Bulletin of the Department of Chinese Literature

There are three unfathomed questions in the inscriptions on the Zuobo-Ding（〈柞 伯鼎〉）.The first is the meaning of 「qi」（諆）in 「諆弗敢昧朕皇考」;the second is the meaning of 「qi」（諆）in 「諆用追享孝」;the third is the meaning of 「qi」 （ ）in「今汝率蔡侯左」.According to the principle of the inscriptions on ancient bronzes , both of the meaning of 「qi」（諆）and「qi」（ ）are the name of Zuobo （柞伯）.

In 1800, Li Ding-yuan was appointed as Ryukyu-ce-feng-fu-shi. With Zhao Wen-kai, Ryukyu-ce-feng-zheng-shi, Li was dispatched to Ryukyu and conferred a title upon King of Zhong-Shan Shang-Wen. Afterwards, Li composed Shi-Ryukyu-ji and a poetry collection entitled Shi-zhu-zhai-ji, which possess considerable merit as historical materials while recording the experiences on his diplomatic mission in Ryukyu. Shi-Ryukyu-ji was narrated in a form of diary entries, and its content was completely different from that revealed in the format of Shi Ryukyu-lu, which were the submitted records documented by ordinary ce-feng officials upon their return to China. Li Ding-yuan’s compilation of Qiu-ya was mentioned throughout Shi-Ryukyu-ji; however, Qiu-ya was eventually transcribed by Weng Shu-kun, Weng Feng-gang’s sixth son, and handed down for generations under the title of Ryukyu-yi. The book consists of 3,105 entries of Ryukyu-ji-yu, recording the most amount of Ryukyu-ji-yu, so its documentary merit should not be under estimated. With a focus on a comprehensive analysis of Li’s compiling work of Qiu-ya, this article discusses on the process how Li Ding-yuan strenuously collected and compiled Ryukyu-ji-yu while it also commentaries on Ryukyu-yu. The article includes six sections: I. Introduction; II. Ryukyu-yi, originally entitled Qiu-ya by Li Ding-yuan; III. Qiu-ya as the compilation of Ryukyu-yi; IV. The compiling process of Ryukyu-yi （Qiu-ya）; V. Li Ding-yuan＇s other documentary records related to Ryukyu-yu; VI. Conclusion.

Despite being famous for his work of researching Chinese ancient history, Ku Chieh-kang always laid stress on the activities of academic exploration which had to go out the den and stride towards the fields, and he did practice what he emphasized in his academic life. During 1918 to 1945, he joined the activities of investigation or the trips with the characteristics of investigation at least sixty-six times; especially, between the autumn of 1929 when he went back to Beijing from Guangzhou to take up a post at the department of history of Yanching University and the eve of July 7th Incident of 1937 when he fled to western–north China to keep away from the battle, his career of academic exploration climaxed in the eight years. He personally participated in investigative activities twenty times in total in that period, that is, he went to the fields to do research two point five times a year on average. During the period, the focus of his career of academic exploration had transferred from folk research to the investigation of antiquities and frontier history and geography. This paper is aimed at researching the activities of investigation of antiquities in Ku Chieh-kang’s career of academic exploration. Besides carefully researching the motive, process, and concrete exploratory details of Ku’s investigative activities of antiquities, I am going to elaborate and evaluate his achievements and contribution from the following five aspects: first, the examination and collection of antiquities and bibliographies; second, the display and announcement of investigative results; third, to consciously promote the investigation of antiquities to be a professional course; fourth, to awake the society’s respect for antiquities; five, to verify by classics, histories, and ancient books.

This paper aims to examine Kang Youwei’s Han poetry which he produced in his exile in Nanyang and attempts to sketch out the way his Han poetry emerged as an archetype of traumatic writing in Nanyang poetics. Kang Youwei was a key advisor and reformer of the late Qing Dynasty but later fled into exile after the historical events of the year in 1898 . During his 16-year exile, he made a grand tour on four continents and ardently advocated Confucianism abroad, which enabled him to come to be a cultural and political symbol abroad. Furthermore, as a typical exiled poet, he produced a large amount of poetry in exile, which even outnumbered those he composed in any other period of his life. His abundant Han poetry during the time of exile, therefore, can very well be considered as a reflection of the Peregrination, of his consciousness of the empire and of his cultural imagination. On the basis of the study of Kang Youwei’s Han poetry he produced in Nanyang, the following questions will be addressed: How Kang Youwei mobilized Confucianism and empire imagination in his exile in Nanyang? How he dealt with the exile of the empire as well as his personal exile? How he made use of Han poetry to depict historical changes and the collapse of a dynasty and a culture? How his poems constitute the writing ideology and cultural imagination in Nanyang poetics?

“Qingtan” is a unique cultural phenomenon of the Wei-Jin period. It is not only an academic activity but also a social activity. However, present researches on Qingtan are unfolded from the perspectives of political history and academic history, instead of social observations, to investigate the influences of Qingtan on the social contact of Wei-Jin scholars. Based on the above, this study used the example of the Xie family thrived in Chen Commandery during Eastern Jin Dynasty to describe the series of elaborate planning and strategies that this rich and powerful family of high representativeness in the history of Qingtan used to win its reputation progressively through participating in the Qingtan activities prevalent in social circles at that time, obtain official positions by using its reputation under the unique talent selection system of family monopolized society, perform deeds of merit by using its official positions, and eventually raise its family reputation by resorting to its exploits. In this study, the endlessly controversial issue of “pure theories and talks without action will get the nation into trouble” was re-examined by investigating this kind of social phenomena in which Qingtan is used to increase the social status of families. In addition, the study indicated that Qingtan bungled the nation mainly because the social nature of Qingtan was deeply entangled with scholars’ access to official positions.

According to scholars of the Northern Song Dynasty, through its passage from Yao, Shun, Yu, and Tang to Confucius, Zengzi, Zisi, and Mencius, the genealogy of sages transformed from politics into Confucianism and then evolved further to mental character. In the process of transformation, the underlying meaning of Confucianism was finally confirmed. Zhu Xi used the Succession of the Way (daotong) to consolidate the system of the Four Books, while also applying Cheng Yi and Cheng Hao’s great learning to mold the achievements of Confucianism in the Song Dynasty. A reappraisal of the the development of Confucian thought since the Northern Song requires an investigation of the sequence of ideas inherited by Zhu Xi. The “Succession of the Way” is not a new term, nor is it a blending of various concepts. In fact, it is the accumulation of many scholars’ research and practice of Confucianism, in the areas of politics as well as mental character, which could be used to reconstruct the historical viewpoint of Confucianism. Zhu Xi used the Succession of the Way, which had undergone a synthetic process of development and was full of emotive force, to declare the genealogy of the sages. In this paper, I will investigate the background of the Succession of the Way extensively in order to thoroughly explain Zhu Xi’s discourse.

The thesis of this paper is as follows. Viewed from a comparative ideological perspective, the respective brands of Confucianism in China, the Korean Peninsula, and of course, Japan share a resemblance because they are all forms of Confucianism. However, it would be problematic to put them under the same rubric, treating them as one entity. It is due to family institution and ancestor worship （Sozoku, or patrilineal descent group）. In the discussions of the Japanese school of Confucianism, Shushigaku, it manifests itself in the permission for adopting someone of a different surname and the prohibition of marriage between those of the same surname. But the study of Confucianism in Japan is pursued with hardly any tribute to these issues. Moreover, the differences between Shushigaku and its offshoot, Yomeigaku, go largely unrecognized. This paper shall give an account of how Japanese Confucianism developed in its ideological diversity by paying special attention to the diversity of the concrete forms and of the supporting social classes. Although the paper represents but a portion of the discourse regarding Japanese Confucianism and Japanese Shushigaku, I plan to present a more thoroughly researched draft at a later date.

In Song Dynasty, Ba-Shu culture underwent a historical change. Neo-Confucianism gradually became the mainstream of Ba-Shu culture and reached the summit of its development. Zhou Dunyi and Cheng Yi entered Sichuan to disseminate Neo-Confucianism by giving lectures and writing books while Zhang Shi and Wei Liaoweng went out to exchange ideas with scholars outside Sichuan, thus Neo-Confucianism developed and established its orthodox position. By exchanging ideas with those well-known scholars both inside and outside Sichuan such as Zhang Shi, Zhu Xi became a master of Neo-Confucianism in Song Dynasty and his philosophy became the popular learning. The continuation and development of Zhu Xi’s doctrine in Ba-Shu area in Southern Song Dynasty is very important for the rise and development of the Neo-Confucianism in Song Dynasty. And it also promoted the great development of Chinese culture as well as the whole Neo-Confucianism trend. Therefore，the continuation and development of Zhu Xi＇s doctrine in Ba-Shu area in Southern Song Dynasty is not isolated, but closely related with the rise and development of Neo-Confucianism in Ba-Shu area in Song Dynasty, with the continuation and development of Zhu Xi’s doctrine in the whole China and East Asia, and with the general background, environment and trend of development of Chinese learning, ideology and culture as well. As for the geographical cultural development, the Neo-Confucianism in Ba-Shu area in Song Dynasty is not only, in a broad sense,the summit of the development of Shuxue （Learning in Sichuan）, but also the summit of the development of the Ba-Shu culture, and it profoundly influenced the development of Chinese culture in Song Dynasty with its rich connotations and unique theories. From the perspective of the whole development process of Chinese culture, Chinese cultural development in Song Dynasty is inseparable from the continuation and development of Zhu Xi’s doctrine in many areas aross the country; and the continuation and development of Zhu Xi’s doctrine in many areas aross the country is inseparable from the continuation and development of Zhu Xi’s doctrine in Ba-Shu area in Southern Song Dynasty, which constitutes the important connotation and component of Zhu Xi’s doctrine. The more local academically the culture is, the more nationwide influence it has. It’s well proved by Zhang Shi and Wei Liaoweng who had made outstanding contributions to the development of Neo-Confucianism. Similarly, as a local culture with the Min-school academic characteristics, Zhu Xi’s doctrine, with its unique features, has national and even international influence. Its continuation and development in Ba-Shu area in Southern Song Dynasty and its influence on the development of Neo-Confucianism in Ba-Shu area in Song Dynasty, contrasted with the development of the entire Chinese culture and the Ba-Shu culture in each historical period, which constitutes the multi-dimensional perspectives of the development of Chinese culture and the Ba-Shu culture, and showcases the deep historical accumulation of Chinese culture.

The paper introduces the spiritual travel writing as a category in Chinese literature and its characteristics. Similarities and differences between spiritual travel literature and fantasized travel literature are discussed. The paper further analyzes how to perceive spiritual travel literature from reader’s angle. Travel literature, spiritual travel writing, and fantasized travel writing share an early origin and produce their own offspring, which offers the context for us, when reading these works, to inquire, interpret, and finally connect them to the history of literature.