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A discussion of the concept of “feudal”
HOU Jianxin
Front. Hist. China. 2007, 2 (1): 1-24.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11462-007-0001-0
The Western terms feudal and feudalism have been widely and improperly translated as fengjian in contemporary China. The early Western Sinologists and Chinese scholars, including Yan Fu, did not originally make such a translation. Yan initially transliterated the term feudalism as fute zhi in his early translations. It was not until the 20th century, when Western classical evolutionism found its way into China, that feudalism was reduced to an abstract concept, and the Western European model was generalized as a framework for understanding development in China and the whole world. Only then did Yan Fu first equate feudalism with fengjian, and China was believed to have experienced a feudal society in the same sense as Europe. From the perspective of intellectual history, using evidential and theoretical analyses, this article attempts to show that feudalism was a historical product in the development of Western Europe and existed only in Europe, fengjian is a system appropriate only in discussions of pre-Qin China, and China from the Qin to the Qing experienced instead a system of imperial autocracy. The medieval periods in the West and in China evidence widely divergent social forms and hence should not be confused with the same label.
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The emperor’s four bodies: Embodied rulership and legal culture in early Ming China
WU Yanhong, JIANG Yonglin
Front. Hist. China. 2007, 2 (1): 25-59.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11462-007-0002-z
This essay explores how the emperor s body was perceived in the imperial rulership and treated uniquely in legal culture in early Ming China. It argues that the ruling elite articulated four types of imperial bodies, i.e., the body cosmic, the body politic, the body social, and the body physical, each of which exemplified a specific dimension of rulership. The emperor s four bodies are manifested in the imperial laws. The imperial laws place the emperor s body cosmic inferior to Heaven, ensure the emperor s sole authority in communicating with Heaven, require the officials faithful service to the ruler, urge the ruler to observe rules, and strictly protect the emperor s physical body. The imperial laws, by regulating the different relationships in the embodied rulership, serve as the essential instrument to create the ideal cosmic order.
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Behavior and attitude towards the world: A comparative analysis between the Cynics and the School of Zhuangzi
YANG Juping
Front. Hist. China. 2007, 2 (1): 60-73.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11462-007-0003-y
During the fourth and third centuries B.C., both the ancient Greek and Chinese civilizations evolved into key periods of social transformation. The Cynics and the School of Zhuangzi responded most acutely to these great social changes. Both of them denied the legitimacy of the existing political systems, denounced the upper rulers and felt disappointed at the comprehensive reality of societies, and were indifferent to fame and gain, and willing to live simply and smile at death. But compared with the Zhuangzi School, the Cynics were more extreme and defiant. Viewed from both macro and micro perspectives, the differences in civilizations, geographical conditions, and historical traditions determined the difference in behavior and attitudes of the two schools in terms of their behavior in the world. Nevertheless, their similarities outweigh their differences because of the similar development stages of their civilizations, similar socio-historical periods and similar social and living problems confronted.
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From Racecourse to People’s Park and People’s
Square: The historical changes and the symbolic meaning
XIONG Yuezhi
Front. Hist. China. 2007, 2 (1): 101-97.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11462-008-0005-4
Shanghai Racecourse was established at 1850, it was finally transformed into People’s Park and People’s Square in 1951. The Racecourse was originally just a simple recreational center. However, with the change of its own function and the trend of thought, it changed into a casino of cheating and murder, a place of discrimination against Chinese, a stage for the imperialists to show off their power and violence and a symbol of all evil things. The appeal to change the Racecourse echoed to the demand of opposing imperialism, taking back the concession, desire for civilization and democracy. From 1930s to 1950s, even though great change took place in the ruling party and the political power, there was an obvious continuity in the domain of thought and ideology.
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