Band 77, Heft 3-4

This article aims to delve into the approach of Ḫwāǧa Naṣīr ad-Dīn Ṭūsī to a fundamental philosophical question concerning human agency: How can human free will coexist with a necessitating causal framework, where every effect is bound by its complete cause? Ṭūsī’s solution, which left a lasting impact on subsequent philosophical discussions on the issue, particularly within Shiite scholarly circles, revolves around the introduction of a differentiation between types of causes. I will examine Ṭūsī’s elucidation delineated in two of his works: Ǧabr wa Qadar in Persian and a concise Arabic text on Afʿāl al-ʿibād . Additionally, I will endeavor to uncover the historical origins and intellectual influences that may have shaped Ṭūsī’s approach to the question of human free will.

Résumé Le terme liangshi 良史, que l’on peut traduire par «bon scribe», «bon annaliste» ou encore «bon historien», plonge ses racines dans la longue tradition historienne de la Chine. Il fut employé avant les Han et sous les Han, pour désigner des historiographes modèles et pour mettre en valeur leur honnêteté et leur sérieux. Le terme a aussi été employé, dans une moindre mesure cependant, pour désigner des ouvrages historiques de bonne facture, en vertu de la polysémie du caractère shi 史. Liangshi est aussi devenu graduellement un outil rhétorique fréquemment employé dans des discours de persuasion. Le présent article s’emploie à déterminer à quelle époque et dans quels textes ce vocable commença à être utilisé, et quels étaient les critères qui faisaient qu’une personne était qualifiée de «bon historien». En replaçant ce terme dans le contexte plus large du jugement historiographique en Chine, on examine ensuite, à travers une sélection représentative de textes allant des Han jusqu’à Sima Guang 司馬光 (1019–1086), comment il fut employé – notamment par le critique et historien Liu Zhiji 劉知幾 (661–721) – et quelles furent les modalités de son usage sur le plan rhétorique.

In 2008 “Blang Nationality’s Singing and Instrument Playing” ( Bulangzu tanchang ) was listed as China’s intangible cultural heritage protection. The creation of ethnic parks, cultural villages, and ecomuseums in Southwest China raises some questions about the ethnic minorities’ traditional cultural/musical heritage and its sustainable development: What is the impact of ethnic tourism development on local minorities and what is the role played by government cultural policy in the preservation and dissemination of Blang musical heritage? How is this ethnic group’s identity represented in staged performances for tourists and in mass media? And what is the agency of Blang culture bearers officially appointed ‘cultural heritage inheritors’ in constructing, defining, and representing their own ethnic/musical identity? This article deals with a research project conducted mainly among the Blang of Manxi village in Xishuangbanna (Sipsongpanna), Yunnan Province, Southwest China, in the Spring of 2017. The purpose of this article is to describe and analyze the current interplay of ethnic tourism, government policy, mass media and culture bearers among an ethnic group considered a “minority among the minorities” in China and the effects of this interplay on the sustainability of traditional musical heritage.

This is Part II following on from the first presentation of the Chinese Map of the World or Kunyutu 坤輿圖 published in vol. 75 of this journal. The large wall map in silk, found in a federal library in Berne, Switzerland, is anonymous and purports to represent the geopolitical situation during the period 1700–1730. After a short general, geographical overview containing cartographic remarks and findings, this article will focus on the translation of all 112 text blocks on the map, which are found in Appendix II. These text blocks contain information on the customs and products of a given place, as well as describing other curiosities associated with it. I compared these texts with other maps and textual sources, in particular with The Complete World Map ( Kunyu quantu 坤輿全圖) and The Explanations of the World Map ( Kunyutu shuo 坤輿圖說) by Verbiest in 1674. A Venn diagram reveals which source was used most frequently. I detected some geographical assumptions the creator of the Bernese map has drawn from previous sources or copied from earlier maps. These offer valuable pointers to the source language and enable the identification of specific misunderstandings, original creations and uncertainties or signs of ignorance. My translation of the text blocks helps to pinpoint certain anachronisms and inaccuracies, although the map essentially reflects the political situation in the years 1700–1730. These various pieces of evidence suggest that the map was in fact made much later by a copyist and is not only a cartographic composite of earlier maps, but also a fusion based on Northern and Southern Mandarin sources. I presume that the translations, drawn from French sources into Southern Mandarin – the language of the late Ming officials ( guanhua 官話) – as well as a variety of Southern Chinese dialects, suggest the underlying influence of a Jesuit tradition.

This contribution reconstructs and contextualizes two decrees abolishing specific imposts. Both were inscribed into the eastern entrance vestibule of the great mosque of Mardin connecting the mosque to the main market area of the town in the name of Qaraquyunlu and Aqquyunlu ‘Turkmen’ rulers in the mid-15 th century CE. As argued in this article, the decrees pertain to the immediate context of the civil revolt of Mardin against Jahāngīr Aqquyunlu in 1450 CE. Accordingly, the inscription of fiscal decrees into highly visible and institutionally protected locations of the urban fabric emerges as a crucial interface negotiating civil (dis)content and the pragmatics of rule. Together with the exceptionally dense attestation of the history of Mardin during the first half of the 15 th century CE in a variety of mediums and narrative and linguistic traditions, this enables an exemplary reconstruction of subaltern and non-rulerly agency during this period of frequently changing rulers. By historicizing the fiscal ordinances decreed in both inscriptions, fiscal imposts emerge as one of the strands along which civil (dis)content could be negotiated. In addition, the continued preservation of both inscriptions attests to the resilience and stability of the ‘inscribed public sphere’ of Mardin. Accordingly, inscriptions 853 and 854 Mardin are presented as the centerpiece of an exemplary micro-study of non-rulerly agency and the pragmatics of rule in the 15 th century CE pre-industrial Middle East.

Some sixty authenticated poems written by Mao Zedong were the subject of studies that highlight the relationship between the statesman and his literary talent, through rather socio-political or psychological approaches. The present paper intends to focus on his poetic creation, by scrutinizing from the inside the textual and scriptural tension that animates the process of reappropriation and reinvention in relation to classical Chinese poetry, in particular to the “heroic and free” or fiery style ( haofang 豪放). Thematic and rhetorical analyses aim to show how the Promethean sublime nourishes a virile poetics in Mao Zedong’s work and an unusual verbal dynamic, which has the potential to transform conventions into speech, and poetry into a principle of action.