|
Chinese Sun And Moon Mirrors
The sun-mirror () and moon-mirror () were bronze tools used in History of China#Ancient China, ancient China. A sun-mirror was a burning-mirror used to concentrate sunlight and ignite a fire, while a moon-mirror was a device used to collect nighttime dew by condensation. Their ability to produce fire and water gave them symbolic significance to Chinese philosophy, Chinese philosophers, and they were often used as metaphors for the concepts of yin and yang (the sun-mirror representing ''yang'' and the moon-mirror representing ''yin''). Terminology There are numerous Chinese names for the fire-producing "sun-mirror" and water-producing "moon-mirror". These two bronze implements are literary metaphors for yin and yang, associating the "''yang''-mirror" ''yangsui'' with the Sun (a.k.a. ''tàiyáng'' wikt:太陽, 太陽 "great ''yang''"), fire, dry, and round, and the "''yin''-mirror" ''fangshu'' with the Moon (''tàiyīn'' wikt:太陰, 太陰 "great ''yin''"), water, wet, and square ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
History Of China
The history of China spans several millennia across a wide geographical area. Each region now considered part of the Chinese world has experienced periods of unity, fracture, prosperity, and strife. Chinese civilization first emerged in the Yellow River valley, which along with the Yangtze basin constitutes the geographic core of the Chinese cultural sphere. China maintains a rich diversity of ethnic and linguistic people groups. The traditional lens for viewing Chinese history is the dynastic cycle: imperial dynasties rise and fall, and are ascribed certain achievements. This lens also tends to assume Chinese civilization can be traced as an unbroken thread many thousands of years into the past, making it one of the cradles of civilization. At various times, states representative of a dominant Chinese culture have directly controlled areas stretching as far west as the Tian Shan, the Tarim Basin, and the Himalayas, as far north as the Sayan Mountains, and as far south ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Book Of Rites
The ''Book of Rites'', also known as the ''Liji'', is a collection of texts describing the social forms, administration, and ceremonial rites of the Zhou dynasty as they were understood in the Warring States and the early Han periods. The ''Book of Rites'', along with the '' Rites of Zhou'' () and the '' Book of Etiquette and Rites'' (), which are together known as the "Three Li ()," constitute the ritual () section of the Five Classics which lay at the core of the traditional Confucian canon (each of the "five" classics is a group of works rather than a single text). As a core text of the Confucian canon, it is also known as the ''Classic of Rites'' or ''Lijing'', which some scholars believe was the original title before it was changed by Dai Sheng. History The ''Book of Rites'' is a diverse collection of texts of uncertain origin and date that lacks the overall structure found in the other "rites" texts (the '' Rites of Zhou'' and the '' Etiquette and Ceremonial''). S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chinese Architecture
Chinese architecture () is the embodiment of an architectural style that has developed over millennia in China and has influenced architecture throughout East Asia. Since its emergence during the early ancient era, the structural principles of its architecture have remained largely unchanged. The main changes involved diverse decorative details. Starting with the Tang dynasty, Chinese architecture has had a major influence on the architectural styles of neighbouring East Asian countries such as Japanese architecture, Japan, Korean architecture, Korea, Vietnamese architecture, Vietnam, and Mongolian architecture, Mongolia in addition to minor influences on the architecture of Southeast and South Asia including the countries of Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and the Philippines. Chinese architecture is characterized by bilateral symmetry, use of enclosed open spaces, feng shui (e.g. directional Hierarchy, hierarchies), a horizontal emphasis, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Huabiao
Huabiao () is a type of ceremonial column used in traditional Chinese architecture. ''Huabiao'' are traditionally erected in pairs in front of palaces and tombs. The prominence of their placement have made them one of the emblems of traditional Chinese culture. When placed outside palaces, they can also be called ''bangmu'' (). When placed outside a tomb, they can also be called ''shendao columns, shendaozhu'' (). Structure Extant ''huabiao'' are typically made from white marble. A ''huabiao'' is typically made up of four components. At the bottom is a square base which is decorated with bas-relief depictions of dragons, lotuses, and other auspicious symbols. Above is a column, decorated with a coiled dragon and auspicious clouds. Near the top, the column is crossed by a horizontal stone board in the shape of a cloud (called the "cloud board"). The column is topped by a round cap, called the ''chenglupan'' (承露盤) "dew-collecting plate" (see ''Chinese sun and moon mirrors# ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Huangdi Yinfujing
The ''Huangdi Yinfujing'' (), or ''Yinfujing'', is a circa 8th century CE Daoist scripture associated with Chinese astrology and ''Neidan''-style Internal alchemy. In addition, ''Huangdi Yinfujing'' is also the name of a Chinese Fengshui text on military strategy. Texts There are two received versions of the Daoist ''Huangdi Yinfujing'', a shorter text of 332 Chinese characters in one section and a longer one of 445 in three sections. Both versions of this classic explain cosmological correspondences, the Dao of Heaven, Yin and Yang, the Wu Xing, and biospiritual techniques. In the description of Alexander Wylie, "This short Treatise, which is not entirely free from the obscurity of Tâoist mysticism, professes to reconcile the decrees of Heaven with the current of mundane affairs." In the explanation of the modern Daoists Zhang Jiyu and Li Yuanguo, The ''Huangdi yinfu jing'' (The Yellow Emperor's Scripture on "Unconscious Unification") reflects this later stage of Daoist thoug ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taiping Yulan
The ''Taiping Yulan'', translated as the ''Imperial Reader'' or ''Readings of the Taiping Era'', is a massive Chinese '' leishu'' encyclopedia compiled by a team of scholars from 977 to 983. It was commissioned by the imperial court of the Song dynasty during the first era of the reign of Emperor Taizong. It is divided into 1,000 volumes and 55 sections, which consisted of about 4.7 million Chinese characters. It included citations from about 2,579 different kinds of documents spanning from books, poetry, odes, proverbs, steles to miscellaneous works. After its completion, the Emperor Taizong is said to have finished reading it within a year, going through 3 volumes per day. It is considered one of the '' Four Great Books of Song''. The team who compiled the Taiping Yulan includes: Tang Yue (湯悅), Zhang Wei (張洎), Xu Xuan (徐鉉), Song Bai (宋白), Xu Yongbin (徐用賓), Chen E (陳鄂), Wu Shu (吳淑), Shu Ya (舒雅), Lü Wenzhong (吕文仲), Ruan Sidao (� ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mount Penglai
Penglai ( zh, t=蓬萊仙島, l=Penglai Immortal Island) is a legendary land of Chinese mythology. It is known in Japanese mythology as Hōrai and Bồng Lai in Vietnam. McCullough, Helen. ''Classical Japanese Prose'', p. 570. Stanford Univ. Press, 1990. . Location According to the '' Classic of Mountains and Seas'', the mountain is located at the eastern end of Bohai Sea. According to the pre-Qin mythology which retells the legend of Xu Fu presenting a memorial to the Qin Emperor in order to seek for the elixir of life, there are three godly mountains which are found in the Bohai sea where immortals reside. These mountains are Penglai, Fāngzhàng (), and Yíngzhōu (/). Other islands where immortals reside are called Dàiyú () and Yuánjiāo (). In the ''Illustrated Account of the Embassy to Goryeo in the Xuanhe Era'' (; ''Xuanhe fengshi Gaoli tujing''), written in 1124 by Xu Jing (), Mount Penglai is located on an inhabited island which is found within the boundaries of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shangqing School
The Shangqing School (Chinese:上清), also known as Supreme Clarity, Highest Clarity, or Supreme Purity, is a Daoist movement that began during the aristocracy of the Western Jin dynasty. Shangqing can be translated as either 'Supreme Clarity' or 'Highest Clarity.' The first leader of the school was a woman, Wei Huacun (251-334). According to her Shangqing hagiographers, her devotion to Daoist cultivation so impressed a number of immortals that she received revelations from them 31 volumes of Daoist scriptures which would become the foundation of Shangqing Daoism. Later, Tao Hongjing, a man, (Chinese: 陶弘景) (456－536) structured the theory and practice and compiled the canon. He greatly contributed to the development of the school that took place near the end of the 5th century. The mountain near Nanjing where Tao Hongjing had his retreat, Maoshan (茅山 – fr), today remains the principal seat of the school. Shangqing practice values meditation techniques of visuali ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Homophone
A homophone () is a word that is pronounced the same as another word but differs in meaning or in spelling. The two words may be spelled the same, for example ''rose'' (flower) and ''rose'' (past tense of "rise"), or spelled differently, as in ''rain'', ''reign'', and ''rein''. The term ''homophone'' sometimes applies to units longer or shorter than words, for example a phrase, letter, or groups of letters which are pronounced the same as a counterpart. Any unit with this property is said to be ''homophonous'' (). Homophones that are spelled the same are both homographs and homonyms. For example, the word ''read'', in "He is well ''read''" and in "Yesterday, I ''read'' that book". Homophones that are spelled differently are also called heterographs, e.g. ''to'', ''too'', and ''two''. Wordplay and games Homophones are often used to create puns and to deceive the reader (as in crossword puzzles) or to suggest multiple meanings. The last usage is common in poetry and creat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Qin Dynasty
The Qin dynasty ( ) was the first Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China. It is named for its progenitor state of Qin, a fief of the confederal Zhou dynasty (256 BC). Beginning in 230 BC, the Qin under King Ying Zheng engaged in a Qin's wars of unification, series of wars conquering each of the rival states that had previously pledged fealty to the Zhou. This culminated in 221 BC with the successful unification of China under Qin, which then assumed an imperial prerogativewith Ying Zheng declaring himself to be Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China, and bringing an end to the Warring States period (221 BC). This state of affairs lasted until 206 BC, when the dynasty collapsed in the years following Qin Shi Huang's death. The Qin dynasty's 14-year existence was the shortest of any major dynasty in Chinese history, with only two emperors. However, the succeeding Han dynasty (202 BC220 AD) largely continued the military and administ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zhàng
The zhang ( zh, c= ) is a customary Chinese unit of length equal to 10 chi (Chinese feet). Its value varied over time and place with different values of the chi, although it was occasionally standardized. In 1915, the Republic of China set it equal to about 3.2meters or 3.50 yards. In 1930, this was revised to an exact value of 3⅓meters (about 3.645yd). It is not commonly used in mainland China today but appears in traditional Chinese architecture, where it was commonly used to measure bays. In Japanese units of measurement, the is equivalent to ten ''shaku'', or 3.03 meters. See also * Chinese units of measurement Chinese units of measurement, known in Chinese as the ''shìzhì'' ("market system"), are the traditional units of measurement of the Han Chinese. Although Chinese numerals have been decimal (base-10) since the Shang dynasty, Shang, several Chine ... Customary units of measurement Units of length Standards of the People's Republic of China References ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Li (unit)
''Li'' or ri (, ''lǐ'', or , ''shìlǐ''), also known as the Chinese mile, is a traditional Chinese unit of distance. The ''li'' has varied considerably over time but was usually about one third of an English mile and now has a standardized length of a half-kilometer (). This is then divided into 1,500 chi or "Chinese feet". The character 里 combines the characters for "field" ( 田, ''tián'') and "earth" ( 土, ''tǔ''), since it was considered to be about the length of a single village. As late as the 1940s, a "li" did not represent a fixed measure but could be longer or shorter depending on the ''effort'' required to cover the distance. This traditional unit, in terms of historical usage and distance proportion, can be considered the East Asian counterpart to the Western league unit. However, in English '' league'' commonly means "3 miles." There is also another '' li'' (Traditional: 釐, Simplified: 厘, ''lí'') that indicates a unit of length of a ''chi'', but i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
