Contents and Abstracts

Contents and Abstracts

[Ancient Mediterranean Civilizations]

Title:The Status and Role of Eunuchs in the Assyrian Empire…………………………………………………/2

Author: Guo Honggeng, Associate Research Fellow, Institute of the World History, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, 100006, China.

Abstract:Eunuchs were an important tool for the Assyrian kings to strengthen their kingship and safeguard their power.With the development of the Assyrian politics and economy, the role of eunuchs became more and more important.In the early period, with the frequent breaking out of the wars, the traditional noble group represented by the chief commander (turtanu) controlled the Assyrian compulsory servicemen, and weakened the king’s power.The kings put their eunuchs in important positions, the squad of bodyguards became standing army, and eunuchs acted as powerful generals to restrict the traditional power.In the early Assyrian empire, the eunuchs played an important role in the troops and provinces, and limited the power of the hereditary aristocrats, so the Assyrian power was kept stable and its expansion was unprecedented.In the late Assyrian empire, the eunuchs monopolized regime, expanded their economic power and became a fuse for the political chaos during that period. The intelligence system of Roman Empire evolved during the reign of Augustus and continously developed in the later days.The intelligence system linked the central and local government, which provided a medium for the exchange of information as well as official dispatch.It is in this trend that the aim of intelligence activities ascended to maintain a country, explore the intelligence resources as well as develop the tasks.The intelligence system was inseparably intertwined with the political and defensive system, which demonstrated the tendency of centralization and the change of power. Constantinople was an important city in the east of the Mediterranean world and the capital of the Byzantine Empire, which was founded during the time of Constantine I.The dangerous situation of many enemies around it in the later Roman Empire and the strategic location of Constantinople was the main consideration of Constantinople.And in essence, the site selection criteria was rooted in the internal logic of the reconstruction of the defense system in the later Roman Empire.The personal role of Constantine I had its position, but not the primary cause.After the completion of Constantinople, the sources of all the empire were poured into Constantinople.At the same time, the political position of Constantinople was up gradually, and it became the new centre of the east Mediterranean world. Supply is essential to wars, and food and forage grass for war-horses were especially important to the Crusades.However, in the complex battlefield environment of the Orient, the collection and transportation of supplies faced great difficulties.During the march of Anatolia, this issue was highly raised especially from Nicaea to Antioch.Only because of a constant supply from the Byzantine Empire and Armenians could the Crusade army survive and make continuous march.The supply from the Byzantine Empire showed a great importance during the battle of Antioch.Supply was also a key element to strengthen the relationship and maintained the alliance between the Crusades and the Byzantine Empire in a complex situation of cooperation, hamper and competition. Wuwang Jian Zuo, published in Chu Bamboo Slips of the Warring States Period in Shanghai Museum Collection (Seven), includes actually two kinds of bamboo slip editions of the Warring States period (Jia edtion and Yi edition).The received edition of Wuwang Jian Zuo is a combination of these two kinds of bamboo slip editions.Compared with Jia edition on narrative and the characters used in the text, Yi edition is closer to the original record, hence the earlier.The comparision indicates also that there is not direct inheritance relationship between these two bamboo slip editions, which should be two different text forms developed from two different inheritance systems.By reference to Yi edition, the original text construction of Wuwang Jian Zuo could be speculated without the last paragraph in which Wuwang made maxim inscriptions on his house furnishings.This last paragraph of the received edition and the Jia edition should be combined with another literature considering its content and its text style.The comparative study among these three editions of Wuwang Jian Zuo shows that in the inheritance process of the early literature, there existed not only changes of characters such as increasing, missing and modification, but also compilation of different text forms of the same literature and even combination of different literatures.This knowledge may be very helpful to our cognization on the speciality of the forming and spreading of the early literature and its value as historical materials. Jinbu was a body attached to the Qin County.Some research suggests that Jinbu affiliated with Shaonei (少內) which is an open question.Based on the material analysis, Jinbu was not affiliated with Shaonei, but directly under the County-Ting.Discussions about the nature of Jinbu, due to the greater impact of “Jinbu Law”, displayed deviations.Although the “Jinbu Law” related to the nature of the County Jinbu more or less, it was not accurate.As the newly unearthed Liye Qin slips show, County Jinbu was one of the ‘Cao’ (曹).It was in charge of statistics of the library soldiers, vehicles, industrial use, industrial Utensil and Shaonei Utensil, money, and assisted to assess the Ke (課) that was dynamic records changes in the situation of state-owned financial resources of the county agencies. The establishment of the Qin-Han empires was a process of the extension of “Xindi” and its boundary expansion.Accompanying the dispatch of the Xindi officials, government often implemented policies of emigration and garrison.The latter two was adopted at the same time and complemented each other.Yet in the subsequent development, emigration became increasingly important.It was not only due to financial concerns and public opinions, but also the defense effectiveness.In the Han Dynasty, the distinction between frontier and inland developed, thereby resulted in different characteristics of frontier and inland policy of the empire.The frontier commanderies needed external support to maintain its operation, mainly supplied by adjacent commanderies, central control, and policies to encourage people to transport grain and sergents garrison troops to develop wasteland.The political benefits of the minimal tax burden in “Wendi and Jingdi’s reign” and “Guangwu’s revival” was directly related to the political situation of the frontiers. The Tonghui River, which at first built as a man-made canal to connect Zhang Jia Wan and the capital city in the Yuan Dynasty, was deserted after the Ming Yongle period, due to the lack of water sources after rebuilding of Beijing city.Efforts to dredge it and keep it from silting failed in the early Ming Dynasty.It was not until the early Jiajing period it was successfully dredged and maintained since then.The debates over dredging this river in the Ming Dynasty show the background of economical conflicts among different groups in the central government and in local government.Through the study of this case, we can see that this kind of conflicts deeply affected the distribution of resources on the public projects in ancient China. People’s livelihood issue often appeared in the government officials memorials to the throne in the Ming dynasty.The term of “the national economy and the people’s livelihood” was also frequently used and the term of “administration of officials and the people’s livelihood” was used to discuss problems, reflecting the livelihood issues had the trait of connecting state and society.The keynote of the Confucian democracy thought was to make the people’s livelihood go well.This idea permeated into the ruling mode and became the demand to monarch’s morality and official admonitions.The people’s livelihood and the national economy can not be separated.The state and the society have close interactive relationships.The relation between the administration and the people’s livelihood demand the government officials to bring benefits to people. The Ming History punctuated and collated by Zhonghua Book Company is the best version until now.However, because The Ming History is a multivolume, there are still some errors in this version.The Chronology of Princes compiled in The Ming History is one of the basis literature which can be used to study the princes in the Ming Dynasty, so it is necessary to collate it again.This article used 5 kinds of versions about The Ming History for collation, and used The Memoir of Ming Dynasty and Yan Shan Tang Anthology and other important historical records in Ming Dynasty to do the textual criticism.There are 49 items with 52 errors in this article. Ancient Chinese immigrants bring the advanced farming technologies and agricultural culture to Japan, which makes a great contribution to pushing forward Japanese society.However, as Japanese local clan has not realized the importance of the relations between the snow in winter and the growth of crops, the idiom “Auspicious snow foretells a bumper harvest” does not have tremendous impacts in Japan.Although accepting the “snow” image in the Chinese literature, they abandon the farming culture factor included.This result is by no means accidental.According to the author, there are mainly three reasons, namely the limitations of the influence of Chinese immigrants, the local clan’ s selected acceptance of Chinese culture and Japanese own ideas on the farming and seasonal divisional periods. English Contents and s………….……………………………………………………………………/112

Key words: Assyrian Empire; Eunuchs; Political Roles

Title: The Development of Intelligence System During the Roman Empire……………………………………/13

Author: Li Dawei, Lecturer, School of History, Baicheng Normal College, Baicheng, Jilin, 137000, China.

Key words: Roman Empire; Centralization; Intelligence System; Development

[Byzantine and the European Middle Ages]

Title: On the Relationship Between the Construction of Constantinople and the Reconstruction of the Defense System of the Later Roman Empire……………………………………………………………/23

Author: Dong Xiaojia, Assistant Professor, School of History, Culture & Tourism, Guangxi Normal University, Guilin, Guangxi, 541001, China.

Key words: Constantinople; the Later Roman Empire; Defense System; the Mediterranean World

Title: A Study on the Supply of the First Crusade——From the Battle of Nicaea to Antioch…………………/34

Author: Wang Xiangpeng, Post-Doctoral Fellow, School of History, Renmin University of China, Beijing, 100872, China; Associate Professor, School of History and Culture, Hebei Normal University of China, Shijiazhuang, 050024, China.

Key words: Supply; Byzantium; Armenia; Anatolia

[History of Pre-Qin China]

Title: A Research on the Text Transition of Wuwang Jian Zuo………………………………………………/42

Author: Xu Zhaochang, Professor, College of the Humanities, Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin, 130024, China.Li Daming, Ph.D.Candidate, Institute for the Study of Ancient Books, Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin, 130012, China.

Key words: Wuwang Jian Zuo; Text; the Bamboo Slip Edition; the Received Edition

[Imperial China]

Title: A Research on Subjection and Nature of Jinbu (金布) in the Qin Dynasty……………………………………/55

Author: Wu Fangji, Ph.D.Candidate, School of History and Culture, Central China Normal University, Hubei, Wuhan, 430079, China.

Key words: Qin Dynasty; Jinbu; Subjection; Nature; Shaonei

Title: The “Xindi” of the Qin and Han Empires and the Implementation of Emigration and Garrison: On the Frontier and Inland Ideas and the Characteristics of Frontier and Inland Policy………………/65

Author: Sun Wenbo, Lecturer, The School of Chinese Classics; Renmin University of China, Beijing, 100872, China.

Key words: Xindi Officials; Emigration; Garrison; Distinction between Frontier and Inland; Frontiers Commanderies; Minimal Tax Burden

Title: The Debates over the Dredging of the Tonghui River: Interests Balance in Ming Dynasty’s Policy/74

Author: Hu Jixun, Associate Professor, Yuelu Academy, Hunan University, Hunan, Changsha, 410082, China.

Key words: Tonghui River; Canal; Policy Making

Title: The Scholar-Officials’ Thoughts of the People’s Livelihood and Their Political Practice in the Ming Dynasty——Based on the Collection of Essays on Statecraft from the Ming Period……………………/81

Author: Chang Jianhua, Professor, Center for Chinese Social History Studies & Collage of History, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300071.

Key words: State and Society; Scholar-Officials; Thoughts of the People’s Livelihood; Collection of Essays on Statecraft from the Ming Period

Title: On the Correction of The Chronology of Princes Compiled in the Ming History Punctuated and Collated by Zhonghua Book Company…………………………………………………………………/91

Author: Liang Manrong, Ph.D.Candidate, School of History and Culture, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, Jilin, 130024, China.

Key words: The Ming History Punctuated and Collated by Zhonghua Book Company; The Chronology of Princes compiled in The Ming History; Correction

[Eastern Asian History and Culture]

Title: The Influences of Chinese Farming Culture and Immigrants in Ancient Japan——the Chinese Idiom “Auspicious snow foretells a bumper harvest” in Japanese Culture…………………………………/105

Author: Wang Kai, College of Foreign Languages, Lecturer, NanKai University, Tianjin, 300071, China.

Key words: Auspicious Snow Foretells A Bumper Harvest; Ancient Chinese Immigrants; Farming Culture; Japanese Local Clan; Manyoshu

[Newsletters]

Approaching the Late Ming Dynasty by Shang Chuan Is Published…………………………………………/64

Power, Values, Thoughts, and Statecraft: Collective Articles on the Political Culture of the Ming Dynasty Is Published…………………………………………………………………………………………………/73

Editor’s Notes…………………….…….……………….…………………….….….………………/cover page 2

Call for Papers…………….…………..….……………………………………….…..……….……/cover page 3