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Shanhaijing
The ''Classic of Mountains and Seas'', also known as ''Shanhai jing'' (), formerly Wade-Giles, romanized as the ''Shan-hai Ching'', is a Chinese classic text and a compilation of mythic geography and beasts. Early versions of the text may have existed since the 4th century BCE, but the present form was not reached until the early Han dynasty. It is largely a Fable, fabulous geographical and cultural account of pre-Qin dynasty, Qin China as well as a collection of Chinese mythology. The book is divided into eighteen sections; it describes over 550 mountains and 300 Channel (geography), channels. Authorship Since Sima Qian, the debate about the author(s) of the book has been going on for more than two thousand years. Definite references Yu the Great and Yi (husbandman), Boyi The earliest records of the ''Classic of Mountains and Seas'' can be found in Sima Qian's "Records of the Grand Historian - Biography of Dawan". The author of the book was first clearly identified in "T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shanhaijing Illustration Of Nüwa
The ''Classic of Mountains and Seas'', also known as ''Shanhai jing'' (), formerly romanized as the ''Shan-hai Ching'', is a Chinese classic text and a compilation of mythic geography and beasts. Early versions of the text may have existed since the 4th century BCE, but the present form was not reached until the early Han dynasty. It is largely a fabulous geographical and cultural account of pre- Qin China as well as a collection of Chinese mythology. The book is divided into eighteen sections; it describes over 550 mountains and 300 channels. Authorship Since Sima Qian, the debate about the author(s) of the book has been going on for more than two thousand years. Definite references Yu the Great and Boyi The earliest records of the ''Classic of Mountains and Seas'' can be found in Sima Qian's "Records of the Grand Historian - Biography of Dawan". The author of the book was first clearly identified in "The table of the Classic Mountains and Seas" written by Liu Xiu in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chinese Mythology
Chinese mythology () is mythology that has been passed down in oral form or recorded in literature throughout the area now known as Greater China. Chinese mythology encompasses a diverse array of myths derived from regional and cultural traditions. Populated with engaging narratives featuring extraordinary individuals and beings endowed with magical powers, these stories often unfold in fantastical mythological realms or historical epochs. Similar to numerous other mythologies, Chinese mythology has historically been regarded, at least partially, as a factual record of the past. Along with Chinese folklore, Chinese mythology forms an important part of Chinese folk religion and Taoism, especially older popular forms of it. Many narratives recounting characters and events from ancient times exhibit a dual tradition: one that presents a more historicized or euhemerized interpretation, and another that offers a more mythological perspective. Numerous myths delve into the creation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ming Dynasty
The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of China ruled by the Han people, the majority ethnic group in China. Although the primary capital of Beijing fell in 1644 to a rebellion led by Li Zicheng (who established the short-lived Shun dynasty), numerous rump state, rump regimes ruled by remnants of the House of Zhu, Ming imperial family, collectively called the Southern Ming, survived until 1662. The Ming dynasty's founder, the Hongwu Emperor (1368–1398), attempted to create a society of self-sufficient rural communities ordered in a rigid, immobile system that would guarantee and support a permanent class of soldiers for his dynasty: the empire's standing army exceeded one million troops and the naval history of China, navy's dockyards in Nanjing were the largest in the world. H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Liu Xin (scholar)
Liu Xin (23 CE), courtesy name Zijun, was a Chinese astronomer, classicist, imperial librarian, mathematician, and politician during the Han dynasty#Western Han, Western Han and Xin dynasty, Xin dynasties. He later changed his name to Liu Xiu () due to the naming taboo of Emperor Ai of Han. He was the son of Imperial librarian Liu Xiang (scholar), Liu Xiang and an associate of other eminent thinkers such as the philosopher Huan Tan. Liu was a prominent supporter of the Old Text classics. Early life Liu Xin was the son of Confucian scholar Liu Xiang (scholar), Liu Xiang (77–6 BCE). Liu was a distant relative of Liu Bang, the founder of the Han dynasty, and was thus a member of the ruling dynastic clan (the Liu (surname), Liu family). Liu Xin's paternal grandfather ranked as a ''hou'' (, roughly 'Ranged Marquis#Han dynasty, marquess'). As a young man, Liu helped his father in cataloguing the contents of the imperial library, and his friendship with the well-connected mi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heavenly Questions
The ''Heavenly Questions'' or ''Questions to Heaven'' () is a piece contained in the Classical Chinese poetry collection of ''Chu Ci'', which is noted both in terms of poetry and as a source for information on the ancient culture of China, especially the area of the ancient state of Chu. Of all the poems attributed to Qu Yuan, "Tianwen" contains more myths than any of the other pieces which may be attributed to him; however, due to the formal structure of "Tianwen" as a series of questions, information regarding the myths alluded to appear more as a series of allusive fragments than as cohesively narrated stories. According to legend, Qu Yuan wrote this series of questions in verse after viewing various scenes depicted on temple murals; specifically, it is said that following his exile from the royal court of Chu, Qu Yuan looked upon the depictions of the ancestors and the gods painted upon the walls of the ancestral temple of Chu; and, then, in response, wrote his questions to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tale Of King Mu, Son Of Heaven
The ''Tale of King Mu, Son of Heaven'' ()Literally "Mu(,) Heaven('s) Son('s) Tale". "Son of Heaven" is a designation for a sovereign of China, and the word used for tale is often a biography or history. is a fantasy version of the travels of King Mu of Zhou, historical fifth sovereign of the Zhou dynasty of China, r. 976–922 BCE or 956–918 BCE. The written originals of the fantasy biography of King Mu and a biography of his mother were found along with the ''Bamboo Annals'' in the tomb of Wei Xiang-zi (d. 296 BCE), king of Wei, rediscovered in 281 CE during the Jin dynasty (266–420), after which they were merged into a single tale during transmission. Transmitted are four textual lineages which became independent from the original. Later versions were sometimes called ''Zhou Wang Youxing'', literally "(The) Zhou King('s) Travels" or "Travels of the Zhou King". Contents King Mu dreamed of being an immortal. He determined to visit the Western heavenly paradise of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Warring States Period
The Warring States period in history of China, Chinese history (221 BC) comprises the final two and a half centuries of the Zhou dynasty (256 BC), which were characterized by frequent warfare, bureaucratic and military reforms, and struggles for greater hegemonic influence among the ancient Chinese states, various autonomous feudal states of the Eastern Zhou dynasty. It followed the Spring and Autumn period and concluded with the eventual unification of China by the western state of Qin (state), Qin under Qin Shi Huang, who Qin's wars of unification, conquered all other contender states by 221 BC and found the Qin dynasty, the first history of China#Imperial China, imperial dynasty in East Asian history. While scholars have identified several different dates as marking the beginning of the Warring States period, Sima Qian's choice of 475 BC, the first year of King Yuan of Zhou's reign, is the most often cited due to the paucity of preceding annals after th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Song Dynasty
The Song dynasty ( ) was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period#Ten Kingdoms, Ten Kingdoms, ending the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. The Song frequently came into conflict with the contemporaneous Liao dynasty, Liao, Western Xia and Jin dynasty (1115–1234), Jin dynasties in northern China. After retreating to southern China following attacks by the Jin dynasty, the Song was eventually conquered by the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The History of the Song dynasty, dynasty's history is divided into two periods: during the Northern Song (; 960–1127), the capital was in the northern city of Bianjing (now Kaifeng) and the dynasty controlled most of what is now East China. The #Southern Song, 1127–1279, Southern Song (; 1127–1279) comprise the period following ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zhu Xi
Zhu Xi ( zh, c=朱熹; ; October 18, 1130April 23, 1200), formerly romanized Chu Hsi, was a Chinese philosopher, historian, politician, poet, and calligrapher of the Southern Song dynasty. As a leading figure in the development of Neo-Confucianism, Zhu Xi played a pivotal role in shaping the intellectual foundations of later imperial China. He placed great emphasis on rationality, opposed mysticism and religious experience, and constructed a huge philosophical system. His extensive commentaries and editorial work on the ''Four Books'' became the core texts of the imperial civil service examinations from 1313 until their abolition in 1905. He advanced a rigorous philosophical methodology known as the "investigation of things" () and emphasized meditation as an essential practice for moral and intellectual self-cultivation. Zhu Xi's thought exerted profound influence, becoming the official state ideology of China from the Yuan dynasty onward, and was later adopted in other East ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tang Dynasty
The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. Historians generally regard the Tang as a high point in Chinese civilisation, and a Golden age (metaphor), golden age of cosmopolitan culture. Tang territory, acquired through the military campaigns of its early rulers, rivalled that of the Han dynasty. The House of Li, Li family founded the dynasty after taking advantage of a period of Sui decline and precipitating their final collapse, in turn inaugurating a period of progress and stability in the first half of the dynasty's rule. The dynasty was formally interrupted during 690–705 when Empress Wu Zetian seized the throne, proclaiming the Wu Zhou dynasty and becoming the only legitimate Chinese empress regnant. The An Lushan rebellion (755 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guo Pu
Guo Pu (; AD 276–324), courtesy name Jingchun (), was a Chinese historian, poet, and writer during the Eastern Jin period, and is best known as one of China's foremost commentators on ancient texts. Guo was a Taoist mystic, geomancer, collector of strange tales, editor of old texts, and erudite commentator. He was the first commentator of the '' Shan Hai Jing'' and so probably, with the noted Han bibliographer Liu Xin, was instrumental in preserving this valuable mythological and religious text. Guo Pu was the well-educated son of a governor. He was a natural historian and a prolific writer of the Jin dynasty. He is the author of '' The Book of Burial'', the first-ever and the most authoritative source of feng shui doctrine and the first book to address the concept of feng shui in the history of China, making Guo Pu the first person historically to define feng shui, and therefore, Guo Pu is usually called the father of feng shui in China. Life A native of Wenxi County, in w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spring And Autumn Annals Of Wu And Yue
The ''Spring and Autumn Annals of Wu and Yue'' () is an unofficial history from the time of the Eastern Han dynasty that consists of a collection sidenotes on historical events. The ten-volume book was written by Zhao Ye (赵晔), and narrates the history of battles between the states of Wu and Yue during the Spring and Autumn period. The text is richly styled and detailed in a way that resembles texts from the School of "Minor-talks" (小說家/小说家; ''Xiaoshuojia'') within the Hundred Schools of Thought. The ''Spring and Autumn Annals of Wu and Yue'' is considered a follow-up of the '' Lost Book of Yue'' (越絕書). The annals have several modern commentaries and revised versions. Contents * volume 1: Biography of Taibo * volume 2: Biography of Shoumeng, King of Wu * volume 3: The story of how King Liao put Prince Guang into office * volume 4: Inner biography of King Helü * volume 5: Inner biography of King Fuchai * volume 6: External biography of King Wuyu of Yu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
