|
Incense Clock
The incense clock () is a timekeeping device that originated from China during the Song dynasty (960–1279) and spread to neighboring East Asian countries such as Japan and Korea. The clocks' bodies are effectively specialized censers that hold incense sticks or powdered incense that have been manufactured and calibrated to a known rate of combustion, used to measure minutes, hours, or days. The clock may also contain bells and gongs which act as strikers. Although the water clock and astronomical clock were known in China (example: Su Song), incense clocks were commonly used at homes and temples in dynastic times. History In addition to water, mechanical, and candle clocks, incense clocks were used in Asia and were fashioned in several different forms. Incense clocks were first used in China around the 6th century; spread to Japan, as one survives in the Shōsōin. Early incense clocks found in China between the 6th and 8th centuries CE seem to have Devanāgarī carvings on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Princeton University Press
Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large. The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financial support of Charles Scribner, as a printing press to serve the Princeton community in 1905. Its distinctive building was constructed in 1911 on William Street in Princeton. Its first book was a new 1912 edition of John Witherspoon's ''Lectures on Moral Philosophy.'' History Princeton University Press was founded in 1905 by a recent Princeton graduate, Whitney Darrow, with financial support from another Princetonian, Charles Scribner II. Darrow and Scribner purchased the equipment and assumed the operations of two already existing local publishers, that of the ''Princeton Alumni Weekly'' and the Princeton Press. The new press printed both local newspapers, university documents, '' The Daily Princetonian'', and later added book publishing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Chinese Inventions
History of Science and Technology in China, China has been the source of many innovations, scientific discovery (observation), discoveries and inventions. This includes the ''Four Great Inventions'': papermaking, the compass, gunpowder, and History of typography in East Asia, early printing (both Woodblock printing, woodblock and movable type). The list below contains these and other inventions in ancient and modern China attested by archaeological or historical evidence, including List of inventions and discoveries of Neolithic China, prehistoric inventions of Neolithic and early Bronze Age China. The historical region now known as China experienced a History of science and technology in China, history involving mechanics, hydraulics and mathematics applied to horology, metallurgy, astronomy, agriculture, engineering, music theory, Artisan, craftsmanship, Maritime history, naval architecture and warfare. Use of the plow during the List of Neolithic cultures of China, Neolithic p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
History Of Timekeeping Devices
The history of timekeeping devices dates back to when ancient civilizations first observed astronomical bodies as they moved across the sky. Devices and methods for keeping time have gradually improved through a series of new inventions, starting with measuring time by continuous processes, such as the flow of liquid in water clocks, to mechanical clocks, and eventually repetitive, oscillatory processes, such as the swing of pendulums. Oscillating timekeepers are used in modern timepieces. Sundials and water clocks were first used in ancient Egypt BC and later by the Babylonians, the Greeks and the Chinese. Incense clocks were being used in China by the 6th century. In the medieval period, Islamic water clocks were unrivalled in their sophistication until the mid-14th century. The hourglass, invented in Europe, was one of the few reliable methods of measuring time at sea. In medieval Europe, purely mechanical clocks were developed after the invention of the bell-st ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Incense In China
Incense in China is traditionally used in a wide range of Chinese culture, Chinese cultural activities including Religion in China, religious ceremonies, Ancestor veneration in China, ancestor veneration, traditional medicine, and in daily life. Known as ''xiang'' (), incense was used by the Chinese cultures starting from Neolithic times with it coming to greater prominence starting from the Xia dynasty, Xia, Shang dynasty, Shang, and Zhou dynasty, Zhou dynasties.�，2003 One study shows that during the Han dynasty (206 BC – AD 220) there was increased trade and acquisitions of more fragrant foreign incense materials when local incense materials were considered "poor man's incense". It reached its height during the Song dynasty with its nobility enjoying incense as a popular cultural pastime, to the extent of building rooms specifically for the use of incense ceremonies. Besides meaning "incense", the Chinese (language), Chinese word ''xiang'' () also means "fragrance; scent; a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Nickel Silver
Nickel silver, maillechort, German silver, argentan, new silver, nickel brass, albata, or alpacca is a cupronickel (copper with nickel) alloy with the addition of zinc. The usual formulation is 60% copper, 20% nickel and 20% zinc. Nickel silver does not contain the element silver. It is named for its silvery appearance, which can make it attractive as a cheaper and more durable substitute. It is also well suited for being plating, plated with silver. A naturally occurring ore composition in China was smelted into the alloy known as or () ('white copper' or cupronickel). The name ''German Silver'' refers to the artificial recreation of the natural ore composition by German metallurgists. All modern, commercially important, nickel silvers (such as those standardized under ASTM B122) contain zinc and are sometimes considered a subset of brass. History Nickel silver was first used in China, where it was smelting, smelted from readily available unprocessed ore. During the Qing dy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publications, source text, library resources, and community outreach. It was founded by the polymath Benjamin Franklin and is considered the first learned society founded in what became the United States.Philosophical Hall, the society's headquarters and a museum, is located just east of Independence Hall in Independence National Historical Park. In 1965, in recognition of the building's history, it was designated a National Historic Landmark. The society has about 1,000 elected members. As of April 2020, 5,710 members had been inducted since its creation. Through research grants, published journals, the American Philosophical Society Museum, an extensive library, and regular meetings, the society supports a variety of disciplines in the humanitie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 1,603,797 in the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The city is the urban core of the Philadelphia metropolitan area (sometimes called the Delaware Valley), the nation's Metropolitan statistical area, seventh-largest metropolitan area and ninth-largest combined statistical area with 6.245 million residents and 7.379 million residents, respectively. Philadelphia was founded in 1682 by William Penn, an English Americans, English Quakers, Quaker and advocate of Freedom of religion, religious freedom, and served as the capital of the Colonial history of the United States, colonial era Province of Pennsylvania. It then played a historic and vital role during the American Revolution and American Revolutionary ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Seal (Chinese)
In the Sinosphere, seals ( stamps) can be applied on objects to establish personal identification. They are commonly applied on items such as personal documents, office paperwork, contracts, and art. They are used similarly to signatures in the West. Unlike in the West, where wax seals are common, Sinosphere seals are used with ink. Of Chinese origin, the process soon spread beyond China and across East and Southeast Asia. Various countries in these regions currently use a mixture of seals and hand signatures, and, increasingly, electronic signatures. Chinese seals are typically made of stone, sometimes of metals, wood, bamboo, plastic, or ivory, and are typically used with red ink or cinnabar paste ( zh, c=朱砂, p=zhūshā). The word 印 ("yìn" in Mandarin, "in" in Japanese and Korean, "ấn" and "in" in Vietnamese) specifically refers to the imprint created by the seal, as well as appearing in combination with other morphemes in words related to any printing, as in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Geisha
{{Culture of Japan, Traditions, Geisha {{nihongo, Geisha{{efn, {{IPAc-en, lang, ˈ, ɡ, eɪ, ., ʃ, ə, {{IPA, ja, ɡei.ɕa, ɡeː-, lang{{cite book, script-title=ja:NHK日本語発音アクセント新辞典, publisher=NHK Publishing, editor=NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, date=24 May 2016, lang=ja, 芸者, also known as {{nihongo, , 芸子, geiko{{efn, {{IPA, ja, ɡei.ko, ɡeː-, lang, {{citation needed span, in Kyoto and Kanazawa, date=May 2025 or {{nihongo, , 芸妓, geigi{{efn, {{IPA, ja, ɡeꜜi.ɡi, ɡeꜜː-, -ŋi, lang , are female Japanese people, Japanese performing arts, performing artists and entertainers trained in performing arts#Japan, traditional Japanese performing arts styles, such as Japanese traditional dance, dance, Music of Japan, music and singing, as well as being proficient conversationalists and hosts. Their distinct appearance is characterised by long, trailing kimono, nihongami#geisha, traditional hairstyles and {{transliteration, ja, o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
Traditional Chinese Medicine
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medicine, alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. A large share of its claims are pseudoscientific, with the majority of treatments having no robust evidence of effectiveness or logical mechanism of action. Some TCM ingredients Traditional Chinese medicine#Safety, are known to be toxic and cause disease, including cancer. Medicine in traditional China encompassed a range of sometimes competing health and healing practices, folk beliefs, Scholar-official, literati theory and Confucianism, Confucian philosophy, Chinese herbology, herbal remedies, Chinese food therapy, food, diet, exercise, medical specializations, and schools of thought. TCM as it exists today has been described as a largely 20th century invention. In the early twentieth century, Chinese cultural and political modernizers worked to eliminate traditional practices as backward and unscientific. Traditional practitioners then selec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] [Amazon] |
