1.
Seokgatap
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Seokgatap is a stone pagoda in South Korea designated as the 21st National Treasure on December 12,1962. Its full name is Sakyamuni Yeoraesangjuseolbeop Tap, and is referred to as the Shadowless Pagoda or the Bulguksa Samcheung Seoktap. The pagoda stands 8.2 meters high, directly across from Dabotap within the Bulguksa Temple complex in Gyeongju and it probably dates to around 751, when Bulguksa was completed. The Seokgatap pagoda is in distinct contrast with its more elaborate brother the Dabotap, the pagoda is of a very simple and basic design and the three stories have a pleasing 4,3,2 ratio which gives the pagoda a sense of balance, stability, and symmetry. The pagodas three stories rest on a two tiered base, the simplicity of the pagoda is reinforced by the fact that there are no carvings or reliefs on the faces of the pagoda. Although, the pagoda is surrounded by eight lotus flower stones, the top of the pagoda, which is rather elaborate, was added in 1973 to match a pagoda that was built one hundred years after Seokgatap. Asadal was a stonemason of Baekje who was brought to Silla to build Dabotap and Seokgatap. After several years with no news of her husband, Asadals young wife went to Seorabeol to find him, however, she was prevented from entering Bulguksa Temple due to the rule that women were not allowed inside until the pagodas were finished. Feeling sorry for the woman wandering the temple surroundings, one monk told Asadals wife that she would be able to see the shadow in the pond once it was completed. However, there was no shadow visible on the ponds surface, upon hearing rumors that Asadal intended to marry a Silla princess, his wife threw herself into the pond and drowned. By the time Asadal reached the pond after completing the pagoda, in tears, Asadal engraved an image of his wife onto a rock before returning home to Baekje. Afterward, Seokgatap was named the Shadowless Pagoda because its shadow was not visible on the pond, in 1966, the monks of the temple were awakened by sounds of exploding dynamite. They discovered that thieves had attempted to blast the pagoda and steal what was hidden inside, a sarira is a reliquary that contains the remains of an esteemed monk or sometimes royalty. After the failed theft by robbers, workers refurbishing and repairing the pagoda found the treasures hidden inside, notably, the Dabotap pagoda was dismantled by the Japanese for repairs during the 1920s but no record mentions any treasure recovered. Treasures included an image of a Buddhist spirit, a bronze mirror, a miniature wooden pagoda, silk, perfume, gogok. A bundle of papers were found in the foundation of the pagoda, the sarira box is shaped like a house, and has an engraved roof. Each of the walls of the case have a vine pattern that runs up to the roof. Lotus motifs are used throughout as well and the top of the roof has a leaf-shaped ornamentation, the oldest extant woodblock print is a copy of the Mugujeonggwang Great Dharani Sutra
2.
Gautama Buddha
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Gautama Buddha, also known as Siddhārtha Gautama, Shakyamuni Buddha, or simply the Buddha, after the title of Buddha, was an ascetic and sage, on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. He is believed to have lived and taught mostly in the part of ancient India sometime between the sixth and fourth centuries BCE. Gautama taught a Middle Way between sensual indulgence and the severe asceticism found in the śramaṇa movement common in his region and he later taught throughout other regions of eastern India such as Magadha and Kosala. Gautama is the figure in Buddhism. He is recognized by Buddhists as a teacher who attained full Buddhahood. Accounts of his life, discourses, and monastic rules are believed by Buddhists to have been summarized after his death, various collections of teachings attributed to him were passed down by oral tradition and first committed to writing about 400 years later. Scholars are hesitant to make unqualified claims about the facts of the Buddhas life. Apart from the Vedic Brahmins, the Buddhas lifetime coincided with the flourishing of influential schools of thought like Ājīvika, Cārvāka, Jainism. Brahmajala Sutta records sixty-two such schools of thought, thus, Buddha was just one of the many śramaṇa philosophers of that time. The times of Gautamas birth and death are uncertain, most historians in the early 20th century dated his lifetime as circa 563 BCE to 483 BCE. These alternative chronologies, however, have not yet accepted by all historians. It was either a republic, or an oligarchy, and his father was an elected chieftain. He obtained his enlightenment in Bodh Gaya, gave his first sermon in Sarnath, no written records about Gautama were found from his lifetime or some centuries thereafter. One Edict of Asoka, who reigned from circa 269 BCE to 232 BCE, another one of his edicts mentions the titles of several Dhamma texts, establishing the existence of a written Buddhist tradition at least by the time of the Maurya era. These texts may be the precursor of the Pāli Canon and they are written in the Gāndhārī language using the Kharosthi script on twenty-seven birch bark manuscripts and date from the first century BCE to the third century CE. The sources for the life of Siddhārtha Gautama are a variety of different and these include the Buddhacarita, Lalitavistara Sūtra, Mahāvastu, and the Nidānakathā. Of these, the Buddhacarita is the earliest full biography, a poem written by the poet Aśvaghoṣa in the first century CE. The Lalitavistara Sūtra is the next oldest biography, a Mahāyāna/Sarvāstivāda biography dating to the 3rd century CE, the Mahāvastu from the Mahāsāṃghika Lokottaravāda tradition is another major biography, composed incrementally until perhaps the 4th century CE
3.
Simplified Chinese characters
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Simplified Chinese characters are standardized Chinese characters prescribed in the Table of General Standard Chinese Characters for use in mainland China. Along with traditional Chinese characters, it is one of the two character sets of the contemporary Chinese written language. The government of the Peoples Republic of China in mainland China has promoted them for use in printing since the 1950s and 1960s in an attempt to increase literacy and they are officially used in the Peoples Republic of China and Singapore. Traditional Chinese characters are used in Hong Kong, Macau. Overseas Chinese communities generally tend to use traditional characters, Simplified Chinese characters may be referred to by their official name above or colloquially. Strictly, the latter refers to simplifications of character structure or body, character forms that have existed for thousands of years alongside regular, Simplified character forms were created by decreasing the number of strokes and simplifying the forms of a sizable proportion of traditional Chinese characters. Some simplifications were based on popular cursive forms embodying graphic or phonetic simplifications of the traditional forms, some characters were simplified by applying regular rules, for example, by replacing all occurrences of a certain component with a simplified version of the component. Variant characters with the pronunciation and identical meaning were reduced to a single standardized character. Finally, many characters were left untouched by simplification, and are identical between the traditional and simplified Chinese orthographies. Some simplified characters are very dissimilar to and unpredictably different from traditional characters and this often leads opponents not well-versed in the method of simplification to conclude that the overall process of character simplification is also arbitrary. In reality, the methods and rules of simplification are few, on the other hand, proponents of simplification often flaunt a few choice simplified characters as ingenious inventions, when in fact these have existed for hundreds of years as ancient variants. However, the Chinese government never officially dropped its goal of further simplification in the future, in August 2009, the PRC began collecting public comments for a modified list of simplified characters. The new Table of General Standard Chinese Characters consisting of 8,105 characters was promulgated by the State Council of the Peoples Republic of China on June 5,2013, cursive written text almost always includes character simplification. Simplified forms used in print have always existed, they date back to as early as the Qin dynasty, One of the earliest proponents of character simplification was Lubi Kui, who proposed in 1909 that simplified characters should be used in education. In the years following the May Fourth Movement in 1919, many anti-imperialist Chinese intellectuals sought ways to modernise China, Traditional culture and values such as Confucianism were challenged. Soon, people in the Movement started to cite the traditional Chinese writing system as an obstacle in modernising China and it was suggested that the Chinese writing system should be either simplified or completely abolished. Fu Sinian, a leader of the May Fourth Movement, called Chinese characters the writing of ox-demons, lu Xun, a renowned Chinese author in the 20th century, stated that, If Chinese characters are not destroyed, then China will die. Recent commentators have claimed that Chinese characters were blamed for the problems in China during that time
4.
Traditional Chinese characters
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Traditional Chinese characters are Chinese characters in any character set that does not contain newly created characters or character substitutions performed after 1946. They are most commonly the characters in the character sets of Taiwan, of Hong Kong. Currently, a number of overseas Chinese online newspapers allow users to switch between both sets. In contrast, simplified Chinese characters are used in mainland China, Singapore, the debate on traditional and simplified Chinese characters has been a long-running issue among Chinese communities. Although simplified characters are taught and endorsed by the government of Mainland China, Traditional characters are used informally in regions in China primarily in handwriting and also used for inscriptions and religious text. They are often retained in logos or graphics to evoke yesteryear, nonetheless, the vast majority of media and communications in China is dominated by simplified characters. Taiwan has never adopted Simplified Chinese characters since it is ruled by the Republic of China, the use of simplified characters in official documents is even prohibited by the government in Taiwan. Simplified characters are not well understood in general, although some stroke simplifications that have incorporated into Simplified Chinese are in common use in handwriting. For example, while the name of Taiwan is written as 臺灣, similarly, in Hong Kong and Macau, Traditional Chinese has been the legal written form since colonial times. In recent years, because of the influx of mainland Chinese tourists, today, even government websites use simplified Chinese, as they answer to the Beijing government. This has led to concerns by residents to protect their local heritage. In Southeast Asia, the Chinese Filipino community continues to be one of the most conservative regarding simplification, while major public universities are teaching simplified characters, many well-established Chinese schools still use traditional characters. Publications like the Chinese Commercial News, World News, and United Daily News still use traditional characters, on the other hand, the Philippine Chinese Daily uses simplified. Aside from local newspapers, magazines from Hong Kong, such as the Yazhou Zhoukan, are found in some bookstores. In case of film or television subtitles on DVD, the Chinese dub that is used in Philippines is the same as the one used in Taiwan and this is because the DVDs belongs to DVD Region Code 3. Hence, most of the subtitles are in Traditional Characters, overseas Chinese in the United States have long used traditional characters. A major influx of Chinese immigrants to the United States occurred during the half of the 19th century. Therefore, the majority of Chinese language signage in the United States, including street signs, Traditional Chinese characters are called several different names within the Chinese-speaking world
5.
Pinyin
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Pinyin, or Hànyǔ Pīnyīn, is the official romanization system for Standard Chinese in mainland China, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan. It is often used to teach Standard Chinese, which is written using Chinese characters. The system includes four diacritics denoting tones, Pinyin without tone marks is used to spell Chinese names and words in languages written with the Latin alphabet, and also in certain computer input methods to enter Chinese characters. The pinyin system was developed in the 1950s by many linguists, including Zhou Youguang and it was published by the Chinese government in 1958 and revised several times. The International Organization for Standardization adopted pinyin as a standard in 1982. The system was adopted as the standard in Taiwan in 2009. The word Hànyǔ means the language of the Han people. In 1605, the Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci published Xizi Qiji in Beijing and this was the first book to use the Roman alphabet to write the Chinese language. Twenty years later, another Jesuit in China, Nicolas Trigault, neither book had much immediate impact on the way in which Chinese thought about their writing system, and the romanizations they described were intended more for Westerners than for the Chinese. One of the earliest Chinese thinkers to relate Western alphabets to Chinese was late Ming to early Qing Dynasty scholar-official, the first late Qing reformer to propose that China adopt a system of spelling was Song Shu. A student of the great scholars Yu Yue and Zhang Taiyan, Song had been to Japan and observed the effect of the kana syllabaries. This galvanized him into activity on a number of fronts, one of the most important being reform of the script, while Song did not himself actually create a system for spelling Sinitic languages, his discussion proved fertile and led to a proliferation of schemes for phonetic scripts. The Wade–Giles system was produced by Thomas Wade in 1859, and it was popular and used in English-language publications outside China until 1979. This Sin Wenz or New Writing was much more sophisticated than earlier alphabets. In 1940, several members attended a Border Region Sin Wenz Society convention. Mao Zedong and Zhu De, head of the army, both contributed their calligraphy for the masthead of the Sin Wenz Societys new journal. Outside the CCP, other prominent supporters included Sun Yat-sens son, Sun Fo, Cai Yuanpei, the countrys most prestigious educator, Tao Xingzhi, an educational reformer. Over thirty journals soon appeared written in Sin Wenz, plus large numbers of translations, biographies, some contemporary Chinese literature, and a spectrum of textbooks
6.
Shanxi
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Shanxi is a province of China, located in the North China region. Its one-character abbreviation is 晋, after the state of Jin that existed here during the Spring, the name Shanxi means West of the Mountains, a reference to the provinces location west of the Taihang Mountains. Shanxi borders Hebei to the east, Henan to the south, Shaanxi to the west, the capital of the province is Taiyuan. In the Spring and Autumn period, the state of Jin was located in what is now Shanxi and it underwent a three-way split into the states of Han, Zhao and Wei in 403 BC, the traditional date taken as the start of the Warring States period. By 221 BC, all of states had fallen to the state of Qin. The Han Dynasty ruled Shanxi as the province of Bingzhou, during the invasion of northern nomads in the Sixteen Kingdoms period, several regimes including the Later Zhao, Former Yan, Former Qin, and Later Yan continuously controlled Shanxi. They were followed by Northern Wei, a Xianbei kingdom, which had one of its earlier capitals at present-day Datong in northern Shanxi, the Tang Dynasty originated in Taiyuan. During the Tang Dynasty and after, present day Shanxi was called Hédōng, empress Wu Zetian, Chinas only female ruler, was born in Shanxi. Shanxi was initially home to the jiedushi of Hedong, Li Cunxu, shi Jingtang, founder of the Later Jin, the third of the Five Dynasties, ceded a piece of northern China to the Khitans in return for military assistance. This territory, called The Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, included a part of northern Shanxi, the ceded territory became a major problem for Chinas defense against the Khitans for the next 100 years, because it lay south of the Great Wall. He founded his dynasty by launching a coup against the Turkic Later Han Emperor. In the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, the sixteen ceded prefectures continued to be an area of contention between Song China and the Liao Dynasty. Later the Southern Song Dynasty abandoned all of North China, including Shanxi, the Mongol Yuan Dynasty divided China into provinces but did not establish Shanxi as a province. Shanxi only gained its present name and approximate borders during the Ming Dynasty which were of the same landarea, with the collapse of the Qing dynasty, Shanxi became part of the newly established Republic of China. During most of the Republic of Chinas period of rule over mainland China, Yan Xishan devoted himself to modernizing Shanxi and developing its resources during his reign over the province. During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Japan occupied much of the province after winning the Battle of Taiyuan, Shanxi was also a major battlefield between the Japanese and the Chinese communist guerrillas of the Eighth Route Army during the war. The soldiers of Shanxi province under Yan Xishan viciously fought against the invading Japanese, right after the defeat of Japan, much of the Shanxi countryside became important bases for the communist Peoples Liberation Army in the ensuing Chinese Civil War. Shanxi was eventually conquered by the communists, resulting in the warlord Yan Xishans retreat to Taiwan Island, for centuries, Shanxi served as the center of trade and banking, the Shanxi merchants were once synonymous with wealth
7.
China
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China, officially the Peoples Republic of China, is a unitary sovereign state in East Asia and the worlds most populous country, with a population of over 1.381 billion. The state is governed by the Communist Party of China and its capital is Beijing, the countrys major urban areas include Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Tianjin and Hong Kong. China is a power and a major regional power within Asia. Chinas landscape is vast and diverse, ranging from forest steppes, the Himalaya, Karakoram, Pamir and Tian Shan mountain ranges separate China from much of South and Central Asia. The Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, the third and sixth longest in the world, respectively, Chinas coastline along the Pacific Ocean is 14,500 kilometers long and is bounded by the Bohai, Yellow, East China and South China seas. China emerged as one of the worlds earliest civilizations in the basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. For millennia, Chinas political system was based on hereditary monarchies known as dynasties, in 1912, the Republic of China replaced the last dynasty and ruled the Chinese mainland until 1949, when it was defeated by the communist Peoples Liberation Army in the Chinese Civil War. The Communist Party established the Peoples Republic of China in Beijing on 1 October 1949, both the ROC and PRC continue to claim to be the legitimate government of all China, though the latter has more recognition in the world and controls more territory. China had the largest economy in the world for much of the last two years, during which it has seen cycles of prosperity and decline. Since the introduction of reforms in 1978, China has become one of the worlds fastest-growing major economies. As of 2016, it is the worlds second-largest economy by nominal GDP, China is also the worlds largest exporter and second-largest importer of goods. China is a nuclear weapons state and has the worlds largest standing army. The PRC is a member of the United Nations, as it replaced the ROC as a permanent member of the U. N. Security Council in 1971. China is also a member of numerous formal and informal multilateral organizations, including the WTO, APEC, BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the BCIM, the English name China is first attested in Richard Edens 1555 translation of the 1516 journal of the Portuguese explorer Duarte Barbosa. The demonym, that is, the name for the people, Portuguese China is thought to derive from Persian Chīn, and perhaps ultimately from Sanskrit Cīna. Cīna was first used in early Hindu scripture, including the Mahābhārata, there are, however, other suggestions for the derivation of China. The official name of the state is the Peoples Republic of China. The shorter form is China Zhōngguó, from zhōng and guó and it was then applied to the area around Luoyi during the Eastern Zhou and then to Chinas Central Plain before being used as an occasional synonym for the state under the Qing
8.
Chinese pagoda
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For the landmark in Birmingham, see Chinese Pagoda. Chinese pagodas are a part of Chinese architecture. Earliest base-structure type for Chinese pagodas were square-base and circular-base, by the 5th-10th centuries the Chinese began to build octagonal-base pagoda towers. Although it no longer stands, the tallest pre-modern pagoda in Chinese history was the 100-metre-tall wooden pagoda of Changan, iconography of Han is noticeable in architecture of the Chinese Pagoda. The image of the Shakyamuni Buddha in the abhaya mudra is also noticeable in some Chinese pagodas, Buddhist iconography is also inside of the symbolism in the pagoda. It was believed by some that they would influence the success of students taking the examinations for a civil service degree. From the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Southern and Northern Dynasties pagodas were built of wood. Wooden pagodas are resistant to earthquakes, however many have burnt down, examples of wooden pagodas, White Horse Pagoda at White Horse Temple, Luoyang. Futuci Pagoda in Xuzhou, built in the Three Kingdoms period, many of the pagodas in Stories About Buddhist Temples in Luoyang, a Northern Wei text, were wooden. The literature of subsequent eras also provides evidence of the domination of wooden construction in this period. The famous Tang Dynasty poet, Du Mu, once wrote,480 Buddhist temples of the Southern Dynasties, uncountable towers and pagodas stand in the misty rain. The oldest extant fully wooden pagoda standing in China today is the Pagoda of Fugong Temple in Ying County, Shanxi Province, during the Northern Wei and Sui dynasties experiments began with the construction of brick and stone pagodas. Even at the end of the Sui, however, wood was still the most common material, only the Songyue Pagoda has survived, a circular-based pagoda built out of stone in 523 AD. The earliest extant brick pagoda is the 40-metre-tall Songyue Pagoda in Dengfeng Country and this curved, circle-based pagoda was built in 523 during the Northern Wei Dynasty, and has survived for 15 centuries. Much like the later pagodas found during the following Tang Dynasty and its walls are 2.5 m thick, with a ground floor diameter of 10.6 m. Another early brick pagoda is the Sui Dynasty Guoqing Pagoda built in 597, the earliest large-scale stone pagoda is a Four Gates Pagoda at Licheng, Shandong, built in 611 during the Sui Dynasty. Like the Songyue Pagoda, it features a spire at its top. One of the earliest brick and stone pagodas was a construction built in the Jin Dynasty
9.
Khitan people
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They spoke the Khitan language, which is related to the Mongolic languages. As the Liao dynasty, they dominated a vast area north of and including parts of China, There is no consensus on the etymology of the name of Khitan. Feng Jiasheng argues that it comes from the Yuwen chieftains names, zhao Zhenji thinks that the term originated from Xianbei and means a place where Xianbei had resided. Japanese people scholar Otagi Matsuo considers Khitans original name is Xidan, various forms of the word Khitan survive in the many languages as the name of China. The use of the name Khitai to mean China or Chinese in such Turkic languages as Uyghur is considered pejorative by the Han Chinese and they have different stories about their origin. According to Khitan records, their ancestor was Qishou Khagan. Qishou Khagan was a man riding a white horse who floated down the Laoha River and met Kedun. At the intersection of the two rivers, at the foot of the holy Muye Mountain, they met and mated, giving birth to eight sons, a temple with portraits of Khitan ancestors was built on Mount Muye their holiest mountain. The Qidan Guozhi records a Khitan legend in its preface, There was a chief called Naihe and this chief was nothing but a skull hidden under a rug in a round felt tent, so that he was invisible. Only when something serious had happened in his state, a horse and a gray ox were sacrificed to him, then he took on a human figure. After the affairs had been settled, he returned to the tent and he disappeared, for his countrymen peeped at him. Then there was another chief called Waihe who was living in a round felt tent. He wore a head and was clad in pigskin. When there was an action he came out, then he retired, later it happened that his wife stole his pigskin, he abandoned her and nobody knew where he went. Then there was one called Zhouli Hunhe. Each day he ate nineteen and had one left. These three chiefs were known for their abilities in running their state. In 630, Tang Taizong received the capitulation in southern Manchuria, from the 5th to the 8th centuries, they were dominated by the steppe power to their West and the Chinese to their south
10.
Liao dynasty
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The Liao dynasty was founded by Abaoji, Khagan of the Khitan people around the time of the collapse of Tang China. It was the first state to all of Manchuria. Almost immediately after its founding, the Liao dynasty began a process of territorial expansion, tension between traditional Khitan social and political practices and Chinese influence and customs was a defining feature of the dynasty. So different were Khitan and Chinese practices that Abaoji set up two parallel governments, Khitan women were taught to hunt, managed family property, and held military posts. Many marriages were not arranged, women were not required to be virgins at their first marriage, the Liao dynasty was destroyed by the Jurchen people of the Jin dynasty in 1125 with the capture of Emperor Tianzuo of Liao. However, the remnant Khitan, led by Yelü Dashi, established the Qara Khitai, the Liao dynasty was officially known as the Khitan（now known as Cathay） or Khitan state in 916. The name Great Liao began to appear as the name between 936 and 947. The dynasty name Liao means iron, but it refers to the Liao River in southern Manchuria. Since 983 the state became known as the Khitan, but Great Liao reappeared as the country name in 1066. Neither the origins, ethnic makeup, nor early history of the Khitans are well documented in historical records, the earliest reference to a Khitan state is found in the Book of Wei, a history of the Northern Wei Dynasty that was completed in 554. Several books written after 554 mention the Khitans as being active during the late third, the Book of Jin, a history of the Jin dynasty, refers to the Khitans in the section covering the reign of Murong Sheng. Samguk Sagi, a history of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, Twitchett and Klaus-Peter Tietze, it is generally held that the Khitans emerged from the Yuwen branch of the Xianbei people. Following a defeat at the hands of another branch of the Xianbei in 345, in 388 the Kumo Xi itself split, with one group remaining under the name Kumo Xi and the other group becoming the Khitans. This view is backed up by the Book of Wei. There are also several competing theories on the origin of the Khitans, beginning in the Song dynasty, some Chinese scholars suggested that the Khitans might have descended from the Xiongnu people. While modern historians have rejected the idea that the Khitan were solely Xiongnu in origin, there is support for the claim that they are of mixed Xianbei. By the time the Book of Wei was written in 554, the Khitans suffered a series of military defeats to other nomadic groups in the region, as well as to the Chinese Northern Qi and Sui Dynasties. Khitan tribes at various times fell under the influence of Turkic tribes such as the Uighurs and Chinese dynasties such as the Sui and this influence would significantly shape Khitan language and culture
11.
Emperor Daozong of Liao
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Emperor Daozong of Liao, personal name Chala, sinicised name Yelü Hongji, was the eighth emperor of the Khitan-led Liao dynasty. Emperor Daozong succeeded his father, Emperor Xingzong, in 1055 and he was notable for reviving the name Great Liao in 1066, a designation first given the kingdom by Emperor Taizong in 947. Other noteworthy achievements made during his reign include the completion of a Liao edition of the Buddhist Tripitaka, Emperor Daozong faced a number of assassination attempt throughout his life. In 1063, when a group of Khitans, angry that their system of justice had been put under local Han Chinese administration. Emperor Daozong survived the attack and the rebels were executed, however, in order to reassert his legitimacy as emperor, he was forced to perform a traditional rebirth ceremony. In 1070, he restructured the Liao legal system to reflect the differences in Han Chinese, Emperor Daozongs reign was fraught with corruption. He spent lavishly on his palaces and his Buddhist worship, many people under his rule were angered by the high taxes and began to rebel against the Liao dynasty, most notably the Jurchen tribes which would eventually overthrow and replace the Liao dynasty
12.
Chinese language
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Chinese is a group of related, but in many cases mutually unintelligible, language varieties, forming a branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. Chinese is spoken by the Han majority and many ethnic groups in China. Nearly 1.2 billion people speak some form of Chinese as their first language, the varieties of Chinese are usually described by native speakers as dialects of a single Chinese language, but linguists note that they are as diverse as a language family. The internal diversity of Chinese has been likened to that of the Romance languages, There are between 7 and 13 main regional groups of Chinese, of which the most spoken by far is Mandarin, followed by Wu, Min, and Yue. Most of these groups are mutually unintelligible, although some, like Xiang and certain Southwest Mandarin dialects, may share common terms, all varieties of Chinese are tonal and analytic. Standard Chinese is a form of spoken Chinese based on the Beijing dialect of Mandarin. It is the language of China and Taiwan, as well as one of four official languages of Singapore. It is one of the six languages of the United Nations. The written form of the language, based on the logograms known as Chinese characters, is shared by literate speakers of otherwise unintelligible dialects. Of the other varieties of Chinese, Cantonese is the spoken language and official in Hong Kong and Macau. It is also influential in Guangdong province and much of Guangxi, dialects of Southern Min, part of the Min group, are widely spoken in southern Fujian, with notable variants also spoken in neighboring Taiwan and in Southeast Asia. Hakka also has a diaspora in Taiwan and southeast Asia. Shanghainese and other Wu varieties are prominent in the lower Yangtze region of eastern China, Chinese can be traced back to a hypothetical Sino-Tibetan proto-language. The first written records appeared over 3,000 years ago during the Shang dynasty, as the language evolved over this period, the various local varieties became mutually unintelligible. In reaction, central governments have sought to promulgate a unified standard. Difficulties have included the great diversity of the languages, the lack of inflection in many of them, in addition, many of the smaller languages are spoken in mountainous areas that are difficult to reach, and are often also sensitive border zones. Without a secure reconstruction of proto-Sino-Tibetan, the structure of the family remains unclear. A top-level branching into Chinese and Tibeto-Burman languages is often assumed, the earliest examples of Chinese are divinatory inscriptions on oracle bones from around 1250 BCE in the late Shang dynasty
13.
Songyue Pagoda
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The Songyue Pagoda, constructed in AD523, is located at the Songyue Monastery on Mount Song, in Henan province, China. Built during the Northern Wei Dynasty, this pagoda is one of the few intact sixth-century pagodas in China and is also the earliest known Chinese brick pagoda, most structures from that period were made of wood and have not survived, although ruins of rammed earth fortifications still exist. The spread of Buddhism dramatically influenced Chinese architecture, by the sixth century, Buddhism had spread with tremendous momentum throughout China, Chinese culture was adjusting and adapting its traditions to include Buddhism worship. The Chinese transformed the rounded earthen mound of the South Asian stupa into the pagoda to house the sacred buried relics of Buddha at its core. The pagoda has had a changing shape over time from its Indian Buddhist origins to its form in China, the perimeter of the pagoda decreases as it rises, as this is seen in Indian and Central Asian Buddhist cave temple pillars and the later round pagodas in China. The Songyue Pagoda is unique in form, being twelve-sided, the tower is 40 m high and built of yellowish brick held together with clay mortar. It is the oldest surviving pagoda and was built at a time when, according to records, the ornamented arch doors and decorative apses or niches are intricately carved into teapots or lions. At the base of the pillars are carvings shaped as lotus flowers. After the first story there are fifteen closely spaced roofs lined with eaves, the pagoda features densely clustered ornamental bracked eaves in the dougong style ornamenting each story. Inside the pagoda, the wall is cylindrical with eight levels of projecting stone supports for what was probably wooden flooring originally, beneath the pagoda is an underground series of burial rooms to preserve cultural objects buried with the dead. The inner most chamber contained Buddhist relics, transcripts of Buddhist scriptures and statues of Buddha, Chinese pagoda Dhamek Stupa Yetts, Perceval W. Writings on Chinese Architecture, The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs, 116–131
14.
Chinese Buddhism
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Chinese Buddhism has shaped Chinese culture in a wide variety of areas including art, politics, literature, philosophy, medicine, and material culture. Chinese Buddhism is also marked by the interaction between Indian religions, Nepalese religion Chinese religion, and Taoism, various legends tell of the presence of Buddhism in Chinese soil in very ancient times. Nonetheless, the consensus is that Buddhism first came to China in the first century CE during the Han dynasty. Generations of scholars have debated whether Buddhist missionaries first reached Han China via the maritime or overland routes of the Silk Road, after entering into China, Buddhism blended with early Daoism and Chinese traditional esoteric arts and its iconography received blind worship. A number of accounts in historical Chinese literature have led to the popularity of certain legends regarding the introduction of Buddhism into China. According to the most popular one, Emperor Ming of Han precipitated the introduction of Buddhist teachings into China, the next day he asked his officials, What god is this. The emperor then sent an envoy to Tianzhu to inquire about the teachings of the Buddha, Buddhist scriptures were said to have been returned to China on the backs of white horses, after which White Horse Temple was named. Two Indian monks also returned with them, named Dharmaratna and Kaśyapa Mātaṅga, however, neither the Shiji nor Book of Han histories of Emperor Wu mentions a golden Buddhist statue. The first documented translation of Buddhist scriptures from various Indian languages into Chinese occurs in 148 CE with the arrival of the Parthian prince-turned-monk An Shigao, an Shigao translated Buddhist texts on basic doctrines, meditation, and abhidharma. An Xuan, a Parthian layman who worked alongside An Shigao, Mahāyāna Buddhism was first widely propagated in China by the Kushan monk Lokakṣema, who came from the ancient Buddhist kingdom of Gandhāra. Lokakṣema translated important Mahāyāna sūtras such as the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, as well as rare, early Mahāyāna sūtras on topics such as samādhi and these translations from Lokakṣema continue to give insight into the early period of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Harrison points to the enthusiasm in the Lokakṣema sūtra corpus for the ascetic practices, for dwelling in the forest. The Dharmaguptakas made more efforts than any other sect to spread Buddhism outside India, to such as Afghanistan, Central Asia, and China. Therefore, most countries which adopted Buddhism from China, also adopted the Dharmaguptaka vinaya and ordination lineage for bhikṣus, warder, in some ways in those East Asian countries, the Dharmaguptaka sect can be considered to have survived to the present. They appear to have carried out a vast circling movement along the routes from Aparānta north-west into Iran. The Mahīśāsakas and Kāśyapīyas appear to have followed them across Asia into China, for the earlier period of Chinese Buddhism it was the Dharmaguptakas who constituted the main and most influential school, and even later their Vinaya remained the basis of the discipline there. Initially, Buddhism in China faced a number of difficulties in becoming established, the concept of monasticism and the aversion to social affairs seemed to contradict the long-established norms and standards established in Chinese society. Gentry Buddhism was a medium of introduction for the beginning of Buddhism in China, it gained imperial, by the early 5th century Buddhism was established in south China
15.
Mount Wutai
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The North peak, called Beitai Ding or Yedou Feng, is the highest of these, and is also the highest point in northern China. As host to over 53 sacred monasteries, Mount Wutai is home to many of Chinas most important monasteries and temples and it was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2009. Mount Wǔtái is one of the Four Sacred Mountains in Chinese Buddhism, each of the four mountains are viewed as the bodhimaṇḍa of one of the four great bodhisattvas. Wǔtái is the home of the Bodhisattva of wisdom, Mañjuśrī or Wénshū in Chinese, Mañjuśrī has been associated with Mount Wutai since ancient times. There are said to have been pilgrimages from India and other Asian countries to Wutai Shan by the seventh century, Wutai was the first of the four mountains to be identified and is often referred to as first among the four great mountains. It was identified on the basis of a passage in the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, in this chapter, Mañjuśrī is said to reside on a clear cold mountain in the northeast. This served as charter for the identity and its alternate name Clear Cool Mountain. The bodhisattva is believed to appear on the mountain, taking the form of ordinary pilgrims, monks. Mount Wutai also has a relationship with Tibetan Buddhism. Mount Wutai is home to some of the oldest existent wooden buildings in China that have survived since the era of the Tang Dynasty and this includes the main hall of Nanchan Temple and the East Hall of Foguang Temple, built in 782 and 857, respectively. They were discovered in 1937 and 1938 by a team of historians including the prominent early 20th century historian Liang Sicheng. The architectural designs of buildings have since been studied by leading sinologists and experts in traditional Chinese architecture. Steinhardt classified these buildings according to the hall featured in the Yingzao Fashi Chinese building manual written in the 12th century. Nanshan Temple 38. 9815°N113. 5738°E /38.9815,113.5738 is a temple in Mount Wǔtái. The whole temple comprises seven terraces, divided into three parts, the lower three terraces are named Jile Temple 極樂寺), the middle terrace is called Shande Hall, the upper three terraces are named Youguo Temple. Other major temples include Xiantong Temple, Tayuan Temple and Pusading Temple, outer Mount Wutai temples include, Yanqing Temple, Nanchan Temple, Mimi Temple, Foguang Temple, Yanshan Temple, Zunsheng Temple, Guangji Temple, etc. A giant statue of Maha Manjushree was presented to the Buddhists of China by foreign minister of Nepal Ramesh Nath Pandey in 2005, the Wutaishan Airport in nearby Dingxiang County, opened in December 2015. Chinas Holy Mountain, An Illustrated Journey into the Heart of Buddhism by Christoph Baumer, nomads on Pilgrimage, Mongols on Wutaishan, 1800-1940
16.
Tang dynasty
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The Tang dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. It is generally regarded as a point in Chinese civilization. Its territory, acquired through the campaigns of its early rulers, rivaled that of the Han dynasty. The dynasty was founded by the Lǐ family, who seized power during the decline, the dynasty was briefly interrupted when Empress Wu Zetian seized the throne, proclaiming the Second Zhou dynasty and becoming the only Chinese empress regnant. In two censuses of the 7th and 8th centuries, the Tang records estimated the population by number of registered households at about 50 million people. Various kingdoms and states paid tribute to the Tang court, while the Tang also conquered or subdued several regions which it controlled through a protectorate system. Besides political hegemony, the Tang also exerted a powerful influence over neighboring states such as those in Korea, Japan. Like the previous Sui dynasty, the Tang dynasty maintained a service system by recruiting scholar-officials through standardized examinations and recommendations to office. This civil order was undermined by the rise of military governors known as jiedushi during the 9th century. Chinese culture flourished and further matured during the Tang era, it is considered the greatest age for Chinese poetry. Two of Chinas most famous poets, Li Bai and Du Fu, belonged to this age, as did many famous painters such as Han Gan, Zhang Xuan, there was a rich variety of historical literature compiled by scholars, as well as encyclopedias and geographical works. The adoption of the title Tängri Qaghan by the Tang Emperor Taizong in addition to his title as emperor was eastern Asias first simultaneous kingship, there were many notable innovations during the Tang, including the development of woodblock printing. Buddhism became an influence in Chinese culture, with native Chinese sects gaining prominence. However, Buddhism would later be persecuted by the state, subsequently declining in influence, although the dynasty and central government were in decline by the 9th century, art and culture continued to flourish. This family was known as the Longxi Li lineage, which includes the Tang poet Li Bai, the Tang Emperors also had Xianbei maternal ancestry, from Emperor Gaozu of Tangs Xianbei mother Duchess Dugu. He had prestige and military experience, and was a first cousin of Emperor Yang of Sui, Li Yuan rose in rebellion in 617, along with his son and his equally militant daughter Princess Pingyang, who raised and commanded her own troops. In winter 617, Li Yuan occupied Changan, relegated Emperor Yang to the position of Taishang Huang or retired emperor, and acted as regent to the puppet child-emperor, Emperor Gong of Sui. On the news of Emperor Yangs murder by General Yuwen Huaji on June 18,618, Li Yuan declared himself the emperor of a new dynasty, the Tang
17.
Dougong
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Dougong is a unique structural element of interlocking wooden brackets, one of the most important elements in traditional Chinese architecture. The use of dougong first appeared in buildings of the late centuries BC and evolved into a network that joined pillars. Dougong was widely used in the ancient Chinese during the Spring and Autumn period, the pieces are fitted together by joinery alone without glue or fasteners, due to the precision and quality of the carpentry. After the Song Dynasty, brackets and bracket sets became more ornamental than structural when used in structures and important religious buildings. Walls functioned to delineate spaces in the rather than to support weight. Multiple interlocking bracket sets are formed by placing a wooden block on a column to provide a solid base for the bow-shaped brackets that support the beam or another gong above it. This process can be repeated many times, and rise many stories, adding multiple sets of interlocking brackets or dougong reduces the amount of strain on the horizontal beams when transferring their weight to a column. Multiple dougong also allows structures to be elastic and to damage from earthquakes. During the Ming Dynasty an innovation occurred through the invention of new components that aided dougong in supporting the roof. This allowed dougong to add an element to buildings in the traditional Chinese integration of artistry and function. Brackets could be hung under eaves, giving the appearance of graceful baskets of flowers while also supporting the roof, the Baoen Temple in Sichuan is a good example of the Ming style. It has forty-eight types and 2,200 sets of dougong to support and it is a well-preserved fifteenth century monastery complex located in northwestern Sichuan province, China. It was built by Wang Xi, a chieftain, between 1440 and 1446 during Emperor Yingzongs reign in the Ming Dynasty. Liang Ssu Cheng Chinese Architecture, A Pictorial History ISBN 0-486-43999-2 Dougong Brackets Arts of China to A. D.900 Chinese architecture
18.
Datong
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It had a population of 3,318,057 at the 2010 census of whom 1,629,035 lived in the built up area made of 3 out of 4 urban districts, namely Chengqu, Kuangqu and Nanjiao District. The town was founded as Píngchéng in 200 BC during the Han dynasty, located near the Great Wall Pass to Inner Mongolia, it blossomed during the following period and became a stop-off point for camel caravans moving from China into Mongolia and beyond. It was sacked at the end of the Eastern Han dynasty, pingcheng became the capital of Northern Wei from 398 AD until 494 AD, when the well-known Yungang Grottoes were constructed during the later part of this period. The city was renamed Datong in 1048 AD and it was the Xijing of the Jurchen Jin dynasty prior to being sacked by the Mongols. It was sacked again at the end of the Ming dynasty in 1649 AD, Datong was close to the Beidi kingdom of Tai, which was conquered by the Zhou dynasty in 457 BC. It bordered on the Hu nomads and traded in horses, Tai was later a commandery or county. Datong is the northernmost city of Shanxi, and is located in the Datong Basin, with an area spanning latitude 39° 03–40°44 N. The urban area is surrounded on three sides by mountains, with only to the east and southwest. Within the prefecture-level city elevations generally increase from southeast to northwest, Datong borders Ulanqab to the northwest and Zhangjiakou to the east, Shuozhou to the southwest and Xinzhou to the south. The well-known Datong Volcanic Arc lies nearby in the Datong Basin, Datong has a continental, monsoon-influenced steppe climate, influenced by the 1,000 metres + elevation, with rather long, cold, very dry winters, and very warm summers. Monthly mean temperatures range from −10.6 °C in January to 22.0 °C in July, Due to the aridity and elevation, diurnal temperature variation is often large, averaging 13.3 °C annually. There barely is any precipitation during winter, and more than ¾ of the precipitation occurs from June to September. With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 54% in July to 66% in October, sunshine is abundant year-round, kuang District is largely made up of separate mines throughout the metropolitan area. The Yungang Grottoes are a collection of caves located 16 km west of Datong. There are over 50,000 carved images and statues of Buddhas and bodhisattvas within these grottoes, most of these icons are around 1000 years old. Within the city itself, there are a few surviving sites of historical interest such as the Nine-Dragon Wall, the Huayan Monastery, further afield is the Hanging Temple built into a cliff face near Mount Heng. Most of the sites in this region date to the Tang and Ming dynasties. The railway locomotive works began to attract increasing numbers of enthusiasts from the 1970s
19.
Gujin Tushu Jicheng
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The Gujin Tushu Jicheng, also known as the Imperial Encyclopaedia, is a vast encyclopaedic work written in China during the reigns of the Qing Dynasty emperors Kangxi and Yongzheng. It was begun in 1700 and completed in 1725, the work was headed initially by scholar Chen Menglei, and later by Jiang Tingxi. Sixty-four imprints were made of the first edition, known as the Wu-ying Hall edition, the encyclopaedia consisted of 6 series,32 divisions, and 6,117 sections. It contained 800,000 pages and over 100 million Chinese characters, topics covered included natural phenomena, geography, history, literature and government. The work was printed in 1726 using copper movable type printing and it spanned around 10 thousand rolls. To illustrate the size of the Gujin Tushu Jicheng, it is estimated to have contained 3 to 4 times the amount of material in the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition. The Emperor of China presented a set of the encyclopaedia in 5,000 fascicles to the China Society of London, a complete Japanese copy was destroyed in the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake. One of Yongzhengs brothers patronised the project for a while, although Yongzheng contrived to give credit to his father Kangxi instead. The 32 subdivisions are as follows, yongle Encyclopedia Siku Quanshu Hua Sui Search for Modern China, Jonathan Spence,1990 故宮東吳數位古今圖書集成 etext WorldCat Archive. org HathiTrust WorldCat Google Books Library of Congress
20.
Kangxi Emperor
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The Kangxi Emperors reign of 61 years makes him the longest-reigning emperor in Chinese history and one of the longest-reigning rulers in the world. However, since he ascended the throne at the age of seven, actual power was held for six years by four regents and his grandmother, the Kangxi Emperor is considered one of Chinas greatest emperors. The Kangxi Emperors reign brought about stability and relative wealth after years of war. He initiated the period known as the Prosperous Era of Kangxi and Qianlong or High Qing and his court also accomplished such literary feats as the compilation of the Kangxi Dictionary. Born on 4 May 1654 to the Shunzhi Emperor and Empress Xiaokangzhang in Jingren Palace, the Forbidden City, Beijing and he was enthroned at the age of seven, on 7 February 1661. His era name Kangxi, however, only started to be used on 18 February 1662, large bright eyes lighted up his face, which was pitted with smallpox. Before the Kangxi Emperor came to the throne, Grand Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang had appointed the powerful men Sonin, Suksaha, Ebilun, Sonin died after his granddaughter became Empress Xiaochengren, leaving Suksaha at odds with Oboi in politics. In a fierce struggle, Oboi had Suksaha put to death. The Kangxi Emperor and the rest of the imperial court acquiesced in this arrangement, in 1669, the Kangxi Emperor had Oboi arrested with the help of his grandmother Grand Dowager Empress Xiaozhuang, who had raised him. And began taking control of the empire. He listed three issues of concern, flood control of the Yellow River, repair of the Grand Canal, the Grand Empress Dowager influenced him greatly and he took care of her himself in the months leading up to her death in 1688. The main army of the Qing Empire, the Eight Banners Army, was in decline under the Kangxi Emperor. It was smaller than it had been at its peak under Hong Taiji and in the reign of the Shunzhi Emperor, however. In addition, the Green Standard Army was still powerful with generals such as Tuhai, Fei Yanggu, Zhang Yong, Zhou Peigong, Shi Lang, Mu Zhan, Shun Shike and Wang Jingbao. The main reason for decline was a change in system between the Kangxi and Qianlong emperors reigns. The Kangxi Emperor continued using the military system implemented by his predecessors. According to the system, a commander who returned from a battle alone would be put to death and this was meant to motivate both commanders and soldiers alike to fight valiantly in war because there was no benefit for the sole survivor in a battle. By the Qianlong Emperors reign, military commanders had become lax and this was because commanders statuses had become hereditary, a general gained his position based on the contributions of his forefathers
21.
Yongzheng Emperor
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The Yongzheng Emperor, born Yinzhen, was the fifth emperor of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty and the third Qing emperor to rule over China proper. He reigned from 1723 to 1735, a hard-working ruler, the Yongzheng Emperors main goal was to create an effective government at minimal expense. Like his father, the Kangxi Emperor, the Yongzheng Emperor used military force to preserve the dynastys position and his reign was known for being despotic, efficient, and vigorous. Although the Yongzheng Emperors reign was shorter than that of both his father and his son, the Yongzheng era was a period of peace and prosperity. The Yongzheng Emperor cracked down on corruption and reformed the financial administration and his reign saw the formation of the Grand Council, an institution which had an enormous impact on the future of the Qing dynasty. Yinzhen was the son but the fourth prince of the Kangxi Emperor to survive into adulthood. His mother, who is known as Empress Xiaogongren, was originally a court attendant from the Manchu Uya clan. Around the time when Yinzhen was born, his mother was of low status and she died when Yinzhen was just 9 years old. After the birth of children, Yinzhens mother was promoted to a pin and then to a fei. However, the defei refused to raise her first son at that time, the Kangxi Emperor did not raise his children only inside the palace. He also exposed his sons to the world and gave them a rigorous education. Yinzhen accompanied his father on inspection trips around the Beijing area. He became the leader of the Plain Red Banner during the Battle of Jao Modo between the Qing Empire and the Mongol Dzungar Khanate led by Galdan Khan. Yinzhen was made a beile in 1689 and promoted to junwang in 1698, in 1709, the Kangxi Emperor stripped his second son Yinreng of his position as crown prince. Yinreng had been the prince for his whole life, his removal left the position of heir open to competition among the Emperors remaining sons. In the same year, the Kangxi Emperor promoted Yinzhen from junwang to qinwang under the title Prince Yong of the First Rank, Yinzhen maintained a low profile during the initial stages of the succession struggle. To appoint a new heir, the Kangxi Emperor decreed that officials in his court would nominate a new crown prince. The Kangxi Emperors eighth son, Yinsi, was the candidate preferred by the majority of the court as well as many of the Kangxi Emperors other sons
22.
Qing dynasty
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It was preceded by the Ming dynasty and succeeded by the Republic of China. The Qing multi-cultural empire lasted almost three centuries and formed the base for the modern Chinese state. The dynasty was founded by the Jurchen Aisin Gioro clan in Manchuria, in the late sixteenth century, Nurhaci, originally a Ming vassal, began organizing Banners, military-social units that included Jurchen, Han Chinese, and Mongol elements. Nurhaci formed the Jurchen clans into an entity, which he renamed as the Manchus. By 1636, his son Hong Taiji began driving Ming forces out of Liaodong and declared a new dynasty, in 1644, peasant rebels led by Li Zicheng conquered the Ming capital, Beijing. The Ten Great Campaigns of the Qianlong Emperor from the 1750s to the 1790s extended Qing control into Central Asia, the early rulers maintained their Manchu ways, and while their title was Emperor, they used khan to the Mongols and they were patrons of Tibetan Buddhism. They governed using Confucian styles and institutions of government and retained the imperial examinations to recruit Han Chinese to work under or in parallel with Manchus. They also adapted the ideals of the system in dealing with neighboring territories. The Qianlong reign saw the apogee and initial decline in prosperity. The population rose to some 400 million, but taxes and government revenues were fixed at a low rate, corruption set in, rebels tested government legitimacy, and ruling elites did not change their mindsets in the face of changes in the world system. Following the Opium War, European powers imposed unequal treaties, free trade, the Taiping Rebellion and the Dungan Revolt in Central Asia led to the deaths of some 20 million people, most of them due to famines caused by war. In spite of disasters, in the Tongzhi Restoration of the 1860s, Han Chinese elites rallied to the defense of the Confucian order. The initial gains in the Self-Strengthening Movement were destroyed in the First Sino-Japanese War of 1895, in which the Qing lost its influence over Korea, New Armies were organized, but the ambitious Hundred Days Reform of 1898 was turned back by Empress Dowager Cixi, a conservative leader. Sun Yat-sen and other revolutionaries competed with reformist monarchists such as Kang Youwei, after the deaths of Cixi and the Guangxu Emperor in 1908, the hardline Manchu court alienated reformers and local elites alike. The Wuchang Uprising on October 11,1911, led to the Xinhai Revolution, General Yuan Shikai negotiated the abdication of Puyi, the last emperor, on February 12,1912. Nurhaci declared himself the Bright Khan of the Later Jin state in both of the 12–13th century Jurchen Jin dynasty and of his Aisin Gioro clan. His son Hong Taiji renamed the dynasty Great Qing in 1636, there are competing explanations on the meaning of Qīng. The character Qīng is composed of water and azure, both associated with the water element and this association would justify the Qing conquest as defeat of fire by water
23.
Wanli Emperor
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The Wanli Emperor, personal name Zhu Yijun, was the 13th emperor of the Ming dynasty of China. Wanli, the era name of his reign, literally means ten thousand calendars and he was the third son of the Longqing Emperor. His reign of 48 years was the longest among all the Ming dynasty emperors, Zhu Yijun ascended the throne at the age of ten and adopted the regnal name Wanli, thus he is historically known as the Wanli Emperor. For the first ten years of his reign, he was aided by the Senior Grand Secretary, Zhang Juzheng, during this period, the Wanli Emperor deeply respected Zhang as a mentor and a valued minister. Archery competitions, equestrianism and calligraphy were some of the pastimes of Wanli, as Zhang Juzheng was appointed Minister of Ming dynasty in 1572, he launched a reform by the name of “abiding by ancestors’ rules”. He started from rectifying administration with a series of such as reducing redundant personnel. This improved officials’ quality and efficiency of administration, and based on such facts he launched relevant reforms in the fields of land, finance, in essence, Zhang Juzheng’s reform was a rectification of social maladies without offending the established political and fiscal system of the Ming Dynasty. Although it did not eradicate political corruption and land annexation, it positively relieved social contradictions, more over, Zhang efficiently protected the dynasty from Japan, Jurchens and Mongols so he could save national defense expenditure. By 1580s, Zhang stored astronomical numbers of silvers, this is second only to 10 years of Mings total tax revenue. Wanlis first 10 years regime led Mings renaissance economically, culturally and militarily, after Zhangs death, the Wanli Emperor felt free to act independently, and reversed many of Zhangs administrative improvements. In 1584, the Wanli Emperor issued an edict confiscating all of Zhangs personal wealth, especially after 1586 when he had conflicts with vassals about his heir, Wanli decided to not to hold the council for 20 years. The Ming dynastys tragic had begun since then, after Zhang Juzhengs death, the Wanli Emperor decided to take complete personal control of the government. During this early part of his reign, he showed himself to be a competent and diligent emperor, overall, the economy continued to prosper and the empire remained powerful. Unlike the last 20 years of his reign, the Wanli Emperor at this time would attend every morning meeting, at this time, the Wanli Emperor sent Li Chengliang and his sons to handle the situation, resulting in overall success. Japanese invasions, Toyotomi Hideyoshi of Japan sent 200,000 soldiers in his first expedition to invade Korea, the Wanli Emperor made three strategic moves. First, he sent a 3, 000-strong army to support the Koreans, second, if Koreans entered Ming territory, he gave them sanctuary. Third, he instructed the Liaodong area to prepare for possible invasion, the first two battles fought with the Japanese were defeats since Ming troops under general Li Rusong were outnumbered and ill-prepared to fight the 200, 000-strong Japanese army. The emperor then sent an army of 80,000 men
24.
Ming dynasty
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The Ming dynasty was the ruling dynasty of China – then known as the Empire of the Great Ming – for 276 years following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming, described by some as one of the greatest eras of orderly government, although the primary capital of Beijing fell in 1644 to a rebellion led by Li Zicheng, regimes loyal to the Ming throne – collectively called the Southern Ming – survived until 1683. He rewarded his supporters and employed them as a counterweight against the Confucian scholar-bureaucrats. One, Zheng He, led seven enormous voyages of exploration into the Indian Ocean as far as Arabia, the rise of new emperors and new factions diminished such extravagances, the capture of the Zhengtong Emperor during the 1449 Tumu Crisis ended them completely. The imperial navy was allowed to fall into disrepair while forced labor constructed the Liaodong palisade, haijin laws intended to protect the coasts from Japanese pirates instead turned many into smugglers and pirates themselves. The growth of Portuguese, Spanish, and Dutch trade created new demand for Chinese products and produced an influx of Japanese. This abundance of specie remonetized the Ming economy, whose money had suffered repeated hyperinflation and was no longer trusted. While traditional Confucians opposed such a prominent role for commerce and the newly rich it created, combined with crop failure, floods, and epidemic, the dynasty collapsed before the rebel leader Li Zicheng, who was defeated by the Manchu-led Eight Banner armies who founded the Qing dynasty. The Mongol-led Yuan dynasty ruled before the establishment of the Ming dynasty, consequently, agriculture and the economy were in shambles, and rebellion broke out among the hundreds of thousands of peasants called upon to work on repairing the dykes of the Yellow River. A number of Han Chinese groups revolted, including the Red Turbans in 1351, the Red Turbans were affiliated with the White Lotus, a Buddhist secret society. Zhu Yuanzhang was a peasant and Buddhist monk who joined the Red Turbans in 1352. In 1356, Zhus rebel force captured the city of Nanjing, with the Yuan dynasty crumbling, competing rebel groups began fighting for control of the country and thus the right to establish a new dynasty. In 1363, Zhu Yuanzhang eliminated his archrival and leader of the rebel Han faction, Chen Youliang, in the Battle of Lake Poyang, arguably the largest naval battle in history. Known for its ambitious use of ships, Zhus force of 200,000 Ming sailors were able to defeat a Han rebel force over triple their size, claimed to be 650. The victory destroyed the last opposing rebel faction, leaving Zhu Yuanzhang in uncontested control of the bountiful Yangtze River Valley, Zhu Yuanzhang took Hongwu, or Vastly Martial, as his era name. Hongwu made an effort to rebuild state infrastructure. He built a 48 km long wall around Nanjing, as well as new palaces, Hongwu organized a military system known as the weisuo, which was similar to the fubing system of the Tang dynasty. With a growing suspicion of his ministers and subjects, Hongwu established the Jinyiwei, some 100,000 people were executed in a series of purges during his rule
25.
Bhikkhu
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A bhikkhu is an ordained male monastic in Buddhism. Male and female monastics (nun, bhikkhuni are members of the Buddhist community, the lives of all Buddhist monastics are governed by a set of rules called the prātimokṣa or pātimokkha. Their lifestyles are shaped to support their practice, to live a simple and meditative life. A person under the age of 20 cannot be ordained as a bhikkhu or bhikkhuni, bhikkhu literally means beggar or one who lives by alms. The historical Buddha, Prince Siddhartha, having abandoned a life of pleasure and status and those of his more serious students who abandoned their lives as householders and came to study full-time under his supervision also adopted this lifestyle. In the Dhammapada commentary of Buddhaghosa, a bhikkhu is defined as the person who sees danger and he therefore seeks ordination to obtain release from it. The Dhammapada states, He is not a monk just because he lives on others alms, not by adopting outward form does one become a true monk. Whoever here lives a life, transcending both merit and demerit, and walks with understanding in this world — he is truly called a monk. In English literature before the century, Buddhist monks were often referred to by the term bonze, particularly when describing monks from East Asia. This term is derived Portuguese and French from Japanese bonsō, meaning priest and it is rare in modern literature. Buddhist monks were also called talapoy or talapoin from French talapoin, itself from Portuguese talapão, ultimately from Mon tala pōi. Having no tie, which unites their interests with those of the people, they are ready, at all times, with spiritual arms, the talapoin is a monkey named after Buddhist monks just as the capuchin monkey is named after the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin. Theravada monasticism is organized around the guidelines found within a division of the Pāli Canon called the Vinaya Pitaka, Laypeople undergo ordination as a novitiate in a rite known as the going forth. Sāmaneras are subject to the Ten Precepts, from there full ordination may take place. Bhikkhus are subject to a longer set of rules known. In the Mahayana monasticism is part of the system of vows of individual liberation and these vows are taken by monks and nuns from the ordinary sangha, in order to develop personal ethical discipline. In Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism, the term sangha is, in principle, often understood to refer particularly to the aryasangha and these, however, need not be monks and nuns. The vows of individual liberation are taken in four steps, a lay person may take the five Upāsaka and Upāsikā vows
26.
Stupa
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A stupa is a mound-like or hemispherical structure containing relics that is used as a place of meditation. Stupas originated as pre-Buddhist tumuli in which śramaṇas were buried in a position called chaitya. After the parinirvana of the Buddha, his remains were cremated, the earliest archaeological evidence for the presence of Buddhist stupas dates to the late 4th century BCE in India. Buddhist scriptures claim that stupas were built at least a century earlier, however, some later stupas, such as at Sarnath and Sanchi, seem to be embellishments of earlier mounds. The earliest evidence of monastic stupas dates back to the 2nd century BCE and these are stupas that were built within Buddhist monastic complexes and they replicate in stone older stupas made of baked bricks and timber. Sanchi, Sarnath, Amaravati and Bharhut are examples of stupas that were shaped in stone imitating previously existing wooden parts, the stupa was elaborated as Buddhism spread to other Asian countries, becoming, for example, the chörten of Tibet and the pagoda in East Asia. The pagoda has varied forms that also include bell-shaped and pyramidal styles, in the Western context, there is no clear distinction between a stupa and a pagoda. Stupas were built in Sri Lanka soon after Devanampiya Tissa of Anuradhapura converted to Buddhism, the first stupa to be built was the Thuparamaya. Later, many more were built over the years, some like the Jetavanaramaya in Anuradhapura being one of the tallest ancient structures in the world, the earliest archaeological evidence for the presence of Buddhist stupas dates to the late 4th century BCE. In India, Sanchi, Sarnath, Amaravati and Bharhut are among the oldest known stupas, the tallest is the Phra Pathommachedi in Nakhon Pathom Province, Thailand, at a height of 127 metres. The Swat Valley hosts a well-preserved stupa at Shingardar near Ghalegay, another stupa is located near Barikot, in Sri Lanka, the ancient city of Anuradhapura includes some of the tallest, most ancient and best preserved stupas in the world, such as Ruwanwelisaya. The most elaborate stupa is the 8th century Borobudur monument in Java, the upper rounded terrace with rows of bell-shaped stupas contained Buddha images symbolizing Arūpajhāna, the sphere of formlessness. The main stupa itself is empty, symbolizing complete perfection of enlightenment, borobudurs unique and significant architecture has been acknowledged by UNESCO as the largest buddhist monument in the world. It is also the world’s largest Buddhist temple, as well as one of the greatest Buddhist monuments in the world. Object stupa, in which the items interred are objects belonged to the Buddha or his disciples, such as a bowl or robe. Commemorative stupa, built to commemorate events in the lives of Buddha or his disciples, symbolic stupa, to symbolise aspects of Buddhist theology, for example, Borobudur is considered to be the symbol of the Three Worlds and the spiritual stages in a Mahayana bodhisattvas character. Votive stupa, constructed to commemorate visits or to gain spiritual benefits, the shape of the stupa represents the Buddha, crowned and sitting in meditation posture on a lion throne. His crown is the top of the spire, his head is the square at the base, his body is the vase shape, his legs are the four steps of the lower terrace
27.
Fujiwara no Yorimichi
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Fujiwara no Yorimichi, son of Michinaga, was a Japanese Court noble. He succeeded his father to the position of Sesshō in 1017, in both these positions, he acted as Regent to the Emperor, as many of his ancestors and descendants did, the Fujiwara clan had nearly exclusive control over the regency positions for over 200 years. Prior to succeeding to the position of Regent, Yorimichi had held the title of Nidaijin, by edict, he was raised above his colleagues, to the title of Ichi no Hito, or First Subject. In addition to the reason of direct succession from his father and he is also known as the founder of Byodoin phoenix hall, located in Uji. A History of Japan to 1334, honolulu, HI, University of Hawaii Press. Brown, Delmer Myers, and Ichirō Ishida, the future and the past, a translation and study of the Gukanshō, University of California Press
28.
Japan
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Japan is a sovereign island nation in Eastern Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asia Mainland and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea, the kanji that make up Japans name mean sun origin. 日 can be read as ni and means sun while 本 can be read as hon, or pon, Japan is often referred to by the famous epithet Land of the Rising Sun in reference to its Japanese name. Japan is an archipelago consisting of about 6,852 islands. The four largest are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku, the country is divided into 47 prefectures in eight regions. Hokkaido being the northernmost prefecture and Okinawa being the southernmost one, the population of 127 million is the worlds tenth largest. Japanese people make up 98. 5% of Japans total population, approximately 9.1 million people live in the city of Tokyo, the capital of Japan. Archaeological research indicates that Japan was inhabited as early as the Upper Paleolithic period, the first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other regions, mainly China, followed by periods of isolation, from the 12th century until 1868, Japan was ruled by successive feudal military shoguns who ruled in the name of the Emperor. Japan entered into a period of isolation in the early 17th century. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan is a member of the UN, the OECD, the G7, the G8, the country has the worlds third-largest economy by nominal GDP and the worlds fourth-largest economy by purchasing power parity. It is also the worlds fourth-largest exporter and fourth-largest importer, although Japan has officially renounced its right to declare war, it maintains a modern military with the worlds eighth-largest military budget, used for self-defense and peacekeeping roles. Japan is a country with a very high standard of living. Its population enjoys the highest life expectancy and the third lowest infant mortality rate in the world, in ancient China, Japan was called Wo 倭. It was mentioned in the third century Chinese historical text Records of the Three Kingdoms in the section for the Wei kingdom, Wa became disliked because it has the connotation of the character 矮, meaning dwarf. The 倭 kanji has been replaced with the homophone Wa, meaning harmony, the Japanese word for Japan is 日本, which is pronounced Nippon or Nihon and literally means the origin of the sun. The earliest record of the name Nihon appears in the Chinese historical records of the Tang dynasty, at the start of the seventh century, a delegation from Japan introduced their country as Nihon
29.
Fujiwara no Michinaga
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Fujiwara no Michinaga represents the highpoint of the Fujiwara clans control over the government of Japan. He was the fourth or fifth son of Fujiwara no Kaneie by his wife Tokihime, there were two regents and two imperial consorts among his brothers and sisters by the same mother. As the youngest son of his father, he was not remarkable in the court until his two brothers died and he started his career in the court when he was 15 years old. 986, Sakyō no Daibu 986, Gon-no-Chūnagon 991, Gon-no-Dainagon In 995 during the reign of Emperor Ichijō and he struggled with Fujiwara no Korechika, the elder son of Michitaka, for political power. With support of Senshi, his sister and mother of Ichijō and he was appointed Nairan, the secretary of the emperor and the reviewer of all the documents sent to the emperor before the emperor himself read them. 995, Nairan Michinaga exerted de facto reign over Japan in the early 11th century and this can be seen from the fact that he was father to four empresses, uncle to two emperors and grandfather to another three. Michinagas ambitions led him to make his own daughter, Shōshi, in 1000 Shōshi was announced as a Chūgū empress and the existing empress Teishi was given the title of Kōgō empress. It was the first time an emperor had two empresses, a power struggle between Korechika and Michinaga continued until Teishis unexpected death in 1001, which sealed Michinagas power since Shōshi became the only empress after Teishis death. In 1006, Michinaga invited Murasaki Shikibu to become Empress Shōshi’s companion, Shōshi was the mother of two princes who became emperors, Emperor Go-Ichijō and Emperor Go-Suzaku. Michinagas other daughters, Kenshi and Ishi, followed similar fates to Shōshi,1011, In the 25th year of Emperor Ichijōs reign, the emperor abdicated, and the succession was received by his cousin. Shortly thereafter, Emperor Sanjō is said to have acceded to the throne, after Ichijō retired because of illness, Emperor Sanjō ascended the throne. Though Sanjō was a nephew of Michinaga,1011, Michinaga is Sesshō1011, Fujiwara Michinaga is granted the extraordinary privilege of travelling to and from the court by ox-drawn cart. Michinaga and Sanjōs opinions often varied, Michinaga pressured Sanjō to retire and finally Sanjō did so in 1016 under a condition made upon Sanjōs succession. Sanjōs elder son was appointed as Go-Ichijōs successor,1011, Prince Atsunari, the second son of former-Emperor Ichijo, is proclaimed Crown Prince. Sanjōs eldest son, Prince Atsuakira, had been the designated heir. Michinagas political power and influence led to the crown princes resignation by his will, Michinaga was pleased by this decision and gave his daughter to this prince as a wife, ensuring that the prince would not be an obstacle in the future. 1012, Emperor Sanjō marries a daughter of Sesshō and later Kampaku Fujiwara no Michinaga, during the initial years of Go-Ichijōs reign, Fujiwara no Michinaga actually ruled from his position as sesshō. Although Michinaga never formally took on the title of regent, he exercised great power
30.
Pure Land Buddhism
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Pure Land Buddhism, also referred to as Amidism in English, is a broad branch of Mahāyāna Buddhism and one of the most widely practiced traditions of Buddhism in East Asia. Pure Land is a tradition of Buddhist teachings that are focused on Amitābha Buddha, the Pure Land teachings were first developed in India, and were very popular in Kashmir and Central Asia, where they may have originated. Pure Land sutras were brought from the Gandhāra region to China as early as 147 CE, the earliest of these translations show evidence of having been translated from the Gāndhārī language, a prakrit language related to Sanskrit. There are also images of Amitābha Buddha with the bodhisattvas Avalokiteśvara, in the Buddhist traditions of India, Pure Land doctrines and practices were disseminated by well-known exponents of the Mahāyāna teachings, including Nāgārjuna and Vasubandhu. The three principal Pure Land sūtras are the Amitabha Sutra, the Infinite Life Sutra, and the Amitayurdhyana Sutra and these sutras describe Amitābha and his Pure Land of Bliss, called Sukhavati. Bodhisattvas hear about the Buddha Amitābha and call him to again and again in this land. Because of this calling to mind, they see the Buddha Amitābha, having seen him they ask him what dharmas it takes to be born in the realm of the Buddha Amitābha. In addition to these sutras, many other Mahāyāna texts also feature Amitābha Buddha, in the Infinite Life Sutra, the Buddha begins by describing to his attendant Ānanda a past life of the buddha Amitābha. He states that in a past life, Amitābha was once king who renounced his kingdom, under the guidance of the buddha Lokeśvararāja, innumerable buddha-lands throughout the ten directions were revealed to him. After meditating for five eons as a bodhisattva, he made a great series of vows to save all sentient beings. This land of Sukhāvatī would later come to be known as the Pure Land in Chinese translation, the Pure Land teachings first became prominent in China with the founding of Donglin Temple at Mount Lu by Huiyuan in 402 CE. As a young man, Huiyuan practiced Daoism, but felt the theories of immortality to be vague and unreliable, instead, he turned to Buddhism and became a monk learning under Dao An. Later he founded a monastery at the top of Mount Lu, and invited well-known literati to study and practice Buddhism there, where they formed the White Lotus Society. The Mount Lu is regarded as the among the most sacred sites of the Pure Land Buddhist tradition. The Pure Land teachings and meditation methods quickly spread throughout China and were systematized by a series of elite monastic thinkers, namely Tanluan, Daochuo, Shandao and his knowledge of Buddhism is deep. He uses over twenty sūtras and more than a dozen śāstras to argue his case, there are eighty-one references to the Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra alone, and twenty-one references to the Chinese Mādhyamaka Master Sengchao, none of them trivial or out of place. At a later date, the Pure Land teachings spread to Japan, genshin caused Fujiwara no Michinaga to accept the Pure Land teachings. Hōnen established Pure Land Buddhism as an independent sect in Japan, today Pure Land is an important form of Buddhism in Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan, and Vietnam
31.
Yuan dynasty
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The Yuan dynasty, officially the Great Yuan, was the empire or ruling dynasty of China established by Kublai Khan, leader of the Mongolian Borjigin clan. His realm was, by point, isolated from the other khanates and controlled most of present-day China and its surrounding areas. Some of the Mongolian Emperors of the Yuan mastered the Chinese language, while others used their native language. The Yuan dynasty is considered both a successor to the Mongol Empire and an imperial Chinese dynasty and it was the khanate ruled by the successors of Möngke Khan after the division of the Mongol Empire. In official Chinese histories, the Yuan dynasty bore the Mandate of Heaven, following the Song dynasty, the dynasty was established by Kublai Khan, yet he placed his grandfather Genghis Khan on the imperial records as the official founder of the dynasty as Taizu. In addition to Emperor of China, Kublai Khan also claimed the title of Great Khan, supreme over the other khanates, the Chagatai, the Golden Horde. As such, the Yuan was also referred to as the Empire of the Great Khan. However, while the claim of supremacy by the Yuan emperors was at times recognized by the khans, their subservience was nominal. In 1271, Kublai Khan imposed the name Great Yuan, establishing the Yuan dynasty, dà Yuán is from the clause 大哉乾元 in the Commentaries on the Classic of Changes section regarding Qián. The counterpart in Mongolian language was Dai Ön Ulus, also rendered as Ikh Yuan Üls or Yekhe Yuan Ulus, in Mongolian, Dai Ön is often used in conjunction with the Yeke Mongghul Ulus, resulting in Dai Ön Yeke Mongghul Ulus, meaning Great Mongol State. Nevertheless, both terms can refer to the khanate within the Mongol Empire directly ruled by Great Khans before the actual establishment of the Yuan dynasty by Kublai Khan in 1271. Genghis Khan united the Mongol and Turkic tribes of the steppes and he and his successors expanded the Mongol empire across Asia. Under the reign of Genghis third son, Ögedei Khan, the Mongols destroyed the weakened Jin dynasty in 1234, Ögedei offered his nephew Kublai a position in Xingzhou, Hebei. Kublai was unable to read Chinese but had several Han Chinese teachers attached to him since his early years by his mother Sorghaghtani and he sought the counsel of Chinese Buddhist and Confucian advisers. Möngke Khan succeeded Ögedeis son, Güyük, as Great Khan in 1251 and he granted his brother Kublai control over Mongol held territories in China. Kublai built schools for Confucian scholars, issued paper money, revived Chinese rituals and he adopted as his capital city Kaiping in Inner Mongolia, later renamed Shangdu. Many Han Chinese and Khitan defected to the Mongols to fight against the Jin, two Han Chinese leaders, Shi Tianze, Liu Heima, and the Khitan Xiao Zhala defected and commanded the 3 Tumens in the Mongol army. Liu Heima and Shi Tianze served Ogödei Khan, Liu Heima and Shi Tianxiang led armies against Western Xia for the Mongols
32.
Second Sino-Japanese War
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The Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan from July 7,1937 to September 9,1945. The First Sino-Japanese War was fought from 1894 to 1895, China fought Japan, with some economic help from Germany, the Soviet Union and the United States. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the war merged into the conflict of World War II as a major front of what is broadly known as the Pacific War. Many scholars consider the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937 to have been the beginning of World War II, the Second Sino-Japanese War was the largest Asian war in the 20th century. The war was the result of a decades-long Japanese imperialist policy to expand its influence politically and militarily in order to access to raw material reserves, food. The period after World War One brought about increasing stress on the Japanese polity, leftists sought universal suffrage and greater rights for workers. Increasing textile production from Chinese mills was adversely affecting Japanese production, the Depression brought about a large slowdown in exports. All of this contributed to militant nationalism, culminating in the rise to power of a militarist fascist faction and this faction was led at its height by the Imperial Rule Assistance Associations Hideki Tojo cabinet under the edict from Emperor Shōwa. Before 1937, China and Japan fought in small, localized engagements, the last of these incidents was the Marco Polo Bridge Incident of 1937, which is traditionally seen as the beginning of total war between the two countries. Since 2017 the Chinese Government has regarded the invasion of Manchuria by the Kwantung Army in 1931, initially the Japanese scored major victories, such as the Battle of Shanghai, and by the end of 1937 captured the Chinese capital of Nanjing. After failing to stop the Japanese in Wuhan, the Chinese central government was relocated to Chongqing in the Chinese interior, by 1939, after Chinese victories in Changsha and Guangxi, and with Japans lines of communications stretched deep into the Chinese interior, the war reached a stalemate. The Japanese were also unable to defeat the Chinese communist forces in Shaanxi, on December 7,1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, and the following day the United States declared war on Japan. The United States began to aid China via airlift matériel over the Himalayas after the Allied defeat in Burma that closed the Burma Road, in 1944 Japan launched the invasion, Operation Ichi-Go, that conquered Henan and Changsha. However, this failed to bring about the surrender of Chinese forces, in 1945, the Chinese Expeditionary Force resumed its advance in Burma and completed the Ledo Road linking India to China. At the same time, China launched large counteroffensives in South China and retook the west Hunan, the remaining Japanese occupation forces formally surrendered on September 9,1945 with the following International Military Tribunal for the Far East convened on April 29,1946. China was recognized as one of the Big Four of Allies during the war, in the Chinese language, the war is most commonly known as the War of Resistance Against Japan, and also known as the Eight Years War of Resistance, simply War of Resistance. It is also referred to as part of the Global Anti-Fascist War, which is how World War 2 is perceived by the Communist Party of China, in Japan, nowadays, the name Japan–China War is most commonly used because of its perceived objectivity. In Japan today, it is written as 日中戦争 in shinjitai, the word incident was used by Japan, as neither country had made a formal declaration of war
33.
Movable type
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Movable type is the system and technology of printing and typography that uses movable components to reproduce the elements of a document usually on the medium of paper. In 1377, currently the oldest extant movable metal print book, the diffusion of both movable-type systems was, however, limited. Around 1450 Johannes Gutenberg made another version of a metal printing press in Europe, along with innovations in casting the type based on a matrix. The more limited number of characters needed for European languages was an important factor, Gutenberg was the first to create his type pieces from an alloy of lead, tin, and antimony—and these materials remained standard for 550 years. For alphabetic scripts, movable-type page setting was quicker than woodblock printing, the metal type pieces were more durable and the lettering was more uniform, leading to typography and fonts. The high quality and relatively low price of the Gutenberg Bible established the superiority of movable type in Europe, the printing press may be regarded as one of the key factors fostering the Renaissance and due to its effectiveness, its use spread around the globe. The 19th-century invention of hot metal typesetting and its successors caused movable type to decline in the 20th century, the technique of imprinting multiple copies of symbols or glyphs with a master type punch made of hard metal first developed around 3000 BC in ancient Sumer. These metal punch types can be seen as precursors of the letter punches adapted in later millennia to printing with metal type. Cylinder seals were used in Mesopotamia to create an impression on a surface by rolling the seal on wet clay and they were used to sign documents and mark objects as the owners property. By 650 BC the ancient Greeks were using larger diameter punches to imprint small page images onto coins and tokens, seals and stamps may have been precursors to movable type. A few authors even view the disc as technically meeting all definitional criteria to represent an early incidence of movable-type printing, recently it has been alleged by Jerome Eisenberg that the disk is a forgery. The Prüfening dedicatory inscription is medieval example of movable type stamps being used, yet copying books by hand was still labour-consuming. Not until the Xiping Era, towards the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty did sealing print and it was soon used for printing designs on fabrics, and later for printing texts. Woodblock printing, invented by about the 8th century during the Tang Dynasty, then carvers cut away the parts of the board that were not part of the character, so that the characters were cut in relief, completely differently from those cut intaglio. When printing, the characters would have some ink spread on them. With workers’ hands moving on the back of paper gently, characters would be printed on the paper, by the Song Dynasty, woodblock printing came to its heyday. Although woodblock printing played a role in spreading culture, there remained some apparent drawbacks. Firstly, carving the printing plate required considerable time, labour and materials, secondly, it was not convenient to store these plates, with woodblock printing, one printing plate could be used for tens of hundreds of books, playing a magnificent role in spreading culture
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Science and technology of the Song dynasty
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The Song dynasty provided some of the most significant technological advances in Chinese history, many of which came from talented statesmen drafted by the government through imperial examinations. The ingenuity of advanced mechanical engineering had a tradition in China. The application of movable type printing advanced the already widespread use of printing to educate and amuse Confucian students. Notable advances in engineering, nautics, and metallurgy were made in Song China. These advances, along with the introduction of paper-printed money, helped revolutionize, polymath geniuses – that is, people knowledgeable across an encyclopaedic range of topics – such as Shen Kuo and Su Song embodied the spirit of early empirical science and technology in the Song era. This allowed sailors to navigate the seas more accurately with the magnetic needle compass, Shen was made famous for his written description of Bi Sheng, the inventor of movable type printing. Shen was also interested in geology, as he formulated a theory of geomorphology, along with his colleague Wei Pu in the Bureau of Astronomy, Shen used cosmological hypotheses when describing the variations of planetary motion, including retrogradation. One of Shens greatest achievements, aided by Wei Pu, was correcting the error by diligently recording and plotting the moons orbital path three times a night over a period of five years. Unfortunately Shen had many political rivals at court who were determined to sabotage his work, the court fully accepted their corrections to lunar and solar error, but only partially adopted Shen and Weis corrected plotting of the planetary orbital paths and various speeds. This treatise included many medicinal applications, including the use of ephedrin as a pharmaceutical drug, however, Su was most famous for his hydraulic-powered astronomical clock tower, crowned with a mechanically driven armillary sphere, which was erected in the capital city of Kaifeng in the year 1088. Sus clock tower employed the escapement mechanism two centuries before it was applied in clocks of Europe, sus clock tower also featured the earliest known endless power-transmitting chain drive in the world, as outlined in his horological treatise of 1092. On a court mission to inspect a frontier region, Shen Kuo once made a map of wood and glue-soaked sawdust to show the mountains, roads, rivers. Shen Kuo also experimented with camera obscura, only a few decades after the first to do so, there were many other important figures in the Song era besides Shen Kuo and Su Song, many of whom contributed greatly to the technological innovations of the time period. The Song Shi states, The odometer. is painted red, with pictures of flowers and birds on the four sides, and constructed in two storeys, handsomely adorned with carvings. At the completion of every li, the figure of a man in the lower storey strikes a drum, at the completion of every ten li. The carriage-pole ends in a phoenix-head, and the carriage is drawn by four horses, the escort was formerly of 18 men, but in the 4th year of the Yongxi reign period the emperor Taizong increased it to 30. When the upper horizontal wheel has made 1 revolution, the carriage will have gone 10 li, the number of wheels used, great and small, is 8 inches in all, with a total of 285 teeth. Thus the motion is transmitted as if by the links of a chain, in the Song period, the odometer device was combined with the south-pointing chariot device, which was probably first invented by the ancient Chinese mechanical engineer Ma Jun
35.
Zhengde Emperor
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The Zhengde Emperor was the Ming dynasty Emperor of China between 1505–1521. Born Zhu Houzhao, he was the Hongzhi Emperors eldest son and his era name means Right virtue or Rectification of virtue. Zhu Houzhao was created prince at a very early age and because his father did not take up any other concubines. The prince was educated in Confucian literature and he excelled in his studies. Many of the Hongzhi Emperors ministers expected that Zhu Houzhao would become a benevolent and brilliant emperor like his father, Zhu Houzhao ascended the throne as the Zhengde Emperor and was married to his Empress at the age of 14. Unlike his father, the Zhengde Emperor was not interested in ruling or his Empress and his actions have been considered reckless, foolish or pointless. There are many instances where he showed a lack of responsibility, the Zhengde Emperor took up a luxurious and prodigal lifestyle and indulged himself in women. On one occasion he was badly mauled while hunting tigers, on another occasion he burned down his palace by storing gunpowder in the courtyards during the lantern festival. His harem was so overfilled that many of its women starved to death due to lack of supplies, under his rule, the economy continued to grow, and the people were generally prosperous. For months at a time he would live outside the Forbidden City or travel around the country with heavy expenditures being paid from the Ming governments coffers. While being urged to return to the palace and attend to governmental matters and he also sanctioned the rise of eunuchs around him. One particular Liu Jin, leader of the Eight Tigers, was notorious for taking advantage of the emperor and squandered immense amount of silver. The diverted funds were about 36 million pounds of gold and silver, there was even rumor of a plot that Liu Jin had intended to murder the emperor and place his own grandnephew on the throne. Liu Jins plot was discovered, and he was executed in 1510. However, the rise of corrupt enunchs continued throughout the Zhengde Emperors reign, there was also an uprising led by the Prince of Anhua and another uprising led by the Prince of Ning. The Prince of Anhua was the Zhengde Emperors great-granduncle, while the Prince of Ning was his granduncle, in time, the Zhengde Emperor became notorious for his childish behaviour as well as abusing his power as emperor. Any unwilling participants, especially the ministers, would be punished or removed from their post and he met the enemy outside the city of Yingzhou and defeated them in a major battle by surrounding them. For a long period of time after this battle, the Mongols did not launch an expedition into Ming territory
36.
Mezzanine
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A mezzanine is an intermediate floor in a building which is partly open to the double-height ceilinged floor below. Mezzanines may serve a variety of functions. Industrial mezzanines, such as used in warehouses, may be temporary or semi-permanent structures. A mezzanine is a floor in a building which is open to the floor below. It is placed halfway up the wall on a floor which has a ceiling at least twice as high as a floor with minimum height, a mezzanine does not count as one of the floors in a building, and generally does not count in determining maximum floorspace. The International Building Code permits a mezzanine to have as much as one-third of the space of the floor below. Local building codes may vary somewhat from this standard, a space may have more than one mezzanine, as long as the sum total of floor space of all the mezzanines is not greater than one-third the floor space of the complete floor below. Mezzanines help to make a high-ceilinged space feel more personal and less vast, mezzanines, however, may have lower-than-normal ceilings due to their location. The term mezzanine does not imply a function, as mezzanines can be used for an array of purposes. Mezzanines are commonly used in Modern architecture, which places an emphasis on light. In industrial settings, mezzanines may be installed in high-ceilinged spaces such as warehouses and these semi-permanent structures are usually free-standing, can be dismantled and relocated, and are sold commercially. Industrial mezzanine structures can be supported by steel columns and elements. Depending on the span and the run of the mezzanine, different materials may be used for the mezzanines deck, some industrial mezzanines may also include enclosed, paneled office space on their upper levels. Reports suggest that the amount of steel required can be reduced by up to 35%, an architect is sometimes hired to help determine whether the floor of the building can support a mezzanine, and to design the appropriate mezzanine. Structural Wood Design, A Practice-Oriented Approach, the Architects Studio Companion, Rules of Thumb for Preliminary Design. Coates, Michael, Brooker, Graeme, Stone, Sally, the Visual Dictionary of Interior Architecture and Design. Buildings for Industrial Storage and Distribution, the Mingqi Pottery Buildings of Han Dynasty China,206 BC-AD220, Architectural Representations and Represented Architecture. Structure of the Ordinary, Form and Control in the Built Environment, harris, Cyril M. Illustrated Dictionary of Historic Architecture
37.
Terrace (building)
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A terrace is an external, raised, open, flat area in either a landscape near a building, or as a roof terrace on a flat roof. Terraces are used primarily for leisure activity such as sitting, strolling, the term often applies to a raised area in front of a monumental building or structure, which is usually reached by a grand staircase and surrounded by a balustrade. A terrace may be supported by an embankment or solid foundation, terraces may also be platforms, supported by columns but without the space below filled in, but terraces are always open to the sky and may or may not be paved. Agricultural terracing can be traced back to prehistoric times, but architectural terracing is equally ancient. Examples of early architectural terracing in the Middle East have been found at Nahal Oren, at Tel Yarmut, for example, architectural terracing also occurred on the island of Babeldaob in modern Palau in the Pacific Ocean. Terraces are found the world over, throughout history, terraces were used extensively throughout Greece in both public and private architecture, and rooftop terraces can be found at Knossos as early as 1700 BCE. Terraces were also extensively in the Roman Empire, with terraces in front of monumental structures common throughout imperial history. Temples were terraced on the island of Java by at least 800 CE, the first terrace stone temple in Cambodia was constructed at Bakong in 881 CE. Terraces are often used for private residences, in traditional Thai homes, the dwelling is built around a central terrace, or chaan. One or more house cabins are placed around the edge of the terrace, architectural theories for the use and design of terraces varies widely geographically and historically. In the early part of the 20th century, architects Henry, since the terrace was not the focal point of the structure, its design should be simple and it should command a view. More recently, architect Catherine Dee has noted that the terrace is most commonly used to link the structure to the landscape and as an extension of living space. According to architect Sophia Psarra, the terrace is one of the most commonly used forms of architecture in the 21st century, along with halls, stairs. Landscape architect Russell Sturgis has observed that terraces tend to be used only in larger, terraces need not always protrude from a building, a flat roof area used for social activity is also known as a terrace. In Venice, Italy, for example, the terrace is the most common form of terrace found. Developed around 1500 CE, it remains little-changed today and consists of a platform with small spaces between the floorboards. The altana was originally a place where laundry could be out to dry. Today, however, the altana is used primarily for social purposes, balcony Band stand Gazebo Patio Pavilion Pergola Porch Terrace garden Verandah
38.
Caisson (Asian architecture)
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The caisson is generally a sunken panel set into the otherwise largely flat ceiling. It is often layered and richly decorated, common shapes include square, octagon, hexagon, circle, and a combination of these. The caisson is a name for a coffer. In the case of East Asian architecture, however, the caisson is characterised by highly developed conventions as to its structure, the caisson is a sunken panel placed in the centre of the ceiling. Beams may also be used to create a hexagonal or octagonal caisson surrounded by a square border and these beams, and the dougong members, are usually visible, and richly carved and often painted with deities. The centre of the caisson is decorated with a large bas-relief carving or painting, common themes include two dragons chasing the pearl. Caissons were originally used to support skylights, therefore, they are a relatively recent structure in the Chinese architectural history. However, they became increasingly intricate and formalised, and were in later periods a standard item of decoration in formal buildings. The caisson has been found in tombs of the Han Dynasty dating the use of architectural feature back at least 2,000 years. Without the use of columns, this ceiling is held up by a hidden second-floor four-sided frame with a hexagonal ceiling frame on the third floor. In traditional Chinese architecture, every facet of a building was decorated using various materials, simple ceiling ornamentations in ordinary buildings were made of wooden strips and covered with paper. More decorative was the ceiling, constructed of woven wooden strips or sorghum stems fastened to the beams. The most decorative and the most complex ceiling was the caisson, because of the intricacy of its ornamentation, the caisson was reserved for the ceilings of the most important Chinese buildings such as imperial palaces and Buddhist temple altars. The Baoguo Monastery in Yuyao in Zhejiang has three zaojing in the ceiling, making it unique among surviving examples of Song architecture, sanqing Hall is the only Yuan period structure with three zaojing in its ceiling. A zaojing is a dome over an imperial throne or statue in Chinese architecture. As the caisson became increasingly standard in formal architecture in ancient China, similar structures also appeared in Buddhist grottos and these sunken panels in the ceiling of grottos would be carved to imitate the dougong-based structure in wooden buildings. Caissons were highly decorative and only included in important or highly decorated buildings and they had no specific cultural significance, since in structure they were equal to cupolas and domes constructed around the world. However the rich oramentation often conveyed cultural significance in the themes chosen, Chinese architecture Forbidden City Coffer Baoguo Temple - Dougong and caisson structures A collection of caisson images at Fotoe. com
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Mount Heng (Shanxi)
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Mount Heng is a mountain in north-central Chinas Shanxi Province, known as the northern mountain of the Five Great Mountains of China. Heng Shan in Shanxi Province is sometimes known as the Northern Heng Shan, both mountains have the same pronunciation in Chinese, and the Southern Heng Shan is also one of the Five Sacred Mountains. Like the other mountains in China with strong Taoist presence, Heng Shan has been considered a sacred mountain since the Zhou Dynasty, due to its northerly location, often under control of non-Chinese nations, the mountain has a weaker history of pilgrimage than its four fellows. Indeed, to this day it is the least-visited and least-developed of the five, because of this, Hengshan is not nearly as religiously important in China as the other Taoist mountains. But as a consequence, it is also less commercialized -- there are no hotels on the mountain. The main peak is a hike of around three hours round trip from the parking lot, with the summit covered in fragrant lilac blossoms in June. The slopes are covered with hemlocks, pines, elm, fir, poplar. During the Han Dynasty, a called the Shrine of the Northern Peak. While periodically destroyed and rebuilt, this temple has a history from Han times to the present day. During times of occupation by non-Han Chinese people, worship to Hengshan was done at the Beiyue Temple in Quyang, another temple of the area is the famous Hanging Temple, built more than 1,500 years ago into a cliff near the Mount
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World Heritage Site
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A World Heritage Site is a landmark which has been officially recognized by the United Nations, specifically by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Sites are selected on the basis of having cultural, historical, scientific or some form of significance. UNESCO regards these sites as being important to the interests of humanity. The programme catalogues, names, and conserves sites of outstanding cultural or natural importance to the common culture, under certain conditions, listed sites can obtain funds from the World Heritage Fund. The program was founded with the Convention Concerning the Protection of the Worlds Cultural and Natural Heritage, since then,192 state parties have ratified the convention, making it one of the most adhered to international instruments. As of July 2016,1052 sites are listed,814 cultural,203 natural, in 1959, the governments of Egypt and Sudan requested UNESCO to assist their countries to protect and rescue the endangered monuments and sites. In 1960, the Director-General of UNESCO launched an appeal to the Member States for an International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia, the campaign, which ended in 1980, was considered a success. The project cost $80 million, about $40 million of which was collected from 50 countries, the projects success led to other safeguarding campaigns, saving Venice and its lagoon in Italy, the ruins of Mohenjo-daro in Pakistan, and the Borobodur Temple Compounds in Indonesia. UNESCO then initiated, with the International Council on Monuments and Sites, the United States initiated the idea of cultural conservation with nature conservation. The International Union for Conservation of Nature developed similar proposals in 1968, the Convention came into force on 17 December 1975. As of June 2016, it has been ratified by 192 states, including 188 UN member states plus the Cook Islands, the Holy See, Niue, a country must first list its significant cultural and natural sites, the result is called the Tentative List. A country may not nominate sites that have not been first included on the Tentative List, next, it can place sites selected from that list into a Nomination File. The Nomination File is evaluated by the International Council on Monuments and Sites and these bodies then make their recommendations to the World Heritage Committee. There are ten selection criteria – a site must meet at least one of them to be included on the list, up to 2004, there were six criteria for cultural heritage and four criteria for natural heritage. In 2005, this was modified so there is now only one set of ten criteria. Nominated sites must be of outstanding value and meet at least one of the ten criteria. Thus, the Geneva Convention treaty promulgates, Article 53, PROTECTION OF CULTURAL OBJECTS AND OF PLACES OF WORSHIP. There are 1,052 World Heritage Sites located in 165 States Party, of these,814 are cultural,203 are natural and 35 are mixed properties
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Fengguo Temple
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Fengguo Temple is a Buddhist temple located in Yixian, Liaoning Province, China. The temple was first founded in 1020 during the Liao Dynasty, today, only two halls, two gates, and a decorative arch survive. The most important surviving building is the Mahavira Hall, a large hall that dates from 1020. The hall is notable for containing seven large Buddha sculptures, and other smaller sculptures, historical records about the history of Fengguo Temple are limited. Most of the history can only be ascertained from the twenty or so stele on the grounds of the temple. Replacing an earlier temple at the site called Xianxi Temple, Fengguo Temple was founded in 1020 by Jiao Xiyun, in 1107 a monk called Yizhuo worked at the monastery repairing and completing religious images. His work was completed in 1140 at the cost of 10 million cash, an earthquake severely damaged the temple in 1290, and a son-in-law of a Mongolian Khan donated money for repairs. Between 1487 and 1888 the hall was repaired at least seventeen times, the temple was most recently damaged in 1948 when it was bombed, and was only repaired again in the 1980s. Originally, Fengguo Temple had a Dharma Hall behind the Mahavira Hall, one of the pavilions was located along the axis and two more faced each other inwards along the axis. Currently, only the Mahavira Hall survives from the temples founding, the present-day temple also has four other structures of note laid out on the north–south axis, all built during the Qing Dynasty. Beginning in the south, there is an outer gate followed by an inner gate, next, a decorated archway stands in front of the Wuliang Hall, a small three-bay hall that is directly in front of the Mahavira Hall. The Main or Mahavira Hall is very large for a Chinese timber hall and it faces south on a three meter high platform and measures 55.8 by 25.9 meters. In front of the three central bays extend a yuetai measuring 37 meters east to west and 15 meters north to south, two structures dating from the Qing Dynasty stand on the yuetai, two kiosks and a stone incense burner. There is also a small yuetai at the back of the hall, steinhardt suggests that this yuetai formerly served as a link to the no longer extant Dharma Hall. The main hall contains seven large sculptures of the historical Buddha, the Buddhas are raised on an 87 cm high platform, with each of the seven inner bays holding one sculpture. In addition to Sakyamuni the six other Buddhas represented are Vipashyin, Sikhin, Visvabhu, Krakucchanda, Kanakamuni, each of the seven Buddhas is flanked by two bodhisattvas, and a guardian king faces the south entry at each side of the altar. Behind the seven Buddhas, facing the door, is a statue of Guanyin. Only 20 interior pillars are used within the hall, there are four rows of columns in the hall, but an entire row has been eliminated in front of the Buddha statues, so as not to impede viewing
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Architecture of the Song dynasty
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The architecture of the Song dynasty was noted for its towering Buddhist pagodas, enormous stone and wooden bridges, lavish tombs, and extravagant palaces. The professions of architect, master craftsman, carpenter, and structural engineer did not have the status of the Confucian scholar-officials during the dynastic era. Architectural knowledge had been passed down orally for thousands of years, there were also government agencies and schools for construction, building, and engineering. The Song dynastys building manuals aided not only the private workshops. The outer city of ancient Bianjing was built during the reign of Emperor Shenzong to a plan, almost square in proportions. The south wall had three gates, with Nanxun Gate in the center, Chenzhou Gate to the east, and this method of using bracket assemblies to support superstructure was specified in Li Jies 12th-century building manual Yingzao Fashi as pingzuo. The city wall itself was built with rammed earth, a technique also detailed in Yingzao Fashi, vol. III, Standards for Moat, Stronghold and Masonry Work, Foundation, For every square chi, apply two dan of earth, on top of it lay a mixture of brick, tile and crushed stones. Following this, tamp the surface with pestles or stamp with feet randomly to even out the surface, every five-cun layer of earth should be compressed to three cun, every three-cun layer of brick and stone to one and a half cun. Rammed-earth walls during this time were tapered, the thickness of the wall is greatest at the base and decreases steadily with increasing height, as detailed in Li Jies book. During the Song dynasty, the city of Bianjing had three enclosures, the city wall, the inner city wall, and the palace at the center. The inner city was rectangular, with three doors on each side, the palace enclosure was also rectangular, with a watch tower on each of the four corners. It had four gates, Xihua Gate to the west, Donghua Gate to the east, Gongchen Gate to the north. There were also two glazed dragons, each biting an end of the ridge, its tail pointing to the sky. However, they misnamed it sparrow-hawk tail, running southward from Xuande Gate was the Imperial Boulevard, about two hundred paces wide, with the Imperial Corridors on either side. Merchants opened shops in the Corridors until 1112, when they were banned, two rows of black fencing were placed at the center of the boulevard as a barrier to pedestrians and carriages. Along the inner sides of the fences ran the brick-lined Imperial Water Furrows, about 400 m south from Xuande Gate, the Bian River intercepted the Imperial Boulevard, which crossed it over the stone Zhou Bridge, balustraded and flat-decked. This design of a boulevard with a bridge crossing a river was later imitated in the Forbidden City
