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Fengsu Tongyi (Chinese :風俗通義; lit.'Comprehensive Meaning of Customs and Mores'), [1] also known as Fengsu Tong (风俗通), is a book written about 195 AD by Ying Shao, who lived during the later Eastern Han period. The manuscript is similar to an almanac, which describes various strange and exotic matters of interest to the literati of the period, such as cultural practices, mystical beliefs, and musical instruments.
There were originally a total of 30 chapters, but only 10 remain. These chapters were recompiled by the Northern Song scientist Su Song (蘇頌) from the works of Yu Zhongrong (庾仲容) and Ma Zong (馬總). Some fragments of the lost chapters exist as quotations in other Chinese texts [2] .
The twenty lost chapters are: Xinzheng 心政, Guzhi 古制, Yinjiao 陰教, Bianhuo 辨惑, Xidang 析當, Shudu 恕度, Jiahao 嘉號, Zhengcheng 徽稱, Qingyu 情遇, Xingshi 姓氏, Huipian 諱篇, Shiji 釋忌, Jishi 輯事, Fuyao 服妖, Sangji 喪祭, Gongshi 宮室, Shijing 市井, Shuji 數紀, Xinqin 新秦, and Yufa 獄法.
The Chinese classics or canonical texts are the works of Chinese literature authored prior to the establishment of the imperial Qin dynasty in 221 BC. Prominent examples include the Four Books and Five Classics in the Neo-Confucian tradition, themselves an abridgment of the Thirteen Classics. The Chinese classics used a form of written Chinese consciously imitated by later authors, now known as Classical Chinese. A common Chinese word for "classic" literally means 'warp thread', in reference to the techniques by which works of this period were bound into volumes.
The Shiji, often known in English as Records of the Grand Historian or The Grand Scribe's Records, is a Chinese historical text that is the first of the Twenty-Four Histories of imperial China. It was written during the late 2nd and early 1st centuries BC by the Han dynasty historian Sima Qian, building upon work begun by his father Sima Tan. The work covers a 2,500-year period from the age of the legendary Yellow Emperor to the reign of Emperor Wu of Han in the author's own time, and describes the world as it was known to the Chinese of the Western Han dynasty.
The Twenty-Four Histories, also known as the Orthodox Histories, are the Chinese official dynastic histories covering from the earliest dynasty in 3000 BC to the Ming dynasty in the 17th century.
The Zhan Guo Ce, also known in English as the Strategies of the Warring States or Annals of the Warring States, is an ancient Chinese text that contains anecdotes of political manipulation and warfare during the Warring States period. It is an important text of the Warring States period as it describes the strategies and political views of the School of Diplomacy and reveals the historical and social characteristics of the period.
The pipa, pípá, or p'i-p'a is a traditional Chinese musical instrument belonging to the plucked category of instruments. Sometimes called the "Chinese lute", the instrument has a pear-shaped wooden body with a varying number of frets ranging from 12 to 31. Another Chinese four-string plucked lute is the liuqin, which looks like a smaller version of the pipa. The pear-shaped instrument may have existed in China as early as the Han dynasty, and although historically the term pipa was once used to refer to a variety of plucked chordophones, its usage since the Song dynasty refers exclusively to the pear-shaped instrument.
Zongzi, rouzong, or simply zong is a traditional Chinese rice dish made of glutinous rice stuffed with different fillings and wrapped in bamboo leaves. Fillings can be either sweet, such as red bean paste, or savory, such as pork belly or Chinese sausage. The bamboo for wrapping the zongzi is generally of the species Indocalamus tessellatus, although sometimes reed or other large flat leaves may be used. Zongzi are cooked by steaming or boiling. People in the Eastern world often translate this dish into English as rice dumplings or sticky rice dumplings, although the Chinese government has registered Zongzi as the formal name in global use.
The Erya or Erh-ya is the first surviving Chinese dictionary. The sinologist Bernhard Karlgren concluded that "the major part of its glosses must reasonably date from the 3rd century BC."
The Book of Wei, also known by its Chinese name as the Wei Shu, is a classic Chinese historical text compiled by Wei Shou from 551 to 554, and is an important text describing the history of the Northern Wei and Eastern Wei from 386 to 550. Widely regarded as the official and authoritative source historical text for that period, it is one of the Twenty-Four Histories.
Kuai was a Chinese dish consisting of finely cut strips of raw meat or fish, which was popular in the early Chinese dynasties. According to the Book of Rites compiled between 202 BCE and 220 CE, kuai consists of small thin slices or strips of raw meat, which are prepared by first thinly slicing the meat and then cutting the thin slices into strips. In modern times, the dishes are more often referred to as "raw fish slices" or as "yusheng". The type of fish commonly used in ancient times included carp and mandarin fish, while in modern times salmon is commonly used.
Zhang Xuecheng was a Chinese historian and philosopher during the Qing dynasty. His father and his grandfather had been government officials, but, although Zhang achieved the highest civil service examination degree in 1778, he never held high office. Zhang's ideas about the historical process were revolutionary in many ways and he became one of the most enlightened historical theorists of the Qing dynasty, but he spent much of his life in near poverty without the support of a patron and, in 1801, he died, poor and with few friends. It was not until the late 19th century that Chinese scholars began to accept the validity of Zhang's ideas.
The Xunyu is the name of an ancient nomadic tribe which invaded China during legendary times. They are traditionally identified with the Guifang, the Xianyun and the Xiongnu.
Chunwei is a name associated with the Xiongnu, a tribal confederation of nomadic peoples who, according to ancient Chinese sources, inhabited the eastern Eurasian Steppe from the 3rd century BC to the late 1st century AD.
Ying Shao (c.144–204), courtesy name Zhongyuan, was a Chinese politician, writer and historian who lived during the Eastern Han dynasty. He was an author of the Fengsu Tongyi, an encyclopedic work about the folk customs and legends that existed in the Eastern Han dynasty. Ying Shao occupied official posts in the Han government, and in his official position he was an active participant in imperial politics. He was a long-time close associate of Cao Cao; he was extensively covered in volumes 9, 35, 71 and 103 of the historical text Book of the Later Han.
Bai Hu Tong is a Confucian text based on the White Tiger Hall Conference held in 79 CE.
Bailang or Pai-lang is the earliest recorded Tibeto-Burman language, known from three short songs, totalling 44 four-syllable lines, recorded in a commentary on the Book of the Later Han. The language is clearly either Lolo–Burmese or closely related, but as of the 1970s it presented "formidable problems of interpretation, which have been only partially solved".
The Yuanhe Xingzuan is an imperial Tang dynasty register of the genealogies of China's prominent families. It was compiled by Lin Bao (林寶), on the order of Emperor Xianzong, whose era name was Yuanhe. The book was completed in 812 and records 1,232 surnames.
Jí is the Mandarin pinyin romanization of the Chinese surname written 汲 in Chinese character. It is romanized as Chi in Wade–Giles, and Kap in Cantonese. Ji is listed 213th in the Song dynasty classic text Hundred Family Surnames. It is not among the 300 most common surnames in China.
The Mozi, also called the Mojing or the Mohist canon, is an ancient Chinese text from the Warring States period (476–221 BC) that expounds the philosophy of Mohism. It propounds such Mohist ideals as impartiality, meritocratic governance, economic growth and aversion to ostentation, and is known for its plain and simple language.
Shenshu or Shentu and Yulü or Yulei are a pair of deities in Chinese mythology who punished evil spirits by binding them in reed ropes and feeding them to tigers. Their images together with reed rope seasonally adorned the doors or gates to ward off evil, and are considered the earliest examples of Menshen venerated under such practice. Later traditions identified other gods or deified people as gate deities.
Bak Tongsa is a textbook of colloquial northern Chinese published by the Bureau of Interpreters in Korea in various editions between the 14th and 18th centuries. Like the contemporaneous Nogeoldae, it is an important source on both Late Middle Korean and the history of Mandarin Chinese. The Nogeoldae consists of dialogues and focuses on travelling merchants, but Bak Tongsa is a narrative text covering society and culture.
