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This article conducts a comprehensive study on the battle of Changping 長平 (260 BCE) between Qin 秦 and Zhao 趙 and challenges some traditional views on it. This article estimates the sizes and losses of the opposing sides and argues that although the number of losses of the Zhao army in this battle looks unreasonably large, it is too subjective to say that the ancient sources exaggerate the numbers because the definition of "soldiers" at that time was different from today. This article concludes that the reasons for Zhao's defeat are not because of replacing an experienced chief commander with an inexperienced one or shortage in supply but because it was the relatively weaker side and more importantly, its long-term strategic planning and diplomacy were inferior to Qin's. This article also argues that the influence of this battle is not as significant as claimed by some scholars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article uses a case study of the Qin Empire to explore the ecology of an agrarian political system, analysis that has become possible because of the archaeological excavation of Qin administrative documents. Qin's power derived from photosynthesis, and its empire mobilized this energy and used it to conquer territory and expand its productivity. The state's power was based on its ability to extract taxes in grain from its subjects, store it in granaries, and then use it to feed laborers working on state projects. Grain and most other taxable materials were too bulky to move very far, so the government relied on a subcontinent-wide system of information gathering and processing that allowed officials at the capital to make decisions about local resource use. Qin's centralized bureaucratic system became the standard model of political organization in China, so it offers clues into the effects subsequent empires would have on their environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of tianming 天命 (Mandate of Heaven/Heaven's Mandate) is often viewed as a foundational principle of Chinese political culture. However, as paleographic and textual evidence marshalled in our article suggests, during the formative age of this culture—the Eastern Zhou period (eighth through third centuries BCE)—this concept underwent profound changes and lost much of its original appeal. With the de facto collapse of Zhou authority in 771 BCE, tianming became dissociated from the idea of singular and universal rule. Henceforth it could refer to a regional lord's hegemonic power, or the right to rule one's state, or just to an opportune moment or individual destiny. The very idea of Heaven as an activist deity that guaranteed political order was questioned by many, further eroding the appeal of tianming. However, the Western Zhou notion of tianming did not perish altogether. It remained "an ideology in reserve," part of a broad toolkit of political ideas, to be rediscovered and redeployed by Han dynasty imperial ideologues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract An ancient table zither qin, an emblematic stringed instrument of traditional Chinese music, has been rediscovered in the museum collection of the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers (inv.4224, CNAM collection), Paris. This instrument named “Qiulai” qin, whose origin is poorly documented, can claim to be one of the oldest qin preserved in European collections; its state of conservation is exceptional. A thorough examination was carried out based on an innovative approach combining museum expertise, material characterization analyses (optical microscopy, VIS/IR/UV imaging, X-ray fluorescence, SEM–EDS, Raman) and advanced radiocarbon dating technology (MICADAS). Our results highlight the great coherence with the traditional manufacturing practices mentioned in early Qing dynasty qin treatises and poems, in particular the collection of materials with highly symbolic meanings referring to the qin sound, nature and the universe. The reuse of resinous wood of the Taxus family from a building such as a temple has been demonstrated. The ash layer contains bone black, crushed malachite and residues of silica, ochres, potassium and magnesium aluminosilicates. Our study confirms the antiquity of the "Qiulai" qin in Europe by indicating that it was most likely made in the small [1659–1699] interval of about 30 years at the turn of the eighteenth century.

This paper uses recently discovered administrative and legal manuscripts to investigate the governance of newly conquered territories during the Qin unification, with the aim of examining Qin's governing intentions and strategies, which were inextricably interwoven with its swift territorial expansion. The manuscripts demonstrate that the new territories experienced instability and crisis and that Qin had to address various administrative problems to achieve successful governance. The paper explores the flexible, pragmatic policies that Qin devised and adopted to suit the specific social and political circumstances of the new territories. These policies included the removal of native Qin people, laborers, criminals, soldiers, and officials from the old lands to the new lands, preferential and tolerant treatment of the new population, and enactment of laws made specifically for the new territories. The paper shows that although the Qin central government successfully imposed its own administrative system in the new territories with some compromises, there remained a considerable number of unstable and treacherous elements. Résumé: Cet article utilise des manuscrits administratifs et juridiques récemment découverts pour étudier la gouvernance des territoires nouvellement conquis pendant l' unification par les Qin, dans le but d' examiner les projets et les stratégies de gouvernance des Qin, qui étaient inextricablement liées à leur rapide expansion territoriale. Les manuscrits démontrent que les nouveaux territoires ont connu instabilité et crises et que les Qin ont dû résoudre divers problèmes administratifs pour les gouverner. L' article explore les politiques flexibles et pragmatiques que les Qin ont conçues et adoptées pour s' adapter aux circonstances sociales et politiques des nouveaux territoires. Ces politiques comprennent le déplacement d' anciens sujets des Qin, des ouvriers, des criminels, des soldats et des fonctionnaires, des anciens territoires vers les nouveaux, un traitement préférentiel et tolérant des nouvelles populations et la promulgation de lois spécifiques aux nouveaux territoires. L' article montre que, bien que le gouvernement central des Qin ait réussi, avec quelques compromis, à imposer son propre système administratif dans les nouveaux territoires, il restait un nombre considérable d' éléments instables et risqués. 摘要: 運用新近發現的行政與法律寫本文獻材料，本文研究了統一進程中秦對新地的統治，其目的在於揭示與秦新地軍事征服密切聯繫的新地統治意圖和策略。由寫本文獻材料來看，因新地社會秩序不穩且危機四伏，秦需解決各種問題以順利統治新地。針對新地特殊的社會與政治情況，秦製訂和採用了變通與務實的統治政策。這些政策包括：將秦故地的百姓、勞徒、罪犯、士卒及官吏遷移至新地，以寬容與優待的方式對待新黔首，頒布並實施專門適用於新地的法律。由本文研究來看，秦中央政府雖然作出了一定程度的妥協以在新地成功建立其行政統治，但是不穩定與危險的諸多因素依然存在於新地。 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article studies the promulgation of law in Qin and Western Han China (221 b.c.e.–9 c.e.) based primarily on excavated legal and administrative texts. It shows that a new law was handed down from the emperor to the relevant offices on the day of enactment. The article argues that, to an extent, the subject matter and function of a law determined for whom it was passed and promulgated. Depending upon the location, rank, and official duties of the offices, the laws known and used could be quite different. Although it was required that documents of imperial decisions be forwarded swiftly and safely by courier at the prescribed speed, delays in forwarding such documents to distant local offices were probably common in Qin and Western Han China. Evidence indicates that district- and prefecture-level officials publicized laws that needed to be made known by the common people, by reading them aloud in local gatherings, for example, or posting them in conspicuous places. The article further argues that a law came into effect in offices on the day it arrived at local courts or on the day it was enacted in the central court, depending on the existence of related extant laws. It concludes that a new law in Qin and Western Han China was ex post facto, as it reached backwards to a past action and retroactively attached liabilities to the action at the point when it was performed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The excavation of the Qin wooden documents from Well No. 1 at Liye 里耶, Hunan province has significantly reshaped our knowledge of Qin history. This article examines a multi-slip manuscript from Liye on the Qin management of human resources in a newly conquered area, Qianling County. The manuscript is the best example of the multi-layered structure of a Qin administrative document; it also sheds new light on the difficulties the Qin encountered in resource management during the early years of unification. The manuscript shows that the responsible officials in Qianling County had failed to engage tuli 徒隸 (laborer-servants)—a major labor source in the Qin—in agricultural production, which appears to have deviated from the Qin strategy of managing human resources. To minimize the harmfulness that this deviation might cause, the Qin heavily relied upon a system of supervision and punishment. This article offers a contextualized study of the manuscript with an analysis of the related Qin excavated sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An ancient table zither qin, an emblematic stringed instrument of traditional Chinese music, has been rediscovered in the museum collection of the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers (inv.4224, CNAM collection), Paris. This instrument named "Qiulai" qin, whose origin is poorly documented, can claim to be one of the oldest qin preserved in European collections; its state of conservation is exceptional. A thorough examination was carried out based on an innovative approach combining museum expertise, material characterization analyses (optical microscopy, VIS/IR/UV imaging, X-ray fluorescence, SEM–EDS, Raman) and advanced radiocarbon dating technology (MICADAS). Our results highlight the great coherence with the traditional manufacturing practices mentioned in early Qing dynasty qin treatises and poems, in particular the collection of materials with highly symbolic meanings referring to the qin sound, nature and the universe. The reuse of resinous wood of the Taxus family from a building such as a temple has been demonstrated. The ash layer contains bone black, crushed malachite and residues of silica, ochres, potassium and magnesium aluminosilicates. Our study confirms the antiquity of the "Qiulai" qin in Europe by indicating that it was most likely made in the small [1659–1699] interval of about 30 years at the turn of the eighteenth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the century of massive expansion of the Qin state in China (ca. 316–222 BCE), and the subsequent fifteen years of the empire (221–207 BCE), it is recorded that millions of persons were forcibly relocated and resettled throughout the empire and along its frontiers. For example, the historian Sima Qian (ca. 145–86 BCE) states that in just the years between 213 and 210 BCE, the First Emperor relocated more than a million people from interior counties of the empire to settle newly-conquered lands on the northern and southern frontiers. Yet this was only one type of forced resettlement carried out by the Qin. The Qin state also relocated thousands of aristocratic households from conquered states to the Qin capital of Xianyang, captured large numbers of non-Chinese peoples and assigned them to localities as slaves to open up agricultural land, exiled wealthy iron industrialists from the interior to the periphery, intentionally expelled the entire populations of conquered cities to replace them with amnestied criminals, and pooled and redirected the labor of convicts gathered from throughout the empire to labor on huge projects such as the First Emperor's tomb. This article seeks to analyze and categorize these various Qin forced resettlements to uncover the ideological and policy motivations behind them and the role they played in the larger project of Qin imperial expansion and colonization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After succeeding the Qin, the Former Han reverted to the earlier practice of discrete localized authority. This resulted in an intermixed system of directly administered entities in the Wei River Valley, where the capital of Chang'an was located, and individual kingdoms east of the mountains that isolate the Guanzhong area. This hybrid system inherently nurtured a tendency to rebellion. When the Han suppressed the Revolt of the Seven Kingdoms in 154 BCE, it ensured China would remain on a unified trajectory. However, the revolt was a precursor to coups and putsches that imperial relatives, powerful generals, and entrenched provincial officials would mount over the centuries. Even though not the only form of insurgency China would witness before the modern era, often being undertaken by charismatic individuals with dedicated followers, considerable material resources and military forces, they proved particuarly devastating. Populist revolts and religiously based movements might threaten the established order, but were never marked by the same invidious nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Bamboo & Silk is the property of Brill Academic Publishers and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Monumenta Serica: Journal of Oriental Studies is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

After annexing his opponent states, the Qin First Emperor in 221 BCE issued an edict to regulate the measurement system of lengths, volumes, and weights throughout the empire. This edict was inscribed on a great number of metal objects to be used as prototypes or standards for the measurement system. How the molds for the weights and crucibles of metal were prepared are essential questions regarding the production of these standards. By examining the weights and tracing the history of their industrial production, this article focuses on studying their material features, which enable us to understand the operation of the Qin foundries that produced them and their relationships with the government. It is hypothesized that the weights were produced at multiple local workshops rather than in a centrally administered factory, but that the foundries' production methods were determined by the government's political agenda to communicate its regulation policy to its subordinates. In addition, the study explores the Qin industrial organization and how the maintenance and large-scale distribution of the standardized weights reflected the policy implementation of the Qin empire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Beijing Normal University is the property of Beijing Normal University, Institute of History and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Culture as a research site and tool has been well established in the field of intercultural business and technical communication. In recent years, the perspective of culture as an ongoing process responding to contextual forces has been widely embraced in the field. Acknowledging the dynamic nature of culture helps communicators make contextual evaluations in intercultural business communication practices. While researchers strive to examine the dynamic nature of culture and contextual factors’ influence on culture and communication, little efforts has been made to examine the process of a cultural element’s generation, development, and transmission. To understand the notion of culture as a dynamic process for effective intercultural business and technical practices, it is necessary to conceptualize or describe how a cultural element or unit originates and develops along an evolutionary path. In this study, we focus on how the online meme serves as an empirically useful unit of culture, explore an online meme’s evolution process when it successfully transfers from an online marketplace to cultural space, and identify the qualities that constitute the success of the online meme. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Xinian is a recently published bamboo manuscript from the collection of Qinghua (Tsinghua) University. It is the lengthiest, most detailed historical text unearthed in recent decades. The text narrates major events from the history of the state of Chu, its rivals, and its allies from the beginning of the Western Zhou period to the early fourth century bce. In this introductory article I argue the following: first, both the language and the content of Xinian indicate that this text was based on earlier historical sources from the states of Chu and Jin, in addition to sources from within the Zhou royal domain; second, the authors' utilization of their primary sources differs markedly from those observable in Zuo zhuan (with which Xinian has many overlapping parts) and in later collections of anecdotes; and third, Xinian may represent a heretofore unknown genre of "informative history." In addition, I explore the new perspectives that Xinian sheds on early Qin and Chu history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the conservation of a polychrome terracotta warrior statue from the Qin dyansty at vault one in Xi'an, Shaanzi, China. Topics include details on the post-excavation conservation treatment of polychrome ceramic figures; details on conservation principles such as authenticity, minimum intervention, and compatibility of conservation materials; details on the role of consolidation in the art conservation process; details on the role of cleaning in preservation; and details on the role of photographs and diagrams.

This article gathers and examines information about the legal practices of Qin and Western Han China, and demonstrates that these served communicative functions. Law in early imperial China not only penalized antisocial behavior, it was also a medium for communication between the central government, the common population, and officials. The information so transmitted comprised institutional and personal information, including that which facilitated the function of reputation on a national scale. There is also important evidence that people at the time recognized the communicative possibilities of legal practice, as reflected in cases where they manipulated penal communication for individual benefit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Electronic Turkish Studies is the property of Electronic Turkish Studies and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article deals with the lacquer traditions of the late Warring States period as seen in the Qin and Chu kingdoms and in relation to recent discoveries from Sichuan. Qin lacquer working techniques and style are different from those of Chu, which are evidenced by hundreds of objects. By contrast, due to poor conditions of preservation, Qin lacquer craftsmanship can only be known through very few objects, some of which show a strong influence from nomadic art. During the late fourth and early third century BC, Sichuan appears to have been a key region in the development of the lacquer art of Qin. Several Qin lacquers have marks either stamped on the core before the application of lacquer or incised with a needle on the lacquer surface. They confirm that the lacquer workshops operated under the control of the state administration. Until the destruction of the Chu capital in 278 bc, the Chu lacquer tradition in the Jiangling area had a more diverse range of shapes than Qin. However, the techniques used to make the cores were less sophisticated than in Qin, except in the case of luxury objects. Only a small number of Chu lacquer pieces have marks. At the same time, the comparisons show that both traditions exerted a mutual influence on each other to some extent until the early third century bc. Thereafter, Qin seems to have dominated the production of lacquer, even in the area that was in earlier times the core of the Chu kingdom, in present-day Hubei and Hunan. Most of the lacquers found in Changsha tombs of the third century bc that have been traditionally considered as Chu products were in fact produced in workshops working in a Qin cultural environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In modern studies on qin music, inquiry into the aesthetics of performance has been overly emphasized and the ancient tradition regarding the psychobio-logical implications of qin music has largely been ignored. The present paper explores the implications of the de-sensationalized or non-emotional state of mind, which was, according to Han qin scholars, essential for realizing the biological as well as psycho-acoustical aspects of qin practice. Historically, the central issue of qin performance has been primarily related to three functional hierarchies, namely: hearing (er-ting ..., listening with the ears), sensing (xin-ting ..., listening with the heart/mind) and transforming (qi-ting ..., listening with qi). According to the philosopher Zhuangzi, listening with qi is the highest form of musical practice. Essentially, it is the mystery of "listening with qi" that motivated me to launch a systematic inquiry into the relationship between qi in musical practice and its neuro-psychological as well as biological implications. It should be emphasized that the goal of qin practice, according to Xi Kang (223-263) in his Qin fit, is mainly the preservation of bodily wellbeing and enrichment of mental and spiritual soundness. Ultimately, the examination of psychobiological factors directed the inquiry to an investigation of the abstruse meanings of the 24 qin musical conditions (qin kuang ...), which were originally expounded by the Qing dynasty scholar Xu Qingshan in his Xi shan qin kuang (1673). According to Xu, the qin kuang were divided into 24 types of what I would call sonic phenomenology. There are different opposing interpretations of the true meanings of the 24 qin kuang. But after many years of studying the esoteric meanings of the 24 qin kuang, it finally occurred to me that they are actually cognitive contextualizations of the three categories of hearing, sensing and transforming mentioned above. It is rather clear to me that the term qin kuang reaffirms the Taoist ideology of musical cognition. In essence, qin music is not only a performing art, but even more importantly a means for preserving one's health. In other words, the psychobiological significance of qin practice is the very essence of the qin musical tradition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]