New Perspectives on the Research of Chinese Culture Chinese Culture Volume 1 Series Editor Pei-kai Cheng For further volumes: http://www.springer.com/series/10100 Pei-kai Cheng (cid:129) Ka Wai Fan Editors New Perspectives on the Research of Chinese Culture Editors Pei-kai Cheng Ka Wai Fan Chinese Civilisation Centre Chinese Civilisation Centre City University of Hong Kong City University of Hong Kong Hong Kong SAR Hong Kong SAR ISBN 978-981-4021-77-7 ISBN 978-981-4021-78-4 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-981-4021-78-4 Springer Singapore Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London Library of Congress Control Number: 2012955076 © Springer Science+Business Media Singapore 2013 This work is subject to copyright. 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Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) Preface This new title in the increasingly important fi eld of Chinese culture and civilization contains eight chapters introducing the latest trends and new developments in the research into Chinese literature, archaeology, oral traditions, Buddhism, music, cartology and medicine. The chapters are written by renowned scholars in the fi eld, including Prof. Longxi Zhang (City University of Hong Kong), Prof. Barend ter Haar (Leiden University), Prof. Zhaoguang Ge (Fudan University) and Prof. Joseph S.C. Lam (University of Michigan). Arranged in chronological order, the book starts with ‘Nature and Landscape in the Chinese Tradition’ in which Longxi Zhang explores the Chinese traditional interpretation of nature and its relationship with culture. In view of its manifestation in poetry and the arts, Zhang shows there is a contrast between artistic ideas and realistic presentation and explores the relationship in an East-West comparative perspective. The second chapter ‘A Site Catchment Analysis into Hong Kong’s Neolithic Subsistence’ by Guo Li is an archaeological study into very early catchment zones at neolithic sites in Hong Kong. It offers a new methodology to investigate subsistence activities which will help archaeologists to locate a reasonable hypothesis for their studies and support their research outcomes. Barend ter Haar explores a new approach to early Chinese textuality in his ‘Towards Retrieving Early Oral Traditions: Some Ruminations on Orality and Textuality in Early Chinese Culture’. He explains why we should go beyond the early transmission of particular texts to fi nd their original ideas and consult any other sources that contain references or quotations. Hence, he calls for a re-evaluation of traditional histories of Chinese philosophy. In ‘History, Ideology and General Ideological History—a Case Study of Chinese Chan Buddhism in the Tang Dynasty’, Zhaoguang Ge points out how many studies of Chinese Chan have followed earlier works, and he explores the new directions in which this fi eld should develop in order to go beyond the records of T he Transmission of the Lamp and supports his ideas with examples and quotations. Although more detailed studies are being carried out, Zhaoguang Ge concludes with the question ‘How can we fi nd a new direction that will improve upon the road that was paved by v vi Preface Hu Shi and Suzuki and leads all the way to Yin Shun, in order to fi nd new ways to tell the history of Chan Buddhism?’ Tai Shing Wut contributes to the study of Chinese Buddhist translations with his ‘Investigating the Meaning of Dhamma “Fa”—with Chinese Samyuktagama as the Subject’. From the perspectives of Buddhist teaching and Chinese terminology, this chapter offers a discussion on the interpretation and development of the often over- looked but essential Buddhist term ‘fa’. Since the introduction of the Buddhist classics into China, translation of these works developed a distinct system in terms of language and network which in turn enriched Buddhist teaching in the Chinese cultural domain. By exploring various theories and methods for understanding music, Joseph S.C. Lam probes into the background of performances and their place in history in ‘Music, Sound, and Site: A Case Study from Southern Song China (1127–1275)’. De fi ning key concepts applied to his study of the musical world of Lin’an, Lam demonstrates how musicians and consumers created and enjoyed a diversity of music in their own historical place and time and shows how Western music studies can be applied to their Chinese counterpart. In ‘The Exploration of Matteo Ricci’s World Map’, Shijian Huang reviews existing sources on which Matteo Ricci (1552–1610) drew his world map. In general it is believed that Ricci based his world map on European maps, Chinese maps and documents and his personal experience and observation. By comparing various maps and consulting historical texts, Huang demonstrates that the work by Ortelius must have been Ricci’s main reference. Finally, in the eighth and last chapter ‘Pavlovian Theory and the Scienti fi cation of Acupuncture in 1950s China’, Ka Wai Fan explains how Soviet theories were applied to scienti fic research in China in the 1950s and that the fi rst to apply the Pavlovian theory to acupuncture was Zhu Lian (1909–1978), then dean of the Institute of Acupuncture in Beijing. Zhu believed that an understanding of the biological mechanisms underlying acupuncture could help improve traditional Chinese medicine. Although the application of Soviet scienti fi c theories was short- lived because of deteriorating Sino-Soviet relations, Zhu Lian’s contribution to the scienti fi c approach to acupuncture research has made an impact and called for further investigation into rapprochement between neuroscience and acupuncture. This new Chinese culture book series is based on the Chinese journal Jiuzhou Xuelin , or C hinese Culture Quarterly published by the Chinese Civilisation Centre of the City University of Hong Kong since 2003. The journal, which has gained widespread recognition, occupies an important position in academic circles in China and abroad. The aim of publishing an English version is to give Western readers access to the latest research results published in C hinese Culture Quarterly , to keep an international readership up-to-date on recent research on Chinese culture and to offer a platform for dialogue and exchange between Chinese and Western scholars. Pei-kai Cheng Contents Nature and Landscape in the Chinese Tradition ......................................... 1 Longxi Zhang A Site Catchment Analysis of Hong Kong’s Neolithic Subsistence ............ 17 Guo Li Toward Retrieving Early Oral Traditions: Some Ruminations on Orality and Textuality in Early Chinese Culture.................................... 45 Barend J. ter Haar History, Ideology, and General Ideological History: A Case Study of Chan Buddhism in the Tang Dynasty ............................... 63 Zhaoguang Ge Investigating the Meaning of Dharma “F a ” (法): With Chinese SaÂyuktāgama as the Subject ................................................ 77 Tai Shing Wut Music, Sound, and Site: A Case Study from Southern Song China (1127–1275) ....................................................... 99 Joseph S. C. Lam The Exploration of Matteo Ricci’s World Map ............................................ 119 Shijian Huang Pavlovian Theory and the Scienti fi cation of Acupuncture in 1950s China ..................................................................... 137 Ka Wai Fan Index ................................................................................................................. 147 vii About the Editor Pei-kai Cheng, founding director and professor of the Chinese Civilisation Centre, joined the City University of Hong Kong in July 1998. A cultural historian and poet, he previously taught history and directed the East Asian Studies programme at Pace University of New York. He has a PhD from Yale in European and Chinese intellectual history and literature, an MA from the University of Hawaii in history and a BA from National Taiwan University in history and literature. His main research interest is the interaction of Chinese cultural aesthetics and material culture, with the emphasis on the cultural contexts of artistic creativity. The history of the material base for the development of an intangible cultural heritage is the main focus of his academic exploration, speci fi cally on the economy of Kunqu and its modern predicament, tea and the evolution of Chinese cultural aesthetics, and Chinese export porcelain and maritime trade. In these diverse but interrelated areas, he has published and edited more than 30 books in addition to numerous articles and essays exploring into the essential issues concerning the changing nature of Chinese cultural aesthetics. ix