Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei ((北)魏孝文帝) (October 13, 467 – April 26, 499 ), personal name Tuoba Hong (拓拔宏), later Yuan Hong (元宏), was an emperor of China's Northern Wei dynasty, reigning from September 20, 471 to April 26, 499.
97-638: The Shaolin Monastery Stele ( Shaolin Si Bei ; Chinese : 皇唐嵩岳少林寺碑 ) is a tablet inscribed front and back to obtain two faces of continuous text in Chinese characters. The total engravable surface is about 10 m (110 sq ft). The name was in use by later scholars studying the Tang dynasty (618–907), who understood the tablet to be an important primary source on early Tang dynasty events. It
194-520: A Buddhist nun. Also in fall 496, the crown prince Yuan Xun, who did not adjust well to Han customs or the much hotter weather in Luoyang, plotted with his followers to flee back to Pingcheng, perhaps to hold that city against his father. His plot, however, was discovered, and Emperor Xiaowen, after asking his brother Yuan Xi (元禧) the Prince of Xianyang to cane Yuan Xun with him, deposed Yuan Xun. However,
291-494: A century later, during the Tang "golden age," Emperor Xuanzong of Tang , Li Longji (regnit 712–756), deciding for reasons of his own to publicly clarify and commemorate the status of the monastery with regard to the empire, entrusted the matter to his Minister of Personnel, Pei Cui, who had the stele erected as a public declaration not unlike the publication of Greek law in stone in the marketplace. The original design and composition of
388-443: A component—either a character or a sub-component called a radical —usually involves either a reduction in its total number of strokes , or an apparent streamlining of which strokes are chosen in what places—for example, the ⼓ ' WRAP ' radical used in the traditional character 沒 is simplified to ⼏ ' TABLE ' to form the simplified character 没 . By systematically simplifying radicals, large swaths of
485-434: A conversion table. While exercising such derivation, the following rules should be observed: Sample Derivations : The Series One List of Variant Characters reduces the number of total standard characters. First, amongst each set of variant characters sharing identical pronunciation and meaning, one character (usually the simplest in form) is elevated to the standard character set, and the rest are made obsolete. Then amongst
582-453: A death offense. Grand Empress Dowager Feng and Emperor Xiaowen jointly convened an imperial council to discuss their punishment. Grand Empress Dowager Feng opened by asking the officials, "Do you believe that we should care about familial relations and destroy law, or to disregard familial relations and follow the law?" The officials largely pleaded for the princes' lives. After Grand Empress Dowager Feng fell silent, Emperor Xiaowen stated: "What
679-407: A few revised forms, and was implemented for official use by China's State Council on 5 June 2013. In Chinese, simplified characters are referred to by their official name 简化字 ; jiǎnhuàzì , or colloquially as 简体字 ; jiǎntǐzì . The latter term refers broadly to all character variants featuring simplifications of character form or structure, a practice which has always been present as
776-417: A major conflict erupted between Li Chong and Li Biao in the capital Luoyang, and Li Chong, after putting Li Biao under arrest, died in anger. Partly because of this and partly because, once Southern Qi's Emperor Ming died in fall 498, that he should not continue to attack a country that was mourning for its emperor, he ended the campaign in fall 498. At that same time, he himself was falling ill, and he entrusted
873-610: A newly coined phono-semantic compound : Removing radicals Only retaining single radicals Replacing with ancient forms or variants : Adopting ancient vulgar variants : Readopting abandoned phonetic-loan characters : Copying and modifying another traditional character : Based on 132 characters and 14 components listed in Chart 2 of the Complete List , the 1,753 derived characters found in Chart 3 can be created by systematically simplifying components using Chart 2 as
970-518: A part of the Chinese writing system. The official name tends to refer to the specific, systematic set published by the Chinese government, which includes not only simplifications of individual characters, but also a substantial reduction in the total number of characters through the merger of formerly distinct forms. According to Chinese palaeographer Qiu Xigui , the broadest trend in the evolution of Chinese characters over their history has been simplification, both in graphical shape ( 字形 ; zìxíng ),
1067-539: A second plot quickly arose, organized by the officials Mu Tai (穆泰) and Lu Rui (陸叡), who intended to again hold the northern regions against the Emperor. However, their plot was revealed by Emperor Xiaowen's distant uncle Yu Yi (元頤) the Prince of Yangping, whom they had intended to make their leader but who had only pretended to go along with their plot. Emperor Xiaowen sent a force commanded by his cousin Yuan Cheng (元澄)
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#17327944799561164-420: A sign of Sinicization and demonstration of Emperor Xiaowen's authority, he began to assume traditional Chinese imperial clothing, including a robe with dragon patterns and a tasseled hat. As Emperor Xiaowen was raised by Grand Empress Dowager Feng, he also became very close to the family of her brother Feng Xi (馮熙). For some time, he took two of his daughters as concubines, but one of them soon died of illness, and
1261-440: Is actually more complex than eliminated ones. An example is the character 搾 which is eliminated in favor of the variant form 榨 . The 扌 'HAND' with three strokes on the left of the eliminated 搾 is now seen as more complex, appearing as the ⽊ 'TREE' radical 木 , with four strokes, in the chosen variant 榨 . Not all characters standardised in the simplified set consist of fewer strokes. For instance,
1358-457: Is being presented by many writers of the current times as the first source indicating that the professedly pacific monks did in fact participate in dynastic wars. The issue was a disputed succession among the reigning House of Li . The father, Li Yuan, the first Tang emperor, who had taken the regnum away from the previous rulers, the Sui dynasty (581-618), now favored his second son, Li Shimin , on
1455-454: Is derived. Merging homophonous characters: Adapting cursive shapes ( 草書楷化 ): Replacing a component with a simple arbitrary symbol (such as 又 and 乂 ): Omitting entire components : Omitting components, then applying further alterations : Structural changes that preserve the basic shape Replacing the phonetic component of phono-semantic compounds : Replacing an uncommon phonetic component : Replacing entirely with
1552-492: Is mistaken for the reverse of the stele of interest. Since there is only one Shaolin Monastery stele, that case is impossible. Not usually shown is the reverse of the structure, displaying the inscriptions on the reverse sides of the tablets. The inscription of present interest would then be on the viewer's left. Since 1928 and until the late reconstruction of the monastery and opening as a tourist center, opportunities to study
1649-534: Is no evidence that they had any special martial arts skills. Nevertheless, their being selected subsequently as a unit of the imperial army suggests they had more military merit than an offer of moral support. Later they are known to have excelled in two main martial arts: primarily the staff (English quarter-staff), and its non-staff adjunct, hand-to-hand fighting (kung fu). The substitution of "sword" for "staff" in some texts suggests staffmanship may have spilled over into its more dangerous partner, swordsmanship. Nearly
1746-527: Is not, however, where Pei Cui begins. Going as far back as the foundation of the monastery, Pei Cui records simply that Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei (467-499, died at 32) founded it. The Northern Wei , including Xiaowen and his family, were ethnic Xianbei . These were speakers of the Tuoba language , a now extinct branch of the Mongolic languages spoken by the Tuoba people of North China. North China
1843-813: Is now discouraged. A State Language Commission official cited "oversimplification" as the reason for restoring some characters. The language authority declared an open comment period until 31 August 2009, for feedback from the public. In 2013, the List of Commonly Used Standard Chinese Characters was published as a revision of the 1988 lists; it included a total of 8105 characters. It included 45 newly recognized standard characters that were previously considered variant forms, as well as official approval of 226 characters that had been simplified by analogy and had seen wide use but were not explicitly given in previous lists or documents. Singapore underwent three successive rounds of character simplification , eventually arriving at
1940-536: Is one inscription. Many examples of multi-page single inscriptions exist, such as the Gortyn Law Code. Pei Cui, however, chose to publish a number of different documents composed at different times, to be enclosed with his own history of the monastery. Tonami approached this problem as follows: "...its four principal inscriptions reproduce several documents from the 720's ...," which was promptly misconstrued as four inscriptions on Internet summaries. "Principal"
2037-623: Is referred to as the " big seal script ". The traditional narrative, as also attested in the Shuowen Jiezi dictionary ( c. 100 AD ), is that the Qin small seal script that would later be imposed across China was originally derived from the Zhou big seal script with few modifications. However, the body of epigraphic evidence comparing the character forms used by scribes gives no indication of any real consolidation in character forms prior to
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#17327944799562134-696: Is separated climatologically from South China by the divide between the Yellow River and the Yangtze River, both of which flow from the mountains of Central Asia eastward into the China Seas . Archaeology along the Yellow River suggests that the valley of the eastern, or lower, Yellow River is the Neolithic cradle of the civilization today called " Chinese " by westerners. Today's China
2231-466: Is the territory of 55 ethnic groups, which fall under the aegis of "Chinese." These groups were politically conglomerated around a single Neolithic ethnic group passing into history with an endonym of Hanren, " Han Chinese ," today the most populous ethnic group (1.4 billion) in the world. The testimony of the stele thus offers some counter-intuitive results. One might expect that the founder of an institution considered characteristically Chinese, located in
2328-547: Is used instead of 叠 in regions using traditional characters. The Chinese government stated that it wished to keep Chinese orthography stable. The Chart of Generally Utilized Characters of Modern Chinese was published in 1988 and included 7000 simplified and unsimplified characters. Of these, half were also included in the revised List of Commonly Used Characters in Modern Chinese , which specified 2500 common characters and 1000 less common characters. In 2009,
2425-670: The Chinese language , with the other being traditional characters . Their mass standardization during the 20th century was part of an initiative by the People's Republic of China (PRC) to promote literacy, and their use in ordinary circumstances on the mainland has been encouraged by the Chinese government since the 1950s. They are the official forms used in mainland China and Singapore , while traditional characters are officially used in Hong Kong , Macau , and Taiwan . Simplification of
2522-493: The language and to wear Chinese clothes . He compelled his own Xianbei people and others to adopt Chinese surnames , and changed his own family surname from Tuoba to Yuan. He also encouraged intermarriage between Xianbei and Han. In 494, Emperor Xiaowen moved the Northern Wei capital from Pingcheng (平城, in modern Datong , Shanxi ) to Luoyang , a city long acknowledged as a major center in Chinese history . While
2619-413: The "Dot" stroke : The traditional components ⺥ and 爫 become ⺈ : The traditional component 奐 becomes 奂 : Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei Under the regent of Empress Dowager Feng , Emperor Xiaowen enacted a new land-tenure system named the equal-field system in 485, which was aimed at boosting agricultural production and tax receipts. The implementation of the equal-field system
2716-459: The "external appearances of individual graphs", and in graphical form ( 字体 ; 字體 ; zìtǐ ), "overall changes in the distinguishing features of graphic[al] shape and calligraphic style, [...] in most cases refer[ring] to rather obvious and rather substantial changes". The initiatives following the founding of the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC) to universalize the use of their small seal script across
2813-482: The 1986 General List of Simplified Chinese Characters , hereafter the General List . All characters simplified this way are enumerated in Chart 1 and Chart 2 in the 1986 Complete List . Characters in both charts are structurally simplified based on similar set of principles. They are separated into two charts to clearly mark those in Chart 2 as 'usable as simplified character components', based on which Chart 3
2910-520: The 1986 mainland China revisions. Unlike in mainland China, Singapore parents have the option of registering their children's names in traditional characters. Malaysia also promulgated a set of simplified characters in 1981, though completely identical to the mainland Chinese set. They are used in Chinese-language schools. All characters simplified this way are enumerated in Charts 1 and 2 of
3007-470: The Chinese government published a major revision to the list which included a total of 8300 characters. No new simplifications were introduced. In addition, slight modifications to the orthography of 44 characters to fit traditional calligraphic rules were initially proposed, but were not implemented due to negative public response. Also, the practice of unrestricted simplification of rare and archaic characters by analogy using simplified radicals or components
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3104-469: The Duke of Beiping, Princess Pengcheng fled out of Luoyang and arrived at Emperor Xiaowen's camp, accusing Empress Feng of adultery. Once Emperor Xiaowen arrived back in Luoyang, he arrested Gao and Empress Feng's assistant Shuang Meng (雙蒙) and interrogated them. He then interrogated Empress Feng personally as well, concluding that she had in fact committed adultery. However, claiming that he did not want to shame
3201-640: The Feng clan, he did not depose her, but refused to see her again and also ordered Crown Prince Ke to not to see her again either. Emperor Xiaowen, despite his own weakened physical state, then decided to again advance south to react against a retaliation campaign by the Southern Qi general Chen Xianda (陳顯達). He was able to repel and defeat Chen, but while on the campaign, he died. Yuan Xie and Yuan Cheng kept his death secret until his body could be returned to Luoyang, and then announced his death. Yuan Ke succeeded to
3298-528: The Fengs with too much kindness and not treating the Lis with sufficient kindness. in 492, in conformance with past dynasties' tradition, Emperor Xiaowen demoted the many princes in the state, unless they were descendants of the dynasty founder Emperor Daowu , to the titles of duke, with two exceptions: Baba Guan (拔拔觀) the Prince of Shangdang, because of the great accomplishments of his grandfather Baba Daosheng (拔拔道生),
3395-531: The Prince of Nan Commandery of treason in 478 and had him and his clan slaughtered. She apparently accelerated the policy of Sinicization , which included social stratification , as she issued an edict in 478 requiring people to marry in their social classes. The Northern Wei started to arrange for Han Chinese elites to marry daughters of the Xianbei Tuoba royal family in the 480s. Some Han Chinese exiled royalty fled from southern China and defected to
3492-526: The Prince of Rencheng to Pingcheng, putting down the plot before it started in earnest, and putting Mu and Lu to death. In spring 497, Emperor Xiaowen created another son, Yuan Ke , crown prince. Believing in reports by the official Li Biao (李彪), who then had the former Crown Prince Xun under house arrest, that Yuan Xun was still plotting rebellion, he forced Yuan Xun to commit suicide. In fall 497, Emperor Xiaowen created Feng Run to be empress, and when Yuan Ke's mother Consort Gao subsequently died, common belief
3589-549: The Shouyang Princess was wedded to The Liang dynasty ruler Emperor Wu of Liang 's son Xiao Zong 蕭綜 . In 479, after rival Liu Song 's throne was usurped by the general Xiao Daocheng , who established Southern Qi as its Emperor Gao, Northern Wei commissioned Liu Chang (劉昶) the Prince of Danyang, a Liu Song prince who had fled to Northern Wei in 465, with an army and promising him support to rebuild Liu Song. However, Liu Chang's abilities were not up to task, and he
3686-468: The Tang dynasty. The equal-field program was coupled with another initiative, the "Three Elders" system, aimed at compiling accurate population registers so that land could be distributed accordingly. Emperor Xiaowen implemented a policy of sinicization , intending to centralize the government and make the multi-ethnic state easier to govern. These policies included changing artistic styles to reflect Chinese preferences and forcing court officials to speak
3783-652: The Xianbei. Several daughters of the Xianbei Emperor Xiaowen were married to Han Chinese elites, the Han Chinese Liu Song royal Liu Hui 刘辉, married Princess Lanling 蘭陵公主 of the Northern Wei, Princess Huayang 華陽公主 to Sima Fei 司馬朏, a descendant of Jin dynasty (266–420) royalty, Princess Jinan 濟南公主 to Lu Daoqian 盧道虔, Princess Nanyang 南阳长公主 to Xiao Baoyin 萧宝夤, a member of Southern Qi royalty. Emperor Xiaozhuang of Northern Wei 's sister
3880-419: The arch, both front and back, is a rectangle called by Verellen a "dragon Apex" because framed with the coils of a dragon in relief. On the front side this is distinct space with a separate inscription identifying Taizong. Its characters are larger and run in four rows of two characters each. Then follows Pei Cui's history covering the entire front face. In the dragon apex of the reverse is the letter signed with
3977-484: The basis of his close support, which earned him the later identification as co-founder of the dynasty. Li Shimin's brothers, who had been keeping the "barbarians" at bay on the frontier, raised the standard of civil war. Li Shimin triumphed, becoming the second Tang regnant, Taizong . The monks of Shaolin had volunteered some assistance, first to the father, then to the son, in keeping the Mount Song territory. There
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4074-891: The building of her future tomb at Fang Mountain (方山), near Pingcheng, leaving instructions that after she died that it would be unnecessary for her to be buried with her husband Emperor Wengcheng, who was buried near the old Northern Wei capital Shengle (盛樂, in modern Hohhot , Inner Mongolia ). Later that year, a new criminal code that she commissioned Gao Lü to write was completed—with 832 sections, 16 of them prescribing clan-slaughter as penalty, 235 of them prescribing personal death penalty, and 377 prescribing other forms of punishment. Sometime during Emperor Xiaowen's rise to power, Grand Empress Dowager Feng had him detained and considered deposing him in favor of his brother Tuoba Xi (拓拔禧), but her attendants persuaded her otherwise. While Grand Empress Dowager Feng never formally returned imperial powers to him, by about 483 he appeared to be fairly in control of
4171-426: The campaign be abandoned. The officials agreed. He also entrusted the matters of changing Xianbei ceremonies and music to Han ceremonies to the official Wang Su (王肅), who had only recently defected from Southern Qi. in 494, Emperor Xiaowen made a return to Pingcheng, and, for reasons that are not clear, reopened the discussions on whether to move the capital to Luoyang. This time, the Xianbei officials largely opposed
4268-527: The campaign. In summer 495, Emperor Xiaowen issued a number of edicts that made what was stated policy official law—that Xianbei clothing and language be prohibited, and that the Han clothing and language be used instead. (An exemption was given to those over 30.) In spring 496, he also ordered that the Xianbei family names be changed to Han ones , changing his own clan's name from Tuoba to Yuan. He also strengthened
4365-542: The capital was moved to Luoyang, the military elite remained centered at the old capital, widening the differences between the administration and the military. The population at the old capital remained conservative, while the population at Luoyang were much more eager to adopt Xiaowen's policies of sinicization. His reforms were met with resistance by the Xianbei elite. In 496, two plots by Xianbei nobles, one centered on his crown prince Yuan Xun , and one centered on his distant uncle Yuan Yi (元頤). By 497, Xiaowen had destroyed
4462-425: The case of this campaign, it was intended to instead allow him to move the capital from Pingcheng south to the Han heartland of Luoyang , to further his sinicization campaign. As he reached Luoyang in the late fall, he ordered a continued advance despite heavy rains, and then, when the Xianbei officials who opposed the campaign tried again to stop him, he offered a compromise—that the capital be moved to Luoyang, and
4559-428: The character set are altered. Some simplifications were based on popular cursive forms that embody graphic or phonetic simplifications of the traditional forms. In addition, variant characters with identical pronunciation and meaning were reduced to a single standardized character, usually the simplest among all variants in form. Finally, many characters were left untouched by simplification and are thus identical between
4656-480: The characteristic calligraphy of Li Shimin. Below it the remaining five documents occupy the remaining reverse space. The sections below contain brief descriptions of the seven documents. The scholars of the tablets have taken a primarily historical approach, and there is no substitute for objective history, wherever it can be found. Shahar starts his study with "the last years of the Daye ... reign period (605–616)." That
4753-407: The chosen variants, those that appear in the "Complete List of Simplified Characters" are also simplified in character structure accordingly. Some examples follow: Sample reduction of equivalent variants : Ancient variants with simple structure are preferred : Simpler vulgar forms are also chosen : The chosen variant was already simplified in Chart 1 : In some instances, the chosen variant
4850-407: The conspiracies and forced Yuan Xun to commit suicide. Tuoba Hong was born in 467, when his father Emperor Xianwen was himself young—at the age of 13, and not yet ruling by himself, but instead was emperor under the regency of Emperor Xianwen's stepmother Empress Dowager Feng . Tuoba Hong was Emperor Xianwen's oldest son. His mother, Consort Li, was the daughter of Li Hui, a mid-level official at
4947-473: The country's writing system as a serious impediment to its modernization. In 1916, a multi-part English-language article entitled "The Problem of the Chinese Language" co-authored by the Chinese linguist Yuen Ren Chao (1892–1982) and poet Hu Shih (1891–1962) has been identified as a turning point in the history of the Chinese script—as it was one of the first clear calls for China to move away from
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#17327944799565044-541: The daughters of officials from the five Han clans to be their new wives, an action heavily criticized by historians. Sometime prior to fall 496, Emperor Xiaowen had, perhaps due to recommendation from Empress Feng, welcomed her older sister Feng Run back to the palace to again be his concubine, and Feng Run, believing herself to be the older sister, refused to yield to Empress Feng and began to find ways to undermine her position. In summer 496, Emperor Xiaowen deposed Empress Feng, who then went to Yaoguang Temple (瑤光寺) and became
5141-476: The early 20th century. In 1909, the educator and linguist Lufei Kui formally proposed the use of simplified characters in education for the first time. Over the following years—marked by the 1911 Xinhai Revolution that toppled the Qing dynasty , followed by growing social and political discontent that further erupted into the 1919 May Fourth Movement —many anti-imperialist intellectuals throughout China began to see
5238-474: The first decade of the 21st century. Some of his works are cited below. Pei Cui's composition of the inscriptional material presents in English something of a semantic problem. Ordinarily the engraving of writing on one object for one purpose, without later additions, is termed "an inscription" or "the inscription." Strictly speaking, since everything on Shaolinsi Bei was done at one time for the same purpose, it
5335-634: The first official list of simplified forms was published, consisting of 324 characters collated by Peking University professor Qian Xuantong . However, fierce opposition within the KMT resulted in the list being rescinded in 1936. Work throughout the 1950s resulted in the 1956 promulgation of the Chinese Character Simplification Scheme , a draft of 515 simplified characters and 54 simplified components, whose simplifications would be present in most compound characters. Over
5432-463: The first round—but was massively unpopular and never saw consistent use. The second round of simplifications was ultimately retracted officially in 1986, well after they had largely ceased to be used due to their unpopularity and the confusion they caused. In August 2009, China began collecting public comments for a revised list of simplified characters; the resulting List of Commonly Used Standard Chinese Characters lists 8,105 characters, including
5529-475: The following decade, the Script Reform Committee deliberated on characters in the 1956 scheme, collecting public input regarding the recognizability of variants, and often approving forms in small batches. Parallel to simplification, there were also initiatives aimed at eliminating the use of characters entirely and replacing them with pinyin as an official Chinese alphabet, but this possibility
5626-511: The founding of the Qin. The Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD) that inherited the Qin administration coincided with the perfection of clerical script through the process of libian . Eastward spread of Western learning Though most closely associated with the People's Republic, the idea of a mass simplification of character forms first gained traction in China during
5723-617: The frontlines against Rouran , he conducted military campaigns himself, while leaving important officials in charge of the capital Pingcheng (平城, in modern Datong , Shanxi ) with Emperor Xiaowen. In 476, Empress Dowager Feng, resentful that Emperor Xianwen had put her lover Li Yi (李奕) to death in 470, had him assassinated. (Most historians, including Sima Guang , believed that she poisoned him, but another version indicated that Empress Dowager Feng readied assassins who, when Emperor Xianwen came to her palace to greet her, seized and smothered him.) She assumed regency over Emperor Xiaowen and assumed
5820-490: The government, although Grand Empress Dowager Feng continued to retain substantial powers. Indeed, it was by her order that that year, after Emperor Xiaowen's concubine Consort Lin bore his oldest son, Tuoba Xun , Consort Lin was forced to commit suicide pursuant to Northern Wei customs. She raised Tuoba Xun herself. In 485, after Emperor Xiaowen created his younger brothers princes, Grand Empress Dowager Feng established an imperial school for these princes. In 486, perhaps as both
5917-544: The important matters to his brother Yuan Xie the Prince of Pengcheng, although he subsequently recovered and was able to return to Luoyang. Meanwhile, however, in Emperor Xiaowen's absence, Empress Feng had been carrying on an affair with the attendant Gao Pusa (高菩薩). When she, also in Emperor Xiaowen's absence, tried to force Emperor Xiaowen's sister Princess Pengcheng, whose husband Liu Chengxu (劉承緒, Liu Chang's son) had died earlier, to marry her brother Feng Su (馮夙)
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#17327944799566014-466: The increased usage of 朙 was followed by proliferation of a third variant: 眀 , with 目 'eye' on the left—likely derived as a contraction of 朙 . Ultimately, 明 became the character's standard form. The Book of Han (111 AD) describes an earlier attempt made by King Xuan of Zhou ( d. 782 BC ) to unify character forms across the states of ancient China , with his chief chronicler having "[written] fifteen chapters describing" what
6111-545: The inscriptional content of the stele have been rare, due first to the political situation and second to the reconstruction. Rubbings and reports have been available. Two major analysts have emerged. Manoru Tonami studied the rubbings and published in Japanese, to be translated by P.A. Herbert. Meir Shahar had the advantage of being able to study the stele embedded in the brick structure before the Bell Tower. He published in
6208-465: The left, with the 月 'Moon' component on the right. Li Si ( d. 208 BC ), the Chancellor of Qin, attempted to universalize the Qin small seal script across China following the wars that had politically unified the country for the first time. Li prescribed the 朙 form of the word for 'bright', but some scribes ignored this and continued to write the character as 明 . However,
6305-497: The list was compiled close to the time the stele was erected, or even added at a later date, and may therefore be influenced as much by folklore that had grown up in the years since the Cypress Valley victory in 632. Cited by Emperor Taizong of Tang for meritorious service are: Simplified Chinese characters Simplified Chinese characters are one of two standardized character sets widely used to write
6402-402: The most prominent Chinese authors of the 20th century, stated that "if Chinese characters are not destroyed, then China will die" ( 漢字不滅，中國必亡 ). During the 1930s and 1940s, discussions regarding simplification took place within the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) party. Many members of the Chinese intelligentsia maintained that simplification would increase literacy rates throughout the country. In 1935,
6499-513: The move, but Emperor Xiaowen overruled them and continued moving the governmental agencies to Luoyang, although maintaining a fairly substantial governmental presence at Pingcheng for it to serve as the secondary capital. To alleviate the concerns that the move from Pingcheng to Luoyang would cause a supply shortage of horses and other livestock, he had the general Yuwen Fu (宇文福) set up a large livestock grazing zone at Heyang (河陽, in modern Jiaozuo and Xinxiang , Henan ). A fief of 100 households and
6596-408: The other, Consort Feng Run , also suffered a major illness and was sent back to her father house, where she became a Buddhist nun. The power-sharing arrangement between stepgrandmother and stepgrandson could perhaps be illustrated by an incident in 489, when Emperor Wencheng's younger brothers Tuoba Tianci (拓拔天賜) the Prince of Ruyin and Tuoba Zhen (拓拔楨) the Prince of Nan'an were accused of corruption,
6693-430: The public and quickly fell out of official use. It was ultimately formally rescinded in 1986. The second-round simplifications were unpopular in large part because most of the forms were completely new, in contrast to the familiar variants comprising the majority of the first round. With the rescission of the second round, work toward further character simplification largely came to an end. In 1986, authorities retracted
6790-505: The rank of 崇聖侯 Marquis who worships the sage was bestowed upon a Confucius descendant, Yan Hui 's lineage had 2 of its scions and Confucius's lineage had 4 of its scions who had ranks bestowed on them in Shandong in 495 and a fief of ten households and rank of 崇聖大夫 Grandee who venerates the sage was bestowed on 孔乘 Kong Sheng who was Confucius's scion in the 28th generation in 472 by Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei. Late in 494, under
6887-465: The recently conquered parts of the empire is generally seen as being the first real attempt at script reform in Chinese history. Before the 20th century, variation in character shape on the part of scribes, which would continue with the later invention of woodblock printing , was ubiquitous. For example, prior to the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC) the character meaning 'bright' was written as either 明 or 朙 —with either 日 'Sun' or 囧 'window' on
6984-410: The restorers built a brick structure around them in which they appear tandem in two archways. Special cases were placed over the inscriptions with the letters appearing color-enhanced within them. The larger stele, on the right of the front face, is the topic of this article. The smaller, on the left, is generally ignored. Media generally try to take pictures only of the right half. Sometimes the left half
7081-481: The same set of simplified characters as mainland China. The first round was promulgated by the Ministry of Education in 1969, consisting of 498 simplified characters derived from 502 traditional characters. A second round of 2287 simplified characters was promulgated in 1974. The second set contained 49 differences from the mainland China system; these were removed in the final round in 1976. In 1993, Singapore adopted
7178-467: The second round completely, though they had been largely fallen out of use within a year of their initial introduction. That year, the authorities also promulgated a final version of the General List of Simplified Chinese Characters . It was identical to the 1964 list save for 6 changes—including the restoration of 3 characters that had been simplified in the first round: 叠 , 覆 , 像 ; the form 疊
7275-471: The semantic problem begins with the "document," a previously composed piece published first in some other medium. Engraved later on a stele, it is a "text." Texts are inscriptions, one for one. Shaolinsi Bei has seven texts, or seven inscriptions, dating from 621 to 728. They were public records of the military support the Shaolin Monastery had provided Li Shimin. They demonstrate that the monastery
7372-408: The sinicization campaign, but carried it out in earnest, changing many laws and customs of the Northern Wei states to conform with Han, particularly Confucian, customs. While he sought out his mother Consort Li's cousins (Consort Li's brothers had been executed with their father Li Hui) and rewarded them with relatively low offices, he later retracted the rewards, bringing criticism that he was treating
7469-439: The social stratification that had already been underway for some time, making eight Xianbei clans and five Han clans particularly honored, and ordering that all political offices be given by clan status, not by abilities, despite heavy opposition by his official Li Chong. The particularly honored clans were: Emperor Xiaowen went as far as ordering his six younger brothers to demote their current wives to concubine status, and taking
7566-453: The spiritual heart of China, to have been a Chinese emperor of the most civilized period. Instead the stele relates that he was what the Hanren called "a barbarian." Moreover, the state in which he founded it was not then Hanren. Chan Buddhism was just beginning, but it came from far-away India. There was nothing "Chinese" about it. Text 7 is a list of thirteen heroic monks . It's likely that
7663-512: The stated reason that Southern Qi's Emperor Ming had usurped the throne (from his grandnephew Xiao Zhaowen ), Emperor Xiaowen prepared a major campaign against Southern Qi, departing Luoyang about new year 495. He initially put the important cities Shouyang (壽陽, in modern Lu'an , Anhui ) and Yiyang (義陽, in modern Xinyang , Henan ) under siege, but could not capture them easily, and battles that his armies conducted against Southern Qi armies were largely indecisive. By late spring 495, he abandoned
7760-461: The text were his work. On 15 July 728, a festival day, Pei Cui ordered the text published on one stele in front of Bell Tower. It survived intact except for wear, tear, and cracks, through all the centuries of the monastery's trials and troubles, even the last one, Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution . When the Bell Tower came to be rebuilt, a number of steles were in front of it. They were scarcely legible except by special study. To protect two of them
7857-404: The time, who was a brother of Emperor Xianwen's mother. Empress Dowager Feng, following Tuoba Hong's birth, ended her regency and returned power to Emperor Xianwen, while spending her time raising Tuoba Hong. In 469, at age two, Tuoba Hong was created crown prince . That same year, his mother Consort Li died—and while traditional histories did not describe how she died, it appeared likely that she
7954-693: The title of Grand Empress Dowager. After Grand Empress Dowager Feng re-assumed regency, she was said to be more dictatorial than she was before, but intelligent in her decisions and frugal in her living. Not only was she highly literate, but she also was capable in mathematics. However, she trusted several eunuchs and permitted them to interfere in governmental matters. Further, she greatly promoted her lovers Wang Rui (王叡) and Li Chong (李沖) – both of whom were apparently talented officials, but whose promotions were beyond what their talents and contributions called for. She balanced her reputation by also promoting some honored officials who were not her lovers. Because she
8051-497: The traditional and simplified Chinese orthographies. The Chinese government has never officially announced the completion of the simplification process after the bulk of characters were introduced by the 1960s. In the wake of the Cultural Revolution , a second round of simplified characters was promulgated in 1977—largely composed of entirely new variants intended to artificially lower the stroke count, in contrast to
8148-833: The traditional character 強 , with 11 strokes is standardised as 强 , with 12 strokes, which is a variant character. Such characters do not constitute simplified characters. The new standardized character forms shown in the Characters for Publishing and revised through the Common Modern Characters list tend to adopt vulgar variant character forms. Since the new forms take vulgar variants, many characters now appear slightly simpler compared to old forms, and as such are often mistaken as structurally simplified characters. Some examples follow: The traditional component 釆 becomes 米 : The traditional component 囚 becomes 日 : The traditional "Break" stroke becomes
8245-529: The two princes committed is unpardonable, but the Grand Empress Dowager takes after the brotherly love that Gaozong [Emperor Wengcheng's Temple name ] had. Further, the Prince of Nan'an is filially pious toward his mother. Therefore, the two will be spared the death penalty, but their offices and titles will be stripped from them, and they will be reduced to commoner status with no political rights." In 490, Grand Empress Dowager Feng died, and she
8342-522: The use of characters entirely. Instead, Chao proposed that the language be written with an alphabet, which he saw as more logical and efficient. The alphabetization and simplification campaigns would exist alongside one another among the Republican intelligentsia for the next several decades. Recent commentators have echoed some contemporary claims that Chinese characters were blamed for the economic problems in China during that time. Lu Xun , one of
8439-464: Was abandoned, confirmed by a speech given by Zhou Enlai in 1958. In 1965, the PRC published the List of Commonly Used Characters for Printing [ zh ] (hereafter Characters for Printing ), which included standard printed forms for 6196 characters, including all of the forms from the 1956 scheme. A second round of simplified characters was promulgated in 1977, but was poorly received by
8536-459: Was allowed to remain prince; and the former Liu Song prince Liu Chang the Prince of Danyang, while having his own rank reduced to Duke of Qi Commandery , was given a special title, which appeared to be non-inheritable, of Prince of Song. In 493, Emperor Xiaowen married another daughter of Feng Xi, Feng Qing , as empress . Also in 493, Emperor Xiaowen began the first of a number of campaigns that he would conduct against Southern Qi – although in
8633-403: Was buried with magnificent honors. Emperor Xiaowen was so distraught that he was unable to take in food or water for five days, and subsequently observed a three-year mourning period for her, notwithstanding officials' pleas for him to shorten the mourning period in accordance with rules that Emperor Wen of Han had set. After Grand Empress Dowager Feng's death, Emperor Xiaowen not only continued
8730-450: Was concerned that she would be criticized for what was seen as immoral conduct, she punished those whom she perceived to be criticizing her or parodying her behavior with severe punishment, including death. One of her victims was Li Xin, who had contributed to her prior lover Li Yi's death, as she had Li Xin put to death in 477. Fearful that Emperor Xiaowen's mother's clan would try to take power, she falsely accused his grandfather Li Hui (李惠)
8827-589: Was condensed away, but if it were left in, the implication is that multiple inscriptions existed on possibly multiple steles. The exact number apparently had still not been determined. Verellen, Tonami's reviewer, says: "The final inscription ... is again a composite document." Now apparently the stele recorded documents within four inscriptions that contained multiple inscriptions. Some way needed to be found to describe Pei Cui's composition with simplicity and accuracy. Chinese steles customarily incorporated previously existing documents in just this way. Shahar's solution to
8924-454: Was forced to commit suicide according to the Northern Wei tradition of forcing crown princes' mothers to commit suicide, for it was written that the entire palace mourned her bitterly. In 471, Emperor Xianwen, who favored Taoist and Buddhist philosophies, tired of the throne, and considered passing the throne to his uncle Tuoba Zitui (拓拔子推) the Prince of Jingzhao. After opposition by virtually all high level officials, however, Emperor Xianwen
9021-408: Was in favor with the early Tang emperors at a time when other religious organisations were being curtailed. This favor derived from their participation in battles, whether or not they had the skills attributed to "the fighting monks." The arrangement of the sections below is based on Shahar's arrangement of the "texts." The whole space consists of two surfaces shaped like arched doorways. At the top of
9118-420: Was largely due to the court's desire to break the economic power of local magnates who sheltered residents under their control living in fortified villages. Under this system, all land was owned by the state, and then equally distributed to taxpaying farmers. This system successfully created a stable fiscal infrastructure and a basis for universal military conscription for the Northern Wei, and continued well into
9215-466: Was never able to gain much following in the border regions to mount a major drive to reestablish Liu Song. By 481, the campaign had fizzled. Also in 481, the Buddhist monk Faxiu (法秀) tried to start a popular uprising at Pingcheng, but was discovered, captured, and executed. Some officials advocating the execution of all Buddhist monks, but Grand Empress Dowager Feng refused. Also that year, she started
9312-410: Was still resolved to pass the throne to someone else, but decided to instead yield the throne to Crown Prince Hong. He subsequently did so, and Crown Prince Hong took the throne as Emperor Xiaowen, while Emperor Xianwen took the title of Taishang Huang (retired emperor), although, due to Emperor Xiaowen's young age, Emperor Xianwen continued to be in actual control of important matters. When needed on
9409-403: Was that Empress Feng had her secretly poisoned so that she could raise Yuan Ke herself. Also in fall 497, Emperor Xiaowen launched another major attack against Southern Qi, this time first concentrating on the city Wancheng (宛城, in modern Nanyang , Henan ). While he was able to capture Wancheng and Xinye (新野, also in modern Nanyang), the battles were still largely indecisive. During his absence,
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