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This paper examines the role played by the Quanzhen Daoist Xuanmiao monastery in the defense of Nanyang (Henan) during the Taiping rebellion. It shows that Daoist loyalty to the Qing state and to the local community did not just stem from the abbot's personal hatred of the Taiping; it also mirrored the monastery's established pattern of collaboration with the imperial state since the early Qing and its long history of ritual service to and economic involvement in the local community. Because of its wealth and cultural and political influence the Xuanmiao monastery functioned as a vital and dynamic actor in shaping the history and society of late nineteenth-century Nanyang. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents abstracts of papers about China including "Literary Collections in Tang Dynasty China," "Epidemics and Medicine During the Northern Song Dynasty: The Revival of Cold Damage Disorders" and "Venerating the Martyrs of the 1402 Usurpation: History and Memory in Mid and Late Ming Dynasty."

During the Zhou dynasty, it was customary for the ruling families of the Central States to transmit their titles and states from father to son in the direct line. This paper examines the occasions when this pattern was disrupted, in particular occasions when it is clear that fraternal succession was used, and where this was not the result of usurpation or a failure of the direct line. In the Spring and Autumn period, the state of Wu seems to have developed a most unusual pattern of succession, apparently unique at this time, and a methodology for understanding Wu practice is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]