List of forms of government
90-582: Chenla or Zhenla ( Chinese : 真臘 ; pinyin : Zhēnlà ; Wade–Giles : Chen-la ; Khmer : ចេនឡា , romanized : Chénla , Khmer pronunciation: [ceːnlaː] ; Vietnamese : Chân Lạp ) is the Chinese designation for the vessel of the kingdom of Funan preceding the Khmer Empire that existed from around the late 6th to the early 9th century in Indochina . The name
180-588: A retronym applied to non-simplified character sets in the wake of widespread use of simplified characters. Traditional characters are commonly used in Taiwan , Hong Kong , and Macau , as well as in most overseas Chinese communities outside of Southeast Asia. As for non-Chinese languages written using Chinese characters, Japanese kanji include many simplified characters known as shinjitai standardized after World War II, sometimes distinct from their simplified Chinese counterparts . Korean hanja , still used to
270-643: A Cakravartin whereas the inscription from Pak Mun in Ubon/Thailand informs us that the name of the father of Vīravarman was called Sārvabhauma. All these inscriptions refer to a large territory ruled by these kings. It is recorded in the inscription from Robaṅ Romãs at Īśānapura (the archaeological site of Sambor Prei Kuk ) that a certain Narasiṃhagupta, who was vassal ( samāntanṛpa ) of the successive kings Bhavavarman, Mahendravarman (the ruling name of Citrasena) and Īśānavarman erected on 13 April 598 during
360-529: A Cham army in 790, then moved to north of the Tonle Sap, established the city of Hariharalaya, 15 kilometers south of Angkor. Individually, historians reject a classical decline scenario, arguing there was no Chenla to begin with, rather a geographic region had been subject to prolonged periods of contested rule, with turbulent successions and an obvious incapability to establish a lasting centre of gravity. Historiography ends this era of nameless upheaval only in
450-509: A certain extent in South Korea , remain virtually identical to traditional characters, with variations between the two forms largely stylistic. There has historically been a debate on traditional and simplified Chinese characters . Because the simplifications are fairly systematic, it is possible to convert computer-encoded characters between the two sets, with the main issue being ambiguities in simplified representations resulting from
540-443: A certain king Candravarman, known from the undated inscription K. 1142 of unknown origin who hailed from the family of Īśānavarman. The son of Candravarman was the famous king Jayavarman I whose earliest inscriptions are from Tûol Kôk Práḥ, province Prei Vêṅ (K. 493) and from Bàsêt, province Bằttaṃbaṅ (K. 447), both dated 14 June 657. Some 19 or 20 inscriptions dating from his reign have been found in an area extending from Vat Phu'u in
630-422: A council of leading citizens was commonly empowered. That was contrasted with representative democracy in which a council of citizens was appointed as the "senate" of a city state or other political unit. The Greeks did not like the concept of monarchy, and as their democratic system fell, aristocracy was upheld. In his 1651 book Leviathan , Thomas Hobbes describes an aristocracy as a commonwealth in which
720-522: A diverse community in Chenla. According to the Indian historian Himanchu Prabha Ray, Buddhism was an effective motivating factor in the expansion of maritime trading networks from India to eastern lands while Brahmanic Hinduism revolved more around an agrarian economy. Despite Hinduism and Buddhism apparently playing an important role in royal cults, textual evidence suggests they were only widely practiced by
810-598: A large following; however, as rulers gained more power moving away from the commoners horizon, a shift from measure of capability towards patrilineal descent occurred. Adoption of the idea of the Hindu state with its consecrated military leader, the "Varman"—protector king was the ideological basis for control and supremacy. All essential elements of Bhavavarman's life and most of his descendants are known only through epigraphy. Interpreted as to be Vīravarman's successor and after gaining independence ("he has conquered his throne at
900-425: A means to increase their power, in reality, these structures might have been taking away valuable land and citizens from the empire; the taxes collected by the temples could have meant more wealth for the leader. However, these structures may also be factor that stabilized the kingdom and allowed the king to expand and attract more civilians who followed Hindu beliefs as Hinduism served as a reason for people to follow
990-658: A patriarchal society, thus some aspects of the earlier society were retained. Many commoners were assigned to serve as workers that cleaned, cooked, and built temples and shrines without any compensation. From analyzing ancient inscriptions, Judith Jacob has discovered that there were fourteen categories of slaves in Chenla distinguished by different origins and kinds of duties. These groups of people could be bought, sold, and given away, having no freedom to escape because their parents were in need of money or they had to pay off debts that they contracted or were passed on in their family. The wealth of Chenla and its surrounding territories
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#17327661952281080-564: A powerful political force. The English Civil War involved the first sustained organised effort to reduce aristocratic power in Europe. In the 18th century, the rising merchant class attempted to use money to buy into the aristocracy, with some success. However, the French Revolution in the 1790s forced many French aristocrats into exile and caused consternation and shock in the aristocratic families of neighbouring countries. After
1170-560: A process of Indianization to consolidate and magnify their rule. A sculpture called Harihara, a combined form of Vishnu and Shiva, is also frequently depicted in religious establishments. This could portray a Chenla belief that there is an equal balance between creation and destruction in the universe and that when one substance is terminated, another is produced to replace it. Other Hindu gods Brahma and Indra along with deities such as Krishna Govardhana, Lakshmi, etc. were also worshipped. An epigraph from Siem Reap Province testified that during
1260-405: A ruler Vīravarman , who as his name suggests (his father's name was Sārvabhauma) had adopted the idea of divine kingship and deployed the concept of Harihara , a Hindu "god that embodied multiple conceptions of power". His successors continued this tradition, thus conveying the idea of a correlation between political and religious authority. The New Book of Tang asserts that shortly after 706,
1350-450: A temple was constructed on its summit. Vat Phou is an enormously impressive Khmer Hindu temple located at the base of Mount Phu Kao in Laos, which leads theorists to speculate that Phu Kao is the mountain that is referenced in the passage and that Wat Phou could be the temple mentioned; however this view is not accepted by modern scholarship. Authors Claude Jacques and Michael Vickery question
1440-535: A translation of its Chinese name as "Pure Beeswax", which was one of its regional commodities mentioned in Chinese annals. It has been suggested that the name means "Defeated Siam" as Zhenla has been reconstructed to Tsienliäp in Tang dynasty pronunciation , which is similar in sound to the Cambodian town Siem Reap whose name is often taken to mean "Flattened Siam". However, it has been pointed out that this derivation
1530-428: A tribe, a nation or a people is at odds with the Cambodian legends of origin. Folklore follows an unflinching narrative like that of a single ruler such as King Devanika - the reconsecrated maharajadhiraja (king of kings) of Mount Phu Kao where "the people that lived in the region along with the people who came with Devanika, became the forerunners of the prosperous Khmer people". The Tang histories mentioned that after
1620-869: Is 産 (also the accepted form in Japan and Korea), while in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan the accepted form is 產 (also the accepted form in Vietnamese chữ Nôm ). The PRC tends to print material intended for people in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, and overseas Chinese in traditional characters. For example, versions of the People's Daily are printed in traditional characters, and both People's Daily and Xinhua have traditional character versions of their website available, using Big5 encoding. Mainland companies selling products in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan use traditional characters in order to communicate with consumers;
1710-504: Is a misconception by Chinese chroniclers. Most modern historians assert that "Chenla" was in fact just a series of loose and temporary confederations of principalities in the pre-Angkor period. "Chenla" or "Zhenla" was the name given in Chinese accounts of an entity that sent tributes to Chinese emperors. The word "Chenla" or "Zhenla" and likewise Funan are unknown in the Old Khmer language. Folk etymology attempts to link Chenla (真臘) to
1800-485: Is doubtful. Land Zhēnlà sent an embassy to China in 717, aided Mai Thúc Loan 's rebellion against the Chinese (722–723). Another embassy visiting China in 750 came probably from Water Zhēnlà. According to the Chinese Annals a son of the king of Wèndān had visited Chinas in 753 and joined a Chinese army during a campaign against Nanzhao ( Chinese : 南詔 ; pinyin : Nánzhāo ) in the following year. After
1890-761: Is identical with Jayavarman II, the founding father of the Angkorian kingdom, as Vickery has pointed out: "Not only was Jayavarman II from the South; more than any other known king, he had particularly close links with Vyādhapura. This place is recorded in only one pre-Angkor inscription, K. 109/655 [exactly: 10th February 656], but in 16 Angkor-period texts, the last dated 1069 [K. 449 from Pàlhàl, dated Sunday, 3rd May 1069] ... Two of them, K. 425/968 and K. 449/1069, are explicit records of Jayavarman II taking people from Vyādhapura to settle in Battambang ." According to
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#17327661952281980-499: Is not in modern times understood in opposition to oligarchy or strictly as a form of government, with entitled nobility as in monarchies or aristocratic merchant republics . Its original classical understanding has been taken up by the modern concepts that can be loosely equivalent to meritocracy or technocracy . Aristocracies dominated political and economic power for most of the medieval and modern periods almost everywhere in Europe, using their wealth and land ownership to form
2070-422: Is problematic as conflicts between Siam and Cambodia occurred centuries after the name was first used. Therefore, although the names Chenla and Siem Reap could perhaps be related, Michael Vickery argued that the original meanings of both names are unknown. Similar explanation however may apply to a later variant form Zhanla (占臘); according to author Peter Harris: "It very likely means 'Defeated Chams ' since Zhan
2160-545: Is that of his first embassy to the court of Suí China in 616–17. This king is also known from his own inscriptions, one incised at Īśānapura, dated 13 September 627 AD (K. 604), the other one at Khău Nôy (Thailand), dated 7 May 637 (K. 506). After Īśānavarman, who ceased to reign around 637, the inscriptions tell us of a king named Bhavavarman (II). The only dated inscriptions we have from him, are that of Tà Kev (K. 79), dated 5 January 644 and of Poñā Hòr south of Tà Kev (K. 21). dated Wednesday, 25 March 655. Then seemingly follows
2250-709: Is the founder of a new capital - Isanapura north of the Tonlé Sap (the archaeological site of Sambor Prei Kuk ). His son Bhavavarman II - is mentioned only once in an inscription in the year 644. Jayavarman I is the last ruler of a united Chenla. He is the son and successor of the obscure Candravarman. During the reign of the Funan empire, residents were still burying their dead with grave goods , but also practicing cremation , according to archaeological finds. Both Hinduism and Buddhism arrived in Southeast Asia through
2340-725: Is the word in Chinese for Cham." He also noted the explanation given in Mingshi : "During the qingyuan reign period (1195–1200) of the Song dynasty, Cambodia wiped out Champa and took over its land. Because of this, the country changed its name to Zhanla. But during the Yuan dynasty it went on being called Zhenla." Chen La may have been known through several other names such as Wen Dan (文單 reconstructed as Muntal , maybe mandala ) or according to Tatsuo Hoshino Po-Lou, Wen Dan being its capital. Following Hindu god king ( devaraja ) tradition
2430-493: The Chinese Commercial News , World News , and United Daily News all use traditional characters, as do some Hong Kong–based magazines such as Yazhou Zhoukan . The Philippine Chinese Daily uses simplified characters. DVDs are usually subtitled using traditional characters, influenced by media from Taiwan as well as by the two countries sharing the same DVD region , 3. With most having immigrated to
2520-459: The Kensiu language . Aristocracy Aristocracy (from Ancient Greek ἀριστοκρατίᾱ ( aristokratíā ) 'rule of the best'; from ἄριστος ( áristos ) 'best' and κράτος ( krátos ) 'power, strength') is a form of government that places power in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class , the aristocrats . At the time of
2610-598: The Khmer Empire was established in the early 9th century. By the close of the century, the Chenla region was dotted with temples and shrines to the Hindu Gods. Many commoners were involved in the upkeep of these religious complexes and citizens of Chenla were expected to donate land, goods, and slaves to them. The great temple foundations consisted of their own holdings of land and people, functioning as powerful corporations; even minor temples had establishments and collected taxes. While kings had established these temples as
2700-564: The Roman Constitution used the concept of aristocracy to describe his conception of a republic as a mixed form of government, along with democracy and monarchy in their conception from then, as a system of checks and balances , where each element checks the excesses of the other. In modern times , aristocracy was usually seen as rule by a privileged group, the aristocratic class , and has since been contrasted with democracy . The concept evolved in ancient Greece in which
2790-640: The Shanghainese -language character U+20C8E 𠲎 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-20C8E —a composition of 伐 with the ⼝ 'MOUTH' radical—used instead of the Standard Chinese 嗎 ; 吗 . Typefaces often use the initialism TC to signify the use of traditional Chinese characters, as well as SC for simplified Chinese characters . In addition, the Noto, Italy family of typefaces, for example, also provides separate fonts for
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2880-592: The philosopher king . Plato describes "philosopher kings" as "those who love the sight of truth" ( Republic 475c) and supports the idea with the analogy of a captain and his ship or a doctor and his medicine. According to him, sailing and health are not things that everyone is qualified to practice by nature. A large part of the Republic then addresses how the educational system should be set up to produce philosopher kings. In contrast to its original conceptual drawing by Aristotle in classical antiquity , aristocracy
2970-457: The Chenla elite. Farmers outside the urban centres generally had Khmer names rather than Sanskrit names, and paid tribute to regional landowners carrying the Khmer title poñ , who constructed temples dedicated to both Hindu and local deities. Wealth and power in these outlying agricultural regions was transmitted through the female line of inheritance, indicating matrilineal succession was probably
3060-713: The Chinese Sui dynasty contains entries of a state called Chenla, a vassal of the Kingdom of Funan, which had sent an embassy to China in 616 or 617, yet under its ruler, Citrasena Mahendravarman, conquered Funan after Chenla had gained independence. Like its superior Funan, Chenla occupied a strategic position where the maritime trade routes of the Indosphere and the East Asian cultural sphere converged, resulting in prolonged socio-economic and cultural influence and
3150-411: The Chinese annals, for its reconstruction. Michael Vickery suggests that ancient authors allocated the name "Chenla" to numerous small principalities and bundled them up as one singular entity in order to classify a larger number of people under the same characteristics, omitting distinctions between individual states. This approach explains why there was a noticeable increase in stone inscriptions during
3240-520: The Chinese are misleading and meaningless because the best evidence shows that until 802 AD, there was no single, great state in the land of ancient Cambodia, but a number of smaller ones. In the view of the historian Sujit Wongthes , Land Chenla is located in Isan (northeast Thailand), while Water Chenla is situated on the Tonlé Sap area in Cambodia. The number of inscriptions declined sharply during
3330-676: The Funan trade networks. A few surviving inscriptions with verses in Sanskrit and some small statuary and other relics are physical indications of both Buddhist and Hindu belief systems present in Funan culture. The transition from Funan to Chenla is not clearly understood, but by the 6th century CE, the Kingdom of Chenla was established, with Chinese sources suggesting a people speaking the Khmer language conquered Funan and founded Chenla. Archaeological evidence indicates Sambor Prei Kuk ( Isanapura )
3420-530: The Kambujas, with the celestial nymph Mera, who was given to him by Siva." The king Srutavarman was born of this couple, who was followed by his son, king Sreshthavarman. This king gave his name to Sreshthapura - believed to be Vat Phou. At the end of the sixth century, Bhavavarman and Chitrasena (royal title: Mahendravarman ) attacked Funan together and subdued it around 627–649. The obvious fact that Funan and Chenla are "vague concepts" that do not apply to
3510-555: The People's Republic of China, traditional Chinese characters are standardised according to the Table of Comparison between Standard, Traditional and Variant Chinese Characters . Dictionaries published in mainland China generally show both simplified and their traditional counterparts. There are differences between the accepted traditional forms in mainland China and elsewhere, for example the accepted traditional form of 产 in mainland China
3600-532: The United States during the second half of the 19th century, Chinese Americans have long used traditional characters. When not providing both, US public notices and signs in Chinese are generally written in traditional characters, more often than in simplified characters. In the past, traditional Chinese was most often encoded on computers using the Big5 standard, which favored traditional characters. However,
3690-468: The Wèndān embassy in the year 771 the heir-apparent Pómí ( Chinese : 婆彌 ) came to the imperial court and, on 13 December 771, he received there the title "Kaifu Yitong Sansi" ( Chinese : 開府儀同三司 ; pinyin : Kāifǔ Yítóng Sānsī ), one of the highest honorific titles. In 799 an envoy from Wèndān called Lītóují ( Chinese : 李頭及 ) received a Chinese title, too. As rulers of Śambhupura are attested by
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3780-641: The adoption of the epigraphic system of the south Indian Pallava dynasty and Chalukya dynasty . The origins of Chenla's aristocracy , whom author Michael Vickery called the "Dângrêk Chieftains", are obscure. These were local principalities north and south of the Dângrêk Mountains , who left behind the oldest known stone epigraphs in the region, bearing genealogical records that suggest increasing political dominance. The first known princes are mentioned in some early inscriptions. The Sanskrit inscription of Vãl Kantél, Stung Treng province names
3870-530: The burials had been carried out according to Hindu practice. Social status was determined based on one's knowledge of language, primarily Khmer or Sanskrit. Sanskrit was the language of the Gods, thus it was considered more valuable; the division between who worked the fields and who completed more worthy tasks was based on how well they knew Sanskrit. People who succeeded in educating themselves earned higher ranks such as being an official or even royal servant. However
3960-520: The central focus of the building. Sandstone was the prominent material utilized for more important temples and was derived from the Kulen Mountains. Because of its heavy weight, it required a lot of manpower, which usually involved slaves. Cremation burials lined with bricks were also discovered. These structures are supposed to be devoted to the veneration of members of the Brahmin caste since
4050-518: The country was split into Land Chenla [ km ] and Water Chenla [ km ] . The names signify a northern and a southern half, which may conveniently be referred to as Upper (northern) and Lower (southern) Chenla. By the late 8th century Water Chenla had become dependent on the thalassocratic Shailendra dynasty on Java and the Srivijaya city-state on Sumatra . The last of Water Chenla's kings seems to have been killed and
4140-401: The death of Jayavarman I (his last known inscription K. 561 is dated 681/82), turmoil came upon the kingdom and at the start of the 8th century, the kingdom broke up into many principalities. The region of Angkor was ruled by his daughter, Queen Jayadevī who complained in her Western Bàrày inscription K. 904, dated Wednesday, 5 April 713, of "bad times". The Táng histories tell us that after
4230-543: The defeat of Napoleon in 1814, some of the surviving exiles returned, but their position within French society was not recovered. Beginning in Britain, industrialization in the 19th century brought urbanization, with wealth increasingly concentrated in the cities, which absorbed political power. However, as late as 1900, aristocrats maintained political dominance in Britain, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Austria and Russia, but it
4320-589: The eighth century. However, some theorists, who have examined the Chinese transcripts, claim that Chenla started falling during the 700s as a result of both internal divisions and external attacks by the Shailendra dynasty of Java , who eventually took over and joined under the Angkor kingdom of Jayavarman II . According to the Sdok Kak Thom inscription (1053), Jayavarman II and his son Indrayudha defeated
4410-472: The end of the shénlóng (神龍) era (after 6 February 707) Zhēnlà came to be divided in two realms, Lùzhēnlà (陸真臘) ("Land Zhēnlà", also called Wèndān (文單) or Pólòu (婆鏤)) and Shuīzhēnlà (水真臘) ("Water Zhēnlà") and returned to the anarchic state that had existed before it was unified under the kings of Funan and the first kings of Zhēnlà. Kings like Śrutavarman and Śreṣṭhavarman or Puṣkarākṣa are only attested very much later in Angkorian inscriptions; their historicity
4500-426: The end of the reign of shénlóng ( 神龍 ) (i.e. after 6 February 707) Zhēnlà came to be divided in two realms, Lùzhēnlà ( 陸真臘 ) (" Land Chenla [ km ] ", also called Wèndān (文單) or Pólòu (婆鏤)) and Shuīzhēnlà ( 水真臘 ) (" Water Chenla [ km ] ") returned to the anarchic state that had existed before it was unified under the kings of Funan and the first kings of Chenla. On the other hand, Water Chenla
4590-434: The exact geographic origin, the extent, dynamic and chronology of territorial expansion and in particular, the religious and political center of Chenla and whether or not it consisted of a unified people under a single leader. Late 20th century scholars "began cautiously to move away from the established historiographical framework" which had been laid out mainly by George Cœdès , who relies on external sources, specifically
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#17327661952284680-444: The few) to be inherently better than the ideal form of rule by the many ( politeia ), but they also considered the corrupted form of aristocracy (oligarchy) to be worse than the corrupted form of democracy ( mob rule ). This belief was rooted in the assumption that the masses could only produce average policy, while the best of men could produce the best policy, if they were indeed the best of men. Later Polybius in his analysis of
4770-501: The identification of Phu Kao as Lingjiabopo /Lingaparvata because there are a number of hills in Cambodia that apply to the vague descriptions. Thus, the debate remains and the existence of Chenla as a unitary state or a capital at Vat Phou is questionable. Since there is not much evidence or writings from the time period, not much can be said about the region. The Chinese annals are one of the very few sources scholars can analyze and derive information from. The people of Chenla, whose base
4860-426: The inscription K. 124, dated 803/04 a king Indraloka and three successive queens, Nṛpatendradevī , Jayendrabhā and Jyeṣṭhāryā . Two inscriptions refer to a ruler named Jayavarman: the first one, K. 103, hails from Práḥ Thãt Práḥ Srĕi south of Kompoṅ Čàṃ, dated 20 April 770, the second one from Lobŏ'k Srót in the vicinity of Kračèḥ near Śambhupura (K. 134), dated 781. Cœdès called him Jayavarman Ibis, but probably he
4950-512: The inscription from Čăn Năk'ôn in Basăk/Laos (K. 363) Vīravarman was the father of Citrasena (royal title Mahendravarman ) who was the younger brother of Bhavavarman . Obviously both princes had the same mother, but different fathers, which was corroborated by the Si Tep inscription (in present-day Thailand ) giving the information that Bhavavarman was the son of a Prathivīndravarman and grandson of
5040-493: The inverse is equally true as well. In digital media, many cultural phenomena imported from Hong Kong and Taiwan into mainland China, such as music videos, karaoke videos, subtitled movies, and subtitled dramas, use traditional Chinese characters. In Hong Kong and Macau , traditional characters were retained during the colonial period, while the mainland adopted simplified characters. Simplified characters are contemporaneously used to accommodate immigrants and tourists, often from
5130-531: The king chose the Sanskrit name of a patron deity or an avatar , followed by the suffix –varman, meaning 'protected by', obeying the code of conduct Manusmṛti , the Laws of Manu for the Kshatriya warrior caste. Most of the Chinese recordings on Chenla, including that of Chenla conquering Funan have been contested since the 1970s as they are generally based on single remarks in the Chinese annals. The History of
5220-423: The king's rule. Also, incorporation of these establishments could appeal to foreigners who would bring their trade, business, and goods to the area, making it more economically efficient. The design of the temples and shrines was greatly influenced by the prosperous Gupta state of northern and central India. The temple complexes were brick and stone based with a protruding statue representing a Hindu God or Buddha as
5310-654: The kingdom. But by the time of early 7th century, Cambodian society was in an economic shift from trading orientation to more an agrarian focusing. Trading centers near the coast of Funan period were collapsing, while inland agrarian centers emerged. In the remains of the main port, Oc Eo, (now in Vietnam) materials from Rome, Greece and Persia have been found, as well as artifacts from India and neighboring states. Indian influences might have been so alluring because Indian merchants who traded with early Cambodians had wealth and were prosperous, qualities to strive for, therefore there
5400-454: The late 8th century, it was evidently that Buddhists in Cambodia worshipped bodhisattvas. Also originating from India, Buddhism, although not as preeminent as Hinduism, peacefully coexisted with Hinduism in Chenla; two schools of Buddhism were identified from a sculpture found that depicted twelve images of Buddha. This shows that the kings did not seem to enforce their religious views on their people and that influences of all kinds were creating
5490-509: The linga) in Champasak Province , Laos once belonging to the Khmer civilization. The local Vat Phou stele mentions the name of King Devanika (Fan Chen-ch'eng), king of kings - yet researchers do not relate the monarch to the "Dangrek Chieftains" . Contrary to the academic conclusions, Cambodian legend tells that "the origin of the kings of Cambodia goes back to the union of the hermit Kambu Svayambhuva , an eponymic ancestor of
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#17327661952285580-444: The local goddesses and gods and their ancestors in their own villages, while acknowledging the public Hindu and Buddhist cults, such as with occasional sacrifices and attending public ceremonies in Hindu temples in the cities. It's also possible that some local deities were absorbed into the Hindu pantheon . The Chenla kings maintained a liberal religious policy, allowing their subjects to practice their traditional local religions, until
5670-725: The mainland. The increasing use of simplified characters has led to concern among residents regarding protecting what they see as their local heritage. Taiwan has never adopted simplified characters. The use of simplified characters in government documents and educational settings is discouraged by the government of Taiwan. Nevertheless, with sufficient context simplified characters are likely to be successfully read by those used to traditional characters, especially given some previous exposure. Many simplified characters were previously variants that had long been in some use, with systematic stroke simplifications used in folk handwriting since antiquity. Traditional characters were recognized as
5760-682: The majority of Chinese text in mainland China are simplified characters , there is no legislation prohibiting the use of traditional Chinese characters, and often traditional Chinese characters remain in use for stylistic and commercial purposes, such as in shopfront displays and advertising. Traditional Chinese characters remain ubiquitous on buildings that predate the promulgation of the current simplification scheme, such as former government buildings, religious buildings, educational institutions, and historical monuments. Traditional Chinese characters continue to be used for ceremonial, cultural, scholarly/academic research, and artistic/decorative purposes. In
5850-477: The majority of residents who lacked the ability to gain Sanskrit names spent their lives producing a surplus for the benefit of temples and ancestral Gods. This depicts the impact Hinduism had on early Cambodian societies. Sanskrit, the language associated with Hinduism, was considered more valuable than the native Khmer language. This may show that the society before Indianization occurred in early South East Asia
5940-983: The merging of previously distinct character forms. Many Chinese online newspapers allow users to switch between these character sets. Traditional characters are known by different names throughout the Chinese-speaking world. The government of Taiwan officially refers to traditional Chinese characters as 正體字 ; 正体字 ; zhèngtǐzì ; 'orthodox characters'. This term is also used outside Taiwan to distinguish standard characters, including both simplified, and traditional, from other variants and idiomatic characters . Users of traditional characters elsewhere, as well as those using simplified characters, call traditional characters 繁體字 ; 繁体字 ; fántǐzì ; 'complex characters', 老字 ; lǎozì ; 'old characters', or 全體字 ; 全体字 ; quántǐzì ; 'full characters' to distinguish them from simplified characters. Some argue that since traditional characters are often
6030-452: The middle of the 20th century, when various countries that use Chinese characters began standardizing simplified sets of characters, often with characters that existed before as well-known variants of the predominant forms. Simplified characters as codified by the People's Republic of China are predominantly used in mainland China , Malaysia, and Singapore. "Traditional" as such is
6120-628: The north to the Gulf of Siam in the south. According to the Xīn Táng shū the kingdom of Zhēnlà had conquered different principalities in Northwestern Cambodia after the end of the Chinese era name yǒnghuī (永徽) (i. e. after 31 January 656), which previously (in 638/39) paid tribute to China. The reign of Jayavarman I lasted about thirty years and ended perhaps after 690. It seems that after
6210-613: The official script in Singapore until 1969, when the government officially adopted Simplified characters. Traditional characters still are widely used in contexts such as in baby and corporation names, advertisements, decorations, official documents and in newspapers. The Chinese Filipino community continues to be one of the most conservative in Southeast Asia regarding simplification. Although major public universities teach in simplified characters, many well-established Chinese schools still use traditional characters. Publications such as
6300-410: The original norm in Southeast Asia. The local deities worshipped were usually female, and there is also evidence of ancestor worship . Although most of these local temples were built out of wood, and were thus lost, written documents make clear they were the norm in the Kingdom of Chenla. No doubt some locals converted to the new Indian religions, but the vast majority of the population probably venerated
6390-700: The original standard forms, they should not be called 'complex'. Conversely, there is a common objection to the description of traditional characters as 'standard', due to them not being used by a large population of Chinese speakers. Additionally, as the process of Chinese character creation often made many characters more elaborate over time, there is sometimes a hesitation to characterize them as 'traditional'. Some people refer to traditional characters as 'proper characters' ( 正字 ; zhèngzì or 正寫 ; zhèngxiě ) and to simplified characters as 簡筆字 ; 简笔字 ; jiǎnbǐzì ; 'simplified-stroke characters' or 減筆字 ; 减笔字 ; jiǎnbǐzì ; 'reduced-stroke characters', as
6480-514: The polity incorporated into the Javanese monarchy around the year 790. Land Chenla maintained its integrity under Jayavarman II , who proclaimed the Khmer Empire in 802. Originally one of the regional centers of Funan with an unknown degree of sovereignty, Chenla was recognized by a foreign power as a separate political entity at the end of the sixth century, Bhavavarman I its independent ruler. Considerable scholarly discord prevails regarding
6570-546: The reign of Bhavavarman a figure of Kalpavāsudeva (Vishnu). Traditional Chinese characters Traditional Chinese characters are a standard set of Chinese character forms used to write Chinese languages . In Taiwan , the set of traditional characters is regulated by the Ministry of Education and standardized in the Standard Form of National Characters . These forms were predominant in written Chinese until
6660-453: The representative of the citizens is an assembly by part only. It is a system in which only a small part of the population represents the government; "certain men distinguished from the rest". Modern depictions of aristocracy tend to regard it not as the ancient Greek concept of rule by the best, but more as an oligarchy or plutocracy —rule by the few or the wealthy. The concept of aristocracy according to Plato has an ideal state ruled by
6750-483: The rulers' children performed best and were better endowed with the attributes that make a person fit to rule compared with every other citizen in the polity. Hereditary rule in this understanding is more related to oligarchy , a corrupted form of aristocracy where there is rule by a few, but not by the best. Plato , Socrates , Aristotle, Xenophon , and the Spartans considered aristocracy (the ideal form of rule by
6840-428: The seventh century. Multiple independent territories would produce their own recordings and written regulations, whereas in one polity only a tiny elite would be allowed access to such tasks. Before historians had begun to analyse and use epigraphic sources in great numbers, all available evidence supported the idea that the center of the Chenla principality must be located at Mount Phu Kao - Lingaparvata (the mountain of
6930-531: The tip of his sword") ruler of the eastern portions of his father's realm, he "built a temple in 598 during his reign in [...] the center of the kingdom of Bhavapura". Mahendravarman is, according to epigraphy, also Vīravarman's son and attributed as to be the conqueror of Funan. Succession is unclear, because "this at the same time eliminates his son Bhavavarman I of the royal function" Historian Michael Vickery resolves: "Bhavavarman and...Citrasena [Mahendravarman's given name] attacked Funan" [together]. Isanavarman
7020-636: The traditional character set used in Taiwan ( TC ) and the set used in Hong Kong ( HK ). Most Chinese-language webpages now use Unicode for their text. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recommends the use of the language tag zh-Hant to specify webpage content written with traditional characters. In the Japanese writing system , kyujitai are traditional forms, which were simplified to create shinjitai for standardized Japanese use following World War II. Kyūjitai are mostly congruent with
7110-985: The traditional characters in Chinese, save for minor stylistic variation. Characters that are not included in the jōyō kanji list are generally recommended to be printed in their traditional forms, with a few exceptions. Additionally, there are kokuji , which are kanji wholly created in Japan, rather than originally being borrowed from China. In the Korean writing system , hanja —replaced almost entirely by hangul in South Korea and totally replaced in North Korea —are mostly identical with their traditional counterparts, save minor stylistic variations. As with Japanese, there are autochthonous hanja, known as gukja . Traditional Chinese characters are also used by non-Chinese ethnic groups. The Maniq people living in Thailand and Malaysia use Chinese characters to write
7200-518: The ubiquitous Unicode standard gives equal weight to simplified and traditional Chinese characters, and has become by far the most popular encoding for Chinese-language text. There are various input method editors (IMEs) available for the input of Chinese characters . Many characters, often dialectical variants, are encoded in Unicode but cannot be inputted using certain IMEs, with one example being
7290-507: The word's origins in ancient Greece , the Greeks conceived it as rule by the best-qualified citizens—and often contrasted it favorably with monarchy , rule by an individual. The term was first used by such ancient Greeks as Aristotle and Plato , who used it to describe a system where only the best of the citizens, chosen through a careful process of selection, would become rulers, and hereditary rule would actually have been forbidden, unless
7380-587: The words for simplified and reduced are homophonous in Standard Chinese , both pronounced as jiǎn . The modern shapes of traditional Chinese characters first appeared with the emergence of the clerical script during the Han dynasty c. 200 BCE , with the sets of forms and norms more or less stable since the Southern and Northern dynasties period c. the 5th century . Although
7470-459: The year 802, when Jayavarman II established the appropriately named Khmer Empire . According to George Cœdès , Champasak was the origin of the ruling dynasty of Chenla and Vat Phou its spiritual center. Coedès and contemporary scholars refer to the historical annals of the Sui dynasty , which mention Chenla and identify its royal residence to be near a mountain named Ling-jia-bo-po or Lingaparvata,
7560-404: Was Champassak in about 550, established their capital city at Isanapura (Sambhupura) by about 600. According to Paul Pelliot , Sambhupura was the capital of Land Chenla [ km ] ( Upper Chenla ) and Vyadhapura was the capital of Water Chenla [ km ] ( Lower Chenla ). Traditionally leaders were chosen based on their merit in battle and their ability to attract
7650-469: Was a major Chenla settlement and possibly the royal capital. The city was divided into three areas, each of which had a brick large sanctuary or temple, apparently centred around a lingus similar to Hindu phallic representations of Shiva . Kings of Chenla mentioned in inscriptions generally carry the name of a local Hindu deity with the affix -varman (Sanskrit for "protected by"), such as "Bhavavarman" and "Isanavarman". The kings seem to have undergone
7740-491: Was associated with the Mekong Delta and had access to the river and its benefits, but this advantage had its downfalls as it made Water Chenla more susceptible to attacks. Late in the 8th century AD, it faced war from Javanese pirates that ultimately took over the Mekong Delta and then later took over the entire Chenla Empire. However author Michael Vickery asserts that these categories of Water and Land Chenla created by
7830-428: Was derived from wet-rice agriculture and from the mobilization of manpower rather than from subsistence farming such as in the past. Productive lands were donated to temples where slaves worked the fields and helped the temples generate revenue. The kingdom sustained an extensive irrigation system which manufactured rice surpluses that formed the bulk of their trade. International trade is believed to have been essential to
7920-456: Was little to no hesitance in adopting the religion of another culture. It was Īśānavarman I who managed to absorb the ancient territories of Funan which led the New Book of Tang compiled by Ouyang Xiu and Song Qi in 1060 to attribute the effective conquest of the country to him. The earliest known date of the reign of Īśānavarman, a date that must not have been long after his accession,
8010-533: Was still used in the 13th century by the Chinese envoy Zhou Daguan , author of The Customs of Cambodia . It appears on the Mao Kun map . However, modern historiography applies the name exclusively to the period from the late 6th to the early 9th century. This period of Cambodian history is known by historians as the Pre-Angkor period . It is doubted whether Chenla ever existed as a unitary kingdom, or if this
8100-470: Was unstable and that people latched onto teachings from foreigners because they had no permanent religious or social structures themselves. Although a social hierarchy existed, there was no discrimination between genders. Women were not considered second class citizens rather many women played central roles in rituals, specialized in crafts, and were given ranks as high officials. This may because until recently, families followed matrilineal heritages instead of
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