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1.
The post-Victorian anthropologist Baldwin Spencer was the first to investigate the central and northern aboriginal tribes of Australia. His ethnographic works in this area have greatly in-fluenced related disciplines and studies in fields such as kinship, totem worship, and primitive reli-gions. In the field of classics and anthropology, Spencer’s academic heritage has received wide-spread respect and recognition, and has made sub-sequent academic discussion possible. In order to present Spencer’s personal experiences and aca-demic ideas clearly and comprehensively, it is nec-essary to return to the post-Victorian context, and comb Spencer’ s life history and academic history. Taking important clues from various times an e-vents in his life, the paper introduces three peri-ods:Spencer’s early training in the discipline and his epistemic background, his medium-term eth-nographic investigations and works, and the later investigations of Tierra del Fuego. Textual study, based on Spencer’s life history and academic histo-ry, is very useful to understand his ethnographic investigations. Sir Walter Baldwin Spencer ( 1860 -1929 ) was born on 23 June, 1860 in Lancashire, Eng-land. Spencer was educated at Old Trafford School and at the Manchester School of Art. His interest in art and sketching was lifelong, and would reveal itself in his competence as a scientific draftsman and illustrator ( D. J. Mulvaney,1990 ) . Entering Owens College ( Victoria University of Manchester) in 1879, Spencer intended to study medicine. In-spired by Milnes Marshall, a disciple of Darwin disciple, he became a committed evolutionary biol-ogist, soon abandoning conventional religion. He entered the University of Oxford in 1881 to study
science under Professor H. N. Moseley, who com-bined an enthusiasm for evolutionary biology with ethnological interests. Spencer grasped Oxford ’ s diverse opportunities, which included lectures by Ruskin and E. B. Tylor. In 1887, Spencer ar-rived at Melbourne University . With his colleague Professor David Masson, Spencer helped to trans-form university standards and they co-operated as entrepreneurs of Australian science. Spencer was recruited as zoologist and photog-rapher in the 1894 Horn scientific exploration ex-pedition to central Australia. His anthropological interest was rekindled when he met F. J. Gillen, the Alice Springs postmaster, during the expedi-tion. In 1896 Spencer joined Gillen for the most intensive fieldwork then attempted in Australia. The Native Tribes of Central Australia ( 1899 ) , which resulted, was to influence contemporary theories on social evolution and interpretations of the origins of art and ceremonial practices. Spencer and Gillen drove a buggy from Oodnadatta to Borroloola in 1901-02 . Their research resulted in The Northern Tribes of Central Australia ( 1904 );Haddon had written that the names of Spencer and Gillen are familiar to every ethnologist in the world, and probably no books on ethnology have been so wide-ly noticed and criticized as have The Native Tribes of Central Australia and The Northern Tribes of Central Australia (A. C. Haddon ,1902). To assist the Government of the Common-wealth, Spencer was appointed Special Commis-sioner for Aboriginals in the Northern Territory, and also their Chief Protector. He also led three other scientists, including J. A. Gilruth, on the 1911 Preliminary Scientific Expedition. Native Tribes of the Northern Territory of Australia (1914)
described his ethnographic observations and the ex-tensive collections made on the expedition. At the government ’ s request, Spencer visited Alice Springs and Hermannsburg in 1923 . He published The Arunta: A Study of a Stone Age People ( 2 vols, 1927 ) to respond to the criticisms derived from Carl Stretlow and defend his work. A popular rewrite of previous books followed—Wanderings in Wild Australia ( 2 vols, 1928 )—this time under his sole authorship. Spencer retired as emeritus professor in 1919 . His nerves and his judgments were impaired from the strain of continuous overwork, the virtual disin-tegration of his marriage, and he was finally hospi-talized in 1921 . His health improved and within two years he resumed anthropological activities and rebuilt his art collection. He sailed to Tierra del Fuego together with Jean Hamilton to undertake anthropological studies early in 1929. Spencer, with an unrivalled record of anthropological field-work in Australia, undertook this journey to fill a gap in our knowledge, and compare very different and remote races of mankind (A. C. H. ,1931). However, his gallant attempt was prematurely frus-trated by his death from angina pectoris, at which point he had been only two months in the field. His notes were organized and published as Spencer’s Last Journey (1931). His achievements were recognized. Elected as a fellow of the Royal Society in 1900 , he was ap-pointed C. M. G. in 1904 and K. C. M. G. in 1916 . Manchester University conferred him with an honorary doctorate of science, while Melbourne a-warded him a doctorate of letters. Exeter College, Oxford, elected him to an honorary fellowship in 1907 , and stained glass in its hall commemorates his contribution. James Frazer’s letter to Spencer in 1899 was prophetic: books like mine, merely speculative, will be superseded sooner or later ( the sooner the better for the sake of truth) by bet-ter induction based on fuller knowledge;books like yours, containing records of observations, will nev-er be superseded ( John M. Cooper, 1932 ) . Therefore, the sense and value of reading and un-derstanding Spencer and his books today goes with-out saying. 相似文献
science under Professor H. N. Moseley, who com-bined an enthusiasm for evolutionary biology with ethnological interests. Spencer grasped Oxford ’ s diverse opportunities, which included lectures by Ruskin and E. B. Tylor. In 1887, Spencer ar-rived at Melbourne University . With his colleague Professor David Masson, Spencer helped to trans-form university standards and they co-operated as entrepreneurs of Australian science. Spencer was recruited as zoologist and photog-rapher in the 1894 Horn scientific exploration ex-pedition to central Australia. His anthropological interest was rekindled when he met F. J. Gillen, the Alice Springs postmaster, during the expedi-tion. In 1896 Spencer joined Gillen for the most intensive fieldwork then attempted in Australia. The Native Tribes of Central Australia ( 1899 ) , which resulted, was to influence contemporary theories on social evolution and interpretations of the origins of art and ceremonial practices. Spencer and Gillen drove a buggy from Oodnadatta to Borroloola in 1901-02 . Their research resulted in The Northern Tribes of Central Australia ( 1904 );Haddon had written that the names of Spencer and Gillen are familiar to every ethnologist in the world, and probably no books on ethnology have been so wide-ly noticed and criticized as have The Native Tribes of Central Australia and The Northern Tribes of Central Australia (A. C. Haddon ,1902). To assist the Government of the Common-wealth, Spencer was appointed Special Commis-sioner for Aboriginals in the Northern Territory, and also their Chief Protector. He also led three other scientists, including J. A. Gilruth, on the 1911 Preliminary Scientific Expedition. Native Tribes of the Northern Territory of Australia (1914)
described his ethnographic observations and the ex-tensive collections made on the expedition. At the government ’ s request, Spencer visited Alice Springs and Hermannsburg in 1923 . He published The Arunta: A Study of a Stone Age People ( 2 vols, 1927 ) to respond to the criticisms derived from Carl Stretlow and defend his work. A popular rewrite of previous books followed—Wanderings in Wild Australia ( 2 vols, 1928 )—this time under his sole authorship. Spencer retired as emeritus professor in 1919 . His nerves and his judgments were impaired from the strain of continuous overwork, the virtual disin-tegration of his marriage, and he was finally hospi-talized in 1921 . His health improved and within two years he resumed anthropological activities and rebuilt his art collection. He sailed to Tierra del Fuego together with Jean Hamilton to undertake anthropological studies early in 1929. Spencer, with an unrivalled record of anthropological field-work in Australia, undertook this journey to fill a gap in our knowledge, and compare very different and remote races of mankind (A. C. H. ,1931). However, his gallant attempt was prematurely frus-trated by his death from angina pectoris, at which point he had been only two months in the field. His notes were organized and published as Spencer’s Last Journey (1931). His achievements were recognized. Elected as a fellow of the Royal Society in 1900 , he was ap-pointed C. M. G. in 1904 and K. C. M. G. in 1916 . Manchester University conferred him with an honorary doctorate of science, while Melbourne a-warded him a doctorate of letters. Exeter College, Oxford, elected him to an honorary fellowship in 1907 , and stained glass in its hall commemorates his contribution. James Frazer’s letter to Spencer in 1899 was prophetic: books like mine, merely speculative, will be superseded sooner or later ( the sooner the better for the sake of truth) by bet-ter induction based on fuller knowledge;books like yours, containing records of observations, will nev-er be superseded ( John M. Cooper, 1932 ) . Therefore, the sense and value of reading and un-derstanding Spencer and his books today goes with-out saying. 相似文献
2.
This paper attempts to expound the historical research characteristics of the famous Mongolian scholar Sumba Khanbo Yeshibaljur in the 18th century.Taking the book Galbaragcha Modon as an empirical object,we focus on its historical thought,thinking mode and research methods.Yeshibaljur was proficient in five branches of Buddhism and wrote many works in his whole life.Galbaragcha Modon is one of his representative academic works,occupying an important position in his historical achievements.Although Galbaragcha Modon is an ontological work of religious history,it involves many related historical contents of India,Tibet,China and Mongolia,and contains extremely precious historical information,which can be regarded as an important historical achievement of Yeshibaljur.Therefore,it has certain academic values to study the writing form,rule method and historical thought of this work to clarify one side of the middle Mongolian history. 相似文献
3.
Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche was a key figure who transmitted Tibetan Buddhism to the West.This paper focuses on an introduction to his extraordinary life and his teachings of Buddhism in the West. 相似文献
4.
Since the 1980s, critical museum studies have interpreted the‘collecting and exhibi-ting activities’ of a museum as both practical activ-ities as well as a persistent scientific and socio-cul-tural process, and have explored the natures of museum, including the logic and strategy behind these practices. Through reviewing Lin Huixiang ’s collecting and exhibiting practices ( 1929 to 1958 ) , this article aims to explore internal rela-tionships between ( i ) museum practices and ( ii ) the practitioner, all under a particular episteme. This article moreover presents the genealogy of Lin Huixiang ’s academic ideas, museum practices, and‘Southeastern-oceanic-cultural ’ research pro-jects;it covers his earlier activities of ethnographic object collecting and exhibiting practices all the way to the construction of the‘Southeastern-ocean-ic-culture-system ’ within the framework of the‘New Theory of Evolution’ . Seen from a critical perspective, a museum is not a neutral and objective institution but a space full of power and discussion. In addition, in our modern times Museums have become a controver-sial place: the museum’s nature has changed from a‘palace of knowledge’ to a representation-system composed of objects. Eilean Hooper-Greenhill uses the terms“effective history” and“episteme” to ex-amine the history of a museum, and divides it into three stages: ( i ) the irrational cabinet, ( ii ) a classical episteme, and ( iii) a modern episteme. Different epistemes directly influence the collecting and exhibiting practices. Susan Pearce points out that collecting activities express and shape the rela-tionship between the human and material worlds. She distinguishes between “gathering”, “hoard-ing”, and “collecting” and she emphasizes that the term “collecting” points to products of imagi-nation. This imagination metaphorically creates meanings by arrangement and it displays the known world. Therefore, the activity of collecting and ex-hibiting is always practiced under a particular epis-teme;in addition political standpoints, value judg-ments, and academic interests are involved when interpreting the meanings of the objects and the constructing the knowledge order. This article moreover conducts a systematic exploration of Lin Huixiang’s collecting and exhibi-ting practices as well as the genealogy of his aca-demic ideas. All is examined from three aspects:( i) ethnicity, nation, and ethnographic object col-lecting practices; ( ii ) the intellectual, display practices and Museum of Anthropology; ( iii ) the New Theory of Evolution and the establishment of the Southeastern-oceanic-culture-system. The first section of “ethnicity, nation, and ethnographic object collecting practices”focuses on Lin Huixiang’s collecting practices from 1929 until the end of the Second World War. He started to collect aboriginal human objects in Taiwan since 1929 and ethnographical objects in the South Sea since 1937 . As most anthropologists from that area and period, Lin Huixiang’s collecting activities were influenced by patriotism, the establishment of a Chinese anthropology, and by personal academic interests. Chinese anthropologists during the 1920s to 1940s, including Lin Huixiang, believed that nationalism and the ‘Great Harmony ’ would lead to Chinese independence and civilization. And his practices had real significance for China in war-time. On the one hand, these aboriginal objects from Taiwan and the South Sea were regarded as material evidence of an extant“barbarian” culture;this was helpful in understanding that the‘barbari-an’ culture was basically same as that of ours, which then would reduce our ethnic prejudice a-gainst the ‘barbarian’ . On the other hand, these objects also became a means for the public to un-derstand Taiwan, the colony of Japan; in fact, these aboriginal objects even became a symbol of anti-colonialism and aroused the people’s patriot-ism. The second part of “the intelluctual, display practices and Museum of Anthropology” turns to Lin Huixiang’s ideas about the enlightment through a museum and its exhibitions. Lin Huixiang indeed emphasized the educational function of exhibitions and the museum. He displayed his collections to the public, held several exhibitions starting in 1929 , donated all his collections to Xiamen Uni-versity in 1951 , and advocated the establishment of the Museum of Anthropology. Lin Huixiang pointed out that museums were educational institu-tions meant to spread knowledge, and he used specimens, charts, and models to educate the pub-lic. As an anthropologist, Lin Huixiang understood the meaning of an ethnographical museum as an in-strument for teaching, research, and social educa-tion. By reviewing Lin Huixiang’s ‘collecting and exhibiting practices ’ during the period 1929 -1958 , we can clearly come to understand his aca-demic ideas about the discipline of anthropology and about the Southeastern-regional culture. The exhibitions in the Museum of Anthropology of Xia-men University represent his endeavor to construct the Southeastern-oceanic-culture-system within the framework of the New Theory of Evolution. He showed archaeological specimens from the prehis-toric period to the historical period, as well as eth-nographical objects of China’s Southeastern region and Taiwan region, Indonesia, Singapore, India, and of Burma. All objects displayed in exhibitions were used to illustrate the rule of evolution, espe-cially the ethnographic objects that evidenced the primitiveness of human culture; this is helpful to us when exploring the origins of cultures. At the same time, Lin Huixiang compared the cultures of Northern China and Southeastern China, and iden-tified cultural traits specific to the Southeastern ar-ea, aiming to show cultural similarities among China’s Southeastern region and the Taiwan region, and Southeast Asia, which he called the“South-eastern-oceanic-culture-system”. 相似文献
6.
In his famous book The Golden Bough,James Frazer mentioned one special custom found along the shores of Lake Nemi in Italy. The forest king who lived beside Lake Nemi, was not only once a prisoner, but also the murderer of his predecessor. Why did the King have to be killed? How could he be killed? This was the very starting point of James Frazer’s divine kingship study. This was in contrast to the common idea held in many cultures, that kings, or even gods, would die. However, in the most primitive societies, kings and gods also had a symbolic duty. People be-lieved that their king took the responsibility to maintain the order of society and the natural world. In that case, it was obvious that if the king became old and weak, the society and order would be in danger. The way used by primitive people to solve this problem was to kill the king when he became weak, and to rebuild this symbol of order through the accession of a new king. This worry about the loss of order and fertility, Frazer explained, was the reason why they choose to kill their king, who was also a god to them. To prove his theory, Fra-zer used many examples. Among them, the exam-ple of the Shilluk of Nilotic Sudan was the only real case of a people killing their king. All the kings were possessed by the spirit of Nyikang, who was not only a hero and king in their history, but also the god who created the universe of the Shilluk people. In Shilluk, it was not the king who ruled the country, but the spirit who possessed him. For that reason, once the king showed his weakness and age, he had to be killed or commit a suicide so as to keep Nyikang in a healthy body. This case was mentioned by James Frazer, re-examined by Evans-Pritchard, and discussed by Henri Frank-fort and David Graeber. The Shilluk people lived in Sudan, in the Ni-lotic area alongside the Nile River. Their kingdom consisted of y many hamlets and occupied by linea-ges. But all these hamlets and lineages shared the same king, who was believed to be the descendant of their semi-divine hero and first king, Nyikang. Nyikang was believed to bring the fertility of men, of cattle, and of the crops. He lived among his people and blessed them. He was a mythological figure who represented a changeless moral order and the stable structure of the state. The Shilluk people believed that the king was the embodiment of Nyikang, and, thus, shared his divinity. All the Kings were believed to be descended from Nyi-kang. The king could be killed for two reasons:when he could no longer satisfy his wives, it was time for him to die and make room for a more vig-orous successor; or he would be killed by one of the prince who coveted the shrine at night. There were many graves of kings and of Nyikang all a-round the kingdom, but all the Shilluk people knew that Nyikang was not buried in any of them, he would never die. The king, however, was the container of the Nyikang’s spirit. Thus, after his death, he was no longer divine, so his funeral would be a clan affair rather than a national affair. In Frazer’s opinion, Shilluk kings confirmed their rule and power by maintaining their connec-tion with the god, Nyikang. And, he gained divin-ity from this connection. However, this divinity was not permanent. In the same way, the stability of the Shilluk social order was also not permanent, so the complete failure of that power would cause the danger to the entire society. When the new king ascended the throne, the social order would be re-established. So, to kill the old king when he could no longer take responsibility for the whole of society was the way for the Shilluk to release the tension and handle the danger which resulted from their king’s death and to keep the social order. Several decades after the publication of The Golden Bough, Evans - Pritchard gave a talk at The Frazer Lecture ( 1948 ) . He looked at the Shilluk custom of killing their king together with the social structure of the Shilluk kingdom, and pointed out some of the unreasonable explanations made by James Frazer. He believed that this cus-tom, which Frazer explained as the way the Shilluk maintained the divinity of kingship, had political reasons and social functions. Based on his field-work, Evans - Pritchard described the political structure of Shilluk as follows: Shilluk hamlets consisted of one to fifty different families. Each hamlet was occupied by members of an extended family or a small lineage. The headman of a hamlet was also the head of a lineage in the settlement. All the Shilluk settlements composed a common polity, i. e. the land belonging to the Kingdom of Shillukland. There were two chiefs in the hierarchy between the king and the settlements. These were the Ger, who represented northern Shillukland, and the Luak, who represented the southern shil-lukland. Those two chiefs each ritually represented half of the kingdom, and they played a very impor-tant role in the election of the new king. Evans-Prichard discovered that there were very close con-nections between the kings, the princes and their villages where they were born. The pregnant wives of the kings would be sent back to their natal villa-ges to bear their children, and the princes were brought up by the headmen of their natal villages. Except them, all of the princes had their royal cli-ents ( Ororo) in the villages. These were the com-panions of the prince, so they would live in the capital with the prince if he was chosen to be the king, and would return to their village to guard the king’s tomb. This information will help us to see and understand the social structure of Shilluk soci-ety. The dual balanced structure of Shilluk society was represented by the southern-northern opposi-tion. We find that the Shilluk kingdom had a double configuration—one that was politically re-flected in its territorial division, which was divided into northern and southern parts, and the other one was ritually reflected in the rituals related to the cult of Nyikang. The king and the capital specific-ally stayed in the center. As Evans - Pritchard said, Northern Shillukland and Southern Shil-lukland were the arches of the kingdom of Shilluk, and kingship was the keystone. This duality was clearly represented in the election system and in-vestiture. The investiture of the new king would take place about a year after his election. Since this ceremony was meant to rebuild the social or-der, all the hamlets would participate in it. After the old king’s death, the spirit of Nyikang would no longer stay in his body. Instead, it would move to an effigy of a hamlet which was in a far north dis-trict of Shillukland. The effigy would be sent by the army of north to the outskirts of the capital, where there would be a ceremonial war with the king’s army. Since Nyikang was in the northern army, it was obvious that the king would fail. Then, the ef-figy of Nyikang would be put on the king’s chair. Then, the king would sit on the chair, and, as a result, the spirit of Nyikang entered into the body of the new king. Now, there would be another war— because Nyikang had entered into the body of the new king, the northern army failed, and, they would then take the effigy back to the shrine. This ceremony not only illustrated the tension be-tween the north and the south of Shillukland, but also the tension between the god Nyikang and the human king. And all these tensions were resolved through a unified kingship. We find that Shilluk society, no matter whether within the vertical and horizontal structure of the southern -northern op-position, or among the different hamlets, they all had different objects to show their loyalty. Howev-er, all these differences would be reduced when they faced a unified national symbol— Nyikang or divine kingship. The king did not belong to any single tribe or hamlet after the ceremony. He be-came the symbol of the happiness and continuity of all the Shilluk people. From this ceremony, Evans -Pritchard re -explained the reason for the special custom of the Shilluk. He asserted that in Shilluk society, the king’s death would cause chaos and many dangers. The king had died in the way they described be-cause they were afraid of exposing the tensions hid-den within the social structure. So, this tradition was only a political myth hidden under the facts. The second kind of death of the king was that he was killed by a prince. Evans-Pritchard believed that all Shilluk princes received support from their natal villages. If all the tribes had their own king, the Shilluk kingdom would definitely be torn apart. So, they still needed a center from which to build the whole kingdom, i. e. the kingship. In a king-dom of this kind, if the king attached himself to one hamlet, other hamlets would fight for their own rights. So, because the kingship was permanent and ensured the unity of the whole kingdom, it should be emphasized. In contrast to Evans-Pritchard’ s structural-functionist explanation, the American archaeolo-gist, Henri Frankfort, made his analysis of the customs of the Shilluk based upon the methodology of mythology. He compared the divine kingship of Egypt and Shilluk in his book Kingship and the Gods. And, based upon the process of the combi-nation and separation of the king and the gods, he discussed the function of divine kingship. In E-gypt, the pharaoh was called “the Lord of Two Lands”. This title involved two gods who were en-emies:Horus and Seth. They were respectively the Kings of Upper and Lower Egypt. Even when Seth had been defeated by Horus, it did not mean that he totally disappeared. This is because he had his own function within the existing order. Horus was not only a mythological figure, but also was one which reflected on the pharaoh. The pharaoh was always regarded as Horus or his embodiment. This idea is quite similar to the connection of Nyikang with the Shilluk king. However, in Egypt, there was another god who had a close connection with the kingship, that is, Osiris. In Egypt, the dead king was believed to change into Osiris, and the king on the throne, just as Horus, was regarded as the son of Osiris. Beside this connection, in the myths, Osiris was said to be the “Ka ” of Horus, which was something like energy, and for the king, it was somewhat like a kind of ruling power. This kind of father-son relationship also ex-isted among the Shilluk people. When Evans -Pritchard described the ceremony, he mentioned that Dak, the son of Nyikang, was also honored. However, in Shilluk, Nyikang meant all the kings, no matter whether dead or alive. What was more important is that Shilluk kings themselves were not gods, they were just processed by Nyikang, and it was Nyikang who was the real ruler. That was the reason why the accession ceremony of the king was so important. However, in the Egyptian view, the concept of kingship itself was more complicated than that of the Shilluk. All the Egyptian kings themselves were gods, and their orders, as god’s order, must be obeyed. So, although there was a stable kingship in the two societies, the roles played by the king were totally different. However, we can still find some basic elements of the divine kingship from these two cases. Because the king himself was a human being, he would definitely turn old and die. In order to resolve the social stress caused by the succession of the kingship, the kingship had to be stable. So, the king must have a relationship with the gods. It was the god and the kingship that maintained the unity of this structure. In 2011 , David Graeber published his paper titled The Divine Kingship of the Shilluk in which he used theories from political science to discuss the relationship between Nyikang and the Shilluk king . He tried to use this case to understand the e-mergence of the state and power. He compared the political status of Shilluk with their myth and cos-mology. He proposed three very important con-cepts:i) divine kingship which was absolutely dic-tatorial and had god-like authority—and was one in which this divine god went beyond the morality;ii) the sacred kingship which was ritualized and exemplary—this was a kind of prophetic and legis-lative king ; iii) violence and antagonism with no reason - the subject of the violence was the sover-eign and the people. All of these three concepts, David Graeber said, could be found in the Shilluk Kingdom. That was not because they were so -called primitive ethnic groups, but because this kingdom was a “Utopian State”. In other words, this kingdom, or the construction of its main cit-ies, was an imitation to the cosmic order, and, therefore, did not need a management institution to rule it. However, because this could never exist in the real world, violence appeared. David Graeber divided the kingship into two types: the divine and the sacred. In the former, the king was believed to be the god itself. And, in the latter, the kings were those who brought and created order. However, if order was set up by a king, it was asked whether or not the king himself still stayed within the order? So, the extreme type of sacred kingship would be the denial of the limi-tation of the king’s life. David Graeber suggested that the King of Shilluk did not have real power. The responsibility the Shilluk king undetook was the order of the whole cosmos. When he became weak, he could no longer judge and rule based on the cosmology. This is the reason why he had to be killed. We can see that the king who ruled the state according to the cosmology was more like a divine king, so his fate was that he must be killed by people. However, after he was killed, the for-mer “scapegoat” became the god and was wor-shiped by the people. The social order was rebuilt because of the king’s death, and in doing so he be-came the embodiment of the strength needed to re-build the social order. So, we can note that in Shilluk society, although people expect stability and order, they cannot allow the rule to become a central control and monopoly. The king should be in the center of order, but because the king would definitely become old, people tried to reduce the disorder through killing him. Due to the limitations of the king, he was trapped in the absolute authori-ty of the divine kingship, and the infinite order of the order. Hence, he was killed again and again. The appearance of the king was to resolve the dilemma within this society. He tried to build a U-topia, but was trapped in it because of his own limitations. Just like the kings were killed con-stantly, the conflict between sovereignty and the people would never stop. David Greaber pointed out that this constant opposition was the origin of state. This opinion totally refuted existing political theories, o matter whether they were that of Max Weber or of those who believe that it was through making law and rules to solve the conflict or the so-cial tensions in Africa, for their opinions were based on the perspective of nation state. However, in Africa, at least in Nilotic Sudan, they were u-sing this conflict to build their state. Graeber’s ar-ticle indicated that in the war between the sover-eign and the people, the sovereign is limited, and can never win truly. It reveals a new possibility for the construction of a nation state and political sys-tem. To sum up the discussions above, we have found that in those societies with divine kingship, the reason for the king’s divinity was because he undertook the people’s expectation of a stable soci-ety, and the fertility of crops, and livestock. Be-cause these expectations were not stable in them-selves, people either believed that their king him-self was a god, or tried to ensure that their king was in a healthy state. The similarity between them was that people had to keep the kingship stable and reduce the tension and chaos caused by the king’s death. From their fear of disorder and the fear of powerful order, we can even find a variety of ways of thinking about a perfect and eternal order, as well as on an imperfect and limited life. Thus the King always connected with a stone, for people al-ways expect a stable and changeless eternity. 相似文献
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From the Soil—The Foundations of Chinese Society, published in the 1940’s by Fei Xi-aotong, is considered an important work for under-standing Chinese rural society. Up until today, it is still the foundation for understanding the basic social conditions of pre-modern China . By making a comparison with the theory of Gemeinshchaft by Ferdinand T?nnies, this essay tries to analyze Fei’s main social theories and shed light on his thinking about Chinese modernity. According to the theory of Ferdinand T?nnies, Fei defined Chinese rural society as a community in his From the Soil. 相似文献
9.
“Tangwu” is an alternative name for the descendants of the Xixia dynasty. In 1227 AD, a number of these Xixia descendants moved inland after the destruction of the Xixia Dynasty by the Mongolians. One group of them migrated to the area near Puyang, Henan Province. Tangwu Chongxi ( Yang Chongxi ) of the Yuan Dynasty compiled the Shu San Ji, which is divided into three volumes: Shansu, Yucai and Xingshi, and appended with the biography of Boyan Zongdao. It reflects the historical origins, social class, living conditions and the relations with the Han people of the descendants of the Dangxiangqiang minority af-ter they moved to Puyang. This book attracted a lot of attention in academic circles, and it was there-fore reorganized and published in 1985 after being treasured by the people for more than 600 years. It has high academic value for its comprehensive his-torical records. We can not only acquaint ourselves with the history of the make-up of the Chinese na-tion, but also research this diversity from multiple perspectives, such as history, nationality and folk-lore . That is why it has drawn so much attention a-mong academic researchers. The book contains po-ems, prose and biographies, which belong to dif-ferent celebrated scholars from different ethnic mi-norities, all of whom had relationships with Tang-wu Chongxi. It is also a typical model of Qiang-Han literature, which is very rare. This paper gives a preliminary exploration on the book, and shows a small part of its comprehensive value. Shu San Ji is not a merely personal collec-tion, but is also different from general literature collections. The compilation of the book took a long time. Shu San Ji Xuxie ( Continuation of Shu San Ji) , written by Zhang Yining, was finished in the 18 th year of the Zhizheng Period in the Yuan Dynasty (1358), which indicates that the Shu San Ji had already been finished by that time . Zeng wuwei chushi yangxiangxian xu ( Presented to Chu Shi Yang Xingxian·Preface ) , written by Wei Su and finished in the 24 th year of Zhizheng ( 1364 ) , suggests that the Shu San Ji had been compiled in-to a book by that time, and that it was compiled with the compositions of social celebrities of the time. However, the Shu San Ji, as it has been handed down to us today, includes the Song Yang-gong Xiangxian gui Tanyuan xu ( Preface of Send-ing Yanggong Xiangxian Back to Tanyuan) by Tao Kai, written in March in the 5 th year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty ( 1372 ) . It indicates that Yang Xiangxian kept on collecting articles even after the book was finished. The Xu yangshi yiji ( Preface of Yang’s Last Collection) by Wang Chongqing, writ-ten in the 6th year of Jiajing (1527), indicates that the Shu San Ji was still being written after Yang Chongxi’s death. At the end of the Shu San Ji , Boyang Zongdao zhuan ( Biography of Boyang Zongdao) and Weiti shi (Poems) were collected in the 16 th year of Zhengde in the Ming Dynasty (1529) and in the 16th year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty (1629), respectively. It suggests that the
Shu San Ji had been supplemented and continually recompiled since Yang Chongxi firstly finished his book in 1358. After 271 years, in 1629, the Shu San Ji, as we read it today, was finally comple-ted. Through the basic components of the Shu San Ji,readers can understand that the Tangwu family was a harmonious, multi-ethnic family. A number of multi-ethnic writers spent long periods compos-ing works collected in the Shu San Ji and Tangwu Chongxi was also influenced by China’s diverse culture and traditional Confucian culture. The work is strongly connected with his study in Guozixue. In the late Yuan Dynasty, the restora-tion of the imperial examinations promoted Confucianism’s influence further. Pan Di, as Tang-wu Chongxi’s teacher in Guozixue, wrote most arti-cles in the Shu San Ji, which shows their close re-lationship and his influences on Tangwu Chongxi’s literature and Confucian studies. Tangwu Chongxi and others’ works reflected their sense of admira-tion for and deep feelings for their Dangxiang an-cestors, but more so helped to propagate the con-cepts of Confucian edification, diligence, thrifti-ness and benevolence, and some of them did so in a very polemic way. For example, Boyan Zongdao wrote the Jiefu xu ( preface of “Jiefu”) and Tang-wu Chongxi wrote the Jiefu houxu ( epilogue of“Jiefu”) , which reflect the social reality and ide-ology of all scholars with different ethnic back-grounds at that time. His work, “Tangwu gong-bei” fushi ( Poem inscribed on Tangwu Tablet ) , was written in a plain and authentic way and showed that he always remembered his origins and his ethnic desire to inherit the family’s heritage. Meanwhile , it was also mixed with the popular ide-as of upholding the honor of their ancestors from the central plains and Han areas, which shows the
editorial purpose of the Shu San Ji and also dem-onstrates the value of Chinese multi-ethnic litera-ture and cultural integration. 相似文献
Shu San Ji had been supplemented and continually recompiled since Yang Chongxi firstly finished his book in 1358. After 271 years, in 1629, the Shu San Ji, as we read it today, was finally comple-ted. Through the basic components of the Shu San Ji,readers can understand that the Tangwu family was a harmonious, multi-ethnic family. A number of multi-ethnic writers spent long periods compos-ing works collected in the Shu San Ji and Tangwu Chongxi was also influenced by China’s diverse culture and traditional Confucian culture. The work is strongly connected with his study in Guozixue. In the late Yuan Dynasty, the restora-tion of the imperial examinations promoted Confucianism’s influence further. Pan Di, as Tang-wu Chongxi’s teacher in Guozixue, wrote most arti-cles in the Shu San Ji, which shows their close re-lationship and his influences on Tangwu Chongxi’s literature and Confucian studies. Tangwu Chongxi and others’ works reflected their sense of admira-tion for and deep feelings for their Dangxiang an-cestors, but more so helped to propagate the con-cepts of Confucian edification, diligence, thrifti-ness and benevolence, and some of them did so in a very polemic way. For example, Boyan Zongdao wrote the Jiefu xu ( preface of “Jiefu”) and Tang-wu Chongxi wrote the Jiefu houxu ( epilogue of“Jiefu”) , which reflect the social reality and ide-ology of all scholars with different ethnic back-grounds at that time. His work, “Tangwu gong-bei” fushi ( Poem inscribed on Tangwu Tablet ) , was written in a plain and authentic way and showed that he always remembered his origins and his ethnic desire to inherit the family’s heritage. Meanwhile , it was also mixed with the popular ide-as of upholding the honor of their ancestors from the central plains and Han areas, which shows the
editorial purpose of the Shu San Ji and also dem-onstrates the value of Chinese multi-ethnic litera-ture and cultural integration. 相似文献
10.
11.
12.
Deriving from a quote in MarcellMauss ＇ essay on techniques of the Body , as well as based on the exploration of cases from ancient Mesopotamia , the eastern Mediterranean , and Africa .The author voices his concerns on the relationship between sacrifice and ＂materiali-zing＂.He states that sacrifice can animate , i.e.give life to sacrificial objects and by doing so turn them into subjects or agents who are dependent on the sacrificial process for their flourish-ing.Sacrifice as a life giving act creates a person through eating and feeding the recognition by the subject of its dependence on the source of that creativity .This can be the basis for contrasting it to funerary rites where it is death and the corpse that is envisaged as the sacrifice which is offered in some form as ＂feeding＂ the Gods. 相似文献
13.
Weigao was one of the famous Jie-dushi ( regional military commissioners ) of the Jiannan Xichuan ( located in today’s southern Si-chuan) in the Tang Dynasty. During the rule of Wei Gao, he successfully defeated the Tubo, and changed the Tang court’s submissiveness in the southwestern region and the fight between the Tang and Tubo along the southern line. He also restored the links between Yunnan and Xichuan including all the way to the Central Plains, and, as a result, the once closed Southern Silk Road was reopened. A further exploration and evaluation of Wei Gao’s actions and his influence on reopening the Southern Silk Road ought to be given. I. Wei Gao’s Alliance with the Nanzhao King-dom and Reopening the Southern Silk Road In 785 A. D. , Wei Gao arrived in Chengdu and was appointed Jiedushi of Jiannan Xichuan. The situation of Jiannan Xichuan at that time was very critical. After the Tianbao war, the Kingdom of Nanzhao, which had unified the area around Er-hai Lake with the support of the Tang in the past, turned against the Tang and publicly announced its alliance with the Tubo. The Nanzhao Kingdom, to-gether with the Tubo, struck the Tang in the south-western region. This shift not only put the Tang in a submissive position in the southwestern region, but also significantly influenced the relations be-tween the Tang and the Tubo. As the Jiedushi of Jiannan Xichuan, Wei Gao became a unique practitioner and actively promoted a joint strategy in Yunnan. After the Tang decided to make an alliance with the Nanzhao Kingdom, relevant actions were taken immediately. However because relations between the Nanzhao Kingdom and the Tang had been broken for many years, at the beginning, Wei Gao could only communicate through some of the tribal chiefs of the Dongman ( Eastern Barbarians) . Through several years of ef-fort and mutual contact, Wei Gao’s endeavors to make an alliance with the Nanzhao, at last, were effective. Wei Gao’s efforts to make an alliance with the Nanzhao certainly involved issues related to trans-portation between Xichuan and the area of Erhai Lake. During that period, the route between Xi-chuan and Nanzhao was not only under military threat from the Tubo, but it was also overseen by the tribes of the Dongman who supported the Tu-bo—this indicated that the line of communication was not in a normal situation. The Southern Silk Road was one of ancient China’s important land trade routes to overseas. In looking at relevant re-cords in the Shiji ( Records of the Historian ) , we can see that this route had been known by people in the Central Plains from at least the Qin and Han dynasties. It was called the“Shushen Dudao” dur-ing the Han dynasty, and the “Xi’er Tianzhu zhid-ao” in the Taizhong period of the Tang dynasty.“Xi’er” refers to Erhai Lake, which was called“Xi’er He” during that time; “Tianzhu”, i. e.“Shendu”, refers to present day India. Since the Qin and Han dynasties, there were two primary routes between Xichuan and the area of Lake Er-hai. One was the Shimendao, also called the Wuchidao or Rongzhoudao, which started from present Chengdu and went through present day Le-shan and Yibin. The other was the Qing Xidao, also called the Lingguandao, Songzhoudao or Qiongnan Yilu,which, started from present Cheng-du, and went through present day Ya’an, and Xichang. These two routes were also called the“North Route” and the“South Route” in the Yun-nan Zhi ( The History of Yunnan) compiled by Fan Cuo in the Tang Dynasty. These two were the main routes between Sichuan and Yunnan on the South-ern Silk Road in the Tang dynasty. In 794 A. D. , the Tang and the Nanzhao Kingdom swore an oath of alliance, and Wei Gao started his plans to reo-pen the routes. By making a comprehensive analy-sis of relevant historical records, we are certain that starting with a plan in the 8th century, and fol-lowing the realization of the alliance between the Tang and Nanzhao as part of the strategy for the Southwestern area, and, together with the success in the fight against the Tubo, the two main chan-nels between Sichuan and Yunnan on the Southern Silk Road were reopened as a result of the concern of Wei Gao at the beginning of the 9th century. II. The Basic Situation of the Route between Sichuan and Yunnan on the Southern Silk Road in the Tang Dynasty and Its Historical Significance It was a long way from Xichuan to the area of Lake Erhai, and, moreover, the situation was also very complicated. Whenever the North Route or the South Route opened, it was not something that was completed immediately; it was a process. Al-though some sections of the road might be comple-ted initially, the opening of the entire route could not be completed within a short time. Through the records of Fan Cuo in his Yunnan Zhi, we can glean a general understanding of the basic situation regarding the reopening of the two main routes be-tween Sichuan and Yunnan along the Southern Silk Road in the Tang Dynasty. Seen from the records of Fan Cuo, there were courier stations along the South Route, so that travelers and their horses could have services and accommodation. It is very significant to note that in addition to the records of courier stations along the route managed by the Xichuan administration, the Yunnan Zhi also recorded that special translators were arranged for facilitating the contact and ex-change between the two sides, i. e. Xichuan and Nanzhao, after the route reached Ezhunling. This detail reflected Xichuan’s attention to the manage-ment of this route, but it also reflected the frequent contact between the people from the two sides of this route and the need for better communication. The road which started from Ezhunling was man-aged by the Nanzhao Kingdom. The situation of the North Route was quite different from the South Route. Based upon an analysis of the records found in the Yunnan Zhi, along the north route, there were not only high mountain, steep slopes, and winding roads, but the traveler also had to pass through many areas inhabited by the Wuman (Black Babarians). So, people were able to pass through the stations only after their words had been translated three or four times. Generally speaking, the conditions along the North Route were worse than those along the South Route. Therefore, al-though the reopening of the South Route was later than the North Route, people usually chose to pass through the South Route after it was reopened. It should be mentioned here that although Fan Cuo’s Yunnan Zhi was compiled during the early years of Xiantong Period in the Tang dynasty, the situation along the route and courier stations recorded in the book were probably not much different from those along the route during the time of Wei Gao. Al-though more than half a century of time had passed the road and courier stations along the South and North Routes might have only had some minor changes, and it was probably generally the same as in the past. Moreover it was unblocked for a long term due to the concern of the both sides. Another point that should be noted here is that although both the South and North Routes connecting Si-chuan and Yunnan on the Southern Silk Road in the Tang dynasty were managed by the administra-tions of Xichuan and Nanzhao separately, seen from the close relations and common demands of the two sides, the construction and management of these two important routes were combined through the negotiation of the two sides’ considerations and demands. As the major supporter for making the alliance with Nanzhao, Wei Gao should be the one who played an active role in this process. Because of the alliance between the Tang and the Nanzhao Kingdom the Tubo suffered a setback in the southwestern region, and they gradually re-treated to the north. Under this scenario, the channels of communication between Sichuan and Yunnan were unblocked, and communication be-tween the envoys from the Tang and Nanzhao be-came more frequent, the local trade developed, and the number of businessmen traversing Sichuan and Yunnan increased. Seen from the perspective of the development of Nanzhao, the frequent ex-changes between the artisans and traders from the two sides via the South and North Routes that ran between Sichuan and Yunnan promoted the eco-nomic and commercial development of Yunnan. In addition, there were many ethnic groups in the Nanzhao Kingdom. These included the Wuman, and Baiman ( white barbarians) . For several dec-ades,“more than a thousand” people from differ-ent ethnic groups went to Chengdu to study. This reflected that the reopening of the Southern Silk Road during the Tang dynasty played an important role in cultural transmission. On the other hand, training youth from the different ethnic groups liv-ing in the Nanzhao Kingdom also had a deep influ-ence on the cultural development of Yunnan. More important is that this action enhanced the commu-nication between the ethnic groups of Yunnan and the Central Plains. In addition, after reopening the road between Sichuan and Yunnan on the Southern Silk Route, the road continued through Nanzhao territory, crossed into the Myanmar-India route, and arrived in South and Southeast Asia. It could be said that Wei Gao’s reopening of the Southern Silk Road was not only helpful for communication between the people of Xichuan, the Central Plains and Yunnan, but it was also helpful for communi-cation between the Tang and the countries of South and Southeast Asia. It should be mentioned that Wei Gao’s reope-ning of the Southern Silk Road was conducted with-in the framework of an alliance with the Nanzhao Kingdom to attack the Tubo. Hence, speaking truthfully, reopening the road was not the main re-sponsibility of the Jiedushi of Xichuan, and was al-so not his main strategic goal. Under the serious situation faced by Jiannan Xichuan, Wei Gao’s main focus during that time was how to contact and make an alliance with the Nanzhao Kingdom so as to take military action against the Tubo. Even if he planned to reopen this road and took some action, it was conducted by targeting his military strategic action. However, reopening the Southern Silk Road could not be separated from the action of making an alliance with the Nanzhao Kingdom. Moreover, after reopening this road, it really pro-moted economic -cultural exchange and develop-ment along the road. Hence, we should give a full understanding and evaluation on Wei Gao’s histori-cal role in it. 相似文献
14.
Around 1500 , the world experi￣enced an explosion of exploration which greatly transformed the world for the next several hundreds of years. During this time, Christopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama, and other seafaring entrepreneurs sought new routes to India’s Malabar Coast and the Indonesian archipelago. The objective of their ef￣forts was mainly spice specifically pepper, cinna￣mon, nutmeg, clove, and a few others. In the en￣suing years, the Spanish, Portuguese, English, and Dutch would all seek to dominate the spice trade, employing an astonishing amount of blood￣shed and brutality to achieve their aims. They were undermined only by pirates, who would occasional￣ly plunder the spice boats, relieving them of their precious cargo.
The reason behind their desire to seek spice, was not only, and in fact, not even primarily, profits. In an age that poured its commercial ener￣gies into such un - poetical ends such as arms, oil, and mineral ores, the drive to obtain anything quite so quaintly insignificant as spice must strike us today as mystifying indeed. While historians of￣ten point to medieval Europe’s problems with ran￣cid meat, along with the mind -numbing repeti￣tiveness of its diet, as the source of spice’s early popularity, the main reason for desiring spice came down to one simple thing: mystery. Spices were, in a sense, magical if not divine, arriving by un￣known means from the vast blank spaces on the map, spaces populated by dragons, gods, and monsters. From mystery grew mystique. It was a seductive premise.
This article starts by examining the rise of Europe’s economy after the first millennium and the subsequent demand for Eastern luxuries. Ginger, mace, and other exotic ingredients quickly became status symbols among noblemen—not unlike furs or jewels—as well as staples in upper -class kitch￣ens, with nearly every dish deluged by seasonings, to the point where the medieval appetite for spice looked less like a taste than an addiction. It was also believed that ingesting spices was a way to im￣prove one’s health and that they could cure every￣thing from gangrene and paralysis to constipation and lung disease. Then there’s sex. Spice has long been associated with eroticism, including recent examples like the pop-music sex kittens the Spice Girls and the Spice soft-porn cable TV station. In the Middle Ages—when noblemen’s fear of infertil￣ity ran rampant—spices were widely believed to serve as aphrodisiacs. It was these very qualities, that led many medieval Christian leaders to de￣nounce spices—ginger in particular—arguing that their corrupting influence undermined monks’ vows of celibacy, with one mystic even comparing them to the forbidden apple of Eden. Others claimed their overuse could lead to drying out, derange￣ment, and even death. The most puritanical critics saw spice as nothing less than an affront to God, who had already met man’s basic needs by provi￣ding local foods, a gift cooks were now tampering with by introducing foreign flavors. Moreover, spice served as a medieval perfume, with the most spicy, most expensive varieties favored among the social elite. And spice was also used in mummifi￣cation and embalming techniques that continued in future centuries. For instance, the practice dates back to Ramses II, an Egyptian pharaoh who died in 1224 b. c.; an examination of his remains re￣vealed peppercorns stuffed up his large, and crooked nose, a discovery which startled scien￣tists.
Despite efforts by the Dutch to maintain their monopoly over spice plantations and prevent propa￣gation, products like cloves and nutmeg eventually spread to other regions of the world. This was largely due to Spanish and Portuguese smugglers—who reduced them to mere commodities and dimin￣ished their intrigue and notoriety, not to mention their cost. By the mid-1600s, pepper in particu￣lar had long since become available to the Europe￣an masses, prompting the nobility to lose interest. At the same time, crops like tomatoes and chilies, brought back from the New World, were broade￣ning the European diet and creating new options for cooks. A shift to simple, fresh, local ingredi￣ents—to foods that tasted like themselves—was un￣derway, a transformation nowhere as successful as in Italy, where simplicity remains the quintessence of its cuisine. As a result, the heavily spiced meals of the Middle Ages fell from favor. Once the province of aristocracy, spice became just the op￣posite. In the modern world, it tends to be the poor, not the rich, who eat spices.
While the history of spice from a Western point of view remarkably transformed the world, it should be noted that spice also underwent a quite different way of becoming modernized. In the re￣spect, spice in Chinese history constitutes a large part of the world history of spice.
Prior to the 15th century, pepper was regar￣ded as a rarity. In China it was as highly valued for medicinal purposes as ginseng and cassia bark are today. During the Tang dynasty, we find pep￣per mentioned side by side with stalactites, one of the most valuable drugs of the time. This is an in￣dication of how highly valued spice was. From that time onwards, the expression “800 piculs of pep￣per” came to be synonymous with riches and luxu￣ry. In China, the change in the value of pepper from being a precious commodity to one in common use came about as the result of several polices of Ming Emperor, including tribute trade, Zheng He’s voyages, and the scheme of supplying pepper instead of salaries to officials. The advent of direct dealings with the supply sources had a profound effect in China, and the circulation of other foreign commodities generally also increased greatly after these voyages.
From early Ming times, foreign trade, inclu￣ding that in pepper and sapanwood, was an Impe￣rial monopoly, closely guarded to ensure that all the profits went to the Emperor. One inevitable re￣sult of the importation into China of such huge a￣mounts of pepper, however, was that hitherto un￣developed exchange relations improved, though the equilibrium between demand and supply remained unsteady because of obstacles in the way of equita￣ble distribution. A sudden expansion of the selling market could only be expected to cause a dramatic fall in the price of pepper. This occurred much earlier than did the discovery of the direct passage to India by Vasco de Gama.
During the reign of the first Ming Emperor, Hong Wu, pepper and sapanwood were frequently given to subjects as a reward for services rendered, a practice first recorded in 1379 . During 1391 and 1392 , altogether 13 ,800 naval officers and soldiers on active service, and 12,000 soldiers engaged in ship-building were rewarded in this way, the lat￣ter receiving one catty of pepper each. In both ca￣ses these rewards, which were small in scale, were for completing tasks assigned. At the time of the enthronement of the second Emperor, Yong Le (1403), four catties of pepper, the highest pepper reward recorded, in addition to 30 ting of paper money, were given to a minor official for comple￣ting the Imperial seal. Considering the high value of paper money at that time, this showed that pep￣per was still treasured as a scarce commodity, and had not yet fallen into common use.
The effect of Zheng He’s voyages on the distri￣bution of pepper in the Chinese market is reflected by the form payments took in the early part of the Ming dynasty. In the 5th year of Yong Le (1407), following Zheng He’s return from his first voyage, came the first proclamation of an arrangement to supply the soldiers in all military stations in Peking with sapanwood in lieu of winter clothing. It is es￣timated that at least 250 , 000 army servicemen were involved. It was in 1420, after Zheng He’s fifth voyage, that pepper was first announced as a substitute for the clothing due to these same ser￣vicemen. However, the amount was by no means large:one catty and six ounces of sapanwood and four ounces of pepper were paid in lieu of a piece of thin silk material, and one catty of sapanwood and three ounces of pepper were paid instead of a piece of cotton cloth. The same scheme of suppl￣ying sapanwood instead of winter clothing was em￣ployed again the following year, 1421. At the same time it was proclaimed that part of the salary of all civil and military officials in Peking paid in the form of paper money was to be paid in sapan￣wood and pepper instead. Henceforth it was estab￣lished that the salary of officials should be paid partly in sapanwood and pepper, and it was clearly the pepper brought back by Zheng He’s fleet that was being used as substitute currency. Silver, pa￣per money, cloth, sapanwood, and pepper were interchangeable as currency.
Except for a very small amount retained for their own consumption, the officials would have had to sell most of their pepper on the market, which would inevitably accelerate the fall in its market price. By the mid-Ming period, spice that had been exclusively enjoyed by the upper classes, began to be popular among the commoners. The frequency of appearance of spice in dietary books, recipes, and daily life guides increased to an un￣precedented level. Pepper, especially, was broad￣ly used for cooking, pickling fruits, brewing, and making fragrant tea. The widespread application of perfume, as a typical merchandise from maritime trade, led to a profound transformation in people’s conception and style of everyday life. 相似文献
The reason behind their desire to seek spice, was not only, and in fact, not even primarily, profits. In an age that poured its commercial ener￣gies into such un - poetical ends such as arms, oil, and mineral ores, the drive to obtain anything quite so quaintly insignificant as spice must strike us today as mystifying indeed. While historians of￣ten point to medieval Europe’s problems with ran￣cid meat, along with the mind -numbing repeti￣tiveness of its diet, as the source of spice’s early popularity, the main reason for desiring spice came down to one simple thing: mystery. Spices were, in a sense, magical if not divine, arriving by un￣known means from the vast blank spaces on the map, spaces populated by dragons, gods, and monsters. From mystery grew mystique. It was a seductive premise.
This article starts by examining the rise of Europe’s economy after the first millennium and the subsequent demand for Eastern luxuries. Ginger, mace, and other exotic ingredients quickly became status symbols among noblemen—not unlike furs or jewels—as well as staples in upper -class kitch￣ens, with nearly every dish deluged by seasonings, to the point where the medieval appetite for spice looked less like a taste than an addiction. It was also believed that ingesting spices was a way to im￣prove one’s health and that they could cure every￣thing from gangrene and paralysis to constipation and lung disease. Then there’s sex. Spice has long been associated with eroticism, including recent examples like the pop-music sex kittens the Spice Girls and the Spice soft-porn cable TV station. In the Middle Ages—when noblemen’s fear of infertil￣ity ran rampant—spices were widely believed to serve as aphrodisiacs. It was these very qualities, that led many medieval Christian leaders to de￣nounce spices—ginger in particular—arguing that their corrupting influence undermined monks’ vows of celibacy, with one mystic even comparing them to the forbidden apple of Eden. Others claimed their overuse could lead to drying out, derange￣ment, and even death. The most puritanical critics saw spice as nothing less than an affront to God, who had already met man’s basic needs by provi￣ding local foods, a gift cooks were now tampering with by introducing foreign flavors. Moreover, spice served as a medieval perfume, with the most spicy, most expensive varieties favored among the social elite. And spice was also used in mummifi￣cation and embalming techniques that continued in future centuries. For instance, the practice dates back to Ramses II, an Egyptian pharaoh who died in 1224 b. c.; an examination of his remains re￣vealed peppercorns stuffed up his large, and crooked nose, a discovery which startled scien￣tists.
Despite efforts by the Dutch to maintain their monopoly over spice plantations and prevent propa￣gation, products like cloves and nutmeg eventually spread to other regions of the world. This was largely due to Spanish and Portuguese smugglers—who reduced them to mere commodities and dimin￣ished their intrigue and notoriety, not to mention their cost. By the mid-1600s, pepper in particu￣lar had long since become available to the Europe￣an masses, prompting the nobility to lose interest. At the same time, crops like tomatoes and chilies, brought back from the New World, were broade￣ning the European diet and creating new options for cooks. A shift to simple, fresh, local ingredi￣ents—to foods that tasted like themselves—was un￣derway, a transformation nowhere as successful as in Italy, where simplicity remains the quintessence of its cuisine. As a result, the heavily spiced meals of the Middle Ages fell from favor. Once the province of aristocracy, spice became just the op￣posite. In the modern world, it tends to be the poor, not the rich, who eat spices.
While the history of spice from a Western point of view remarkably transformed the world, it should be noted that spice also underwent a quite different way of becoming modernized. In the re￣spect, spice in Chinese history constitutes a large part of the world history of spice.
Prior to the 15th century, pepper was regar￣ded as a rarity. In China it was as highly valued for medicinal purposes as ginseng and cassia bark are today. During the Tang dynasty, we find pep￣per mentioned side by side with stalactites, one of the most valuable drugs of the time. This is an in￣dication of how highly valued spice was. From that time onwards, the expression “800 piculs of pep￣per” came to be synonymous with riches and luxu￣ry. In China, the change in the value of pepper from being a precious commodity to one in common use came about as the result of several polices of Ming Emperor, including tribute trade, Zheng He’s voyages, and the scheme of supplying pepper instead of salaries to officials. The advent of direct dealings with the supply sources had a profound effect in China, and the circulation of other foreign commodities generally also increased greatly after these voyages.
From early Ming times, foreign trade, inclu￣ding that in pepper and sapanwood, was an Impe￣rial monopoly, closely guarded to ensure that all the profits went to the Emperor. One inevitable re￣sult of the importation into China of such huge a￣mounts of pepper, however, was that hitherto un￣developed exchange relations improved, though the equilibrium between demand and supply remained unsteady because of obstacles in the way of equita￣ble distribution. A sudden expansion of the selling market could only be expected to cause a dramatic fall in the price of pepper. This occurred much earlier than did the discovery of the direct passage to India by Vasco de Gama.
During the reign of the first Ming Emperor, Hong Wu, pepper and sapanwood were frequently given to subjects as a reward for services rendered, a practice first recorded in 1379 . During 1391 and 1392 , altogether 13 ,800 naval officers and soldiers on active service, and 12,000 soldiers engaged in ship-building were rewarded in this way, the lat￣ter receiving one catty of pepper each. In both ca￣ses these rewards, which were small in scale, were for completing tasks assigned. At the time of the enthronement of the second Emperor, Yong Le (1403), four catties of pepper, the highest pepper reward recorded, in addition to 30 ting of paper money, were given to a minor official for comple￣ting the Imperial seal. Considering the high value of paper money at that time, this showed that pep￣per was still treasured as a scarce commodity, and had not yet fallen into common use.
The effect of Zheng He’s voyages on the distri￣bution of pepper in the Chinese market is reflected by the form payments took in the early part of the Ming dynasty. In the 5th year of Yong Le (1407), following Zheng He’s return from his first voyage, came the first proclamation of an arrangement to supply the soldiers in all military stations in Peking with sapanwood in lieu of winter clothing. It is es￣timated that at least 250 , 000 army servicemen were involved. It was in 1420, after Zheng He’s fifth voyage, that pepper was first announced as a substitute for the clothing due to these same ser￣vicemen. However, the amount was by no means large:one catty and six ounces of sapanwood and four ounces of pepper were paid in lieu of a piece of thin silk material, and one catty of sapanwood and three ounces of pepper were paid instead of a piece of cotton cloth. The same scheme of suppl￣ying sapanwood instead of winter clothing was em￣ployed again the following year, 1421. At the same time it was proclaimed that part of the salary of all civil and military officials in Peking paid in the form of paper money was to be paid in sapan￣wood and pepper instead. Henceforth it was estab￣lished that the salary of officials should be paid partly in sapanwood and pepper, and it was clearly the pepper brought back by Zheng He’s fleet that was being used as substitute currency. Silver, pa￣per money, cloth, sapanwood, and pepper were interchangeable as currency.
Except for a very small amount retained for their own consumption, the officials would have had to sell most of their pepper on the market, which would inevitably accelerate the fall in its market price. By the mid-Ming period, spice that had been exclusively enjoyed by the upper classes, began to be popular among the commoners. The frequency of appearance of spice in dietary books, recipes, and daily life guides increased to an un￣precedented level. Pepper, especially, was broad￣ly used for cooking, pickling fruits, brewing, and making fragrant tea. The widespread application of perfume, as a typical merchandise from maritime trade, led to a profound transformation in people’s conception and style of everyday life. 相似文献
15.
After entering the 21st century, ter￣rorist crimes have become more serious. Terrorism has become one of the worst problems of the mod￣ern world and will continue to be a serious problem in the future. China is also facing the challenge of terrorist crime. Can the present criminal system accomplish the mission of legislative control of these crimes and fulfill the goal of penalising them? It seems that a review and evaluation of the rele￣vant criminal legislation and policies is necessary.
There are different definitions of terrorist crimes. American scholars Alex P. Schmid and Albert J. Jongman gave a review of 109 different definitions that appeared during the period from 1936 to 1983 , and proposed their own opinions in the book Political Terrorism. Chinese scholar Hu Lianhe analyzed 50 definitions that appeared after 1982, and proposed his own idea. On January 1 2016 , the third article of the Zhonghua renmin gongheguo fan kongbu zhuyi fa ( Anti -terrorism Law of the P. R. C) formally defines “terrorism”and “terrorist activities”. Generally speaking, both the academic and legal definitions have gener￣alized three characteristics of “terrorist crime”from subjective and objective aspects: 1 ) taking social order, public security, personnel and prop￣erty as the target of the ( terrorist ) behavior; 2 ) hurting the targets described above or threatening the state organs or international organizations by way of violence, destruction or intimidation; 3 ) taking the realization of some certain political or i￣deological purpose and claims as the ultimate goal of the ( terrorist) behavior.
Concerning the relation between extreme na￣tionalism and terrorism, the general idea is that“there is no pure form of nationalism; it is always combined with some certain political or social pow￣er, and characterized with social movement or his￣torical process”. And seeing from the development course of terrorism,“nationalism is one of the most permanent roots of terrorism”, and is also “one of the most powerful roots of terrorism.”
China has mainly experienced five revisions of its law concerning terrorist crimes: 1 ) revising criminal law in 1997 , and including terrorist or￣ganizations into the criminal penalty for the first time ; 2 ) legislating about terrorist crimes in the xingfa xiuzhengan san ( Criminal Law Amendment III) in 2001; 3 ) intensifying the applicability of the criminal law to terrorist crimes in the xingfa xi￣uzhengan ba ( Criminal Law Amendment VIII ) in 2011;4 ) including technical detection measures of crime on terrorist activities in the xingshi susong fa ( Criminal Procedure Law) revised in March 2012, thereby establishing the legal position of this kind of detection measure in criminal procedure; 5 ) substantially adding accusations in the xingfa xi￣uzhengan jiu ( Criminal Law Amendment IX ) re￣vised in 2015 , and strongly fighting against the ter￣rorist crime .
“As one of the social policies, criminal policy is a kind of countermeasure to handle different kinds of crime without delay - this determines that the formulation of criminal policy is bound to social politics and economics in a period of time.”Since the founding of New China, China has made up corresponding criminal policies according to the social needs and criminal status in different eras. In order to maintain a harmonious relationship be￣tween various ethnic groups, and respect the ethnic culture and customs, a criminal policy called “li￣angshao yikuan” (“less arrested, less killed, and punished leniently”) had been carried out con￣cerning the ethnic minority crimes. However, this criminal policy which had played an important role in juridical practice in handling criminal cases of ethnic minorities is unlikely to be a basic criminal policy for the control of extreme nationalist terrorist crimes in the present day. On the new historical stage,“kuanyan xiangji” ( combining punishment with leniency) has become a basic policy for deal￣ing with criminals in China—this policy is based on the inheritance of the rational connotation of the combination of serious and lenient punishment in the criminal policy, and learning the experience or lessons of “seriously fighting” criminal crimes since the implementation of the reform and opening-up policy. Doubtlessly, this new criminal policy has a guidance significance in the punishment of all criminal activities, including extreme nationalist terrorist crimes of the present.
A basic evaluation of China’ s criminal legis￣lation on the punishment of extreme nationalist ter￣rorist crimes is:1 ) it has developed from non-ex￣istence to existence; the relevant criminal legisla￣tion is in accord with the developmental direction of domestic terrorist crimes and the anti-terrorism situation;2 ) it has worked in concert with the anti-terrorism strategy of the UN, and performed a state party’ s duty;3) it has an obvious tendency of “severe penalty ”; 4 ) the revision of criminal law has started to be influenced by the risk concept of criminal law.
In summation, China ’ s criminal legislation and criminal policies have a positive significance in controlling the extreme nationalist terrorism crimes. However, there are still some deficiencies of the strategies of controlling crime. Hence, the following issues should be addressed in the subse￣quent legislation: 1 ) Before identifying a kind of behavior as a crime, one should judge whether the duty attached to the new accusation is a kind of ex￣cessive demand on the ordinary people;2 ) The ra￣tionality of the expected goal of criminal legislation cannot guarantee the rationality of a specific sys￣tem, therefore, the lawmakers also need to consid￣er whether the measures for realizing the goal are reasonable. 3) The deserved function of the non-criminal penalty method should be noticed, and it should be developed rationally and harmoniously together with the criminal penalty,thus a solid sys￣tem which can control extreme nationalist terrorist crime should then be constructed. 4) The guaran￣tee of human rights also cannot be ignored in the anti-terrorist legislation and criminal policies. 相似文献
There are different definitions of terrorist crimes. American scholars Alex P. Schmid and Albert J. Jongman gave a review of 109 different definitions that appeared during the period from 1936 to 1983 , and proposed their own opinions in the book Political Terrorism. Chinese scholar Hu Lianhe analyzed 50 definitions that appeared after 1982, and proposed his own idea. On January 1 2016 , the third article of the Zhonghua renmin gongheguo fan kongbu zhuyi fa ( Anti -terrorism Law of the P. R. C) formally defines “terrorism”and “terrorist activities”. Generally speaking, both the academic and legal definitions have gener￣alized three characteristics of “terrorist crime”from subjective and objective aspects: 1 ) taking social order, public security, personnel and prop￣erty as the target of the ( terrorist ) behavior; 2 ) hurting the targets described above or threatening the state organs or international organizations by way of violence, destruction or intimidation; 3 ) taking the realization of some certain political or i￣deological purpose and claims as the ultimate goal of the ( terrorist) behavior.
Concerning the relation between extreme na￣tionalism and terrorism, the general idea is that“there is no pure form of nationalism; it is always combined with some certain political or social pow￣er, and characterized with social movement or his￣torical process”. And seeing from the development course of terrorism,“nationalism is one of the most permanent roots of terrorism”, and is also “one of the most powerful roots of terrorism.”
China has mainly experienced five revisions of its law concerning terrorist crimes: 1 ) revising criminal law in 1997 , and including terrorist or￣ganizations into the criminal penalty for the first time ; 2 ) legislating about terrorist crimes in the xingfa xiuzhengan san ( Criminal Law Amendment III) in 2001; 3 ) intensifying the applicability of the criminal law to terrorist crimes in the xingfa xi￣uzhengan ba ( Criminal Law Amendment VIII ) in 2011;4 ) including technical detection measures of crime on terrorist activities in the xingshi susong fa ( Criminal Procedure Law) revised in March 2012, thereby establishing the legal position of this kind of detection measure in criminal procedure; 5 ) substantially adding accusations in the xingfa xi￣uzhengan jiu ( Criminal Law Amendment IX ) re￣vised in 2015 , and strongly fighting against the ter￣rorist crime .
“As one of the social policies, criminal policy is a kind of countermeasure to handle different kinds of crime without delay - this determines that the formulation of criminal policy is bound to social politics and economics in a period of time.”Since the founding of New China, China has made up corresponding criminal policies according to the social needs and criminal status in different eras. In order to maintain a harmonious relationship be￣tween various ethnic groups, and respect the ethnic culture and customs, a criminal policy called “li￣angshao yikuan” (“less arrested, less killed, and punished leniently”) had been carried out con￣cerning the ethnic minority crimes. However, this criminal policy which had played an important role in juridical practice in handling criminal cases of ethnic minorities is unlikely to be a basic criminal policy for the control of extreme nationalist terrorist crimes in the present day. On the new historical stage,“kuanyan xiangji” ( combining punishment with leniency) has become a basic policy for deal￣ing with criminals in China—this policy is based on the inheritance of the rational connotation of the combination of serious and lenient punishment in the criminal policy, and learning the experience or lessons of “seriously fighting” criminal crimes since the implementation of the reform and opening-up policy. Doubtlessly, this new criminal policy has a guidance significance in the punishment of all criminal activities, including extreme nationalist terrorist crimes of the present.
A basic evaluation of China’ s criminal legis￣lation on the punishment of extreme nationalist ter￣rorist crimes is:1 ) it has developed from non-ex￣istence to existence; the relevant criminal legisla￣tion is in accord with the developmental direction of domestic terrorist crimes and the anti-terrorism situation;2 ) it has worked in concert with the anti-terrorism strategy of the UN, and performed a state party’ s duty;3) it has an obvious tendency of “severe penalty ”; 4 ) the revision of criminal law has started to be influenced by the risk concept of criminal law.
In summation, China ’ s criminal legislation and criminal policies have a positive significance in controlling the extreme nationalist terrorism crimes. However, there are still some deficiencies of the strategies of controlling crime. Hence, the following issues should be addressed in the subse￣quent legislation: 1 ) Before identifying a kind of behavior as a crime, one should judge whether the duty attached to the new accusation is a kind of ex￣cessive demand on the ordinary people;2 ) The ra￣tionality of the expected goal of criminal legislation cannot guarantee the rationality of a specific sys￣tem, therefore, the lawmakers also need to consid￣er whether the measures for realizing the goal are reasonable. 3) The deserved function of the non-criminal penalty method should be noticed, and it should be developed rationally and harmoniously together with the criminal penalty,thus a solid sys￣tem which can control extreme nationalist terrorist crime should then be constructed. 4) The guaran￣tee of human rights also cannot be ignored in the anti-terrorist legislation and criminal policies. 相似文献
16.
This paper is a reflection on observations about the place of destruction in the or-ganization of social life .In contemplating the model of sacrifice , the author draws upon sources ranging Hubert, Mauss, and Evan-Pritchard to Levi-Strauss, and considers the circumstances of his life as a scholar of Melanesia and as a resident of the United States .The question that in-trigues the author the most is：＂ what quality is there in social life that makes destruction so often the condition of creation？＂ The author names this kind of destruction as a productive destruction and gives an analysis .He argues that destruction not only makes creation possible , it also pro-duces the conditions for the formation of not just difference , but a rank order or hierarchy .He suggests that it is not religion which creates the ritual hierarchies of power and destruction , but the latter which gets taken up by religion and ritual , and, thence, by the development of forms of social order . 相似文献
17.
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19.
I. The current situation of ethnic minority women’ s economic security One of the most prominent problems faced by the international community is how to ensure the e-conomic security of the elderly, and how to help those elderly people who have lost the ability to work to be properly cared for. According to Yang Shijie’s investigation, 75% of the poor population in Yunnan are ethnic minorities, and of this fig-ure, minority women are more impoverished than men. 1 . The poverty rate in Yunnan is a little bit higher than the national average poverty level. Although Yunnan’s economic indicators have made considerable progress, they have yet to reach the national average because of the province’s ho-mogenous industrial structure, low level of indus-trialization, and high proportion of resource indus-tries. The average wage of workers in Yunnan is only 85. 85% of the national average wage, and the poverty rate is higher than the national aver-age. 2 . There is a significant number of elderly women without pensions, and their poverty rate is high in Yunnan. Due to the dual urban-rural structure of the social and economic system, as well as the design issues related to the social pension security system connected with employment, the number of elderly women without pensions is quite significant in Chi-
na. In ethnic minority areas, only 24. 12% of peo-ple over the age of 60 have a pension, among them, the number of women is considerably lower than for men, accounting for only 10%. Elderly women from ethnic minorities are further excluded from the social pension security system. Only a small population of elderly ethnic women enjoy the benefits of the system, and their average monthly pension is significantly lower than that of the men. Compared with elderly men, elderly women rely more on other members of the family. 3 . The high rate of widowhood brings difficul-ties to the elderly. According to a sampling survey of 10% of the national population in 2010 , the widower ratio is 29. 55%, and widow ratio is 70. 45% among eth-nic minorities aged over 60 . Ethnic minority women devote more energy to unpaid housework in their youth and middle age, and their chances of finding employment are low. This means they normally de-pend on their spouse when they become old, how-ever, the loss of their spouse makes them even poorer, and increases their risk of falling into pov-erty. 4 . The ethnic minority women ’s property rights are difficult to be protected. Because of the influence of outmoded feudal i-deas in the ethnic minority villages, women gener-ally have no right to inherit property. For example, among the Pumi, property is inherited by the men, and women generally have no right to inherit. The
case is the same with the Naxi ethnicity. In the in-heritance systems of the ethnic minority people in Yunnan, wives rarely have the right of inherit-ance;the custom of“passing property to the men, but not the women” is still quite prevalent. If the husband dies, the wife will not only find it difficult to inherit her husband’s property, but may also lose her own property, including land rights. This leads to a low rate of property ownership among widows. II. Analysis of the causes of vulnerability of the gender structure 1 . Cultural lag American sociologist W. F. Ogburn was the first to use this concept, which refers to the time lag between material culture and non - material culture in the course of social change. Generally speaking, change in material culture occurs faster than in non -material culture, and they are not synchronized, so there is a gap between them. Ethnic minority women in Yunnan have been af-fected by the patrilineal system up to the present day, which influences the thought and behavior of all ethnic groups, and gradually builds a psycho-logical barrier in the ethnic women’ s minds, con-straining their talent and creativity. Yunnan is lo-cated in China’s southwest frontier region, and the ethnic minorities live in remote and isolated moun-tainous areas, where the concept of the low status of women is ingrained, and thus not easily changed. 2 . The cumulative effect of education and em-ployment Compared with boys, there are different edu-cational expectations on or investments in the girls in the social culture, which brings disadvantages to women looking for employment of in their youth and middle age. Because they can generally only involve themselves in housework, it is not possible for them to accumulate employment experiences, and this leads to a negative economic status when they become old. 1) Low level of education. Due to the tradi-tional influence of “valuing sons over daughters”,
the number of ethnic minority women who have not attended school is significantly higher than that of men; the number of ethnic minority women who have never received an education is more than twice as high as the number of men. The phenome-non of early marriage and childbearing in ethnic minority areas is still prominent. Due to the influ-ence of early marriage culture, the girls do not generally wish to receive a higher education. Addi-tionally, because of the development of tourism, girls tend to drop out of school very early and in-volve themselves in business or becoming tour guides. All these factors lead to ethnic minority women’s lower level of education. Because they do not receive a higher, or even elementary educa-tion, women’s lives are concentrated around the family and housework. 2 ) Devotion to housework. The elderly ethnic minority women not only have to take part in agri-cultural production, but they also have to take care of the “left-behind” children whose parents have left to work in urban areas. For instance, De’ang women play an important role in family, social and economic activities; they have to bear the load of heavy housework every day, including carrying wa-ter, collecting firewood, cooking, feeding pigs, cattle and children, weaving, washing clothes and farming. The Bulang women, together with the men, have created the ancient Bulang culture, and women play the role of “main tentpole” in the housework and farming. According to our investi-gations of the Yi in Chuxiong of Yunnan province, Yi women spend on average over six hours each day on housework, and most men almost never par-ticipate in housework. 3 ) Unemployment or low paid occupation. Ethnic minority women’s degree of participation in social labor is low, however, their housework du-ties are taken for granted, and not recognized by the wider society, so their labor value is underesti-mated, even ignored. Due to their low level of ed-ucation and contribution to unpaid housework, a lot of ethnic minority women are unemployed. E-
ven though a small number of them are in employ-ment, their jobs are concentrated in the low in-come industries, and few of them are supported by social insurance. 3 . Traditional gender roles in the division of labor Because of the traditional gender roles in the division of labor, the social expectations for the women’s role is still family-centered. This means women have to bear a lot of housework duties and child rearing responsibilities. Due to women’s spe-cial physiological characteristics, women have a double burden: the responsibility of human pro-duction and social production. However, under the influence of gender inequality, women who have made great contributions to the development of so-ciety and humanity have been subjected to unfair treatment. Their contribution is regarded as a bur-den unique to women or indeed the women’s natu-ral weakness, and can even become a discrimina-tory factor in employment and promotion—this is a great injustice to women. In summary, it seems that the structure of the fragility of elderly ethnic minority women is a sim-ply an issue of sex difference, but it essentially re-flects the social system and conceptual culture of“valuing sons over daughters” which is ingrained in the minority areas, and is an issue of gender in-equality. III. Countermeasures and suggestions The elderly ethnic minority women are a spe-cial group in China’s aging population. This group shows a structural vulnerability due to such as in-fluences of ethnicity and regional location, eco-nomic conditions, educational level, marital sta-tus. From the perspective of social gender, this paper studies the economic security status of ethnic aged women, analyzes the problems of economic security for this group, and puts forward some poli-cy recommendations for improving the economic se-curity situation of the elderly women in ethnic mi-nority areas. 1 . The state should increase investment in tye economic development of ethnic minority areas in order to provide more jobs and solve the problem of employment of women. Economic development in the minority areas could provide adequate economic security to improve the living conditions of the eld-erly women in those areas. 2 . The concept of gender equality needs to be strengthened. Women should enjoy equal rights in education, and equal employment opportunities as men, as well as equal rights in the husband-wife relationship. In addition, we cannot simply take each gender as exactlythe same, but should under-stand the psychological and physiological difference between men and woman, and pursue gender e-quality in terms of society, personality, opportuni-ties, and rights. 3 . National policy should afford some recogni-tion to women and their capacity for childbirth. Due to physiological factors, women have to take the responsibility of childbirth and feeding the child, however, they also have to work . Women’s contributions to the family will inevitably lead to their inferior position in terms of social professional competition. Therefore, when policies are drawn up, the physiological characteristics of men and women should be considered, moreover, gender awareness and gender equality should be a part of various policies. 4 . Policies should protect women’s employ-ment rights, and ethnic minority areas should en-courage women to go out to work. The state should make policies to protect women’s employment rights, solve the problem of sexual discrimination which might exist in the workplace, and create e-qual employment opportunities so as to reduce the probability of elderly women from ethnic minority areas becoming impoverished . 5 . Improve the urban and rural pension sys-tem, and improve women’s pension insurance cov-erage rate. 相似文献
na. In ethnic minority areas, only 24. 12% of peo-ple over the age of 60 have a pension, among them, the number of women is considerably lower than for men, accounting for only 10%. Elderly women from ethnic minorities are further excluded from the social pension security system. Only a small population of elderly ethnic women enjoy the benefits of the system, and their average monthly pension is significantly lower than that of the men. Compared with elderly men, elderly women rely more on other members of the family. 3 . The high rate of widowhood brings difficul-ties to the elderly. According to a sampling survey of 10% of the national population in 2010 , the widower ratio is 29. 55%, and widow ratio is 70. 45% among eth-nic minorities aged over 60 . Ethnic minority women devote more energy to unpaid housework in their youth and middle age, and their chances of finding employment are low. This means they normally de-pend on their spouse when they become old, how-ever, the loss of their spouse makes them even poorer, and increases their risk of falling into pov-erty. 4 . The ethnic minority women ’s property rights are difficult to be protected. Because of the influence of outmoded feudal i-deas in the ethnic minority villages, women gener-ally have no right to inherit property. For example, among the Pumi, property is inherited by the men, and women generally have no right to inherit. The
case is the same with the Naxi ethnicity. In the in-heritance systems of the ethnic minority people in Yunnan, wives rarely have the right of inherit-ance;the custom of“passing property to the men, but not the women” is still quite prevalent. If the husband dies, the wife will not only find it difficult to inherit her husband’s property, but may also lose her own property, including land rights. This leads to a low rate of property ownership among widows. II. Analysis of the causes of vulnerability of the gender structure 1 . Cultural lag American sociologist W. F. Ogburn was the first to use this concept, which refers to the time lag between material culture and non - material culture in the course of social change. Generally speaking, change in material culture occurs faster than in non -material culture, and they are not synchronized, so there is a gap between them. Ethnic minority women in Yunnan have been af-fected by the patrilineal system up to the present day, which influences the thought and behavior of all ethnic groups, and gradually builds a psycho-logical barrier in the ethnic women’ s minds, con-straining their talent and creativity. Yunnan is lo-cated in China’s southwest frontier region, and the ethnic minorities live in remote and isolated moun-tainous areas, where the concept of the low status of women is ingrained, and thus not easily changed. 2 . The cumulative effect of education and em-ployment Compared with boys, there are different edu-cational expectations on or investments in the girls in the social culture, which brings disadvantages to women looking for employment of in their youth and middle age. Because they can generally only involve themselves in housework, it is not possible for them to accumulate employment experiences, and this leads to a negative economic status when they become old. 1) Low level of education. Due to the tradi-tional influence of “valuing sons over daughters”,
the number of ethnic minority women who have not attended school is significantly higher than that of men; the number of ethnic minority women who have never received an education is more than twice as high as the number of men. The phenome-non of early marriage and childbearing in ethnic minority areas is still prominent. Due to the influ-ence of early marriage culture, the girls do not generally wish to receive a higher education. Addi-tionally, because of the development of tourism, girls tend to drop out of school very early and in-volve themselves in business or becoming tour guides. All these factors lead to ethnic minority women’s lower level of education. Because they do not receive a higher, or even elementary educa-tion, women’s lives are concentrated around the family and housework. 2 ) Devotion to housework. The elderly ethnic minority women not only have to take part in agri-cultural production, but they also have to take care of the “left-behind” children whose parents have left to work in urban areas. For instance, De’ang women play an important role in family, social and economic activities; they have to bear the load of heavy housework every day, including carrying wa-ter, collecting firewood, cooking, feeding pigs, cattle and children, weaving, washing clothes and farming. The Bulang women, together with the men, have created the ancient Bulang culture, and women play the role of “main tentpole” in the housework and farming. According to our investi-gations of the Yi in Chuxiong of Yunnan province, Yi women spend on average over six hours each day on housework, and most men almost never par-ticipate in housework. 3 ) Unemployment or low paid occupation. Ethnic minority women’s degree of participation in social labor is low, however, their housework du-ties are taken for granted, and not recognized by the wider society, so their labor value is underesti-mated, even ignored. Due to their low level of ed-ucation and contribution to unpaid housework, a lot of ethnic minority women are unemployed. E-
ven though a small number of them are in employ-ment, their jobs are concentrated in the low in-come industries, and few of them are supported by social insurance. 3 . Traditional gender roles in the division of labor Because of the traditional gender roles in the division of labor, the social expectations for the women’s role is still family-centered. This means women have to bear a lot of housework duties and child rearing responsibilities. Due to women’s spe-cial physiological characteristics, women have a double burden: the responsibility of human pro-duction and social production. However, under the influence of gender inequality, women who have made great contributions to the development of so-ciety and humanity have been subjected to unfair treatment. Their contribution is regarded as a bur-den unique to women or indeed the women’s natu-ral weakness, and can even become a discrimina-tory factor in employment and promotion—this is a great injustice to women. In summary, it seems that the structure of the fragility of elderly ethnic minority women is a sim-ply an issue of sex difference, but it essentially re-flects the social system and conceptual culture of“valuing sons over daughters” which is ingrained in the minority areas, and is an issue of gender in-equality. III. Countermeasures and suggestions The elderly ethnic minority women are a spe-cial group in China’s aging population. This group shows a structural vulnerability due to such as in-fluences of ethnicity and regional location, eco-nomic conditions, educational level, marital sta-tus. From the perspective of social gender, this paper studies the economic security status of ethnic aged women, analyzes the problems of economic security for this group, and puts forward some poli-cy recommendations for improving the economic se-curity situation of the elderly women in ethnic mi-nority areas. 1 . The state should increase investment in tye economic development of ethnic minority areas in order to provide more jobs and solve the problem of employment of women. Economic development in the minority areas could provide adequate economic security to improve the living conditions of the eld-erly women in those areas. 2 . The concept of gender equality needs to be strengthened. Women should enjoy equal rights in education, and equal employment opportunities as men, as well as equal rights in the husband-wife relationship. In addition, we cannot simply take each gender as exactlythe same, but should under-stand the psychological and physiological difference between men and woman, and pursue gender e-quality in terms of society, personality, opportuni-ties, and rights. 3 . National policy should afford some recogni-tion to women and their capacity for childbirth. Due to physiological factors, women have to take the responsibility of childbirth and feeding the child, however, they also have to work . Women’s contributions to the family will inevitably lead to their inferior position in terms of social professional competition. Therefore, when policies are drawn up, the physiological characteristics of men and women should be considered, moreover, gender awareness and gender equality should be a part of various policies. 4 . Policies should protect women’s employ-ment rights, and ethnic minority areas should en-courage women to go out to work. The state should make policies to protect women’s employment rights, solve the problem of sexual discrimination which might exist in the workplace, and create e-qual employment opportunities so as to reduce the probability of elderly women from ethnic minority areas becoming impoverished . 5 . Improve the urban and rural pension sys-tem, and improve women’s pension insurance cov-erage rate. 相似文献
20.
Funeral and interment reform is a social revolution of changing customs and tradi-tions, which is conducive to promoting the con-struction of the socialist material, spiritual and ec-ological civilization. The replacement of burial with cremation is the direction of China’s reform on fu-neral and interment traditions. The reform itself is put forward by aiming at the disadvantages of the Han people’s traditional burial custom, however, Guizhou is a typical karst region in China, in which several forms of karst burial have existed throughout history, such as cliff coffins, cave tombs, and sarcophagi, and these customs have been continued to some certain degree up to now. Therefore, how to manage the relation between cre-mation and karst burials has a significant meaning to the respect of the ethnic minorities’ customs and promoting the funeral and interment reform in eth-nic regions. The Binzang guanli tiaoli ( Funeral and inter-ment management regulations) issued by the State Council in 1997 stipulates that “ the objective of the funeral and interment management is to carry out cremation, reform burial, save the interment land, abolish undesirable customs related to the fu-nerals and interment actively and methodically, and advocate civilized and thrifty funerary prac-tices”. That is to say, the original intentions for promoting cremation in the funeral and interment reform for many years include the advocating of thrifty funerals, reducing the burden of funerals on the masses, changing the people’s concept of luxu-rious burials, and saving the cost of funeral in the aspect of economy;banishing superstitions, getting rid of bad habits, and opposing the feudal dross in the aspect of culture; and saving resources and protecting limited cultivated land in the aspect of ecology. In general, the abolition of burial and im-plementation of cremation has become the reform direction of China’s funeral and interment system. Guizhou is a typical karst area in China. There are various forms of cliff-burying, rock tombs, sarcophagi, and cave tombs etc. , especial-ly the cave-burial which is still popular among the Waishu Miao at Taohua village in Qibo township, Pingba County and among the Qing Yao at Yaolu village in Libo County, and sarcophagus burial which is still popular among the Li clan of the Waishu Miao at Xinyi village in Guangzhao town-ship, Qinglong County. These structures reflect the karst characteris-tics of Guizhou tombs, and have an important eco-logical value. The funeral and interment reform is put forward by aiming at the drawbacks of the tra-ditional burial practices of the Han, so if the cliff burial or sarcophagus tombs which have ecological value had been forced to be replaced with crema-tion in the funeral and interment reform, it will lead to an embarrassing situation which is contrary to the original intention of the reform no matter if we consider it from cultural, economic or ecologi-cal viewpoints. Firstly, it will cause a dilemma at the cultural level. We must consider the characteristics of the funeral customs of the ethnic groups during the process of reforming the funeral and interment cus-toms in the ethnic minority areas, in other words, respect the funeral customs of ethnic minorities, as it is an important content of the CCP and the state’s policy for respecting the customs and habits of eth-nic minorities. Due to the differences in geograph-ical environment and social economy, the ethnic minorities have different funeral customs with their own characteristics. These funeral customs, as a part of ethnic culture, help to construct a ritual with a kind of ethnic identity;it is the mark of na-tional culture, which embodies ethnic emotions and maintains ethnic consciousness. The ‘univer-sal application’ in the funeral and interment sys-tem reform doubtlessly make the disappearance of karst characteristics in Guizhou’s burial culture, the diversified burial way has been replaced with single cremation, and that is not good for the pro-tection of cultural diversity. Secondly, it will cause an economic dilemma. One of the purposes of the funeral and intermentre-form is to save funeral costs, and change the con-cept of organizing luxury funerals. The traditional burial custom contains a set of complex funeral cer-emony, which is organized in a very luxurious way, spend a lot of money and increase the people’s economic burden. In contrast, cremation can save costs. However in today’s rural areas, af-ter cremation, the ashes are still buried after being put into a coffin, so it not only increases the eco-nomic burden of the people, but also does not meet the purpose for farmland conservation, hence, it is contrary to the original intention of the funeral re-form, and also causes dissatisfaction among the people. Therefore, compared with cremation, sar-cophagus and cave burial which are still popular in Guizhou are actually a more economic practice. Thirdly,it causes an ecological dilemma. The purpose of funeral reform is to save resources and protect the limited farmland. The traditional burial practice uses coffins and pile graves, which wastes wood, occupies farmland, and also pollutes the en-vironment. Therefore, the environmental protection is the premise and ultimate goal of the funeral and interment reform. Cave burial in Guizhou uses the natural caves, and does not occupy farmland; sar-cophagus burial does not use wooden coffins, so both of them belong to ecological burial practices. However, the implementation of cremation in the areas which used to conduct cave or sarcophagus-burials has created an embarrassing situation. Cave burial and sarcophagus tombs in Guizhou karst areas contain rich ecological ideas, which not only have positive social and practical significance for the protection of the ecological en-vironment of the area, but also have an important reference meaning for the promotion of “ecological funeral” or green funeral in China. Different ethnic groups and different areas have different forms of funeral customs, which have their own justifications. Therefore, the Fu-neral and Interment reform should adapt to local conditions, and take into the consideration the characteristics of the karst region in the case of Guizhou, and fully draw on the rational factors of ethnic burial. The present funeral and interment reform can take reference from the following three aspects from the ethnic burial culture of Guizhou:The first is to delimit some appropriate burial zones and maintain properly some burial customs which has ecological value. We advocate various forms of burial in these specific burial zones, for instances, tree burial of the Basha Miao in Con-gjiang country, deep burial of the Chang-clan Yao in Libo county, and sarcophagus tombs of Li-clan Waishu Miao in Qinglong County. These forms of burial with ecological protection value not only play an exemplary role for the ecological protection in ethnic regions, but also will help for the ethnic cultural inheritance. The second is to make full use of the natural characteristics of the karst area, and properly en-courage cave burial which does not take up the cul-tivated land. In this way, not only can the cave burial custom of the Yao in Libo and the Washu Miao in Pingba be kept, but also the cliff burial custom which does not take up the cultivated land could be encouraged among the residents in the karst region. This kind of cliff burial not only re-duces the waste of cultivated land, but also re-stricts the superstitious activities in the funeral. The karst area in Guizhou is very extensive, so it has a unique advantage in conducting cave burial. The funeral and interment reform can take the local conditions into consideration, and play up the ad-vantages of natural environment. Instead of empha-sizing cremation blindly, we should take the cave burial into practice. The third is to convert karst caves into ceme-tery for placing ashes so as to change the tradition-al way of building a cemetery on the hill for placing ashes in the cremation areas. In the karst area, if an area is delimited as a cremation zone, then the burial of body or burial of bone ash coffin should be prohibited. Generally, ashes should be deposi-ted in sepulchral chapels or buried in cemeteries. Although most cemeteries are built on barren hills or land, they still occupy land and waste land re-sources. The use of cement and stone materials creates white pollution. Meanwhile, the construc-tion of cemeteries destroys the mountain and causes soil erosion. Therefore, the cemetery is not the di-rection of the funeral and interment reform in the long run, and also does not meet the original inten-tion of the reform. 相似文献