Chinese Outcasts

Outcasts and pariahs are known to exist in several Asian countries but have usually not been associated with traditional Chinese society. Chinese Outcasts shows that some Chinese were in fact treated as outcasts or semi-outcasts. They include the boat people of South China and certain less well-known groups in different regions, including the "musicians' households" and the "fallen people". The reasons for their inferior status and perceived impurity is examined, as well as the intent behind a series of imperial emancipation edicts in the 1720s and 30s. The edict provided an escape route from inferior legal status but failed to put a quick end to customary social discrimination.

The 1949 Communist Revolution marked a period of earthshaking change in China. Political, economic, ideological, and cultural movements galvanized the country, culminating in dramatic social transformations at all levels, including the persecution of hundreds of thousands of the country’s citizens. Based on normally inaccessible records of confessions, interrogations, trial transcripts, and depositions, Eight Outcasts tells the stories of eight victims of the Maoist dictatorship. It introduces readers to individuals accused of infractions such as corruption, political wrong thinking, homosexuality, illicit sexual activity, foreign ties, or “historical problems” (connections to the former Kuomintang regime) in the period between the revolution and Mao’s death in 1976. Each chapter brings stories of China’s voiceless citizens to light, broadening our knowledge of this important transitional period.

A reconstruction of the Chinese sky of two thousand years ago, based on analysis of the first star catalogue in China and other sources. Presented in six well-sized star maps for 100 BC, it is especially important for the history of astronomy. The Han sky, with five times more constellations than Ptolemy knew, reflects diverse human activities. The way in which constellations were grouped discloses a systematic cosmology, uniting universe and the state. The work of the three Han schools is comparable to Ptolemy's Almagest. With three detailed Appendices on the constellations of the three schools, well illustrated to demonstrate the relation between sky and human society, this book is valuable not only for astronomy historians and sinologists, but in general for scholars interested in the ancient cultures of Asia.

In Zinc for Coin and Brass Hailian Chen offers the first comprehensive history of Chinese zinc over the long eighteenth century. This book covers a wide range of topics including Qing China’s political economy, material culture, environment, technology, and society.

As part of the Jesuits' programme of introduction to European culture, in 1607 the Elements of Euclid (d.300 B C) were translated for the first time into Chinese. The translation of this epoch-making ancient Greek textbook on deductive geometry meant a confrontation of contemporary Chinese and European cultures. This work explores in depth and at various levels the circumstances and mechanisms that shaped the transmission of a key work of science from one language and cultural context onto another. Consequently it offers often surprising insights into the ways of intercultural exchange and misunderstandings.

Bringing together historians, sociologists, and political scientists, this volume documents persistent prejudices against consistently marginal groups in China, and the moral claims they have mustered in response.

How do Chinese and Western philosophical traditions interact today? In the underlying collection of articles both Chinese and Western scholars carefully examine the issue, one of fundamental importance for the mutual understanding of China and the West. The volume is the result of a symposium which sought to initiate a dialogue between China and the West on questions ranging from philosophy to politics and aesthetics. The papers deal with various topics of cross-cultural hermeneutics, such as differences between Chinese and Western concepts of man’s relation to the universe, human rights, self and community, good and evil, and beauty. In some of the contributions attempts are made to adapt the Chinese philosophical inheritance to the modern or post-modern condition. A useful reference for all those - historians of ideas, political scientists, and China watchers alike - who want to understand the dynamics of the cultural flow between East and West and the significance of Chinese thought in a global context.