model for learning and applied to their works.“WangCan” “Zhongxuan” “WangCanfu” “Zhongxuanlou” “Dengloufu” became common images in the works of literati at that time.The wide acceptance of Denglou fu promoted the development of the lyric fu and extended it in both content and form in the specific historical period of the unification of the Li dynasty.

Key words:Li dynasty of Korea, Denglou fu, classic acceptance, literature