Category: Chinese Culture

Kangxi zidian 康熙字典 “The Dictionary of the Kangxi Reign”

The Kangxi zidian 康熙字典 "Dictionary of the Kangxi reign (1662-1722)" is the largest character dictionary of traditional China. It was compiled on imperial order by Zhang Yushu 张玉书 and Chen Yanjing 陈延敬 and was finished in 1716. These Qing period 清 (1644-1911) compilers made use of older dictionaries, expecially the Ming period 明 (1368-1644) dictionariesZihui 字汇 by Mei Yingzuo 梅膺祚 and Zhengzitong 正字通 by Zhang Zilie 张自烈. It consists of 12 "collections" (ji 集) of which each is divided into three parts. It makes use of the 214 radicals system established in theZhengzitong. Each character is attributed to a radical. The radicals are arranged according to the number of brush strokes. Below the radical levels characters are arranged according to the stroke number left after subtracting the radical. The Kangxi zidian contains 47,035 characters and was the largest dictionary before the compilation of the Zhonghua da zidian 中华大字典 in 1915. This large number comes into being because all character variants from ancient times on are recorded. For each one the locus classicus is quoted. A long introductory part explains the use of the traditional rhymes (Zimu qieyun yaofa 字母切韵要法). There is also an index for characters whose radical is not easy to determine (Jianzi 检字) and a chapter comparing characters that are very similar to each other and not easy to discern (Biansi 辨似). For each character the pronunciation according to the fanqie system 反切 is given first, as it is explained in older dictionaries, like the Guangyun 广韵, Jiyun 集韵 or Gujin yunhui 古今韵会, and then the direct pronunciation (zhiyin 直音) via a homophonous character. The pronunciation paragraph is followed by an explanatory part in which quotations from all kinds of literature is given to explain the different meanings of the character, in first place often from the oldest character dictionary of China, the Shuowen jiezi 说文解字, followed by theConfucian classics, historiographic writings, and on to belles-lettres. This part is often followed by a section rendering alternativ readings, alternative meanings, and alternative writings of the character. The quality of the entries is very high compared to older dictionaries, as the Kangxi zidian is very critical to a lot of quotations. There were, nevertheless, errors in the quotations, for which reason Wang Yinzhi 王引之 compiled a text-critial appendix to the dictionary, the Zidian kaozheng 字典考证, in 12 chapters (juan "scrolls"). It contains 2,588 paragraphs of corrected mistakes. Another critical appendix to the Kangxi zidian has been written by the Japanese scholar Watanabe Atsushi 渡部温, the Kangxi zidian kaoyi zhengwu 康熙字典考异正误, which contains 11,700 entries.

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Xiamen University 厦门大学

****************************************************** Xiamen University（厦门大学：Xiàmén Dàxué） was founded in 1921 by Tan Kah Kee（陈嘉庚：Chén Jiāɡēnɡ）, the well-known patriotic overseas Chinese leader. It was the first university in China founded by an overseas Chinese. At present it is the only key comprehensive university directly affiliated with the Education Ministry in any of the five special economic zones and is one of China's higher-level universities designated for the state key construction of the “211 Project” and the “985 Project”.

Over the past eighty – four years, as the result of painstaking efforts by several generations of faculty and graduates inspired by the school motto: Pursue Excellence, Strive for Perfection, Xiamen University has accumulated rich experience in offering its educational programs. The university presents its features as a university "in the Special Economic Zone（特别行政区：Tèbié Xínɡzhènɡqū） on the coast near Taiwan and with close ties with overseas Chinese." Following its fine tradition of "loving the motherland and the university", it has enjoyed a fine reputation both at home and abroad. Since its founding 84 years ago, over 140,000 students have graduated from the university, and over 50 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) have studied or worked at Xiamen University.

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Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty 汉武帝

汉武帝名刘彻，公元前140年至公元前87年在位。他当政期间，中国历史上出现了长达50年的盛世景象。Liu Che, Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty, was in power from 140 B.C. to AD 87. During his reign, China ushered in the flourishing age of more than 50 years.
汉初，刘邦分封一些同姓的子弟到全国各地做王，想借此确保刘家的天下。受封的诸侯王的权力很大。后来诸侯王的势力过大，严重影响中央的统治。In the early Han Dynasty, Emperor Liu Bang appointed some people of Liu's family to various parts of China as the dukes, hoping to remain the country in Liu's family. Some of the dukes were very powerfu. Dukes were so powerful that they seriously threatened the governance of the central government.
汉武帝当政后，准许诸侯王把自己的封地再分给子弟，建立诸侯国，这就是"推恩令"，一个王国分出许多小侯国，直属的领地就小了，再没有力量对抗中央。后来，汉武帝又陆续夺去大批王、侯的爵位。这样，经过长期斗争，王国对中央的威胁终于解除了，中央集权制度得到加强。After Emperor Wudi came into power, he allowed these dukes divide their fiefs to their offspring to establish new ??vassal states. This was called "Decree of Promoting Imperial Beneficence." When one vassal state was divided into several smaller ones, the direct fief became smaller and the duke would have no power to threat the central government. Later, Emperor Wudi removed the ranks of nobility of many dukes. After long-term struggle, the threats of the vassal states to the central government disappeared and the system of centralization was strengthened.
汉武帝时期，儒生董仲舒为了适应中央集权政治的需要，对儒家学说进行了发挥。During the reign of Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty, the Confucian Dong Zhongshu further expanded the Confucianism in order to meet the demands of political centralization.
第一，宣扬天是万物的主宰，皇帝是天的儿子，即天子，代表天统治人民。因此，全国人民都要服从皇帝的统治，诸侯王也要听命于皇帝，这叫做"大一统"。First, he announced that the heaven was the master of everything and the emperor was the son of the heavy. The son of the heavy ruled the people on behalf of the heavy. Thus, all the people should be subject to the emperor's ruling and dukes should also obey the orders of the emperor. This was known as "Great Unification."
第二，提出了"罢黜百家，独尊儒术"的建议。主张只提倡儒家学说，其它各家学说，都禁止传播，以实行思想上的统一，从而巩固政治上的统一。Second, he proposed the suggestion of following only the Confucianism while banning all other thoughts. Confucianism was made the only thought in the country and all other ideologies were forbidden from spreading so as to unify ideology and consolidate political rules.
汉武帝采纳了董仲舒的学说，汉朝政府里就有许多信奉儒家思想的人做了大官。儒家思想逐渐成为封建社会的统治思想。Emperor Wudi of Han Dynasty adopted Dong Zhongshu's idea and many Confucianism in the government were promoted to be senior officials and the Confucianism gradually became the ruling ideology of the feudal society.

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Jinpingmei 金瓶梅 “Plums in a Golden Vase”

The title of this novel, first published in 1617, is taken from the surnames and names of three characters. It is an anonymous and very complex and sophisticated account of the life of a political parvenu named Ximen Qing 西门庆 at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty 北宋. The whole work is written by one single author, although there could be some parts of other provenience, and was said to be a work of pornography, Buddhist morality, naturalism or a novel of manners. Ximen Qing has enjoyed a rapid rise in socio-economic status and engages in the pursuit of his sexual, economic and political needs. The badness of human nature leads automatically to self-destruction according to the thinking of the philosopher Xunzi 荀子. Ximen Qing, acquiring an aphrodisiac, sets destruction upon himself, seeing his son and his favorite concubine dying. After his own death, his household disintegrates, paralleling the defeat of the Song armies by the intruding troops of the Liao empire 辽. Scholarship saw in this novel a harsh critic of the circumstances of the late Ming period 明. The technical virtuosity of the author, his using of a wide range of material, like classical quotations, songs, theatre, can not be fully enjoyed in modern editions because the descibing of a few sexual scenes lead to radical shortenings of the book.

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Southeast University 东南大学

****************************************************** Southeast University (SEU)（东南大学：Dōnɡnán Dàxué） is one of the national key universities administered directly under the Ministry of Education of China. It is also one of the first universities accredited by the State Council to determine and approve the qualifications of professors, associate professors and doctorial supervisors. It is also one of the universities of “Project 211” and “985 Program” that is financed by the central government to build as a world-class university.

Southeast University has become a comprehensive university of high reputation comprised of various departments of science, engineering, art, social sciences, law, economics, management, languages, etc., with engineering as its focus. The university boasts over 40 schools or departments with 60 undergraduate disciplines in all. It also has 15 post-doctoral stations, and offers 105 PhD programs and 200 Master programs; it holds a national lead in architecture, civil engineering, electronics, information technology, energy, power engineering, and transportation technology.

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Jinghuayuan 镜花緣 “Flowers in a Mirror”

This novel by Li Ruzhen 李汝珍 (1763-1830) tells the story of a Daoist fairy named Fairy of the Hundred Flowers 百花仙子 that has fallen grom grace and tries to gain back her immortality. Li Ruzhen, himself failing to attain a higher examination degree, uses allegories to describe the caption of a human being between appearance and reality, the temporal and the eternal. This background gives the whole novel a touch of fantasy, fleeing from reality like the banished fairy that travels to strange countries. Coming back to China, she encounters the Tang 唐 empress Wu Zetian 武则天 and passes examination to be reunited with her earthly father. The describing of a woman's dynasty makes this very personal novel looking like an attack on the social conditions in traditional China, like a kind of feminist pamphlet. But looking more exactly at the end of the story, the fantasy of a woman realm has to cede to the reinstalling of the Confucian tradition. Braking out of his own society, the worldy unsuccessful author has to come back to reality. 

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£8,000 each on shopping in Chinese Golden Week

Chinese signs, Mandarin-speaking shop assistants and extra deliveries of sought-after designer goods — in especially small sizes — are all part of making the high-spending visitors who have travelled here this week from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou feel at home.中文标识牌、说普通话的销售员和应顾客要求进行的额外调货——中国顾客的尺码比较小——所有这一切都让那些乘着一周假期，从北京、上海、广州不远而来的高消费顾客感觉宾至如归。

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Hua Tuo 华佗

华佗通晓各种经书和养生的学问。他立志以医济世，为民众解除病苦。沛国相陈珪和太尉黄琬曾先后举荐或征召他出来当官，都被他拒绝了。华佗行医遍及今安徽、江苏、山东、河南的一些地区，深受群众的爱戴和推崇。汉丞相曹操患头风头痛，久治不见效，召华佗治疗。华佗施以针刺，头痛立刻就停止了。曹操要留华佗在身边做侍医，华佗不愿意只为他一人服务，托辞回家不返。曹操一怒之下，将华佗杀害了。Huo Tuo was well versed in various sutras and knowledge of keeping health. He decided to help the people out of diseases with his medical knowledge. Prime Minister of Chen Gui and Commander Huang Wan of Pei Kingdom recommended him to be government official, but he refused. Hua Tuo went to some places in today's Anhui, Jiangsu and Henan to help people, winning their respect and applause. When Cao Cao, Prime Minister of the Han Dynasty, suffered from a headache and could not be recovered after long-time treatment. He turned to Hua Tuo for help. Hua Tuo acupunctured Cao Cao's head and cured the disease. Cao Cao hope Hua Tuo could be his private doctor. But Hua Tuo did not want to serve only one people. He got an excuse and went home and refused to go back. Cao Cao was very angry and he killed Hua Tuo.
华佗不仅精于针灸，在妇产科、小儿科、内科杂病和寄生虫病等方面都有很高的造诣。他最大的成就，是在外科方面。他发时了麻沸散，并成功地使病人在全身麻醉下施行腹部外科手术。据史书记载，华佗已能做肿瘤摘除、胃肠缝合一类的手术。他对那些发于体内，针灸服药都不能治好的病，就采用手术治疗。他先让病人用酒服麻沸散，待病人如同酒醉失去知觉时，切开腹壁，若是肿瘤就割除;若病在肠胃，就将胃肠截断，除去疾秽的部分，经过洗涤后再很好地加以缝合，在伤口上敷以一种药膏。四五天后伤口愈合，病人一个月左右就可恢复健康。麻沸散是一种用于全身麻醉的中药麻醉剂。华佗在公元二三世纪发明全身麻醉术，比西方医学家使用乙醚或笑气进行全麻手，要早一千六百多年。因此。华佗不仅是中国第一位，而且是世界上第一位使用麻醉术进行腹腔手术的人。Hua Tuo not only was versed in acupuncture, but also made great achievements in areas such as gynaecology and obstetrics, pediatrics, diseases of internal medicines and verminosis. His greatest achievement was made in surgery. He invented Mafei San (Chinese ancient narcotic drug) and conducted an operation on the abdomen of a patient after being narcotized. According to history books, Hua Tuo could conduct operation of removing tumors and suturing stomach and intestines. For the diseases that were inside the body and could not be cured through acupuncture, Hua Tuo treated them with operation. He first asked the patient to drink Mafei San with liquor; when the patient lost the consciousness, he would cut open the abdomen. If he found tumors, he would remove them; if the diseases were in the stomach or intestines, he would cut them apart and remove the part with the disease. After washing the remaining parts, he would suture them. A kind of ointment was used on the wound. Four or five days later, the wound would, and the patient would be recovered in around a month's time. Mafei San is a kind of traditional Chinese drug of general anesthesia. Hua Tuo invented the technology of general anesthesia in 2-3 Century, more than 1,600 years earlier than the ether and nitrous oxide used by western physicians for general anesthesia. Hua Tuo was the first people to use anesthesia for operation in the abdomen not only in China, but also in the world.
华佗还很多重视体育锻炼。他认为适当的运动可以帮助消化、畅通气血，不但能预防疾病，还可延长寿命。据此，他模仿虎、鹿、熊、猿、鸟的动作，创造了"五禽戏"。他的弟子吴普照这个方法坚持锻炼，活到九十多岁，仍耳聪目明，牙齿坚固。Hua Tuo attached great importance to physical exercises. He believed that appropriate exercises could improve digestion, help energy and blood circulation, prevent diseases and help prolong life. He invented Five-Animal Exercises according to the movement of tiger, deer, bear, monkey and bird. His apprentice Wu Pu practiced the exercises and was still very healthy with good eyesight and hearing and strong teeth.
华佗一生有很多医著，可惜都没有流传下来，这是中国医学的一个重大损失。现在看到的《中藏经》、《华柁神医秘传》等，都是后人托名而作，并非出自华佗之手。Hua Tuo wrote a lot of books on medicines in his life but none of them is available now. It is a great loss for Chinese medicines. The books available today such as Zhongzang Sutra and Secret Skills of Doctor Hua Tuo were actually written by someone else under the name of Hua Tuo.

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