*announcer voice* LAST TIME, on CHINESE HISTORY!! The Beast from the East was slain and his shoulderblades used to predict hunting results.
Meanwhile, back at the Hall of Justice...
Archaeologists and historians generally divide the Shang Dynasty into two periods: the early and late. We pay these people for some reason.
The reason for the distinction varies by source, making it difficult to encapsulate effectively. The capital city of the Shang dynasty moved six times; some sources list the final move in 1350 BC to Yin (modern-day Yinxu, in the northernmost reaches of the Henan province) as the start of a significant era of the dynasty. Others don't mention this move at all; instead, they use an archaeological shift wherein direct records of the Shang dynasty emerge, rather than later histories.
The gap between histories and physical evidence mostly extends until Emperor Wu Ding, who reigned from 1250-1192 BC. Of note with this fellow is his most famous consort, Lady Fu Hao; her name is found on hundreds of oracle bone inscriptions and is a renowned military general. It seems unusual to me for a woman to hold such a prominent place in ancient Chinese politics, which are very patrilineal. I may dig into that more another time.
The Shang dynasty "formally" ends in 1046 BC, wherein the Zhou dynasty displaced the Shang after the Battle of Muye. The Zhou Dynasty is the first to establish the Mandate of Heaven doctrine, similar to the Divine Right of Kings in Western civilization. It is worth noting, however, that while the Divine Right was largely passed down through generations, the Mandate of Heaven specifically allowed for anyone who proved themselves "worthy" by defeating an unjust ruler could theoretically ascend to the throne; should someone displant a ruler, it would be taken as an indication that the Mandate had been removed from that one and conferred upon another.
What is particularly interesting about this doctrine is that it inherently places a supreme importance on the virtue of the ruler, and the service they provide to the people, rather than focusing on how the people can serve the king. It likely contributes to a tradition in Chinese culture of self-establishing virtue; as opposed to Western thought, which tends to have an external locus of morality, one could argue that the Mandate of Heaven is an early step that establishes the burden squarely on the individual.
Zaijian,
-L
Sunday, September 23, 2018
Saturday, September 15, 2018
History Bite: pt 1
This is part 1 of my History of China series of entries.
The diviner kneels in front of the king, holding the shoulder blade of an ox. It has been cleaned and polished, with a groove cut into it. He speaks aloud two sentences. "We will have a successful hunt today. We will not have a successful hunt today." Then, he presses a heated bronze point into the bone. As the temperature shifts, the bone cracks.
The diviner examines the cracks. He looks up to his king and smiles. "We will have a successful hunt today." The bone is handed to the Inscriber, who etches into the bone the date, the question, and the answer.
This is some of our earliest knowledge about civilizations in China: Oracle Bones from the Shang Dynasty.
There are two primary river basins in China: the Huang He, or Yellow River, and the Yangtze River. The Shang Dynasty grew from the An-yang River, north of the Yellow River (Huang He), and defines the period from 1600-1100 BC. The Oracle Bones, as described above, are one of the earlier written records of Chinese civilization, and due to their meticulous detail, provide some valuable insight into the culture of the dynasty and how that culture has grown, adapted, and shifted over the years.
It's interesting to note, that the inscriptions on oracle bones can be interpreted by modern scientists because the Chinese written language has actually stayed fairly constant across the millenia.
In another life, one where I had more attention to detail and tolerance for minutiae and repetition, I was probably an anthropologist. The demands of scientific rigor just don't suit me.
Zaijian (goodbye, literally "see again"),
-L
The diviner kneels in front of the king, holding the shoulder blade of an ox. It has been cleaned and polished, with a groove cut into it. He speaks aloud two sentences. "We will have a successful hunt today. We will not have a successful hunt today." Then, he presses a heated bronze point into the bone. As the temperature shifts, the bone cracks.
The diviner examines the cracks. He looks up to his king and smiles. "We will have a successful hunt today." The bone is handed to the Inscriber, who etches into the bone the date, the question, and the answer.
This is some of our earliest knowledge about civilizations in China: Oracle Bones from the Shang Dynasty.
There are two primary river basins in China: the Huang He, or Yellow River, and the Yangtze River. The Shang Dynasty grew from the An-yang River, north of the Yellow River (Huang He), and defines the period from 1600-1100 BC. The Oracle Bones, as described above, are one of the earlier written records of Chinese civilization, and due to their meticulous detail, provide some valuable insight into the culture of the dynasty and how that culture has grown, adapted, and shifted over the years.
It's interesting to note, that the inscriptions on oracle bones can be interpreted by modern scientists because the Chinese written language has actually stayed fairly constant across the millenia.
In another life, one where I had more attention to detail and tolerance for minutiae and repetition, I was probably an anthropologist. The demands of scientific rigor just don't suit me.
Zaijian (goodbye, literally "see again"),
-L
Tuesday, September 4, 2018
Don't mind me, I'm just Babeling
The New Yorker inquires about Hyperpolyglots
I've long known that polyglots were a thing. I've known a couple over the years. I've known that in regions of high cultural exchange (Turkey, for some reason, being among the first examples that springs to mind, though much of Europe also qualifies), it's not only common but almost necessary for people to be polylingual. A casual example in the article shows a cab driver who speaks to different groups in his social circle in about five different languages total, none of which is the English he uses professionally.
Some small part of me, whenever I hear about this, is somewhat disappointed in America. A hub of the entire world, culturally and economically, and we're the ones to NIMBY the fuck out of everyone. "You're in America, we speak English." Linguistic gatekeeping.
It is what it is. It's one of many things I'm sort of pulling away from by leaving. And I know, of course, this attitude isn't unique to the US. Brexit is borne of the same attitude.
This is getting rambly and aggressively political. Apologies. I'll try to drift back to the more personal, and positive.
I don't believe I have the discipline, nor the energy, and certainly not the disposable income, to dedicate hours in a day to meticulous and regimented study of language. Nor do I have the social fluidity to go out and just engage with people like the primary 'source' in the article does. What I do know is that I pick things up remarkably quickly when I have the right input. I know that in most of my language classes dating back to first grade, I've outpaced most of my peers and at times stymied my teachers. Mom told me some years ago that after my first year at a bilingual English/Spanish school, the teachers were struggling to find a place for me that would balance my educational/academic needs and pace with the sheer rapidity with which I was picking up Spanish.
Damned if I remember more than five words of it, of course.
That's the privilege of being American: I learn English and the rest of the world sort of bends around me to meet it. That's changing as the US becomes less of a dominant superpower, and globalization introduces focal areas and specializations from a wider variety of countries.
I don't remember when I first began dreaming of having a dazzling command of languages. Of being able to speak to almost anyone in their native tongue, or in a shared additional. I remember a scene in the book "Left Behind," wherein two characters goes to the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. There, a couple prophets have taken up residence preaching about the causes and results of the rapture and the greatest-ever need for God's presence (or something - it's been a long time). One of the characters goes to a few different people in the crowd, converses with them in their L1, and learns that each is understanding the prophets in their native language.
And I remember thinking, holy shit I want that. I want to be able to approach almost anyone and have a conversation fluidly or fluently with them.
In high school, there was a brief period where I was taking Latin, maintaining German, and self-teaching Russian all at once. And it was pretty satisfying.
But while that interest hasn't waned, my extroversion has. I'm less comfortable in groups, meeting new people, putting myself out there than I ever have been. Too many years of comfortable seclusion.
It is my strongest intention to change that. Not necessarily to become an extrovert - I'm not sure that can be changed. But to resist that inertial isolation and push myself to engage in foreign ways.
Harbin is, as I believe I mentioned elsewhere, often recognized as one of the best places to learn Mandarin, due to its relatively 'pure' dialect ("putonghua"); as an analogy, consider the "universal dialect" or "neutral dialect" practiced by broadcasters and news reporters - that is essentially the "putonghua" of the US.
What I've also realized, however, is that due to the political history of the region and proximity to other countries, it's entirely likely that Harbin will also be an excellent place to learn both Russian and Japanese. Atop that, TEFL teachers can come from several different countries - basically any where English is the native/national language. A quick google search turned up this Quora answer, wherein one can see that English is frequently alongside other languages in many other countries as a 'national language.' A TEFL teacher from South Africa is not unheard of, despite this reply suggesting they have eleven recognized national languages.
The opportunity to learn is considerable. And from my conversations with current teachers at the school where I'm headed, there is a reasonable amount of free time during most weeks.
TEFL can take me all over the world. My desire to learn languages might drive me beyond China; depending on how I like the city (or the country) and how much the actual exposure and opportunity to learn draw my brain out of its shell...
Well...there's a reason I've told everyone who asks, "I have no idea how long I'll be gone."
'Til next time. Zaijian (goodbye)
-L
I've long known that polyglots were a thing. I've known a couple over the years. I've known that in regions of high cultural exchange (Turkey, for some reason, being among the first examples that springs to mind, though much of Europe also qualifies), it's not only common but almost necessary for people to be polylingual. A casual example in the article shows a cab driver who speaks to different groups in his social circle in about five different languages total, none of which is the English he uses professionally.
Some small part of me, whenever I hear about this, is somewhat disappointed in America. A hub of the entire world, culturally and economically, and we're the ones to NIMBY the fuck out of everyone. "You're in America, we speak English." Linguistic gatekeeping.
It is what it is. It's one of many things I'm sort of pulling away from by leaving. And I know, of course, this attitude isn't unique to the US. Brexit is borne of the same attitude.
This is getting rambly and aggressively political. Apologies. I'll try to drift back to the more personal, and positive.
I don't believe I have the discipline, nor the energy, and certainly not the disposable income, to dedicate hours in a day to meticulous and regimented study of language. Nor do I have the social fluidity to go out and just engage with people like the primary 'source' in the article does. What I do know is that I pick things up remarkably quickly when I have the right input. I know that in most of my language classes dating back to first grade, I've outpaced most of my peers and at times stymied my teachers. Mom told me some years ago that after my first year at a bilingual English/Spanish school, the teachers were struggling to find a place for me that would balance my educational/academic needs and pace with the sheer rapidity with which I was picking up Spanish.
Damned if I remember more than five words of it, of course.
That's the privilege of being American: I learn English and the rest of the world sort of bends around me to meet it. That's changing as the US becomes less of a dominant superpower, and globalization introduces focal areas and specializations from a wider variety of countries.
I don't remember when I first began dreaming of having a dazzling command of languages. Of being able to speak to almost anyone in their native tongue, or in a shared additional. I remember a scene in the book "Left Behind," wherein two characters goes to the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. There, a couple prophets have taken up residence preaching about the causes and results of the rapture and the greatest-ever need for God's presence (or something - it's been a long time). One of the characters goes to a few different people in the crowd, converses with them in their L1, and learns that each is understanding the prophets in their native language.
And I remember thinking, holy shit I want that. I want to be able to approach almost anyone and have a conversation fluidly or fluently with them.
In high school, there was a brief period where I was taking Latin, maintaining German, and self-teaching Russian all at once. And it was pretty satisfying.
But while that interest hasn't waned, my extroversion has. I'm less comfortable in groups, meeting new people, putting myself out there than I ever have been. Too many years of comfortable seclusion.
It is my strongest intention to change that. Not necessarily to become an extrovert - I'm not sure that can be changed. But to resist that inertial isolation and push myself to engage in foreign ways.
Harbin is, as I believe I mentioned elsewhere, often recognized as one of the best places to learn Mandarin, due to its relatively 'pure' dialect ("putonghua"); as an analogy, consider the "universal dialect" or "neutral dialect" practiced by broadcasters and news reporters - that is essentially the "putonghua" of the US.
What I've also realized, however, is that due to the political history of the region and proximity to other countries, it's entirely likely that Harbin will also be an excellent place to learn both Russian and Japanese. Atop that, TEFL teachers can come from several different countries - basically any where English is the native/national language. A quick google search turned up this Quora answer, wherein one can see that English is frequently alongside other languages in many other countries as a 'national language.' A TEFL teacher from South Africa is not unheard of, despite this reply suggesting they have eleven recognized national languages.
The opportunity to learn is considerable. And from my conversations with current teachers at the school where I'm headed, there is a reasonable amount of free time during most weeks.
TEFL can take me all over the world. My desire to learn languages might drive me beyond China; depending on how I like the city (or the country) and how much the actual exposure and opportunity to learn draw my brain out of its shell...
Well...there's a reason I've told everyone who asks, "I have no idea how long I'll be gone."
'Til next time. Zaijian (goodbye)
-L
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