Alternation and Evolution of the Fables of Pre-Qin Scholars Along With the Contextual Changes

The fables of Pre-Qin scholars occupied an important position in the history of the development of Chinese culture,thoughts,and literature,hence had profound and extensive influence on later generations.As a kind of carrier of thoughts,the fables of the Pre-Qin scholars were not immutable and frozen,for they have been influenced by various aspects in the process of transmitting and recognizing.This article attempts to study the evolution of the function,expression,and connotation of the fables of the Pre-Qin scholars.

Discussion on Agricultural Religion in the Pre-Qin Period of China

Since ancient times,agricultural religion has been infiltrated into all aspects of economic,political and social life in China. Using rich historical data such as archeology,anthropology and ethnology,this paper discussed the historical process of agricultural religion in the pre-Qin period from animal worship to agricultural worship. It also discussed the agricultural objects,land,celestial nature,and labor ghosts.Finally,it revealed the inevitable trend of combination of social sacrificing activities.

On the Ancient Educational Thought under the Opposite View of Human Nature of the Pre-Qin Scholars--On its Value to Contemporary Higher Education

The pre-qin Scholars’views on human nature could be divided into two types:malleable human nature and immalleable human nature.Based on the theory of the malleability of human nature,Confucianism formed an educational concept aiming at shaping the ideal personality of Confucianism.The theory of immutability of human nature has become the root of the two distinct educational concepts of Taoism,which advocates letting nature take its course,and Taoism,which aims at reforming human behavior.Either idea has its reasonableness.All of these have a very important impact on our higher education today.

Features of Gardens of Shu Kingdom in Pre-Qin Period of China

After the illustration of Shu Kingdom in pre-Qin period, the origin of Sichuan gardens has been discussed. Through the research on relevant materials of old Shu Kingdom, and by comparing with the archaeological discovery of Yangzi Mountain Terrace, the paper has proposed that the origin of Sichuan gardens can trace back to gardens in the period of Duyu King. It is considered that gardens in pre-Qin period are dominated by imperial gardens, emperors' or aristocratic cemeteries, among which the historical function and features of Yangzi Mountain Garden, Nanzhong Garden and Wudan Mountain Cemetery have been introduced. On this basis, characteristics of Sichuan gardens in pre-Qin period have been concluded, and the grand manner manifested through "Great Stone Worship" in ancient Shu Kingdom has been highlighted.

The History of Xu-style Garden in the Pre-Qin Period

Based on ancient documents and archaeology,this paper studied the general situation and landscape conditions of ancient Xuzhou in the pre-Qin period,including regional changes,economic development,and gardening activities and characteristics of Xu-style gardens.The study found that ancient Xuzhou had been inhabited by human beings as early as 6,000 years ago,and villages and kingdoms had gradually formed.When Yu the Great ruled the country(also known as Jiuzhou,or nine states),Xu was one of the nine states,known as Xuzhou.Local natural geographical environment was superior,the transportation was convenient,economy and society was relatively developed,thus by the Zhou Dynasty,ancient Xuzhou region had already had a large number of early garden forms.This period was the incubation period of Xu-style garden.

Inheritance and Development of Three Pre-Qin Classics of Confucianism——An Application of Topic Modeling in Classical Chinese Text Analysis

The Analects, Mengzi and Xunzi are the top-three classical works of pre-Qin Confucianism, which epitomized thoughts and ideas of Confucius, Mencius and XunKuang1. There have been lots of spirited and in-depth discussions on their ideological inheritance and development from all kinds of academics. This paper tries to cast a new light on these discussions through “machine reading2”.

Research on the origin of the theory of“heart as monarch”in Huang Di Nei Jing(Yellow Emperor’s Internal Classic)

Scholars have previously attributed the theoretical origin of“the heart is the monarch/ruler”to the monarchical view of politics.However,according to the latest unearthed documents and relevant documents handed down from ancient times,it can be found that the theory of“the heart is the monarch”might derive from the importance of attachment to the“Zhong”ideology in traditional culture,which promoted the concept that the heart as the center of body,should be the ruler and was later evolved as the“monarch”.Similar cognitive views were all mentioned in Confucianism,Taoism,eclectics scholars and other pre-Qin literature,but only in the system of traditional Chinese medicine,they played a significant role in building the heart-centered theory of Zang-Fu.Traditional Chinese medicine is a discipline developed mainly by clinical practice with the fundamental purpose of curing diseases and saving people.Although the philosophy of traditional Chinese medicine(TCM)roots in the pre-Qin Dynasty,the development is unique to the other philosophies.With rich cultural connotations and philosophical thoughts,TCM is certainly the key to the treasures of Chinese civilization and deserves more attention and exploration.

Evolution of the Pre-Qin Theory of Shi Yan Zhi and Different Interpretations

The phrase,shi yan zhi(poetry expressing aspirations)is ancient China’s first ontology of poetry,and therefore its significance should be examined from the ontological perspective.This paper explores the historical context in which this theory is created in three respects:the maturity of the artistic form that integrates poetry,music,and dance,the establishment of governance through an education system,and the establishment of an ethical system.This paper holds that as an ancient and classical theory,shi yan zhi was embraced and carried forward by the scholar-officials of the Spring and Autumn Period when reciting poems,and later was cited and further expanded by the pre-Qin philosophers.Zhi is the unique attribute of The Book of Odes to distinguish it from other classics.This paper also investigates the evolution history from shi yan zhi to the six music language skills and six forms of poetry described in“The Office of Spring”in The Rites of Zhou,as well as the six essential elements mentioned in the Introduction to Mao’s Version of The Book of Odes,highlighting the contribution of“The Record of Music”in The Book of Rites to the development of shi yan zhi.

An Elementary Study of the Unearthed Mathematics Book, Suanshu Shu

The transcription of the Suanshu Shu算數書(a bamboo book of mathematics)in simplified Chinese characters offers a new opportunity to explore the history of Chinese mathematics in ancient times.This paper analyzes the style and structure of the Suanshu Shu and makes comparisons with the Nine Chapters on Mathematical Procedures and a number of other texts in various social contexts.It will be shown that the Suanshu Shu was compiled from at least two sources,and that no direct textual interplay exists between the Suanshu Shu and the Nine Chapters,although both share the same origins in the Pre-Qin period when the major mathematical methods in the Nine Chapters came into being.It will also be shown that the Suanshu Shu was accomplished with the methods used in certain mathematical books in the Pre-Qin period or their results,which later led to the Nine Chapters,and by accommodating the actual conditions of the lower government administration.The Suanshu Shu is significant for establishing the evolution of algorithmic mathematics from the Warring States period to the Han dynasty.

The Origin and Differentiation of the Theories of Human Nature in Pre-Qin China

In early China, views concerning human nature underwent significant development, with philosophers moving from seeing it as desire or instinct to seeing it as virtue or essence. Before Confucius＇s time, human beings＇ xing, or nature, was construed as desire and instinct, i.e., as a physical nature. The key problem faced by theorists of human nature at that time was how to manage nature with virtue, i.e., how to use virtue to both control and enrich nature. A later, wide-reaching development was the use of qi to explain human nature. Laozi began, taking de or virtue to be the internal essence of the human being; Confucius took de or virtue to be xing or nature. Following this development, the main current of the theory of human nature in the pre-Qin period divided into two branches. One, created by the later Confucius, inherited in part by Zisi, and developed by Mencius, took virtue as nature and insisted on the a priority of internal morality. The other branch, inherited in part by Zisi and developed by the author of Xing Zi Ming Chu and Xunzi, featured the development of the old tradition which took yu, or desire, as nature.

The Rites of Mourning in Archaic and Classical Greece and in Pre-Qin China

This article attempts to compare the mourning of the dead before burial in Archaic and Classical Greece with that in Pre-Qin China. It focuses on three main subjects of mourning before burial--lamentation, mourners＇ gestures and behaviors, and mourning apparel--to demonstrate the cultural function and social influence of the mourning rituals through the analysis of the function and purpose of the mourning of two ancient peoples. We find that there are some differences in these two ancient societies, although the rites of mourning share some basic and similar procedures and functions.

The Deaths of One Conceptual Metaphor in Two Languages

This title refers to what I see as the state of synonymy between the word "husbandry" in English and the word se 嗇 in Chinese. There are points of striking similarity, not only in the meaning and usage of these two words, but also in the changes in their usage over time, and I have found a comparative study of the etymology of these two words to be mutually illuminating. The similarity and potential for mutual analysis between these two case studies speaks to the universality of metaphor in thought and its expression, as well as the influence of shared experiences, such as agricultural practices, on how we talk about ideas that are more abstract. In English, the idea of a general practice of husbandry derived from the idea of the husbandman or farmer in Late Medieval English (Cl3th onwards). A more abstracted sense of husbandry, understood as an attitude that may be applied to abstract and intangible objects is witnessed in Shakespeare's sonnets in the Cl6th. This sense of husbandry, the husbandry of intangible resources, is also precisely the sense that is developed by a small and specialised group of writers in China represented by texts dating from the pre-Qin period to the Eastern Jin dynasty, following a similar progression from agricultural to ever more metaphorical senses of the practice of husbandry. The similarity of the process through which these abstracted meanings developed from concrete usage in both cases makes the pair mutually illustrative as I hope to show in this paper.

An Archaeological Perspective on Changes in the Course of the Yellow River and Changes in Civilization

The Yellow River has always been known for"easily silting up,easily bursting its banks,and easily shifting course"and its course has indeed changed many times.It did not undergo any large-scale course changes during the pre-Qin period,but instead followed the course given in the"Hanzhi汉志(Treatises in the Book of Han)."The river recorded in the Yugong禹贡(Tribute of Yu)is actually the Hanzhi river,and the he(river)recorded in the Yugong that passed through the counties of Xunxian and Neihuang actually followed the former course of the Qi River.The Yellow River’s large-scale course changes began in the Han dynasty.After two thousand years of frequent changes,a 6-15 meters thick layer of sediment formed in the lower reaches of the Yellow River,completely altering the natural landscape of hills,rivers and lakes that had existed in the pre-Qin lower Yellow River,and finally shaping today’s landscape of an endless plain.The course changes brought about a rupture in the development of civilization in this area,with most cities and towns destroyed.The changes in the ecological and living environment around the lower Yellow River over thousands of years were apparently related to the flooding and course changes of the Yellow River,but in reality were caused by human over-exploitation of natural resources.