My Blog on Chinese History

As inkstones were very prominent in East Asia, they served a great significance to the Qing. Inkstones are also referred to as ink-slabs and ink palettes (Ko). They are known as “a collectible object, a father’s gift to his school-bound son, a token of exchange among friends, and an inscriptional surface for encomiums” (3). Dorothy Ko’s powerful work of The Social Life of Inkstones explores inkstones as the subject of her research. While Dorothy became engaged in inkstones because of the fact she was interested in the gender of women and material culture, she is known as one of the most famous makers of inkstones as a women in the 18th century. Dorothy also got into inkstones because she realized that carving is not a tedious process and that she simply needs to create a piece that embodies beauty. Dorothy always tries out the art forms in which she writes about so it was important that she was capable of carving.

Dorothy discusses the importance of duan quarries and how they produce a stone good for grinding ink that doesn’t hurt the brush and is harder than the ink stick (Ko). Chinese writers and painters held the duan quarries to a high standard and it was known that they consisted of the best quality ink stones. Dorothy introduces Gu Erniang, the most famous ink stone maker of her day. Gu worked solely with men and was recognized because she was the only women that prospered in the field. Dorothy also emphasizes how it is “useful is to study the words carved on stones and the ink rubbings made of them—inkstone encomiums, printing blocks, and commemorative steles—as supplements to printed texts and manuscripts” (8). It is quite fascinating that some carvers use words and others don’t and that they can be differentiated by unique signature marks.

Works Cited

Podcast: New Books in East Asian Studies, interview with Dorothy Ko, author of The Social Life of Inkstones. (appr. 1hr)

Ko, Dorothy. The Social Life of Inkstones : Artisans and Scholars in Early Qing China. A Study of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute Columbia University. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2017. 

I want to research further into the Chinese ornamental stone, jade, for my final project. My high school Mandarin teacher’s love for the gem inspired me to want to learn more about how its religious and spiritual meaning evolved. Jade is known for being very auspicious and representing good fortune as it was a common practice for monarchs to offer the gem to other leaders in order to establish a cordial relationship. In addition, elders would give children jade jewelry as a symbol of love and protection. As jade can symbolize good luck, my Mandarin teacher would give her seniors a gift of jade when they graduated from her program in order to provide them with her best wishes before heading off to college. I would always associate jade with a positive connotation and couldn’t wait to earn my very own piece of jade.

Although I am not sure if I specifically want to focus on the symbolic meaning of jade across various aspects, I know that I want to select a prominent piece of jade or two to analyze. I will be able to use the object I select as a source of gaining insight about the hidden meanings that exist. As jade dates back to the Shang Dynasty, I am intrigued as to how its meaning has transformed over time. I will be using Jade by Roger Keverne from the Trexler Library in order to learn more about specific pieces of jade that are essential to different areas of the world. I will also look into the resouce: Chinese jades from Han to Ch’ing. I think it would be interesting to explore how it is determined whether jade is truly real. We are often tricked by fake pieces of the gem and I am curious as to what specifically defines the gem and makes it real. I think it could also be interesting to investigate why jade is so important to the Chinese culture but not mined by ethnic people. I feel as if the topic of jade has endless possibilities as there are many existing objects of utility and pleasure, vessels used in the worship of the gods, as well as sculptures, that are made of jade. I believe that once I dive deeper into the text I will be able to further narrow my research.

The Summer Palace and the Forbidden City are essential monuments that serve a great significance on Chinese history. The Summer Palace was originally known as Yuanmingyuan and was built in the early 18th century. Yuangmingyuan was considered an individual garden, as well as a complex of combined gardens. While the main focus of the gardens consisted of their hills and lakes, there were also buildings featured in the landscape which “[were] designed to resemble scenes from the Jiangnan region, or Lower Yangzi Valley, from which China’s famous literati poets and painters hailed” (Li). As the emperors utilized the Summer Palace as a place of residence, ““Yuanmingyuan was [known as] a paradise on earth for the Qing emperors.” Yuangmingyuan can be translated in Mandarin characters as the “round (yuan 園) and bright (ming 明) garden (yuan 園)—or the Garden of Perfect Brightness” (Li). The Yongzheng emperor was responsible for expanding upon the garden. He left an additional garden, the Garden of Joyful Spring, to his mother. His son, Qianlong, added a third garden to the complex known as the Garden of Elegant Spring. The three gardens were eventually united to become Yuangmingyuan.

It is known that “Yuanmingyuan was at first a scenic retreat for the emperors who wished to escape the heat and formal obligations of the Forbidden City in Beijing” (Li). The Forbidden City took four years to build and is 720,000 square metres. The “Forbidden City complex was the beating heart of Beijing” (Hernandez). It consists of various materials, such as stones and timber. As the Forbidden City was known for hosting ceremonies for the imperial family, its reception halls can be found in the front, while the complexes located in the back consist of where the imperial family was housed. Entry into the Forbidden City was strictly restricted. It turned out that the “imperial system collapsed at the start of the 20th century and the Forbidden City, which had been home to emperors since 1420 and housed the world’s greatest collection of art treasures, was turned over to the public and transformed into the Palace Museum” (Arranz). Today, the fascinating Forbidden City is known as a national museum.

Author: Paige Goldberg (Original Photo)

Works Cited

Li, Lilian M. “The Garden of Perfect Brightness.” MIT Visualizing Cultures, 2012. 

Hernandez, Marco. “The Origins of Beijing’s Forbidden City.” South China Morning Post. May 29, 2018. https://multimedia.scmp.com/culture/article/forbidden-city/architecture/chapter_01.html?src=follow-chapter

Arranz, Adolfo. “How China’s Forbidden City Became the Palace Museum.” South China Morning Post. December 05, 2018

Although the definition of money is left open for interpretation, the etymology of the word “money” is responsible for determining the function in which it serves. While coins are a significant form of money, “a community in which coins are available does not necessarily exclude other forms of money, nor is the coinage in such a community necessarily the dominant form of money” (1). Coins are known for the fact that they are manmade and very durable. The authority of an individual coin can be determined from observing a mark typically found on a coin. While the names of coins are known for defining their physical appearance, this traditional process has continued to be carried out over time. As it can often be a challenge to date a specific coin, it is known that “rarer and later coin-types of more precise periods and locations of issue may offer more exact information, but, as Chinese coins often remained in circulation long after their official period of issue, they must always be interpreted in the context in which they were found” (2). Coins provide other challenges such as the fact that they are found in extensive amounts, were designed to be used in the afterlife, and that cultural and philosophical ideas can be equated to them. It is known that “during the period between the Han and the Tang dynasty, when central China was fragmented into many states, there were long periods without regular coin production” and that “other forms of money were also adopted, in particular grain and textiles, which had had a monetary function since ancient times” (4). Money could also be interpreted as objects and could perform functions such as textiles, feathers and grain (2). In addition, paper money was invented during the Han period. The currency of money and how it has evolved is an essential aspect of China’s history.

Works Cited

Slides (Gdrive link)

Horesh, Niv. Chinese Money in Global Context : Historic Junctures between 600 BCE and 2012. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 2014. 

Wang, Helen. Money on the Silk Road: The Evidence from Eastern Central Asia to c. AD 800. London: British Museum Press, 2004.

The textiles of Tang China have existed over a long period of time and have created numerous pieces of work known for their beauty and decor. Aspects of the textiles that are easily discovered by the human eye consist of color, pattern, intricacy and the level of workmanship. While the textiles have different values, they “served as money on the Silk Road” in which “simpler textiles were better suited to serve as money” and “more elaborate textiles were better suited to other types of exchanges” (2). The simplicity of the textiles depended on the type of loom used and binding structure of the tabby. The more complex textiles featured twill, satin, gauze and compound weaves and allowed for repeated motifs, as a result of the more complex looms employed. The fancy textiles were set aside by the fact that their patterns were more intricate and dyed and they were often woven in silk. It is known that “redistributing simple textiles and fancy silks substantiated social relations between the emperor and his subjects, thereby ensuring social order” (4). While simper textiles are more widespread and numerous, the more complex woven textiles were hand woven, required more labor and costed more in price. Furthermore, textile density “can determine the true quality of the production. The density reflects the quantity of original fibre used, the equipment with which it was made and the manual dexterity and expertise required to design and produce it” (7). Various components of the textiles are known for differentiating their complexity, quality and monetary value.

As I looked through my own wardrobe, I found my sherpa jacket which resembles wool lined clothing worn by tribes. This jacket is a sherpa fleece made of polyester, consisting of a blend of cotton and synthetic fibers. The sherpa jacket is a stretch knit polyester fleece fabric that is warm but lightweight and is typically worn in the Fall and Winter. It is known to be very stylish as it is often worn oversized. I got my sherpa jacket from Pacsun and it was made in China. I believe that the production process of the jacket was most likely a bit intricate because of the fact that it is a unique and trendy piece of clothing. In addition, I found my long-sleeve Lulu Lemon shirt in my wardrobe. This shirt is made of nylon and Lycra and the fabric is stretchy. It is good for performing high intensity exercise because of the fact that the fabric is woven to offer freedom of movement and the ability to stretch. The fabric is seamlessly constructed with yarn so people can travel far distances and exercise to their greatest potential. I would guess that this piece of clothing was more challenging to design as it sold at high prices.

Works Cited

Slides (Gdrive link)

Sheng, Angela. “Determining the Value of Textiles in the Tang Dynasty: In Memory of Professor Denis Twitchett (1925-2006)”. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Third Series, 23, no. 2 (2013): 175-95. 

While the Tang period lasted from 618 until 907, it is known that the ethnic Han Chinese consisted of a majority of the population and that the dynasty’s territory spread throughout mainland China. Given that Buddhism was very prominent during this time period, the Emperor of the dynasty, Xuanzong, was known as a 7th century month. As the “Tang state was a highly bureaucratic regime,” its history was closely documented and scholar-officials have produced lots of written materials that have influenced the “development of Tang studies” (2). The documents have noted many essential aspects of Tang China and the “largest cache of such documents comes from the so-called ‘Library Cave’ in the Mogao Caves near Dunhuang” which is a “site of Buddhist worship in easter Xinjiang” (2). The documents provide insight into the historical significance of the empire, as well as its social structure, economic standing and political influences.

While Tang China is known for having complex foreign relations, the Silk Road serves a great importance in the trade network that exists between Tang and Central Asia. In The Silk Road : A New History with Documents, “Xuanzang’s itinerary underscores the important place of Turfan on the Silk Road. Along with Kucha, it was one of the largest cities in the Western Regions” (5). Xuanzang’s trip was so unique in that he traveled alone because most typically travel in caravans along the northern route. The population of Turfan itself consisted of migrants from both China and Sogdiana. “When the southern route fell into disuse after 500, many travelers opted for the northern route that went through Turfan” (2). Turfan was a popular place for settlement because the migrants had a desire to learn Chinese. Furthermore, the Turfan discarded paper and official documents to make clothing and items for the dead and graveyards consisted of numerous documents. The documents, as well as coins, contributed to the establishment of Turfan’s trading partner as the Iranian world. In addition to trading, the “Sogdians living in Turfan pursued a wide variety of occupations including cultivating the land, serving as soldiers, running inns, painting, working leather, and selling iron goods” (10). They also employed the common Chinese burial practices.

Works Cited

Slide deck (Gdrive link)

D’Haeseleer, Tineke. “Tang China (618-907).” In Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of the Global Middle Ages, edited by Erik Hermans. Arc Humanities Press, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2019.

Hansen, Valerie. The Silk Road : A New History with Documents. New York: Oxford University Press, 2017.(PDF)