Ruth Rogaski
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520240018
- eISBN:
- 9780520930605
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520240018.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
Placing meanings of health and disease at the center of modern Chinese consciousness, this book reveals how hygiene became a crucial element in the formulation of Chinese modernity in the nineteenth ...
More
Placing meanings of health and disease at the center of modern Chinese consciousness, this book reveals how hygiene became a crucial element in the formulation of Chinese modernity in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The author focuses on multiple manifestations across time of a single Chinese concept, weisheng—which has been rendered into English as “hygiene,” “sanitary,” “health,” or “public health”—as it emerged in the complex treaty-port environment of Tianjin. Before the late nineteenth century, weisheng was associated with diverse regimens of diet, meditation, and self-medication. The book reveals how meanings of weisheng, with the arrival of violent imperialism, shifted from Chinese cosmology to encompass such ideas as national sovereignty, laboratory knowledge, the cleanliness of bodies, and the fitness of races: categories in which the Chinese were often deemed lacking by foreign observers and Chinese elites alike.Less
Placing meanings of health and disease at the center of modern Chinese consciousness, this book reveals how hygiene became a crucial element in the formulation of Chinese modernity in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The author focuses on multiple manifestations across time of a single Chinese concept, weisheng—which has been rendered into English as “hygiene,” “sanitary,” “health,” or “public health”—as it emerged in the complex treaty-port environment of Tianjin. Before the late nineteenth century, weisheng was associated with diverse regimens of diet, meditation, and self-medication. The book reveals how meanings of weisheng, with the arrival of violent imperialism, shifted from Chinese cosmology to encompass such ideas as national sovereignty, laboratory knowledge, the cleanliness of bodies, and the fitness of races: categories in which the Chinese were often deemed lacking by foreign observers and Chinese elites alike.
RUTH ROGASKI
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520240018
- eISBN:
- 9780520930605
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520240018.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
This chapter explores the occurrences of weisheng in Chinese texts published before the twentieth century. It also explains the translation of premodern weisheng as “guarding life.” It is noted that ...
More
This chapter explores the occurrences of weisheng in Chinese texts published before the twentieth century. It also explains the translation of premodern weisheng as “guarding life.” It is noted that curing sickness before it happens requires an ability to discern the underlying patterns of the universe. The initial perceptible qualities and the most fundamental divisions within Chinese cosmology are yin and yang. An understanding of the properties of food and their proper combination was essential to guarding life. The potent ability of food to affect the human organism is clearly demonstrated by the inclusion of foodstuffs in many materia medica or medical texts. “Guarding life” is an appropriate phrase to describe the preservation of health in a system where the primary vitalities are so susceptible to injury, depletion, and exhaustion. The way of weisheng promises to guard life against depletion caused by the inevitable injuries of living itself.Less
This chapter explores the occurrences of weisheng in Chinese texts published before the twentieth century. It also explains the translation of premodern weisheng as “guarding life.” It is noted that curing sickness before it happens requires an ability to discern the underlying patterns of the universe. The initial perceptible qualities and the most fundamental divisions within Chinese cosmology are yin and yang. An understanding of the properties of food and their proper combination was essential to guarding life. The potent ability of food to affect the human organism is clearly demonstrated by the inclusion of foodstuffs in many materia medica or medical texts. “Guarding life” is an appropriate phrase to describe the preservation of health in a system where the primary vitalities are so susceptible to injury, depletion, and exhaustion. The way of weisheng promises to guard life against depletion caused by the inevitable injuries of living itself.
Geoffrey Redmond and Tze-ki Hon
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- November 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199766819
- eISBN:
- 9780199396481
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199766819.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion in the Ancient World
These commentaries (seven separate pieces divided into ten segments) were traditionally attributed to Confucius, though he did not write them and may not have even known the Yijing at all. The Ten ...
More
These commentaries (seven separate pieces divided into ten segments) were traditionally attributed to Confucius, though he did not write them and may not have even known the Yijing at all. The Ten Wings, particularly the Dazhuan, or Great Commentary, are the source of much of the philosophy and numerology associated with the Yijing. They are the earliest commentaries on the Bronze Age texts of Zhouyi, transforming it from a manual for divination into a text about philosophy and morality. Being integrated into the received version of the Yijing since the third century, the Ten Wings have played an important role in shaping Chinese philosophy, particularly Chinese cosmology, from ancient times to today.Less
These commentaries (seven separate pieces divided into ten segments) were traditionally attributed to Confucius, though he did not write them and may not have even known the Yijing at all. The Ten Wings, particularly the Dazhuan, or Great Commentary, are the source of much of the philosophy and numerology associated with the Yijing. They are the earliest commentaries on the Bronze Age texts of Zhouyi, transforming it from a manual for divination into a text about philosophy and morality. Being integrated into the received version of the Yijing since the third century, the Ten Wings have played an important role in shaping Chinese philosophy, particularly Chinese cosmology, from ancient times to today.
Sebastien Billioud and Joel Thoraval
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- September 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780190258139
- eISBN:
- 9780190258160
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190258139.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion in the Ancient World
Based on a decade of fieldwork and a cross-disciplinary approach (anthropology, sociology, history), this book studies the popular revival of Confucianism that has taken place in China since the ...
More
Based on a decade of fieldwork and a cross-disciplinary approach (anthropology, sociology, history), this book studies the popular revival of Confucianism that has taken place in China since the beginning of the twenty-first century. It does not primarily focus on intellectual or normative discourses but on the reappropriation and reinvention of popular practices in society. After a long twentieth century, during which Confucianism was often considered as ousted from history or confined to philosophical speculations, this book explores the new relations between the sage and the people in realms such as education, self-cultivation, religion, rituals, and politics. Empirically analyzing cases and narratives of activists involved in this “revival,” it attempts to understand their motivations, aspirations, difficulties, and achievements, as well as their ambiguous relation to Chinese politics. The Confucian revival is analyzed within the broader context of emerging challenges to great modernization narratives that prevailed throughout the twentieth century. Finally, by means of a comparison between state cults carried out in both Mainland China and Taiwan, the book discusses the articulation of the political and the religious and, beyond that, the contemporary fate of the Chinese cosmological tradition.Less
Based on a decade of fieldwork and a cross-disciplinary approach (anthropology, sociology, history), this book studies the popular revival of Confucianism that has taken place in China since the beginning of the twenty-first century. It does not primarily focus on intellectual or normative discourses but on the reappropriation and reinvention of popular practices in society. After a long twentieth century, during which Confucianism was often considered as ousted from history or confined to philosophical speculations, this book explores the new relations between the sage and the people in realms such as education, self-cultivation, religion, rituals, and politics. Empirically analyzing cases and narratives of activists involved in this “revival,” it attempts to understand their motivations, aspirations, difficulties, and achievements, as well as their ambiguous relation to Chinese politics. The Confucian revival is analyzed within the broader context of emerging challenges to great modernization narratives that prevailed throughout the twentieth century. Finally, by means of a comparison between state cults carried out in both Mainland China and Taiwan, the book discusses the articulation of the political and the religious and, beyond that, the contemporary fate of the Chinese cosmological tradition.
