Program || Information on the participants || Comments on the conference theme || Questions for discussion
Universität Heidelberg
Sinologisches Seminar
Akademiestr. 4 - 8
69117 Heidelberg
(for some personal comments and thoughts on the conference, see below)
(this homepage is maintained by Barend ter Haar, in the hope that this exchange of information may contribute to more fruitful discussions at the eventual event)
Some practical matters:
a. please use pinyin for transcribing Chinese
characters.
b. since most people will bring in their papers
upon arrival, it would help us a great deal if participants would be able
to bring in a certain number of copies of their papers in ready format
(some 30).
c. for every speaker we plan 60 minutes of time.
In order to have enough time for immediate discussion, we urge the speakers
to keep the actual oral presentation of one's paper (not to be confused
with the reading of the complete written paper!) to 30 minutes maximum.
d. in the course of March we will be reading
the papers as we have them and be in touch with editorial impressions and
suggestions.
(please feel free to come up with more [interesting] questions, answers and disagreement)
A. Original catalogue of questions.
1. Religious elements and underlying premises of religious nature in
Confucian or official historiography. To study this question, it is suggested
to analyze paradigmatic texts (e.g. Zuozhuan, Hanshu) with
regard to its religious implications and functions.
2. The perception of and reflection on fundamental experiences of injustice
and breakdowns of the existing orientational order. Which historiographical
strategies were developed to respond to mental dissonance and to restore
a meaningful cosmos.? How did these strategies change in the course of
time?
3. How was world history conceived and narrated, and how were these
conceptions determined by religious outlooks? In this context it is interesting
to note that Ibn Khaldun, Marx, and Ranke were all religiously conditioned
historians.
4. The systematic place of religious historiography and its functions.
In the Chinese context, this primarily refers to Taoist and Buddhist writings.
5. The origin of historiography as historia sacra, i.e. as historical
records of a secret process of time. In this perspective it is worth
considering the Book of Songs, Book of Documents, and
the Records of the Historian testimonies of the disappearance of
the early sages (shengren).
6. The origin of the historiographer's office in the context of the
religious and ritual services at the king's court and in the context of
the institutions which evolved from this, such as the chapel or the ancestral
temple.
B. Further questions (BtH).
1. Is there such a thing as a "religious" way of looking at the past
that is distinct from a "non-religious" way. in this context I propose
treating "Confucian tradition" as non-religious (pace Rodney Taylor). In
other words: what is typically Buddhist or Daoist or sectarian about the
historiography of religious groups or traditions that we may label Daoist
or Buddhist or sectarian.
2. From when onwards do we have historiography, is historiography the
same as perceiving the past. If not, what is the difference?
3. What do we compare with what? Do we compare genres with each
other (which raises the question of how to define genres)? Do we
compare similar structures of perceiving the past with each other?
4. What do we know about thinking about / using the past in different
social and gender environments? The very fact that all papers virtually
by necessity limit themselves to written sources - historiography being
something that we tend to see as fixed by writing - already implies that
we will be talking about literate people (authors) and not about the large
majority of people who were not.
5. Thus, what do we know about thinking about / using the past in an
oral environment. Did they have their own concepts of seeing and framing
the past.
6. Aren't we talking too much about official historiography or at least
about the historiography with the big H, rather than also talking
about personal history (histories), such as diaries, autobiography, and
so forth?
The blue spots in the program take you further down this conference home page to some information on the speaker or discussant (as provided by them) .
Tuesday 14. 12. 1999
Chairperson: Achim Mittag
14.00 Dorothee Schaab-Hanke (Hamburg) "The Historian
Inspired by Myth: On the Significance of the Theory of Periodically Changing
Mandate for the Evaluation of Legitimate Rulership in the Shiji"
15.00 Hermann-Josef Röllicke (Frankfurt)
“Die Als-ob-Struktur der Riten als Zeugnis des Epochenwandels” (preliminary
trsl. BtH: The as-if structure of ritual as testimony to the change
of epochs/ages)
16.00 Coffee/Tea
Chairperson: Hubert Seiwert
14.00 Barend J. ter Haar (University of Heidelberg) "Cosmic and Vernacular
Time in Messianic and Millenarian Traditions"
15.00 Thomas Jansen (Leipzig) “Die Konstruktion
von Sektengeschichte in baojuan” (preliminary trsl. BtH: the construction
of sectarian history in Precious Scrolls)
16.00 Coffee/Tea
16.30 Valentina Georgieva (Leiden, CNWS) “The
Myth of Woman as Evil in Early Taoism and Buddhism”
17.30 Gabriele GOLDFUSS (Leipzig) “Heros
and saints: Biographies and tales of Buddhist Laywomen in Late Imperial
China in the work of Peng Shaosheng (1740-1796)."
19.00 Dinner
Discussants: Valerie Hansen (Yale), Jörn
Rüsen (Bielefeld),
Helwig Schmidt-Glintzer
(Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbuettel).
In the following section I have roughly preserved the original information as I have received it from the participants, except for shortening it in some cases.
Publications:
Religion and Globalization. (London: Sage, 1994). Numerous
articles in various sources, recent ones relevant to the paper: "The Modern
Emergence of Religions and a Global Social System for Religion," International
Sociology 13 (1998): 151-172; "The Religious System of Global Society:
A Sociological Analysis of an Emerging Reality," Numen 45 (1998):
1-29. "The City and Beyond as Dialogue: Negotiating Religious Authenticity
in Global Society," Social Compass 45 (1998): 61-73.
Information:
The titles of these publications point to my main research focus over
the past number of years, which is to develop a sociological understanding
of the place, importance, and forms of religion in contemporary global
society. A key part of this endeavour is to examine the modern idea of
"religion" itself, not so much as in how academics use the word, but in
the meanings of the word and the idea in cultural discourse around the
world. A central hypothesis in this regard is that modern ideas of religion
are best understood as being of relatively recent social construction,
and this in all parts of global society, including the so-called West.
The modern history of China is particularly interesting from this perspective
because here we witness the creation of a neologism (zongjiao) to
correspond to the supposedly Western notion of religion, the practical
failure or refusal to reconstruct and reimagine Chinese religious traditions
along the lines of one or more religions, and yet the general recognition
of other religions - notably but not exclusively Buddhism - precisely as
instances of religion or zongjiao. After briefly discussing the
modern history of the idea of religion and the religions, the paper focuses
on the 19th and 20th century history of the Chinese developments in an
attempt to show that these outcomes have as much and probably more to do
with the particular way in which China came to become incorporated into
modern global society as they do with possibly "inherent" characteristics
of Chinese religion or Buddhism. The utility of this analysis is that it
helps us to approach the task of the comparative understanding of religious
history without having to decide in advance the vexed questions of what
will and will not count as religion, what is and is not the imposition
of inappropriate categories.
Main publications:
Strange Writing: Anomaly Accounts in Early Medieval China (Albany:
SUNY Press, 1996); around 15 articles on aspects of the history of religions
in China and on the study of religion, including "Notes on the Devotional
Uses and Symbolic Functions of Sûtra Texts as Depicted in Early Chinese
Buddhist Miracle Tales and Hagiographies,"
Journal of the International
Association of Buddhist Studies, 14: 1 (1991): pp. 28-72, "Buddhist
Revelation and Taoist Translation in Early Medieval China," Taoist Resources
4: 1 (1993): pp. 1-30, "The Real Presence,"
History of Religions
32:3 (1993): pp. 233-272.
Information:
I am working on two large projects related to the theme of our conference.
(1) I have prepared a critical, annotated translation of Ge Hong's early
Daoist hagiography, Shenxian zhuan, and am just now completing the
monograph-length "introduction" to accompany the translation. (2)
I am writing monographs on Buddhist image- and relic-piety and on the texts
(hagiographies and miracle tales) about these practices, and also a monograph
on those curious modes of "polemical historiography" seen in the writings
of early medieval Buddhist apologists, particularly the lore of "Asokan
stupas" in China.
Background:
M.A. at the University of Bonn, 1989, Ph.D. at the University
of British Columbia, 1997. Now at Dept. of Religious Studies of the
University of Missouri-Columbia. My reseach interests revolve around
the interactions of Confucianism and Daoism with Chinese popular religion.
Completed large-scale studies include my M.A. thesis on Sima Guang’s (1019-1086)
efforts to reform the family rituals of his time and my Ph.D. dissertation
on “The Ritual Context of Morality Books: A Case-Study of a Taiwanese Spirit-Writing
Cult.” Several article publications on spirit-writing cults and popular
sects have emerged as by-products of this dissertation, which I am currently
turning into a book manuscript (to be completed early in 2000). I am also
co-editing a collection of original articles by various authors on religious
change in post-war Taiwan, and a relatively new scholarly journal on Chinese
popular religion (Minjian zongjiao).
Selected Publications:
* “China”: article for the Encyclopedia of Politics and Religion,
edited by Robert Wuthnow. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Books,
1998. Pp.122-127; “The Phoenix and the Mother: The Interaction of Spirit-Writing
Cults and Popular Sects in Taiwan.” Journal of Chinese Religions 25
(1997): 1-32; “Sects, Cults, and Popular Religion: Aspects of Religious
Change in Post-War Taiwan.” British Columbia Asian Review 9 (Winter
1995/1996): 120-163; “The Birth of a New Scripture: Revelation and Merit
Accumulation in a Taiwanese Spirit-Writing Cult.” British Columbia Asian
Review 8 (Winter 1994/1995): 174-203; “The Protestant Ethic Analogy
in the Study of Chinese History. On Yü Ying-shih’s Zhongguo jinshi
zongjiao lunli yu shangren jingshen.”
British Columbia Asian Review
6
(1992): 6-31.
Max Deeg (Deeg-Max@t-online.de, University of Wuerzburg, Germany)
„Writing Times and Spaces Together – Experiments to Create an Early Sino-Buddhist Historiography“
Background:
M.A. at the University of Wuerzburg (Germanic and Scandinavian Studies),
Ph.D. at the University of Wuerzburg (Indology), „Habilitation“ at the
University of Wuerzburg (Comparative History of Religions). My interest
moved from Comparative Indo-European Mythology (M.A.) to (autochthon) Sanskrit-Philology
(Ph.D.-thesis on Old-Indian etymology) to Indo-Sino-Budhist relations (Habilitation
on Faxian’s travel record) in all its aspects. I am now working on a study
of the Chinese Tang Nestorian documents, especially focusing on the problem
of the rise of religious terminology („terminological syncretism“). Another
field of interest is Buddhist hagiography (Indian and Chinese), relic cult
and pilgrimage which are all connected to religious „historiography“. I
am going to publish a short annotated bibliography on the Chinese
pilgrim monks and a study of the fragmentary Mingseng-zhuan („Biographies
of Famous Monks“).
Publications:
Die altindische Etymologie nach dem Verständnis Yaska`s und seiner
Vorgänger. Eine Untersuchung über ihre Praktiken, ihre literarische
Verbreitung und ihr Verhältnis zur dichterischen Gestaltung und Sprachmagie
(„The Old-Indian etmyology according to Yaksa and his predecessors.
A study of its practices, spread in literature and relation to poetics
and word magic“), Dettelbach 1995 (Würzburger Studien zur Sprache
& Kultur, Bd.2); „Dharmasucher“ – Reliquien – Legenden. Der älteste
Bericht eines chinesischen buddhistischen Pilgermönchs über seine
Reise nach Indien: Das Gaoseng-Faxian-zhuan als religionsgeschichtliche
Quelle (Untersuchungen zum Text und Übersetzung des Textes) („“Dharma-Searchers
- Relics – Legends. The Oldest Account of a Chinese Buddhist Pilgrim Monk
on his Journey to India: the Gaoseng-Faxian-zhuan as a Source for the History
of Religion (A Study and a Translation of the Text)“), forthcoming; Shamanism
in the Veda: the Kesin-Hymn (10.136), the Journey to Heaven of Vasistha
(RV 7.88) and the Mahavrata-Ritual, in: Nagoya Studies in Indian Culture
and Buddhism – Sambhasa, vol. 14 (1993), 95-144; „Misunderstanding“ in
Translations of Sacred Texts. The Case of Old-High-German Bible Translations
and Sino-Buddhist Sutra Translations, in: Gokai: sono gengo-bunkateki shoso,
Tokutei-kenkyu-shirizu 5, Nagoya-daigaku-gengo-bunka-bu („Misunderstanding:
its linguistic and cultural forms of appearance, Series of the Special
Research Program of the Faculty of Language and Culture, University of
Nagoya“), (1995), 165-185; Origins and Development of the Buddhist Pancavarsika
– Part I: India and Central Asia, in: Nagoya Studies in Indian Culture
and Buddhism – Sambhasa, vol.16 (1995), 67-90; Origins and Development
of the Buddhist Pancavarsika – Part II: China, in: Nagoya Studies in Indian
Culture and Buddhism – Sambhasa, vol.18 (1997), 63-96; Religion versus
Kultur: Bemerkungen zum „interkulturellen“ Dialog chinesischer buddhistischer
Mönche in Indien („Religion versus Culture: Notes on the „Intercultural“
Dialogue of the Chinese Buddhist Monks in India“), in: Dorothea Lüddeckens
(ed.), Begegnung von Religionen und Kulturen (FS für Norbert Klaes)
(„Where Religions and Culture Meet; Commemoration Volume for Norbert Klaes“),
Dettelbach 1998, 277-289; Umgestaltung buddhistischer Kosmologie auf dem
Weg von Indien nach China („The Transformation of Buddhist Cosmology on
ist Way from India to China“), in: Dieter Zeller (Hrsg.), Religion im Wandel
der Kosmologien („Religions in the Light of Change of Cosmologies“) (Religionswissenschaft
Bd.10), Frankfurt a.M. / Berlin / Bern / New York / Paris / Wien 1999,
241-254; The Sangha of Devadatta: Fiction and History of a Heresy in the
Buddhist Tradition, in: Kokusai-bukkyogaku-daigakuin-daigaku-kenkyu-kiyo
/ Journal of the International College for Advanced Buddhist Studies 2
(1999), 183-218
Paper abstract:
In my contribution I will try to trace the oldest attempts of Chinese
Buddhism to harmonize the Indo-Buddhist chronology („Heilsgeschichte“)
with the Chinese one. What seems to happen in the process of creating a
kind of proto-historiography is that not only the concept of „time“ and
„periodization“ was taken in account, but that the protagonists and propagators
involved also felt a need to consider „space“ in order to embrace and connect
China to India, thus bringing („writing“) together two systems of time
– the Indo-Buddhist and the traditional Chinese one - and two culture-regions
– India and China - in the framework of Buddhist soteriology (which, of
course, caused frictions with Chinese ethnocentric orthodoxy). I will concentrate
on two episods from the Faxian-gaoseng-zhuan: the records concerning
(a.) the giant Maitreya of so-called Darel (Tuoli, Upper Indus) which reflects
the aspect of contact in time and space between Chinese tradition and Buddhist
„history“, and (b.) the „Sutra of the journey of the bowl of the Buddha“
which Faxian heard in Ceylon and which reflects the attempt to embrace
China into the Buddhist soteriological geography embedded in a history
of cosmological dimensions.
“The Myth of Woman as Evil in Early Taoism and Buddhism”
Some background to the conference paper:
In this paper an attempt will be made to add a new dimension
to the study of the history of the order of Buddhist nuns by trying to
describe their role and portrayal in Buddhist miracle tales narrative,
using stories from the Six Dynasties period (A.D.220-589) as well as from
the Sui and Tang (A.D. 589-905 ). When studying the history of the
Buddhist nuns, scholars have for many decennia primarily relied on the
most obvious of sources: the biographical collection. Although partly
hagiographic in character, these biographies contain a solid base of historical
information, are most easily accessible in the form of a collection included
in the Buddhist canon, are the most numerous texts relating to the female
order produced by the Chinese clergy (sagha) and preserve a record of its
foundation and development, its traditions, rituals and everyday life of
its members.
The recent publications concerning the Chinese Buddhist nuns
of the early medieval period are either translations of the single extant
collection of biographies of nuns, the Biqiuni zhuan (Lives of Nuns) ,
dating from the early sixth century, or mainly draw their information from
this same, undoubtedly unique source. Therefore here an attempt
will be made at collecting relevant data from miracle stories from this
period in order to study them as an untapped source of information.
In this way another dimension may be added to the image of the nun, as
observed in sources of other nature than hagiographical.
Another important reason for collecting such data from miracle
stories is the fact that Biqiuni zhuan, the sole extant biographical collection
dealing with the Buddhist order of nuns, only covers the period of the
first two centuries of its existence (316-516). This means that for
the period after A.D.516 there is no ready-to-use source, as it is the
case with the community of monks where the biographical collections follow
up into the late imperial period, and constitute a rich source of information
concerning the history of the Buddhist church during the Tang Dynasty.
Therefore all information that can be gathered from the miracle stories
concerning the order of nuns in the period after A.D.516 is of essential
importance.
Program
Gabriele Helga GOLDFUSS (goldfuss@rz.uni-leipzig.de;
Universität Leipzig)
"Heros and saints: Biographies and tales of Buddhist Laywomen in Late Imperial China in the work of Peng Shaosheng (1740-1796)."
Biography:
Studied theology followed by sinology at the University of Tübingen
(Germany). After a stay in the PRC , I studied from 1989-1995 at the Institut
National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales, Paris (France), concluded
with the doctoral thesis "Maïeutique pour un bouddhisme de demain.
Yang Wenhui (1837-1911) - Laïc, imprimeur et moderniste dans la Chine
au seuil du XXème siècle". Presently I am assistant professor
at the University of Leipzig.
Bibliography:
*"Binding Sûtras and Modernity: The Life and Times of the Chinese
Layman Yang Wenhui (1837-1911)." In: Studies in Central & East Asian
Religions. Volume 9, 1996.
*"Der moderne chinesische Buddhismus zwischen Erneuerung und Neuschaffung
seiner Tradition." In: Tradition und Moderne – Religion, Philosophie
und Literatur in China. Hrsg: Christiane Hammer und Bernhard Führer.
Dortmund: Projekt-Verlag, 1997
*"Buddhismus zwischen den Welten: Notizen aus dem „Pavillon der Gleichheit„
des Ti Pao-hsien (?-1941)." In: Annäherung an das Fremde. Hrsg:
Holger Preissler und Heidi Stein. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1998.
*"Une rencontre manquée: le laÎc bouddhiste Yang Wenhui
et le missionnaire Timothy Richard." In: La Chine entre amour et haine.
Actes du VIIIe colloque de Sinologie de chantilly. Hrsg: Michel Cartier.
Paris: Institut Ricci, Desclée de Brouwer, 1998.
*"Tradition als Zukunft. Betrachtungen zu Leben und Spätwerk von
Hsiung Shih-li (1885-1968)." In: Der Konfuzianismus: Ursprünge
– Entwicklungen – Perspektiven. Hrsg: Ralf Moritz, Lee Ming-Huei. Leipzig:
Leipziger Universitätsverlag, 1998.
*"Die Gelben kommen. Grosse Massen, kleine Füße. Körperbilder
der Asiaten." In: Fremde Körper – Fremdkörper. Von unvermeidlichen
Kontakten und widerstreitenden Gefühlen, Annemarie Hürlimann,
Martin Roth, Klaus Vogel (Hrsg.), Ostfildern-Ruit: Hatje Cantz, 1999.
Abstract (still in German and applying to the original paper)
Zur Erziehung seiner Töchter und zu weitläufiger Verbreitung und Lektüre für die gebildeten Buddhistinnen seiner Zeit entstanden die Biographien von Laienbuddhistinnen (Shannüren zhuan) am Ende des 18. Jd. in Changzhou/ Suzhou. Erklärtes Ziel ihres Kompilators und Autors Peng Shaosheng war es, den Frauen ihren verdienten Platz in der Geschichte des Buddhismus zukommen zu lassen. Fromme Frauen hatten zuweilen Biographien gewidmet bekommen, eine ganze Sammlung nach dem Vorbild z. B. der Biqiuni zhuan - den Nonnenbiographien Baochangs von 517 - gab es noch nicht. In Vor- und Nachworten fordert er seine Leserinnen in spe nachdrücklich dazu auf, sich nicht in ihrer spirituellen Kultivierung einzuschränken. Dies bedeutet im Klartext ein Abwenden von häuslichen Pflichten, und verlangte ein Zusammenwirken der unterschiedlichen Familienmitglieder. Sie sollten auch nicht vor einem Eintritt auf den Weg des Dharma zurückschrecken, “nur weil“ sie Frauen seien. Die Texte attestieren ihnen nicht nur „vollkommene Weisheit“ und „vollendete Ernsthaftigkeit“, sondern enthebt Frauen auch aus der Position der labilen, schwankenden, schwachen Geschöpfe. Ihre Glaubensstärke ist vorbildlich, ebenso wie ihre Ausdauer, Konzentration und Entschlossenheit. Vor dem Hintergrund einer fundamentalen Gleichheit vom Blickwinkel des Nirvâna her, ist den einleitenden Versen jedoch sogleich auch zu entnehmen, daß auch hier Weiblichkeit letztlich noch immer vor allem als Sinnlichkeit verstanden wird und somit als ganz besonders schuldhaft der Gier und der Lust verhaftet, Leid erzeugend und gebärend, im Rad der Wiedergeburten gebunden.
Background:
PhD dissertation, 1997, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Section des
Sciences Religieuses, Paris "La creation du taoisme moderne: l'ordre
Quanzhen 1170-1368" (the creation of modern taoism. The Quanzhen order,
english abstract in Journal of Sung-Yuan Studies 28, 1998, p.303-309).
Researcher at CNRS, Paris since 1998. Editor (with Isabelle Ang) of
the new journal trilingual (chinese-french-english) Sanjiao wenxian
(Materiaux pour l'etude de la religion chinoise)
Current research:
The framework of my research is the social history of the chinese clergy
(buddhist & taoist, with a focus on the later). This leads me to use
all kinds of material (archives and epigraphy more particularly but literary
sources, gazeteers... as well). I am well engaged in a book-lenght study
on the taoists of Peking in the early 20th century (both as a case study
of the taoist clergy in modern China and as a contribution to the "Peking
as a holy city" project). I have also wrote a manuscript on the quantitative
history of the clergy. I have various side-projects ongoing, for my own
entertainment, including a history of the beef taboo (one should not kill
oxen nor eat beef) in China.
Main publications:
Book: Les temples de la Chine, Paris, Albin Michel, forthcoming
(march 2000).
Articles: "Portrait épigraphique d'un culte. Les inscriptions
des dynasties Jin-Yuan des temples du Pic de l Est". Matériaux
pour l'étude de la religion chinoise 2, 1998, p. 35-82
"L' alchimie intérieure réhabilité? Notes critiques."
Revue
de l'histoire des Religions, 215-4, 1998, p. 491-505; "Entre quatre
murs. Un ascête taoïste du 12e siêcle et la question de
la modernité" T'oung-Pao, 1999 (4-5); various contributions
to the Handbook of the Taoist Canon (K. Schipper & F. Verellen,
ed.), Chicago University Press, forthcoming, and Encyclopedia of Taoism
(F.
Pregadio ed.), Curzon Press, forthcoming
Paper abstract:
The historiography of religious communities. A grammar of beiyin.
In Imperial China, institutions with a legal existence (such as monasteries, temples, huiguan, academies, shantang...) could narrate their stories. They had the possibility to compile gazetteers, and the less onerous one to carve stele inscriptions. The communities who financed these institutions, however, usually lacked such a State-sanctioned legal existence, and (the causal link here is suggested but not evident) did rarely publish any historiographical account of themselves as a group or community with permanent structures. Among these communities, the clerical ones has some kind of legitimacy, whereas the sectarian organisations were downright outlawed. In the middle one could find the corporations of lay people, a term in which I include cult associations, temple associations, neighbourhood or village associations, guilds, charitable or moralistic associations, native-place associations... These shared a common organisational culture, and equally lacked means to become beneficiaries of mainstream history’s record-keeping. They however managed to inscribe their names in history, by the means of beiyin.
When a corporation built or contributed to an institution (a temple, a guild hall, a bridge...), it usually paid for a stele inscription. On the yang face of the stele, a scholar was invited to tell this institution’s story and to justify it in the terms of the orthodoxy of the time. The yin face, however, was left to the corporation. It usually chose not to write another text, but to provide a list of members’ names along with other factual data (notably amounts of money donated). Besides being a major source for social history, the beiyin deserve some attention from the viewpoint of historiography.
The beiyin apparently are not historiography : their lists do not discuss
the past but only describes the present. They are however firmly embedded
within a vision of time : they are here to be read in the future. People
contribute to these endeavours to have their names written down in the
only historical record (and a lasting one) to which they are entitled.
Among the intended readers are the donator’s own descendants who are supposed
to inherit the right of membership to the corporation along with the obligation
to contribute to the perpetuation of its tasks. Therefore, the way the
lists are written (carved) are the closest thing to an historical vision
of themselves that these corporations could impart us with. They would
seem to be meaningless for any purpose other than accounting, but when
observed in the detail, the extant thousands of beiyin exhibit infinite
differences in presentation, nature of information, typography and other
formal ways of introducing oneself. What I would like to try is to
draw an inventory of the techniques used to put names in stone in meaningful
ways. This should eventually produce a grammar.
The description of themselves that lay corporations produce through artful textual techniques are not evolutive ; they suggest structures that stay in place and where people in charge just take turns. This hierarchical identity is notably different from that of clerical or familial groups which introduce themselves along descent lines. The occasions on which steles are erected are nonetheless carefully chosen as to mark cycles or milestones in the history of the corporation.
Two additional remarks. What is specifically religious in this approach to history, since not all of the corporations discussed are purely religious organisations ? Well, it would seem that groups who could not be tolerated as political were only acceptable as devotional, and that the only possible place in history for a Chinese commoner was that of a believer.
Another interesting feature of beiyin from the viewpoint of historiography lay in its use by later Chinese historiographers, which in turn conditions (as historians) our own access to such sources. The treatment of inscriptions and specifically beiyin in sources such as local gazetteers or anthologies of local historical material, and the editorial policies of the publications on epigraphical material should also be discussed.
Select bibliography
Changing Gods in Medieval China, 1127-1276 (Princeton University
Press, 1990) and Negotiating Daily Life in Traditional China: How Ordinary
People Used Contracts, 600-1400 (Yale University Press,
1995); "The Path of Buddhism into China: the View from Turfan," Asia
Major, Third Series, vol.11, part 2, 1998 (forthcoming). (The
Chinese translation of this article, done by Huang Shih-shan, will appear
in Dunhuang Tulufan yanjiu volume 4 [1999]); "The Silk Road
Project: Reuniting Turfan's Scattered Treasures," Revue Bibliographique
de Sinologie
1999 (forthcoming).
Work in Progress
The Open Empire: A History of China to 1600 (W. W. Norton & Company,
forthcoming 2000) links the major political events of pre-modern China
with social and cultural change. This textbook draws on unconventional
sources -- archeological sites, paintings, and fiction -- to argue that
China remained open to outside influences throughout its long history.
A New History of the Silk Road (awarded NEH Fellowship for University Teachers) presents an integrated political, social, and religious history of the Tarim Basin. A continuing stream of archeological discoveries and philological breakthroughs has re-awakened interest in the Silk Road in recent decades, but no one has attempted to do a synthetic scholarly work about the various sites on both the southern Silk Road -- Niya, Endere, Loulan, Kroraina (Shanshan) -- and on the northern Silk Road -- Kucha and Turfan -- and where the two routes converged at Dunhuang. My overall goal is to replace historical generalities about this little-studied region with specific case studies. My book will both establish the periodization of individual sites and then add to the history of contact by analyzing the economic, cultural, and religious interactions among the civilizations of the Silk Road.
Academic background:
Ph.D. 1997 at the University of Munich. Since 1996 affiliated with
the Institute of Chinese Studies at the Universtity of Leipzig.
Book publications:
- Der Wandel der südlichen Aristokratie im frühen chinesischen
Mittelalter. Politische, aesthetische und religiöse Debatten im Salon
des Prinzen Wenxuan von Jingling, 480-520 n.Chr. (The Transformation of
the Southern Aristocracy in Early Medieval China: Political, aesthetic
and religious debates in the Salon of Prince Wenxuan of Jingling, 480-520
A.D.). [forthcoming 2000]
- China-Literatur in der Universitätsbibliothek Leipzig: 1500-1939.
Eine systematische Bibliographie (Literature on China in the Leipzig University
Library: 1500-1939. A Systematic Bibliography). Bd. 1: Werke in westlichen
Sprachen (Vol. 1: Works in Westen Languages; with the collaboration of
Gabriele Schlesinger, Richard Teschke und Katharina Zinn). Leipzig: Leipziger
Universitätsverlag, [forthcoming 2000].
Areas of research:
The main focus of my research is on the history of the Six Dynasties
Period, especially the transformation of the aristocracy and its culture
during the Qi and Liang dynasties (5.-6. centuries). The acquaintance with
Buddhism as an essential part of this culture led to an interest
in the interrelationship between religious beliefs on the one hand and
forms of religious and social organisation on the other. Out of this general
question developed my second, rather new research interest which revolves
around the popular religious groups of Ming-Qing China and their scriptures,
the so-called baojuan ("Precious volumes").
Paper abstract:
Scriptures of popular religious groups in Ming-Qing
China, called "baojuan", originated in a social and religious setting very
different from the environments of monastic Buddhism or institutionalized
Daoism. One major difference, for example, is the fact that Buddhists and
Daoists looked back on a long scriptural tradition, whereas popular religious
groups transmitted their beliefs basically orally, baojuan becoming more
numerous only after 1550 A.D. Although these scriptures eventually incorporated
many elements from the Buddhist and/or Daoist canons, their visions presented
viable alternatives to the belief systems and
institutions of the two great religious traditions. The point of departure
of my paper is the question how this situation, i.e the independence from
the Buddhist and Daoist tradition as well as the competition between the
established traditions and the newly emerging groups, has influenced the
ways in which these religious groups conceived of their own past and how
they constructed their own tradition(s).
My paper will take the "Sanzu xingjiao yinyou baojuan"
("Precious book on the activities of the three patriarchs and their causes
and connections") of 1682 as an example to show how a particular sect constructed
its own history. The text was in use with the Laoguan zhaijiao ("Venerable
Officials Vegetarian Teaching") and represents the official history of
this sect. Through an analysis of this baojuan I will substantiate
the view that the text was not primarily written to transmit the teachings
of the sect, but rather served the aim of creating a sect identity via
the construction of a venerable religious tradition with Luo
Qing as a symbolic first patriarch.
Background:
Ph.D. 1996 at Cologne University. 1997-98 Visiting Scholar and Visiting
Lecturer at the University of Washington, Seattle. Since 1998 Assistant
Professor of Chinese Literature at Columbia University, New York.
Publications:
Books:
The Stele Inscriptions of Ch'in Shih-huang. New Haven: American
Oriental Society, 2000, forthcoming. Die Hymnen der chinesischen Staatsopfer:
Literatur und Ritual in der politischen Representation von der Han-Zeit
bis zu den Sechs Dynastien [The Hymns of the Chinese State Sacrifices:
Literature and Ritual in Political Representation from the Han to the Six
Dynasties]. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner, 1997. Zum Topos "Zimtbaum" in
der chinesischen Literatur: Rhetorische Funktion und poetischer Eigenwert
des Naturbildes kuei [The Topos of the "Cinnamon Tree" in Chinese Literature:
Rhetorical Functions and Poetical Value of the Nature Image kuei]. Stuttgart:
Franz Steiner, 1994.
Selected Articles: "Shi jing Songs as Performance Texts: A Case Study
of 'Chu ci' ('Thorny
Caltrop')." Early China 24 (2000), forthcoming. "Ritual, Text,
and the Formation of the Canon: Historical Transitions of
wen in Early China." T'oung Pao 86 (2000), forthcoming "A Note
on the Authenticity and Ideology of Shih-chi 24, 'The Book on Music'."
Journal
of the American Oriental Society 119.4 (1999), forthcoming "The Emigration
of German Sinologists 1933-1945: Notes on the History and Historiography
of Chinese Studies." Journal of the American Oriental Society
118.4 (1998). "In Praise of Political Legitimacy: The miao and jiao Hymns
of the Western Han." Oriens Extremus 39.1 (1996).
Current Research:
I am presently working on issues of textuality, state ritual, and canon
formation in the Qin and Western Han empires, aiming at a cultural history
of "text and ritual" as two interdependent forms of imperial representation
in early China. My research focusses on four aspects: (a) the performative
nature and structure of texts operating in ritual and political contexts,
(b) the generation of cultural memory through the ritual performance of
texts, (c) the normative writing of the past in monumental imperial texts,
and (d) the competing forces in quest of political power by means of control
over texts and rituals.
My paper for this conference is part of this larger research project. Referring back to the venerated models of pre-imperial bronze texts, I will analyze the religious and performative nature of the First Emperor's stele inscriptions. These texts are the primary textual monuments to create the new empire's cultural memory; amalgamating traditional forms of cosmic and ancestral sacrifices and placed on sacred mountains across the recently conquered territories, they transform the former subjects of Eastern Zhou history into objects of the new, unified Qin history. Ritualizing the past through a performative act of reciting and inscribing the achievements of the conquest, they synchronically, in a self-referential gesture, historicize this performance in order to project a prospective memory of their own creation.
Achim Mittag (j_mittag@surf2000.de; Bielefeld)
"When the gods were paling - random remarks on the transformation of 'odes' (shi) into 'records' (zhi)".
Background:
Achim Mittag, born 1958, studied sinology, history, and philosophy
in Munich and Chinese intellectual history in Taipei and Shanghai. He was
assistant lecturer at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies at Munich University
(1986-1994), where he also obtained his PhD. He then participated in a
research project on historical consciousness at the Centre for Interdisciplinary
Research (ZiF) of Bielefeld University. From 1996-1998, he was an European
Science Foundation (ESF) Fellow at the
International Institute of Asian Studies (IIAS). Presently he is affiliated
with the Kulturwissenschaftliches Institut (KWI), Essen, working on a reader
Sources
of Chinese Historiography and Historical Thinking (3 vols.), which
is supported by a grant from Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation, and on his habilitation
thesis on "Historiography of Qing scholarship". A volume of collected articles
on Chinese historiography of his is forthcoming.
“Die Geschichtsschreibung in der Sung Dynastie - die Beziehung zwischen den buddhistischen Geschichtswerken und den traditionellen Geschichtswerken”
(Inhalt, noch auf Deutsch)
Über meine Schrift:
Wenn man die buddhistischen Geschichtswerke der Song-Dynastie behandeln
will, kommt man an dem Werk Die Identität der Buddhistischen
Schulen und die Kompilation Buddhistischer Universalgeschichten in China
(Wiesbaden
1982) von Prof.Dr.Helwig Schmidt-Glintzer nicht vorbei, denn hierbei handelt
es sich um das bislang einzige Forschungsergebnis, das die buddhistischen
Geschichtswerke der Song- und (selbst einen Teil der) Yuan-Dynastie umfassend
thematisiert. Dennoch habe ich mich in diesem Aufsatz praktisch überhaupt
nicht darauf bezogen. Dafür gibt es viele Gründe, der wichtigste
ist aber, daß mir die Voraussetzungen fehlen, um die buddhistischen
Geschichtswerke der Song-Dynastie umfassend zu betrachten.
Mein Forschungsgebiet ist die Geistesgeschichte der Tang und
Song Zeit, und dort liegt der Schwerpunkt im Konfuzianismus. Wenn ich mich
daher mit dem chinesischen Buddhismus beschäftige, so habe ich diesen
immer vom konfuzianischen Standpunkt aus betrachtet, wie er sich etwa den
Shi-ta-fu (Intellektuellen), die mit den konfuzianischen Bildung ausgestattet
sind, darbietet. Von demselben Standpunkt habe ich auch den Taoismus
behandelt.
Dieser mein Forschungsstandpunkt ist also immer innerhalb des Rahmens
der chinesischen Kultur geblieben.
In der Yuan-Zeit (Mongolenherrschaft), als die Herrscher über
China auch die gesamte damalige Welt beherrschte suchten, gab es die Möglichkeit,
Geschichte als Weltgeschichte(oder Universalgeschichte) zu denken. Als
ein Beispiel hierfür kann man das Werk von Ra id ad-Dins, Jami‘ al-Tawarikh,
das Prof. Schmidt-Glinzer am Rande erwähnt (S.147), nehmen, es ist
aber bis heute nicht klar zu sagen, ob es einen gegenseitige Beeinflussung
zwischen diesem Werk und den chinesischen buddhistischen Geschichtswerken
gab. Auch die Veränderug des Berichtzeitraums, vor allem, den Beginn
der Geschichtsschreibung immer weiter zurückzuverlegen, der in verschiedenen
buddhistischen Geschichtswerken, die Prof. Schmidt-Glintzer erwähnt
hat (S.14) zu beobachten ist, wurde in der chinesischen Historiograhieforschung
nicht behandelt und ich denke aber, ein Grund hierfür liegt darin,
daß das Interesse am Altertum erst seit der Song-Zeit bestand.
Weil ich in dieser Arbeit de oben beschriebenen Standpunkt beibehalten
habe, lohnte be, konnte ich die buddhistischen Geschichtswerke in der Song-Dynastie
nicht mit dem Ausblick in die Entwicklung von der Schulgeschichtsschreibungzur
die buddhistischen Universalgeschichten wie Prof. Dr. Schmidt-Glintzer
verbinden (S.157;Schlusswort). Ich habe auch keiner Vorbildung in
Geschichtsphilosophie, in der Fragen wie, was die Weltgeschichte
ist, was die Universalgeschichte ist, oder was die Heilgeschichte
ist, zu beantworten wären.
Was ist also das Ziel dieser Schrift? Wie in meinen geistesgeschichtlichen
Forschungen, habe ich versucht, einige konkrete Beispiele für den
Einfluß der traditionellen chinesischen Geschichtswerke (säkularen
Geschichtswerke) auf die buddhistischen Geschichtswerke aufzuzeigen, während
ich einige buddhistischen Geschichtswerke betrachtet habe.
Mit einem Wort, kann man sagen , das der säkulare und der religiose
Bereich gerade in der Song Zeit in der Historiographie besonders eng miteinander
verknüpft gewesen waren, worauf Prof. Schmidt-Glintzer bereits hingewiesen
hat (S.147), daher habe ich einige konkrete Hinweise auf dieses Phänomen
gegeben.
Background:
I am professor at Kyoto Univeristy (Faculty of Integrated Human
Studies). My field of research is the intellectual history of ancient and
medieval China, especially the Tang period. Some years ago I have
also occupied myself with the Chinese Turfan manuscripts in Berlin.
I have often visited Berlin.
Bibliography (all in Japanese, except when noted otherwise):
Shi-tong nei-pian; Its Commentary and Translation
A Study of Wills and Testaments 1;An Outline of Practice in Ancient
and Medieval China
Han Yue's Last Will - It's Sources and Influences
On Lu Wen-xue Autobiography
"Die Reliquienverehrung und ihre Beschreibung in den Moenchsbiographien"
(Monumenta Serica 40)
Studien zu den chinesischen Fragmenten der Turfan- Sammlung zu Berlin
Background of Presentation:
Although my major interest was comparative religion, when I was a graduate
student such studies were virtually impossible from a non (Christian)-confessional
position in North America. Instead, I underwent training as a classical
sinologist. It was only when I began my present, second faculty position
in the early 1970's that it was possible to study Chinese religion
comparatively. By that time, I was viewing Chinese religion from
a Chinese rather than a Western perspective, which made me a scholarly
maverick. I found that virtually all studies of Chinese religion were so
imbued with Eurocentrism as to be meaningless with regard to China. As
I studied other traditions, particularly Native American religions,
to enhance my comparative analyses, I found that these traditions
were treated similarly. Indeed, from my latter studies, I found that the
androcentric aspect of Eurocentrism even seriously skewed the study
of Western religions. Hence, part of my studies has been to critique
these biases and to promote new methodologies to avoid the imposition of
Christian paradigms. I have found Scandinavian comparative religions approaches
most congenial as there has been a concerted effort there to create
a social science mode of history of religions. Particularly, I have
expanded Åke Hultkrantz's method of religio-ecology and work
with Armin Geertz with regard to the method of ethnohermeneutics.
The paper I was invited to prepare for this conference provided the
opportunity, for which I am grateful, to bring together and update my previous
work on the topic (see, for example, parts of the 1st chapter of
The Spirits Are Drunk), to conclude thoughts on a topic first considered
over a quarter century ago. The presentation begins with an overview
of the problem of the understanding of religion in China and Chinese
religion. There follows a history of the Western construction of
Chinese religion focusing on the motivations of the Jesuits with regard
to their formulations. The presentation continues with the effects
of this Western construction on the Chinese understanding of their
own religious situation. Both of these analyses consider the contemporary
aspects of the problem. Given that this paper is presented for a
conference on historiography attention was paid to documenting the
relevant sources.
Selected Books:
Offering Smoke: The Sacred Pipe and Native American Religion (Moscow,
Idaho: University of Idaho Press, 1988 [2nd printing: 1994]. 1995
The Spirits are Drunk: Comparative Approaches to Chinese Religion
(Albany: SUNY Press, 1995). Through the Earth Darkly: Female Spirituality
in Comparative Perspective (New York: Continuum, 1997). Chinese Way
in Religion, 2nd ed. [1st ed. by L. Thompson] (Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth,
1998). Chinese Religion Illustrated [CD-Rom] (Belmont, Calif: Wadsworth,
1998).
Selected Articles in Thematic Anthologies:
"Religious Studies: Time to Move From A Eurocentric Bias?" Klaus K.
Klostermaier and Larry W. Hurtado, eds., Religious Studies: Issues,
Prospects and Proposals (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1991): 73-84. "Religious
Transformations and Socio-Political Change: A Western Eurocentric
Paradigm?" Luther H. Martin, ed., Religious Transformations and Socio-Political
Change (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1993): 61-72. "Foreign Religions and
Chinese Culture: Comparative Paradigms," Dai Kangsheng, Zhang Yinying,
Michael Pye, eds., Religion and Modernization in China (Cambridge, England:
Roots and Branches, 1995): 167-78. "Religions in Contact: The Effects of
Domination from a Comparative Perspective," Iva Dole alová,
B etislav Horyna, & Dalibor Papoušek, eds., Religions in Contact (Brno:
Czech Society for the Study of Religion, 1996): 39-56
Hermann-Josef Röllicke (Sinologisches Seminar der Univ. Frankfurt, Dantestr. 4-6, 60054 Frankfurt/M.)
Select bibliography (selection by BTH):
Die Fährte des Herzens: Die Lehre vom Herzensbestreben (zhi)
im Großen Vorwort zum Shijing. Marburger Studien zur Afrika
und Asienkunde, Serie B, Bd. 12. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer, 1992. 210 S.
Selbst Erweisung": Der Ursprung des ziran Gedankens in der
chinesischen Philosophie des 4. und 3. Jhs. v. Chr. Europäische
Hochschulschriften, Reihe XXVII, Asiatische und Afrikanische Studien, Bd.
51. Frankfurt/M. [u.a.]: Peter Lang, 1996. 486 S.
Hidden Commentary in Pre canonical Chinese Literature". Bochumer
Jahrbuch zur Ostasienforschung 19 (1995). S. 15 24.
Die Ausgelegtheit der Welt: Zur Kritik komparatistischer Methoden".
Orientierungen
1
(1996). S. 1 13.
Der Landschafts Buddhismus in der Dichtung Xie Lingyuns
(385 433)". Htrin: Vergleichende Studien zur japanischen Kultur 3
(1996). S. 15 33.
Empty Time: Canon as Sacred History". Tamkang Review XXVII:2
(Winter 1996). S. 229 241.
Orthodoxy and Heterodoxy in the Exegesis of the Zhuangzi: A Case
Study of Lin Xiyi s (ca. 1210 ca. 1273) Preface to his Commentary
on the Zhuangzi, Zhuangzi kouyi fati". Asiatische Studien/Itudes Asiatiques
LI:3
(1997). S. 787 804.
Der Abgrund der Zeit: Der Zweifel des Maitreya im Lotossutra".
Htrin: Vergleichende Studien zur japanischen Kultur 5 (1998). S.
11 37.
Contributions on Nan Yue to the Schätze für König
Zhao Mo: Das Grab von Nan Yue. Katalog zur Ausstellung in der Schirn Kunsthalle,
Frankfurt/M., 5. Dez. 1998 bis 22.Jan. 1999. Hg. v. Margarete Pr|ch. Heidelberg:
Braus, 1998. "Von 'Winkelwegen', 'Eulen' und 'Fischziehern' - Liubo: ein
altchinesisches Brettspiel f|r Geister und Menschen". International
Board Games Studies. (in print)
Selected bibliography:
Directly relevant to our theme: "Some Theoretical Approaches to Intercultural
Comparison of Historiography, in: History and Theory, Theme Issue
35: Chinese Historiography in Comparative Perspective (1996), S.
5-22.
Further publications:
English books: Studies in Meta-History (Pretoria:
Human Science Research Council, 1993). English Articles: "Theory
of History in Historical Lectures: The German Tradition of Historik 1750-1900,"
in: History and Theory 23 (1984), S.331-356; "Functions of Historical
Narration - Proposals for a Strategy of Legitimating History in School,"
in: Historiedidaktik i Norden 3. Nordisk konferens om historiedidaktik,
Bergen 1987. Malm” 1988, S. 19-40; "Historical Education in a Multicultural
Society," in: Martin Tr?mpelmann (Ed.): Geskiedenisonderrig in 'n multikulturele
samelewing. (Johannesburg) 1990, S.1-14, auch in: "Yesterday and
Today. Journal for History Teaching" Nr.21, April 1991, S.1-6; Historical
Consciousness and Historical Education, in: Martin Tr?mpelmann (Ed.): Geskiedenisonderrig
in 'n multikulturele samelewing. (Johannesburg) 1990, S.134-146
German books: Begriffene Geschichte 1969; Aesthetik
und Geschichte 1976; Für eine erneuerte Historik 1976;
Historische
Vernunft 1983; Rekonstruktion der Vergangenheit 1986;
Lebendige
Geschichte 1989; Zeit und Sinn 1990; (with Friedrich Jaeger)
Geschichte
des Historismus 1992; Konfigurationen des Historismus 1993 ;
Historische
Orientierung 1994; Geschichte lernen 1994; (with Bodo von Borries)
Geschichtsbewußtsein
im interkulturellen Vergleich 1994.
Background:
Born 1962 in Darmstadt, 1981-83: Basic Studies of Sinology at
the Seminar for Chinese Language and Culture, Hamburg University;
Summer 1983 Summer 84: Grant of a One-Year-Scholarship for Studies
by the "German Academic Exchange Program" (DAAD) at the Shandong
University, Jinan; December 1988: M.A. thesis finished: "The Qincao
starting point of an ideology?"; Spring 1989: Graduated from Hamburg
University as "Magister Artium"; Summer 1994: Ph.D. dissertation
finished: "The Development of Court Theatre in China (7th
to 10th century)"; Since April 1996 employment as an assistant
professor at the Seminar for Chinese Laguange and Culture, Hamburg.
My major field of research is the question of legitimate rulership seen from the Historian's perspective. The period I cover within my research is mainly the Han Dynasty (206 b.C. - a.D. 220). My habilitation focusses mainly on two historical records the Shiji by Sima Qian, written around 100 v.Chr., and the Hanshu by Ban Gu, roughly 150 years later. The question of what "legitimate emperorship" means, the way how it may be evaluated and who may be called a "legitimate emperor" and who may not, are among the most difficult, but most frequently discussed questions in both historical works. And what makes things even more complicated: the two historians mentioned do not in the least agree with each other, but rather frequently differ from each other quite remarkably, so that the main task of my research is to gain insight into the criteria that caused the two historians judge as they did.
Paper:
Sima Qian himself draws the attention of his readers to the fact that
there is a coherent system underlying the concept of the Shiji.
Starting from the earliest commentaries on the Shiji until
today many attempts have been made to find the
key which may open the door to what the historian ultimateley wanted
to impart to the few "knowing people" in the generations to come.
Maybe that this 'one and only' key may never be found - be it the
reason that the historian's ideas were too
subtle for anyone else to wholly grasp it, or even worse: that there
actually was no overall system whatsoever hidden in the work, only
many different aspects, partly contradictory, which is apparently
the opinion most researchers on Sima Qian
presently maintain. However, it seems to me quite worth taking up the
thread again by looking at the Shiji from the angle
of the so-called "Theory of the End and Beginning of the Five Forces"
(wude zhongshi) which is frequently referred to by the historian
himself, and which can be explained as a theory which defines rulerhip
by heavenly mandate as something which is periodically handed over to a
new dynasty that has to prove worthy of the credit given by heaven. By
concretely applicating this system which is a rather intricate web built
up of philosophical, astronomical, astrological as well as eschatological
elements on the unfolding of universal history as it is described and analysed
in the Shiji one gains insight into what might be called the historian's
view of the basic legitimation of the dynasties gone by since the reign
of Huangdi, the Yellow Thearch, down to the Han. This system not
only combines myth with history but due to its eschatological implications
may be called "mythical" in character. So what I would like to contribute
to this conference are some reflections on the question whether or not
the
Shiji should - from this point of view at least- be called an
example of mythically conditioned historiography.
Bibliographical information (very selective, BTH).
Monographs.
- Das Hung-ming chi und die Aufnahme des Buddhismus in China [=Münchener
Ostasiatische Studien, Band 12], Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag 1976.
- Die Identität der buddhistischen Schulen und die Kompilation
buddhistischer Universalgeschichten in China. Ein Beitrag zur Geistesgeschichte
der Sung-Zeit [=Münchener Ostasiatische Studien, Band 26], Wiesbaden:
Franz Steiner Verlag 1982.
- (Hg.) Max Weber Gesamtausgabe, Band 19: Gesammelte Aufsätze
zur Religionssoziologie. Die Wirtschaftsethik der Weltreligionen. Einleitung.
Konfuzianismus und Taoismus. Zwischenbetrachtung, in Zusammenarbeit mit
Petra Kolonko, Tübingen: J.C.B.Mohr (Paul Siebeck) 1989. [ISBN 3-16-845382-X]
- Geschichte der chinesischen Literatur. Die 3000jährige Entwicklung
der poetischen, erzählenden und philosophisch-religiösen Literatur
Chinas von den Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart, Bern/München: Scherz
1990. 686 Seiten; 2.Auflage im C.H.Beck Verlag München 1999.
- (Hg.) Max Weber Gesamtausgabe, Abteilung I, Band 20: Die Wirtschaftsethik
der Weltreligionen. Hinduismus und Buddhismus 1916-1920, hg., in Zusammenarbeit
mit Karl-Heinz Golzio, Tübingen: J.C.B.Mohr (Paul Siebeck) 1996. ISBN
3-16-146483-4
Articles (restricted to Historiography, BTH)
- Die Modernisierung des historischen Denkens im China des 16.-18.
Jahrhunderts und seine Grenzen, in: W. Küttler, J. Rüsen, E.
Schulin, Hg., Geschichtsdiskurs. Band 2: Anfänge modernen historischen
Denkens, Frankfurt am Main: Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, 1994, S. 165-179.
ISBN 3-596-11476-4. [19 MS Seiten]
- Chinesisches Geschichtsdenken. in: Jörn Rüsen, Michael
Gottlob, Achim Mittag, Hg., Die Vielfalt der Kulturen. Erinnerung, Geschichte,
Identität 4. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp 1998, S.115-144. [ISBN 3-518-29005-3]
- (zusammen mit Achim Mittag) "Aufklärungshistorie" in China?,
in: Horst Walter Blanke et al., Hg., Dimensionen der Historik. Geschichtstheorie,
Wissenschaftsgeschichte und Geschichtskultur heute. Jörn Rüsen
zum 60.Geburtstag. Köln, Weimar, Wien: Böhlau 1998, S.313-330.
ISBN 3-412-03898-9 [23 MS-Seiten]
Program
Hubert Seiwert (seiwert@rz.uni-leipzig.de;
Leipzig University)
“From Myth to Myth: ’Religious’ and ’Scientific’ constructions
of the past”
Background:
Professor for Comparative Religion at Leipzig University. I have a
strong interest in theory of religion and the methodology of religious
studies. During the past years new religious movements have occupied much
of my time. In the field of Chinese religions presently my main interest
is popular religious movements. I m editor of the Zeitschrift für
Religionswissenschaft and Religion - Staat - Gesellschaft.
Selected bibliography:
'Religiöse Bedeutung' als wissenschaftliche Kategorie. In:
Annual
Review for the Social Sciences of Religion, 5 (1981), S. 57-99; Volksreligion
und nationale Tradition in Taiwan. Studien zur regionalen Religionsgeschichte
einer chinesischen Provinz. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner, 1985 (Münchener
Ostasiatische Studien. 38); ''Popular religious sects in south-east
China:
Sect connections and the problem of the Luo jiao/Bailian jiao dichotomy.
In: Journal of Chinese Religions, 20 (1992), S. 33-60; ''Orthodoxie,
Orthopraxie und Zivilreligion im vorneuzeitlichen China. In: Gnosisforschung
und "eligionswissenschaft. Festschrift zum 65. Geburtstagvon Kurt Rudolph.
Hrsg. Holger von Preiáler und Hubert Seiwert. Marburg 1994, S. 529-542;
What is new with religious contact today?, in: Religions in contact. Selected
Proceedings of the Special IAHR Conference held in Brno, August 23-26,
1994, ed. by Iva Dolezalov , Bretislav Horyna and Dalibor Papousek. Brno
1996, 57-63; ""Health and salvation in early Daoism. On the anthropology
and cosmology of the Taiping Jing. In: Self, soul and body in
religious experience. Ed. A.I. Baumgarten, J. Assmann, G.G. Stroumsa.
Leiden: Brill 1998, S. 256-275
Nicolas Standaert (Nicolas.Standaert@arts.kuleuven.ac.be; Leuven University, Belgium)
"The Construction of a Christian History in China"
Background:
Date of birth: Ph.D. Chinese Studies: Leiden State University (1984);
Bacc. Philosophy: Centre Sèvres (Paris) (1990);Lic. Theology: Fujen
Catholic University (Taibei) (1994). Now professor for Chinese Studies
at the Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium). Also collaborator of China
News Analysis (Hong Kong): 1991-1992. My research interests are the
intellectual interaction between China and the West since seventeenth century,
and Chinese philosophy.
Major publications:
Yang Tingyun, Confucian and Christian in Late Ming China: His Life
and Thought, (Sinica Leidensia 19), Leiden / New York / Kobenhavn /
Köln, E.J.Brill, 1988 (also in Chinese).
(together with E.Zürcher and A.Dudink): Bibliography of the
Jesuit Mission in China (ca.1580 - ca. 1680), (CNWS Publications No.5),
Leiden, Centre of Non-Western Studies, 1991.
Inculturation: The Gospel and Cultures, transl. A. Bruggeman
and R. Murray, (originally in Dutch: Inculturatie: Evangelie en cultuur),
Manila, Saint Paul Publications, 1994 (also in Chinese).
The Fascinating God: A Challenge to Modern Chinese Theology Presented
by a Text on the Name of God Written by a 17th Century Chinese Student
of Theology, (Inculturation: Working Papers on Living Faith and Cultures
XVII), Pontificia Universita Gregoriana, Roma, 1995 (also in Chinese).
(ed. together with A. Dudink, Y.L. Huang en P.Y. Chu): Xujiahui
zangshulou MongQing tianzhujiao wenxian (Chinese Christian Texts from
the Zikawei Library), Taibei: Fu Jen Catholic Univ. Press, 1996, 5 vols.
(ed. together with C.Defoort): In gesprek met Mencius, Kapellen:
Pelckmans / Kampen: Kok Agora, 1998.
Abstract:
This paper focuses on the way how Chinese historians wrote about late
Ming and early Qing Christianity in China. The paper first traces the history
of this historiography in the 20th century, by dividing the authors in
three major periods (pre-1949: 1949-1978; 1078-today). Next it tries
to answer questions related to the Construction of a Christian History
in China: Is
there something like a Christian History? Or should it rather be: History
of Christianity? Or is a concept like History of Chinese Christianity more
appropriate? To what extent can an historian treat Christianity as a Chinese
religion?
Zhuo Xinping (Zhuoxp@iwr.cass.net.cn,Chinese Academy for Social Sciences, Beijing; Zhuoxp@263.net , Home)
Background:
Studied English (1972-1974), followed by Religious Studies at
the Graduate School of the Chinese Academy
of Social Sciences (Beijing) from 1978-1981. I studied
at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University (Munich, Germany) from 1983-1988,
where I took the doctroal degree in 1987. Since 1992 I am Professor
of the Institute of World Religions, and
Professor (Doctor-tutor) of Graduate School of CASS, since
1998 I am also Director of Institute of the World Religions,
Select bibliography:
Theorien uber Religion im heutigen China und ihre Bezugnahme zu
Religionstheorien des Westens , Verlag Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main,
Bern, New York, Paris, 1988 (Theories of Religion in China
Today and Their Relations to the Theories Of Religion
in the West) and a series of books in Chinese on religious studies,
Christianity, and so forth, most recently Basic Knowledge
of Protestantism in China, (chief editor and co-author)
(Religious Culture Publishing House, Beijing , 1999) and nderstanding
of Religion, Social Science Documentation Publishing House,
Beijing 1999).
Abstract:
"The Understanding of Religion in Contemporary China",
1. Retrospect of the different periods in the understanding of religion
in China, 2.Debate on religion as "Opium of the people", 3. Discussion
about the Social function of religion , 4. Idea of "Religion as Culture",
and 5. Recent development in
understanding of religion.
A preliminary thinking through of the use of "time" in religious contexts suggests at least three different spheres. In Daoist and vernacular ritual contexts, we find frequent enactment of different types of time, mostly of time as it should be, rather than as it really was. By enacting time processes, these processes are given their proper structure/order. I call this ritual time. Personal time as perceived by those who lived it through, at least as constructed by the sources, is given shape in auto-biographical formats. These lay down crucial experiences that shaped someone as a religious person. I call this experiential time. Events in the past, always as perceived by others, can be used to legitimate or explain the present. For want of a better term I am calling this legimatory time and would suggest that it is here that we find what we like to call the more typical forms of historiorgaphy in a religious context.
I. Ritual time
Neither of the following types of ritual time necessarily excludes the other when actual ritual events are concerned. They are merely heuristic divisions. (4)
a. cosmic time.
In Daoist classical ritual, the foundational narrative is that of King Yu, whose exploits formed the real beginning of Chinese history. He ordered space in the way that the Chinese subsequentely saw/knew it (the Nine Continents, with Yangzhou as the central continent). He regulated the floods, which henceforth became a crucial marker between chaos and order, and remained so in messianic and millenarian traditions. He received the Eight Trigrams, and created the Step of Yu across these trigrams (which are themselves organized as eight squares around a ninth central square, also called Yangzhou, and forming Nine Continents or Nine Palaces). Daoist ritual enacts cosmic time and space, and is built around this foundational narrative. In this sense, Daoist ritual could also be seen to reenact the creation of history, this being the creation of order. Still, time remains a fairly abstract category, far removed from the people for whom the ritual is performed. The deities stand for abstract forces and principles. The rituals are called ke, yi, jiao or the like.
b. this-worldly/personal time
So-called vernacular ritual (which can be found in Daoist as well as Buddhist forms, although the former is more common) also enacts time, more specifically the personal time of the people involved in the ritual. In vernacular ritual, the performer and his clients perform much of the ritual together. They enact concrete events in a recognizable landscape, whether enacting the journey of life and death (in order to bring good health, or to guarantee someone's rebirth in a better incarnation), or driving out demons beyond the frontiers of the ordered All-under-Heaven. The divine beings as well as the demons are often former humans. The rituals are called fa.
c. messianic/millenarian time
...
(it would seem that Buddhist ritual is less concerned with time, but more with its karmic results and redressing its imbalances)
II. Experiential time ("Werdegang")
Many texts give factual biographical information
(dates of birth and death, but otherwise explain the religious development
-if any - of their protagonists. Here the central narrative theme is the
search for proper practice (by the best teacher) and (maybe) proper doctrine,
followed by a conversion-like experience.
Ritual structures can also be found here, especially
the liminal location (i.e. crucial actions, encounters etc. take place
in a space in between) and the liminal passage (the transition from one
to another [religious] level takes place aross a place or space in between).[Robert
Ford Campany, Strange Writing: Anomaly Accounts in Early Medieval China
(New York: State University of New York Press, 1996), 225 points out that
in narrative anomaly accounts important events involving other dimensions
of being take place at liminal points, rather than just anywhere.]
a. autobiographical
This seems to be rare, but Precious Scrolls often contain fairly personal and autobiographical accounts, e.g. Luo Qing in his Five Books in Six Volumes (wubu liuce) and Han Taihu in the Hongyang tradition. We also have such a text by the great Qing lay Buddhist Peng Shaosheng. These usually contain a strong conversion moment, from which point in time onwards the protagonist suddenly understands what is the proper way of practicing. [check Bauer, Wu Pei-yi]
b. biographical
Biographies of Buddhist and Daoist monks, and lay Buddhists that I have been reading recently (from circa 1645 to circa 1850) can be read as descriptions of religious development, as well as legitimatory or evidential documents (see below). These often describe the protagonist as religious since his or her birth, with subsequent life as the fulfillment of this childhood promise (possibly interrupted by a secular career due to the need to be filial to one's parents), but may still contain a kind of search for the best teacher and the best message or practice. Nonetheless, the conversion moment becomes less prominent and the transition to hagiographical accounts is fleeting.
III. Legitimatory time (history/myth)
a. hagiographical or evidential
There is obviously no such thing as a purely descriptive document on someone's personal development, whether authored by the protagonists themselves or by outside observers or authors. All such texts aim to legitimate certain religious notions, practices and so forth. Whether we judge information to be more biographical or hagiographical is therefore a matter of (our modern Western) judgement. Examples of hagiographic texts in a modern Western judgement would be, for instance, anecdotal accounts (miracles), biographies, and the like.
b. treasures
The very fact that a text exists to document or commemorate a religious cult, text, person, phenomenon or otherwise is in itself a legitimating fact, quite independent of its contents. Hence such texts are hewn in stone or printed, or otherwise preserved. Hence the contents of such texts, for instance in the case of local cults and monasteries, can be quite trivial or even antagonistic towards the phenomenon that it serves to document or commemorate. In a saense it is the belief in historical documentation, in something having a history, which is more important than its actual contents.
c. teachers
An essential dimension of the transmission of religious knowledge and abilities is guaranteeing that these come from the proper source and are transmitted to the proper person(s). No religious lore is powerful in itself, it must be transmitted in the proper way. This is done by ritual, and proper transmission is then certified by objects (including texts) and stories of how someone was revealed (by divine beings) or taught (by divine or human teachers) special knowledge or abilities.
d. lineage accounts
In lineage maps (religious genealogies) the notion of proper transmission was extended in time over several generations and in width through different branches. Examples in Buddhist and Daoist traditions are the construction of Tiantai and especially Chan lineages of transmission, and the succesful Yuan to Qing hagiographical collections of the Heavenly Masters which linked the later Masters to their purported ancestors of the late Han, beginning with Zhang (Dao)ling. We find similar lineage mapping in new religious groups since the late Ming as well.
e. quasi-secular monographs or histories
The above genres might be incorporated in longer treatises which were modelled on secular historical genres, such as collected biorgaphies of prominent religious figures (in the early period mainly monks, sometimes also nuns, and in the Qing period often of lay persons as well as monks, to wit the collections by Peng Shaosheng c.s.), local gazetteers (of mountains and monasteries, mainly from the Lower Yangzi region) or the annalistic history.
f. archives (accidental history)
Larger monasteries would have their own archives, including a variety of material from land contracts to older monographies of the place in some cases, biographical accounts, lineage maps, and so forth. These archives probably played a role on an internal level, but otherwise they were not yet historiography in the sense of entirely rationalized, purposeful writing.
(to be continued)
Top page || Program||
Information
on the participants || Comments
on the conference theme || Questions
for discussion
Top page || homepage Barend ter Haar || homepage Institute of Chinese Studies, Heidelberg University
Last update: 19.11.1999