Calliope articles from December 2002

Calliope archives from December 2002

The world of the Song: peace is secured only when evils are fought wherever they appear and good principles of government are continued regardless of their source. (Musings).(Brief Article)(Chronology)
December 1, 2002... FOR CENTURIES, FROM EAST TO WEST AND FROM NORTH TO SOUTH, THERE HAVE BEEN MEN AND women whose goal is to rule others. Each has had a mission, and each an idea of how to accomplish that mission. Although most have used the battlefield as the way...

An age of inventions.
December 1, 2002... Song China was the richest, most populous, most urbanized, most scientifically and technologically advanced society in the 11th and 12th centuries. Many Song inventions--and the list is remarkably diverse--spread around the globe and are still...

Magnetic compass.
December 1, 2002... The Chinese recognized the magnetic properties of lodestone, a natural form of iron oxide, as early as the Warring States period (463-221 B.C.). They carved a piece of the mineral into the shape of a spoon and balanced it on a square plate...

Gunpowder.
December 1, 2002... The earliest formulas for gunpowder--a mixture of saltpeter (potassium nitrate), sulphur, and carbon--are found in a Song military encyclopedia compiled between 1040 and 1044, roughly the same time as William the Conqueror invaded England....

A new dynasty.
December 1, 2002... THE GROUNDWORK FOR THIS REMARKABLE PERIOD Of INVENTION IN THE ARTS AND sciences was laid by Zhao Kuangyin. Zhao was 33 years old when he and several fellow generals overthrew the Later Zhou dynasty in A.D. 960 and founded the Song dynasty....

What is a dynasty?
December 1, 2002... Why do people who talk about Chinese history always refer to dynasties? According to the dictionary, "dynasty" refers to the period during which a single family is in power. Most people, however, think that the line of succession always goes...

Reforms bring change.
December 1, 2002... Many of the administrative reforms that were instituted by Zhao Kuangyin and further developed by his successors were not new to China. Rather, their implementation made the patchwork of temporary measures that had built up over the preceding...

Enemies at the border.
December 1, 2002... The Song opted to become a "lesser empire." Song emperors believed that the downfall of the great Tang dynasty was the result of a foreign policy set on expansion, no civilian control over the military, and troops stationed in various provinces...

Typhoon. (Word Origins).
December 1, 2002... Listen to a weather report, and you might hear the meteorologist refer to a violent, cyclone-type storm originating in the west Pacific, especially in the South China Sea, as a typhoon. The name appropriately traces its roots to the Chinese...

"Long time, no see". (Expressions).
December 1, 2002... This expression is believed to have entered the English language from pidgin English. A pidgin language has no native speakers. Rather, it is a mixed way of speaking that incorporates words from one or more languages with the basic form of...

Sinologist. (Word Stories).
December 1, 2002... Ever wonder what the English word is for a person whose field of study is the Chinese language, literature, art, customs, and way of life? Well, it's "sinologist," which is actually a combination of two Greek words, Sinai ("an Oriental people")...

Gaozong's halting place.
December 1, 2002... An accomplished painter and calligrapher, the Song dynasty emperor Huizong loved art and music. He liked to work alongside professional painters and had his own style of calligraphy, which was described as "thin gold." Huizong had the highest...

How a Song builder knew what to build.
December 1, 2002... The houses, temples, and pagodas of Southern Song China had broad roof eaves that bent gracefully like weeping willow trees. Except for the eaves, they resembled buildings that stood in every other part of China from the 10th through the 14th...

A return to Confucius.
December 1, 2002... LONG AGO, THE GREAT SAGE CONFUCIUS (551-479 B.C.) SPOKE OF THE DAO, THE WAY. He believed that by pursuing this Way, human beings could improve themselves and their communities. Confucius was China's first professional teacher and spent much of...

The civil service exam.
December 1, 2002... State-sponsored civil service examinations began during the Han dynasty period in the second century B.C. and continued into the early years of the 20th century. Prior to the Song dynasty, these tests were just one of a number of ways to win...

Li Qingzhao.
December 1, 2002... In A.D. 1127, Li Qingzhao (1084?-1151?) and her husband, a low-ranking official of the Northern Song dynasty, abandoned their home in north China and joined half a million people fleeing south. North China had fallen to the Jurchen, who...

Women's lives in the Song dynasty.
December 1, 2002... What were women's lives like during the Song dynasty? As in most societies until quite recently, Song women were not regarded as fully equal to men. It was expected that most women would devote their energies to nurturing their families rather...

The mystery of the Qingming scroll.
December 1, 2002... What kind of art project would you do if you wanted to show the most modern side of the world? A multi-media Web site with the latest songs and movies? A painting of a new computer? A drawing of the downtown business district in a large city?...

The Song commercial revolution.
December 1, 2002... In two important respects, the Song commercial revolution began two centuries before the Song. From A.D. 756 to 763, the rebellion of General An Lushan came close to toppling the Tang dynasty. The once brilliant, but now weakened, dynasty...

Paper currency.
December 1, 2002... The origins of paper currency can be traced to the use of feiqian ("flying money"). Tang merchant houses issued these paper drafts (written orders) that allowed the transfer of funds from one city to another. In A.D. 1024, the government...

Twilight of an empire.
December 1, 2002... FOR THE CHINESE, HISTORY IS FULL OF PATTERNS THAT OCCUR AND RECUR. THE SONG DYNASTY began in A.D. 960 when a six-year-old emperor was forced to surrender his throne during a military emergency. It ended in 1276 in the middle of another military...

Printing with blocks.
December 1, 2002... The Chinese used carved wooden blocks to print scrolls and pages of books long before the Song dynasty. Even though movable type was invented around 1041, printers continued to use the blocks because they worked better for Chinese characters....

Trapped ... almost. (Calliope's World).
December 1, 2002... I was sailing in the ship Endeavour with Captain Cook. It was a very nice day. Then... cccrrraaaccckkk! The bottom of the ship was breaking! The bottom was caught in the Great Barrier Reef! We were trapped... as we thought. Then we saw the...

The silk road. (Calliope's World).
December 1, 2002... The Emperor Wudi of China ruled from 141 B.C. It was 56 years until they got a new ruler. He sent out armies to expand his empire. In 139 B.C., Zhan Qian, an explorer and military officer, went west. He got back 10 years later. He had tales of...

King Louis XIV. (Calliope's World).
December 1, 2002... King Louis XIV was a great man. His symbol was the sun. He was King of France. He ruled for 72 years. France ranked over all the other European nations in art. They had a lot of gardens around there. He became king when he was four years old....

Temptation. (Calliope's World).
December 1, 2002... Temptation Some people call me temptation. The color revealing sin and death. After events were happening, Risks of danger increased man's world. That makes me responsible. Designed from sounds of hateful...

Books. (Off the Shelf).
December 1, 2002... The Beijing Qingming Scroll and Its Significance for the Study of Chinese History by Valerie Hansen (Journal of Sung-Yuan Studies, 1996) Confucius, The Golden Rule by Russell Freedman (Scholastic, 2002) Encyclopedia of China by Dorothy...

On the net. (Off the Shelf).
December 1, 2002... For an excellent site devoted to the Northern Song, with links to the Southern Song, that includes maps and links to paintings of the period, try: www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/nsong/ hd_nsong.htm For a brief overview of the Song dynasty...

Cobblestone resources. (Off the Shelf).
December 1, 2002... Materials that complement this theme's topic, "The Song Dynasty," and are available from Cobblestone Publishing include: Lost Cities (CAL9105) Buddhism (CAL9503) The Ming Dynasty: the World of the Yongle Emperor (CAL9505) ...

A preference for landscape art.
December 1, 2002... SONG EMPERORS CHOSE NOT TO FOLLOW TANG DYNASTY RULERS WHO USED MILITARY MIGHT to create and maintain a powerful empire. Instead, they preferred to use culture to unify the nation. As a result, throughout the empire, people of all classes had...

Behind the scenes at the MFA.
December 1, 2002... Wu Tung is Matsutaro Shoriki Curator of Asian Art and Head of the Department of Art of Asia, Oceania & Africa at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. What criteria do you use when you choose a new piece for the museum's collection? First...

Preserving a hanging scroll. (At Work With the Conservator).
December 1, 2002... The Chinese used three formats for their paintings: handscrolls, hanging scrolls, and album leaves (used to decorate pieces of furniture or a wall space). The Five-Colored Parakeet on Blossoming Apricot Tree (pages 42-43) and the Lake View with...

A new design. (Testing a Technique).
December 1, 2002... For centuries, the Chinese had observed the rituals of the traditional tea ceremony, and the dishes they used were usually of white ceramic. Change came with the Song dynasty and its emphasis on culture and the arts. Encouraged to try new...