Misplaced Pages

#889110

75-463: Sinology , also referred to as China studies , is a subfield of area studies or East Asian studies involved in social sciences and humanities research on China. It is an academic discipline that focuses on the study of the Chinese civilization primarily through Chinese language , history , culture , literature , philosophy , art , music , cinema , and science . Its origin "may be traced to

150-725: A bridge of communication between the Arab and Chinese peoples. Their interest in the history of China also increased greatly. Many books related to the history of Chinese culture and its people were published in the Arabic language. In 2020 after spending about six years as a consul in Guangzhou , Ali bin Ghanem Al-Hajri , a Qatari diplomat who is considered one of the Arabs with a lot of original Arabic academic works in sinology, published

225-461: A drama for a court performance. Therefore, in 1752, he produced L'Eroe cinese inspired from the Chinese play, mentioning specifically the story in Du Halde's book. Metastasio's play had a simple plot, because he was restricted by the number of actors (namely five) and duration. In 1753, Voltaire wrote his adaptation titled L'Orphelin de la Chine . Voltaire's thesis about his play was that

300-542: A fateful day, the orphan is in Cheng Ying's study, where he discovers a scroll depicting all the people involved in the tragic events relating to his early life. Cheng Ying decides the time has come to show the tragedy of the Zhao family and reveal to the orphan the truth of his origins. Various tragic events featuring many loyal friends and retainers, who gave their lives, were depicted on the scroll. After discovering

375-548: A rich variety of approaches and disciplines, whether they be mainly empirical or more theoretically inflected." Chinese historical sources indicate that the Chinese had knowledge of the Arabs several centuries before Islam, as the history of relations between the two civilizations dates back to the pre-Islamic era. The policy of the Han Dynasty (206 BC) aimed at opening trade routes with the western regions, which are today called Central Asia, India and Western Asia, extending to

450-539: A small scale at that time. Ain Shams University opened the Chinese language specialization in 1958. However, the course was stopped for prevailing political reasons at the time. In the period between 1958 and 1963, 33 Chinese language students graduated from Egyptian universities. In 1977, Ain Shams University reintroduced the Sinology specialization course. In addition to Egypt, there were activities to teach

525-481: A third English translation of Prémare's work was done by Thomas Percy , which was a revision of Green and Guthrie. Many of Prémare's mistranslations and his omission of the songs remained. In his book, Du Halde (1739) remarked: "There are Plays the Songs of which are difficult to be understood, because they are full of Allusions to things unknown to us, and Figures of Speech very difficult for us to observe." The play

600-720: Is a well-known historical figure in the Arabian Peninsula, made significant contributions to Sinology. Al-Masoudi has traveled all over the world since he was a child, visiting faraway places. In the year 915, he visited India, Ceylon, Champa, and the coastal regions of China, and then visited Zabagh and Turkistan in Central Asia. He died in the year 956, and he is the author of the book "Meadows of Gold", which deals with history, geography, and other fields. He had many records about China, and these records were popular among orient scholars. Abu Zayd's book "On China and India"

675-405: Is called the "commentarial tradition" through critical annotated translation. This emphasis on translating classical texts inhibited the use of social science methodology or comparing these texts of other traditions. One scholar described this type of sinology as "philological hairsplitting" preoccupied with marginal or curious aspects. Secular scholars gradually came to outnumber missionaries, and in

750-473: Is classified in the zaju genre of dramas. It is divided in six parts, comprising five acts (折 zhe ) and a wedge (楔子 xiezi ), which may be an interlude or — as it is in this case — a prologue. It contains both dialogue and songs. The story of The Orphan of Zhao takes place during the Spring and Autumn period and revolves around the central theme of revenge . The protagonists are General Han Jue in

825-466: Is clear from the foregoing that there had been friction between China and the Arabs from a long time ago, and that there are cultural and commercial relations existing between the Arab and Chinese civilizations, which required the visiting Arabs to learn the Chinese language and vice versa. However, there are no texts indicating that the Arabs during this period studied the Chinese language or culture beyond what their missionary or trades affairs demanded, and

SECTION 10

#1732773124890

900-522: Is departing through the palace gates, he is stopped and questioned by Han Jue. Eventually, Han Jue discovered the child, whom Cheng Ying had tried to hide and keep safe. However, troubled by his sense of compassion, he allows Cheng Ying and the infant to escape. Thereafter he commits suicide by taking his sword to his throat, realizing that he will be tortured for what happened to the orphan. After these events, Tu'an Gu threatens to kill every infant in Jin if

975-641: The Comédie Français , Paris, in August 1755, L'Orphelin de la Chine was performed on stage for the first time. His play was well-received among contemporaries. In 1756, the Irish playwright Arthur Murphy wrote his The Orphan of China . He stated that he had been attracted by Prémare's work, but his play resembles Voltaire's L'Orphelin de la Chine more. His play was first performed in April 1759 and

1050-683: The Dark Ages . Among the European literati interested in China was Voltaire , who wrote the play L'orphelin de la Chine inspired by The Orphan of Zhao , Leibniz who penned his famous Novissima Sinica (News from China) and Giambattista Vico . Because Chinese texts did not have any major connections to most important European topics (such as the Bible), they were scarcely studied by European universities until around 1860. An exception to this

1125-773: The Greek Sinae , from the Arabic Sin —which ultimately derive from "Qin", i.e. the Qin dynasty . In the context of area studies , the European and the American usages may differ. In Europe, sinology is usually known as "Chinese studies", whereas in the United States, sinology is a subfield of Chinese studies. A China watcher is a person who monitors current events and power struggles in China . In Japan, sinology

1200-1079: The Social Science Research Council and the American Council of Learned Societies for field-development workshops, conferences, and publication programs. Eventually, the SSRC-ACLS joint committees would take over the administration of FAFP. Other large and important programs followed Ford's. Most notably, the National Defense Education Act of 1957, renamed the Higher Education Act in 1965, allocated funding for some 125 university-based area-studies units known as National Resource Center programs at U.S. universities, as well as for Foreign Language and Area Studies scholarships for undergraduate students and fellowships for graduate students. Meanwhile, area studies were also developed in

1275-524: The Social Science Research Council and the American Council of Learned Societies , which had long served as the national nexus for raising and administering funds for area studies, underwent their first major restructuring in thirty years, closing down their area committees, scholars interpreted this as a massive signal about the changing research environment. Some entire institutions of higher education (tertiary education) are devoted solely to area studies such as School of Oriental and African Studies or

1350-762: The Tokyo University of Foreign Studies in Japan. An institution which exclusively deals with Area Studies is the German Institute of Global and Area Studies in Germany. The Orphan of Zhao The Orphan of Zhao is a Chinese play from the Yuan dynasty , attributed to the 13th-century dramatist Ji Junxiang (紀君祥). The play has as its full name The Great Revenge of the Orphan of Zhao . The play

1425-616: The University of Chicago . Tsou emphasized the importance of academic objectivity in general and in sinology in particular, stressing that intellectual and academic exchange between China and the West was the only way for both parties to come to a greater understanding of one another. In 1964 an exchange in the pages of the Journal of Asian Studies debated the continued relevance of sinology. The anthropologist G. William Skinner called for

1500-571: The "Chinese Institute" in Naples—the first school of sinology on the European continent, and sanctioned by Pope Clement XII . The institute was first nucleus of what would become today's Università degli studi di Napoli L'Orientale . Ripa had worked as a painter and copper-engraver in the court of the Kangxi Emperor between 1711 and 1723, and returned to Naples with four young Chinese Christians, who all taught their native language and formed

1575-565: The 20th century sinology slowly gained a substantial presence in Western universities. The Paris-based type of sinology dominated learning about China until the Second World War even outside France. Paul Pelliot , Henri Maspero , and Marcel Granet both published basic studies and trained students. Pelliot's knowledge of the relevant languages, especially those of Central Asia, and control of bibliography in those languages, gave him

SECTION 20

#1732773124890

1650-519: The 20th century, projects of cooperation between China and the Arab countries led to the development of Sinology in the Arab countries nominally after expanding the scope of Chinese-Arab cooperation in the field of education, with some difference according to the level of cooperation. Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Egypt in 1956, Egypt began to open the Chinese language specialization course in Egyptian universities, but on

1725-762: The Arab world, although it was not published until recently. He also published "China in the Eyes of Travelers", a book that delved deep into the history of ancient China through the discoveries made by travellers and explorers. Al-hajri further wrote the book "Arts in the Ming Dynasty", in which he elaborated on the political and economic development of the Ming Dynasty and the historical development of Chinese culture. Four of his books are translated into Chinese Many books have been translated from Chinese into Arabic as part of these efforts. Where more than 700 books about

1800-623: The Arabian Peninsula and Africa. Historical studies confirmed that Muslim Arabs entered China during the early days of Islam to spread the religion, when four of Muhammad's companions namely Saad bin Abi Waqqas, Jaafar bin Abi Talib, and Jahsh bin Riab preached in China in the year 616/17. During the reign of Emperor Yongle, the first Chinese fleet arrived on the shores of the Arabian Peninsula, led by Zheng He , on his fourth voyage in 1412 AD. It

1875-578: The Chinese language in Kuwait as well, but they stopped after a short period. The number of Arabs that learn the Chinese Language has increased. The Chinese Language Department at Ain Shams University is a major center for teaching the Chinese language in Egypt and one of the notable centers for teaching the Chinese language in the Arab world and Africa in terms of student size, teaching quality, and

1950-462: The Chinese monarch. Voltaire introduces the theme of love (which is absent in the Chinese play), where Genghis Khan has a secret passion for Idamé, the wife of Zamti, but he is rejected by her as she stands firm to the lawful conduct of her nation. Voltaire had altered the story to fit his idea of European enlightenment and Chinese civilization, whereas the original play was contrasted as a stark and relentless story of intrigue, murder, and revenge. At

2025-597: The Chinese people. An early Spanish Dominican mission in Manila operated a printing press; between 1593 and 1607, they produced four works on Catholic doctrine for the Chinese immigrant community, three in Literary Chinese and one in a mixture of Literary Chinese and vernacular Hokkien . Dominican accomplishments among the Chinese diaspora pale in comparison to the success of the Jesuits in mainland China, led by

2100-463: The Chinese play's violation of the unities of time, action, and place as problematic, likening it to some of Shakespeare and Lope de Vega 's "monstrous farces" as "nothing but a heap of incredible stories". The story of the orphan is retained in Voltaire's play, but the orphan is placed in the setting of invading Tartars. The orphan, who was the royal heir, is entrusted to the official Zamti by

2175-513: The Chinese using their own terms. During the Age of Enlightenment , sinologists started to introduce Chinese philosophy, ethics, legal system, and aesthetics into the West. Though often unscientific and incomplete, their works inspired the development of chinoiserie and a series of debates comparing Chinese and Western cultures. At that time, sinologists often described China as an enlightened kingdom, comparing it to Europe, which had just emerged from

2250-608: The Grand Historian , written by the historian Sima Qian from the Han dynasty , contains a chapter surrounding the events of the Zhao family. These records were adapted by Ji Junxiang in The Orphan of Zhao . The play revolves around the theme of familial revenge, which is placed in the context of Confucian morality and social hierarchical structure. Though the story highlights social values and norms, Shi (2009) says that

2325-536: The People's Republic of China in 1949, China studies developed along diverging lines. The rise of Area studies , the role of China watchers , and the growth of university graduate programs has changed the role of sinology. Funding for Chinese and Taiwanese studies comes from a variety of sources; one prominent source is the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation . The Area studies approach, especially in

Sinology - Misplaced Pages Continue

2400-675: The Soviet Union. Since their inception, area studies have been subject to criticism—including by area specialists themselves. Many of them alleged that because area studies were connected to the Cold War agendas of the CIA , the FBI , and other intelligence and military agencies, participating in such programs was tantamount to serving as an agent of the state. Some argue that there is the notion that U.S. concerns and research priorities will define

2475-411: The U.S. must invest in international studies. Participants argued that a large brain trust of internationally oriented political scientists and economists was an urgent national priority. There was a central tension, however, between those who felt strongly that, instead of applying Western models, social scientists should develop culturally and historically contextualized knowledge of various parts of

2550-473: The United States and in Western scholarship after World War II . Before that war American universities had just a few faculty who taught or conducted research on the non-Western world. Foreign-area studies were virtually nonexistent. After the war, liberals and conservatives alike were concerned about the U.S. ability to respond effectively to perceived external threats from the Soviet Union and China in

2625-400: The United States, challenged the dominance of classical sinology. Scholars such as John King Fairbank promoted the "study of China within a discipline," an approach which downplayed the role of philological sinology and focused on issues in history and the social sciences. One of the earliest American scholars of Cold War China and Sino-American relations was Chinese-American Tang Tsou of

2700-404: The Zhao orphan is not produced. Cheng Ying, who was fearful, consults the retired Minister Gongsun Chujiu. To prevent this massacre, Cheng Ying decides to sacrifice his own child in desperation so that the safety of the Zhao orphan and every infant in the state was ensured. Gongsun Chujiu departs with Cheng's child, whom he presented as the Zhao orphan. In the self-sacrifice, both Gongsun and

2775-407: The area studies program in the U.S. In 1950, the foundation established the prestigious Foreign Area Fellowship Program (FAFP), the first large-scale national competition in support of area-studies training in the U.S. From 1953 to 1966, it contributed $ 270 million to 34 universities for area and language studies. Also during this period, it poured millions of dollars into the committees run jointly by

2850-477: The assumption that there is "some implicit hostility between 'Sinology' and the disciplines of history and social sciences." Sinology, he continued, is used in too a wide range of meanings to be so confined: During the Cold War , China Watchers centered in Hong Kong , especially American government officials or journalists. Mutual distrust between the United States and China and the prohibition of travel between

2925-544: The book "Zheng He, Chinese Emperor of the Seas". The book covers the history and adventures of a Chinese commander by the name Zheng He whose fleet went round the known world in seven voyages between the years 1415 and 1432. He also wrote before that the novel "The Fleet of the Sun" inspired by the story of the Chinese commander. It was considered the first Arabic novel with a Chinese as the central character, thus it achieved some fame in

3000-787: The chair of Chinese at the Collège de France for over 40 years, starting his studies with Rémusat and succeeding him in 1833. He was notable for his translations not only of classical texts but also works of vernacular literature, and for his knowledge of Manchu. Édouard Chavannes succeeded to the position after the death of Marquis d'Hervey-Saint-Denys in 1893. Chavannes pursued broad interests in history as well as language. The image of China as an essentially Confucian society conveyed by Jesuit scholars dominated Western thought in these times. While some in Europe learned to speak Chinese, most studied written classical Chinese. These scholars were in what

3075-435: The child were found and murdered. Cheng Ying silently suffers and weeps for his own child before he parts with him. Twenty years had passed since the third act. Cheng Ying has taken care of the orphan during his early life. The Zhao orphan, now known as Cheng Bo, has reached maturity. General Tu'an Gu has no child of his own, thus he had adopted the Zhao orphan, unknowingly of his true identity, and named him Tu Cheng. On

Sinology - Misplaced Pages Continue

3150-707: The context of the emerging Cold War , as well as to the fall-out from the decolonization of Africa and Asia . Area studies programs originated within the U.S. Office of Strategic Services , the predecessor agency to the CIA. In this context, the Ford Foundation , the Rockefeller Foundation , and the Carnegie Corporation of New York convened a series of meetings producing a broad consensus that to address this knowledge deficit,

3225-445: The countries meant they did not have access to press briefings or interviews. They therefore adopted techniques from Kremlinology , such as the close parsing of official announcements for hidden meanings, movements of officials reported in newspapers, and analysis of photographs of public appearances. But in the years since the opening of China, China watchers can live in China and take advantage of normal sources of information. Towards

3300-615: The dialogue but not the songs in his work. The story caught the imagination of European minds at a time when chinoiserie was in vogue and this translation was the basis for adaptations over the next few decades. Premaré sent the translation to be delivered to Étienne Fourmont , a member of the French Academy . However, Jean Baptiste Du Halde took possession of it instead and published it in his Description Géographique, Historique, Chronologique, Politique et Physique de l'Empire de la Chine et de la Tartarie Chinois in 1735, which

3375-439: The duke's name to order the death of General Zhao Shuo, the son of Zhao Dun. Zhao Shuo had namely been spared during the massacre as he was married to Lady Zhuang, the daughter of Duke Ling. When General Zhao Shuo received the forged decree, he commits suicide. Zhao Shuo and his wife were expecting a child , but the infant was born after the tragic circumstances involving his father's death. Tu'an Gu, intending to get rid of

3450-405: The end of the century, many of those studying China professionally called for an end to the split between sinology and the disciplines. The Australian scholar Geremie Barmé , for instance, suggests a "New Sinology", one which "emphasizes strong scholastic underpinnings in both the classical and modern Chinese language and studies, at the same time as encouraging an ecumenical attitude in relation to

3525-647: The examination which Chinese scholars made of their own civilization." The academic field of sinology often refers to Western scholarship. Until the 20th century, it was historically seen as equivalent to philology concerning the Chinese classics and other literature written in the Chinese language . Since then, the scope of sinology has expanded to include Chinese history and palaeography , among other subjects. The terms sinology and sinologist were coined around 1838, derived from Late Latin Sinae , in turn from

3600-518: The family and ritual. The Russian school of sinology was focused mainly on learning classical Chinese texts. For example, the contribution of the Russian sinologist Julian Shchutsky was especially valuable. The best full translation of the I Ching ( Book of Changes ) was made by him in 1937. Later his translation was translated in English and other European languages. After the proclamation of

3675-501: The first act, the retired Minister Gongsun Chujiu (公孙杵臼) in the second and third act, and the Zhao orphan in the final two acts. The Orphan of Zhao was the first Chinese play to be known in Europe. Until Ji Junxiang's play in the 13th century, the story appeared in prose form as historical narrative. After Ji's play, stage drama was the main form, with numerous regional operas, some completely independent of his play. The Records of

3750-501: The first important secular sinologists in these two countries were James Legge and Hans Georg Conon von der Gabelentz . In 1878, a professorship of Far Eastern languages, the first of its kind in the German-speaking world, was created at the University of Leipzig with von der Gabelentz taking the position. Scholars like Legge often relied on the work of ethnic Chinese scholars such as Wang Tao . Stanislas Julien served as

3825-632: The institute to teach Chinese to missionaries en route to China. In 1814, a chair of Chinese and Manchu was founded at Collège de France . Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat , who taught himself Chinese , filled the position, becoming the first professor of Chinese in Europe. By then the first Russian sinologist, Nikita Bichurin , had been living in Beijing for ten years. Abel-Rémusat's counterparts in England and Germany were Samuel Kidd (1797–1843) and Wilhelm Schott (1807–1889) respectively, though

SECTION 50

#1732773124890

3900-437: The intellectual terrain of area studies. Others insisted, however, that once they were established on university campuses, area studies began to encompass a much broader and deeper intellectual agenda than the one foreseen by government agencies, thus not American centric. Arguably, one of the greatest threats to the area studies project was the rise of rational choice theory in political science and economics. To mock one of

3975-619: The level of teachers and staff. The Bourguiba Institute for Modern Languages was also opened in Tunisia, and it specializes in the Chinese language in 1977. Cairo University also established the Chinese Language Department in September 2004 becoming a major center for Sinology is North Africa . Arab scholars sought to delve deeper into Sinology for academic, political, cultural and diplomatic purposes in order to build

4050-483: The many violent scenes mostly serve as theatrical entertainment and secondarily incite moral feelings in the audience. Shi (2009) remarked that Cheng Ying's suffering and endurance, as he was forced to live in his enemy's household so he could protect the orphan, could be interpreted as an ironic reflection by the author about the ethno-political circumstances of the Yuan era . The author incorporated Han institutions of Confucian values through his work. Duke Ling

4125-513: The most outspoken rational choice theory critics, Japan scholar Chalmers Johnson asked: Why do you need to know Japanese or anything about Japan's history and culture if the methods of rational choice will explain why Japanese politicians and bureaucrats do the things they do? Following the demise of the Soviet Union , philanthropic foundations and scientific bureaucracies moved to attenuate their support for area studies, emphasizing instead interregional themes like "development and democracy". When

4200-449: The newborn infant, orders General Han Jue to surround the palace. Lady Zhuang entrusts her newborn child to the physician Cheng Ying, a retainer to the Zhao family. However, she knew—as Cheng Ying had indicated—that she would be pressured to reveal where her child is, thus she took her own life. As the physician Cheng Ying was entrusted to keep the child safe, he attempts to escape with the child hidden in his medicine chest. While Cheng

4275-441: The other hand, replied that the disciplines were too often treated as ends in themselves. Sinology had its backers. Frederick W. Mote , a specialist in traditional China, replying to Skinner, spoke up for sinology, which he saw as a field or discipline in itself. Another specialist in traditional China, Denis Twitchett , in reply to the back and forth of this debate, issued what he called "A Lone Cheer for Sinology". He did not accept

4350-671: The people of China, their culture, economy, literature and philosophy have been translated into Arabic by the (House of Wisdom) company located in the Ningxia Hui region, northwest China since its establishment in 2011. Area studies While area studies had been taught at the Seminar for Oriental Languages of the Friedrich-Wilhelm University Berlin (now Humboldt-University ) since 1887, interdisciplinary area studies became increasingly common in

4425-559: The pilgrimage to Mecca, in addition to the flourishing of land and sea trade. All this led to the advancement of their studies in geography and thus, new knowledge about China found its way to the Arab world. Up to the twelfth century, the Arabs possessed exclusive knowledge about the East, and they were contributing to the transmission of knowledge to the West, which contributed to the advancement of Islamic civilization and its impact on world culture. Arabs such as Abu al-Hasan Ali al-Masoudi, who

4500-410: The power to write on a range of topics and to criticize in damning detail the mistakes of other scholars. Maspero expanded the scope of sinology from Confucianism to include Daoism, Buddhism, and popular religion, as well as art, mythology, and the history of science. The contribution of Granet was to apply the concepts of Emile Durkheim , a pioneer sociologist, to the society of ancient China, especially

4575-422: The reason for this is due to the fact that the purpose of the visits was often to trade or to spread Islam. At the beginning of the seventh century until the eighth century, the power of the Arabs increased due to the expansion of Islam and its spread throughout the world, and their control expanded to the east and west. Their power was strengthened by their vast lands, their advanced network of postal stations, and

SECTION 60

#1732773124890

4650-482: The renowned pioneer Matteo Ricci . Ricci arrived in Guangzhou in 1583, and would spend the rest of his life in China. Unlike most of his predecessors and contemporaries, Ricci did not view the Chinese firstly as pagans or idolators, but as "like-minded literati approachable on the level of learning". Like Chinese literati, he studied the Confucian classics in order to present Catholic doctrine and European learning to

4725-482: The social sciences to make more use of China, but wrote "In recent years the cry has gone up: Sinology is dead; long live Chinese studies!" and concluded that "Sinology, a discipline unto itself, is being replaced by Chinese studies, a multidisciplinary endeavour with specific research objectives." Joseph Levenson , a historian, went further. He doubted that sinology was a tool that social scientists would still find useful, while another historian, Benjamin I. Schwartz , on

4800-419: The story exemplified morality, in which, as he explained, genius and reason has a natural superiority over blind force and barbarism. He praised the Confucian morality in the Chinese play, remarking that it was a "valuable monument of antiquity, and gives us more insight into the manners of China than all the histories which ever were, or ever will be written of that vast empire". However, he still considered

4875-426: The time. It was well received in the literary circles of London. In 1767, it was brought to the United States, where it was first performed at the Southwark Theatre in Philadelphia. In 1834, Stanislas Julien made the first complete translation of The Orphan of Zhao , which was from the Chinese original into French, including both the dialogue and the songs. The 2010 film Sacrifice directed by Chen Kaige

4950-427: The truth, the Zhao orphan kills Tu'an Gu in the streets and avenges his family. The orphan, now known as Zhao Wu , is reinstated with his family titles and properties. The Orphan of Zhao was the first Chinese play to be translated into any European language. The Jesuit father Joseph Henri Marie de Prémare translated the play, which he titled L'Orphelin de la Maison de Tchao , into French in 1731. He translated

5025-414: The world by working closely with humanists, and those who thought social scientists should seek to develop overarching macrohistorial theories that could draw connections between patterns of change and development across different geographies. The former became area-studies advocates, the latter proponents of modernization theory . The Ford Foundation would eventually become the dominant player in shaping

5100-401: Was France, where Chinese studies were popularized owing to efforts from Louis XIV . In 1711, he appointed a young Chinese man named Arcadio Huang to catalog the royal collection of Chinese texts. Huang was assisted by Étienne Fourmont , who published a grammar of Chinese in 1742. In 1732, Matteo Ripa , a missionary of the Neapolitan "Sacred Congregation" ( De propaganda fide ) founded

5175-436: Was a well-known and highly regarded Arabic historical material. The book had two separate parts, the first part was "History of Indian and Chinese Affairs" by an unknown author, and the second part was "A Collection of Rumors of India and China" by Abu Zayd. The first part was a selection from Solomon's "Chinese experiences" and other anonymous sources, written and recorded in 851, together with their experiences in India. During

5250-441: Was done without permission from Prémare or Fourmont. Whatever the circumstances, Du Halde published the first European translation of a genuine Chinese play. Prémare's work was translated into English for two distinct English editions of Du Halde's book, which appeared in 1736 and 1741 respectively. The first one was translated was by Richard Brookes in 1736. The second one was translated by Green and Guthrie in 1738–41. In 1762,

5325-460: Was highly successful in England. In his 1759 edition, Murphy criticized Voltaire for adding a theme of love, which he thought was unsuitable, and for having a "scantiness of interesting business". Murphy reasserted the story of revenge, which was omitted in Voltaire's play. In Murphy's play, the virtuous people killed the leader of the Tartars. Although different, his play approached the original Chinese play closer than any other European adaption of

5400-665: Was known as kangaku . It was contrasted with the study of Japan ( kokugaku ) as well as with the study of the West (first rangaku , then more broadly yōgaku ). This historical field is distinguished from modern sinology. In modern China, the studies of China-related subjects is known as "national studies" ( 国学 ; 國學 ; guóxué ), and foreign sinology is translated as "Han studies" ( 汉学 ; 漢學 ; Hànxué ). The earliest Westerners known to have studied Chinese in significant numbers were 16th-century Portuguese, Spanish, and Italian missionaries. All were either Jesuits or Dominicans seeking to spread Catholic Christianity to

5475-514: Was likened to Tu'an Gu, renamed as Saiko in his play. It was never produced and, in the words of John Genest , "totally unfit for representation." Hatchett made a dedication to the Duke of Argyll in his work, where the play's characters could be recognized as the people whom he satirized: In Vienna, the Italian playwright Pietro Metastasio received a request from Empress Maria Theresa to write

5550-454: Was the ruler of the Jin state . In his court, Minister Zhao Dun and General Tu'an Gu were two of his most influential subordinates. However, Tu'an Gu had a deep hatred for Zhao Dun. He wanted to destroy his rival, Zhao Dun, and exterminate the Zhao family. General Tu'an Gu succeeded in framing Zhao Dun, and slaughtered 300 members of the Zhao family. Soon thereafter, a decree was forged in

5625-419: Was well-received throughout Europe with the vogue of chinoiserie at its height. Between 1741 and 1759, it was adapted into French, English, and Italian. In 1741, William Hatchett wrote and published the earliest adaptation of the Chinese play, which he did in English, titled The Chinese Orphan: An Historical Tragedy . In its essence, his play was written as a political attack on Sir Robert Walpole , who

#889110