Ming-tang: Cosmology, political order and monuments in early China.

详细信息   

• 作者：Hwang ; Ming-chorng.
• 学历：Doctor
• 年：1996
• 毕业院校：Harvard University
• 专业：History, Asia, Australia and Oceania.;Religion, History of.;Architecture.
• CBH：9631639
• Country：USA
• 语种：English
• FileSize：37636849
• Pages：927

文摘

Previous studies on early Chinese cosmology concentrated on two areas of interest: the "scientific (or pseudo-scientific)" notion of the structure of the earth and sky as articulated by such theories as hun-tian XXX and gai-tian XX and the abstract theoretical constructions such as yin-yang and wu-xing in which related all things to the cosmos. All of these cosmologies were Warring States or post-Warring States developments. In this thesis we are proposing the existence of different kinds of cosmologies that developed before the Eastern Zhou period and were collectively labeled as ming-tang XXX to express concerns of the contemporary political order.;In the classical sense of the term, ming-tang was the name of the architecture representing a microcosm and was used as a place to worship tian (sky, heaven, a deity). In this thesis, ming-tang is used as a collective term for the concepts of the physical structure of cosmos, such as the tripartite vertical structure, ya X -shaped earth, bi X -shaped (circular) sea surrounds the earth, and four corner posts (trees) that support that sky. It is suggested in this thesis that these cosmic features were the legacies of archaic shamanism and remained essentially the same from remote antiquity to the Han dynasty. Ming-tang, thus, was a basic structure of cosmology which provided a framework to which elements that reflected contemporary political concerns could be added. In the case of ming-tang yue-ling XXXX as recorded in the Lushi-Chunqiu, XXXXXX yue-ling(monthly ordinance) was added to reflect an idealized vision of a harmonious world.;We also suggest, through careful textual analysis, that the Dahuangjing XXXXX (DHJ) in the Shanhaijing XXXXX (SHJ) was a transcription of a si-fang XX cosmograph of the Shang dynasty. We tried to establish such a thesis from three different vantages. First, there are such elements as the names of the four directions and the four directional winds, Wang Hai XX, and Nu Fa XX, which are inscribed in the oracle bone and are preserved in the DHJ. The preservation of a complete set of the names of the four directions and winds properly distributed in the DHJ is especially difficult to explain if we follow traditional dating of the SHJ. Second, we tried to establish an evolutionary process connecting the concept of si-yi XX (four "barbarians") in the min-tang yue-ling scheme, to si-yi in the Yizhoushu Wanghui XXXXX XXX to si-hai XX in the Shanhaijing Haiwaijing XXXXX XXXX, and ultimately to the DHJ with the DHJ as the earliest document. If this is the case, the DHJ can only be dated to a time before the concept of si-yi and si-hai emerged. Third, we tried to argue that the center of the DHJ was shi-ri XX and si-fang-feng XXX and suggested that shi-ri represented the structure of ten lineages (Jia X, Yi X Bing X...) of the royal Zi clan while si-fang-feng represented the four states segmented from the Shang to safeguard the four sides of the Central Kingdom (Shang). If that is the case, the "author(s)" of the DHJ could only have been shamans who served in the Shang court.;The theory proposed in this thesis is, admittedly, a radical one. We believe, however, what we propose provides a far better explanation of the matches between the DHJ and the oracle bone inscriptions, and a framework within which most of the historical data thus far analyzed can be properly placed.