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Su Daji
Daji ( zh, c=妲己, p=Dájǐ, w=Ta2-chi3) was the favourite consort of King Zhou of Shang, the last king of the Shang dynasty in ancient China. In legends and fictions, she is portrayed as a malevolent fox spirit who kills and impersonates the real Daji. Her identification as a fox spirit seems to have originated from at least the Tang dynasty. These accounts have been popularized in works such as the (), the , and the . She is considered a classic example of how a beautiful femme fatale can cause the downfall of a dynasty in Chinese culture. In the Song dynasty, fox spirit cults, including those dedicated to Daji, became outlawed, but their suppression was unsuccessful. For example, in 1111, an imperial edict was issued for the destruction of many spirit shrines within Kaifeng, including those of Daji. Biography Daji was from a noble family of Yousu (); her style name is Da (), and her clan name is Ji (). Hence, she is also known as Su Da Ji or Da Ji in ancient sources. At s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chinese Surname
Chinese surnames are used by Han Chinese and Sinicization, Sinicized ethnic groups in Greater China, Korea, Vietnam and among overseas Chinese communities around the world such as Singapore and Malaysia. Written Chinese names begin with surnames, unlike the Western name order, Western tradition in which surnames are written last. Around 2,000 Han Chinese surnames are currently in use, but the great proportion of Han Chinese people use only a relatively small number of these surnames; 19 surnames are used by around half of the Han Chinese people, while 100 surnames are used by around 87% of the population. A report in 2019 gives the List of common Chinese surnames, most common Chinese surnames as Wang (surname), Wang and Li (surname 李), Li, each shared by over 100 million people in China. The remaining eight of the top ten most common Chinese surnames are Zhang (surname), Zhang, Liu, Chen (surname), Chen, Yang (surname), Yang, Huang (surname), Huang, Zhao (surname), Zhao, Wu (surn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cat And Mouse
Cat and mouse, often expressed as cat-and-mouse game, is an English-language idiom that means "a contrived action involving constant pursuit, near captures, and repeated escapes." The "cat" is unable to secure a definitive victory over the "mouse", who, despite not being able to defeat the cat, is able to avoid capture. In extreme cases, the idiom may imply that the contest is never-ending. The term is derived from the hunting behavior of domestic cats, which often appear to "play" with prey by releasing it after capture. In colloquial usage, it has often been generalized to mean the advantage constantly shifts between the contestants, leading to an impasse or '' de facto'' stalemate. Furthermore, the term has been used to refer to the game hide-and-seek. See also * Arms race * Belling the Cat * " Cat and Mouse in Partnership", a Brothers Grimm fairytale * Cat play and toys * Red Queen's race * ''Tom and Jerry ''Tom and Jerry'' is an American Animated cartoon, animat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yunzhongzi
Yunzhongzi () is a character from the classic Chinese novel '' Fengshen Yanyi''. Yunzhongzi is a renowned immortal of the Jade Column Cave atop Mount South End. After the sinister Daji had taken her grasp over King Zhou of Shang, Yunzhongzi was the first immortal to see the injustice from above the clouds. After Yunzhongzi realized that this was none other than the Thousand-Year Vixen, he exclaimed the words "''If she is not eliminated, great disaster will befall the Red Dust! I must prevent this from happening!''" Following this event, Yunzhongzi presented himself before King Zhou. After the king had asked for Yunzhongzi's home, Yunzhongzi responded by saying that he is from water--heart of cloud, mind of fluidity. Thus following this point, Yunzhongzi would engage in a great reformative conversation with the king in the hopes that he would be rid of Daji and employ the Taoist way to his kingdom. Before Yunzhongzi left the king, he handed him his wooden sword, a sword that would g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hu Li Jing
Huli jing () are Chinese mythological creatures usually capable of shapeshifting, who may either be benevolent or malevolent spirits. In Chinese mythology and folklore, the fox spirit takes variant forms with different meanings, powers, characteristics, and shapes, including , , , , , , and . Fox spirits and nine-tailed foxes appear frequently in Chinese folklore, literature, and mythology. Depending on the story, the fox spirit's presence may be a good or a bad omen. The motif of nine-tailed foxes from Chinese culture was eventually transmitted and introduced to Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese cultures. Descriptions The nine-tailed fox occurs in the ''Shanhaijing'' (''Classic of Mountains and Seas''), compiled from the Warring States period to the Western Han period (circa fourth to circa first century BC). The work states: In chapter 14 of the ''Shanhaijing'', Guo Pu, a scholar of the Eastern Jin dynasty, had commented that the "nine-tailed fox was an auspicious omen t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zhaoge
Zhaoge (), in modern Qi County, Hebi, Henan province, was the capital of the State of Wey in the Zhou dynasty. According to traditional histories, it had been the last capital of the Shang dynasty, from king Geng Ding or Wu Yi through the final three kings. In the 3rd century, Du Yu stated that the ''Yinxu'' 'ruins of Yin' mentioned in the ''Zuo Zhuan'' was Zhaoge. In the early 20th century, archaeologists discovered the capital of the last nine Shang kings, now known as Yinxu, on the edge of Anyang Anyang ( zh, s=安阳, t=安陽; ) is a prefecture-level city in Henan, China. Geographical coordinates are 35° 41'~ 36° 21' north latitude and 113° 38'~ 114° 59' east longitude. The northernmost city in Henan, Anyang borders Puyang to the eas ... about north of Zhaoge. References Ancient Chinese capitals Shang dynasty Hebi {{China-hist-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Concubinage
Concubinage is an interpersonal relationship, interpersonal and Intimate relationship, sexual relationship between two people in which the couple does not want to, or cannot, enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarded as similar, but mutually exclusive. During the early stages of European colonialism, administrators often encouraged European men to practice concubinage to discourage them from paying prostitutes for sex (which could spread venereal disease) and from homosexuality. Colonial administrators also believed that having an intimate relationship with a native woman would enhance white men's understanding of native culture and would provide them with essential domestic labor. The latter was critical, as it meant white men did not require wives from the metropole, hence did not require a family wage. Colonial administrators eventually discouraged the practice when these liaisons resulted in offspring who threatened colonial rule by producing a m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Possessed By Spirits
Spirit Possession is an altered state of consciousness and associated behaviors which are purportedly caused by the control of a human body and its functions by spirits, ghosts, demons, angels, or gods. The concept of spirit possession exists in many cultures and religions, including Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Christianity,Mark 5:9, Luke 8:30 Judaism, Wicca, Haitian Vodou, Dominican Vudú, and Southeast Asian, African, and Native American traditions. Depending on the cultural context in which it is found, possession may be thought of as voluntary or involuntary and may be considered to have beneficial or detrimental effects on the host. The experience of spirit possession sometimes serves as evidence in support of belief in the existence of spirits, deities or demons. In a 1969 study funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, spirit-possession beliefs were found to exist in 74% of a sample of 488 societies in all parts of the world, with the highest numbers of believi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nüwa
Nüwa, also read Nügua, is a mother goddess, culture hero, and/or member of the Three Sovereigns of Chinese mythology. She is a goddess in Chinese folk religion, Chinese Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism. She is credited with creating humanity and repairing the Pillar of Heaven. As creator of mankind, she molded humans individually by hand with yellow clay. In other stories where she fulfills this role, she only created nobles and/or the rich out of yellow soil. The stories vary on the other details about humanity's creation, but it was a tradition commonly believed in ancient China that she created commoners from brown mud. A story holds that she was tired when she created "the rich and the noble", so all others, or "cord-made people", were created from her "dragg nga string through mud". In the ''Huainanzi'', there is a description of a great battle between deities that broke the pillars supporting Heaven and caused great devastation. There was great flooding, and Heaven h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hokusai Daji
, known mononymously as Hokusai, was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist of the Edo period, active as a painter and printmaker. His woodblock print series ''Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji'' includes the iconic print ''The Great Wave off Kanagawa''. Hokusai was instrumental in developing ''ukiyo-e'' from a style of portraiture largely focused on courtesans and actors into a much broader style of art that focused on landscapes, plants, and animals. His works had a significant influence on Vincent van Gogh and Claude Monet during the wave of Japonisme that spread across Europe in the late 19th century. Hokusai created the monumental ''Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji'' as a response to a domestic travel boom in Japan and as part of a personal interest in Mount Fuji. It was this series, specifically, ''The Great Wave off Kanagawa'' and ''Fine Wind, Clear Morning'', that secured his fame both in Japan and overseas. Hokusai was best known for his woodblock ukiyo-e prints, but he worked in a var ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Foot Binding
Foot binding (), or footbinding, was the Chinese custom of breaking and tightly binding the feet of young girls to change their shape and size. Feet altered by foot binding were known as lotus feet and the shoes made for them were known as lotus shoes. In late imperial China, bound feet were considered a status symbol and a mark of feminine beauty. However, foot binding was a painful practice that limited the mobility of women and resulted in lifelong disabilities. The prevalence and practice of foot binding varied over time and by region and social class. The practice may have originated among court dancers during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period in 10th-century China and gradually became popular among the elite during the Song dynasty, later spreading to lower social classes by the Qing dynasty (1644–1912). Manchu emperors attempted to ban the practice in the 17th century but failed. In some areas, foot binding raised marriage prospects. It has been estimated that b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Biographies Of Exemplary Women
The ''Biographies of Exemplary Women'' () is a book compiled by the Han dynasty scholar Liu Xiang . It includes 125 biographical accounts of exemplary women in ancient China, taken from early Chinese histories including '' Chunqiu'', '' Zuozhuan'', and the '' Records of the Grand Historian''. The book served as a standard Confucianist textbook for the moral education of women in traditional China for two millennia. Description The idealized biographies are divided into eight scrolls, including the eighth addendum from an unknown editor, as shown below. This book follows the ''lièzhuàn'' (列傳 "arrayed biographies") biographical format established by the Chinese historian Sima Qian. The word ''liènǚ'' (列女 "famous women in history") is sometimes understood as ''liènǚ'' (烈女 "women martyrs"), which Neo-Confucianists used to mean a "woman who commits suicide after her husband's death rather than remarry; woman who dies defending her honor." The online Chine ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Liu Xiang (scholar)
Liu Xiang (77–6BCE), born Liu Gengsheng and bearing the courtesy name Zizheng, was a Chinese astronomer, historian, librarian, poet, politician, and writer of the Western Han dynasty. Among his polymathic scholarly specialties were history, literary bibliography, and astronomy. He is particularly well known for his bibliographic work in cataloging and editing the extensive imperial library. Life Liu Gengsheng was born in Xuzhou. Being a distant relative of Liu Bang, the founder of the Han dynasty, he was a member of the ruling dynastic clan (the Liu family). Liu Xiang's father ranked as a marquess. Liu Xiang's son, Liu Xin, would continue the scholarly tradition of his father and his relative Liu An (the Prince of Huainan). By the beginning of Emperor Yuan's reign, Liu Xiang was a member of a group of Confucian officials, including Xiao Wangzhi, who wished to limit the power of the emperor's female family members relatives' clans, the Shi and the Xu. He ended up on the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
