The Asian History Blog

The First Chinese Rice Cooker?

2014-12-16T10:30:00.002-05:00

Wow....it's been almost two years since I last posted at this blog. I am so sorry for the lack of new posts since then. Between being tied down with my own eBay business and other projects, it just became hard to find the time to post anything new. Now that I have a little more time to post some new material, I'll be sure to post here as often as I can.

Now I'd like to take the time to share a little something with you guys that I found while doing a web search on Baidu the other day. It's an old Chinese news article, but still fascinating nonetheless!

In 2007, a giant kettle dating back to the Western Han Dynasty (206 BCE-9 AD) was found during the excavation of ancient tombs in Dayi county, which is located in China's Sichuan province near the city of Chengdu. This kettle was unique in that it is actually a double-layered "kettle-within-a-kettle!" The main iron kettle is wrapped in an additional clay lining that kept food such as rice warm long after the water had stopped boiling and the kettle had been taken off the fire. This double-layered technology is essentially the same technology used in modern-day electric rice cookers!

The kettle is 28 cm. tall, 32 cm. in diameter, and 45 cm. round. According to an interview with one of the archaeologists who excavated it, one of the layers is shaped like a pottery lamp, which is rare for ancient Chinese kettles. A few other artifacts such as beans, pottery pieces (adorned with animal decorations), and coins were also found in the same burial pit with the kettle.

The advanced iron smelting skills of the people who lived in and around ancient Chengdu during this time are well-known. They had a smelting industry dating back to the ancient Shu state that existed in Sichuan prior to the Han dynasty. This double-layered kettle is proof of that advanced industry. Furthermore, the kettle is a demonstration of the important role that Sichuan people played in the Western Han Dynasty. And of course, for those of us living in the modern age, this kettle is a demonstration of modern-day cooking technology used in devices such as rice cookers at work in the ancient world!

Namazu-e: The Art Genre That Challenged the Tokugawa Shogunate

2013-01-07T10:39:00.000-05:00

A Namazu-e print titled "Shin Yoshiwara ōnamazu yurai". In this print, Namazu has devastated the "pleasure district" of Shin Yoshiwara in Edo. The ladies of the night (and others) attempt to take their revenge, but Namazu gets a thrill from having them come into contact with him and threatens to thrash around and cause some aftershocks. (Wikimedia Commons)

In 1855, a massive earthquake struck Edo (modern-day Tokyo) and killed over 10,000 people. At the time, the earthquake was widely blamed on Namazu, the monster catfish and water deity that, according to legend, lives in the waters underneath Japan. Out of the rubble of Edo arose a short-lived art genre that ridiculed the Tokugawa government and the upper strata of Japanese society and challenged the Tokugawa government's censorship laws. This art genre was known as Namazu-e.

"What/who is Namazu," you ask? Namazu is one of the many monsters (or 'yōkai') of ancient Japanese legends. According to the legend, Namazu is restrained by the Shinto god Kashima, who keeps a stone on top of him. However, when Kashima is not looking, Namazu will roll around or wiggle his tail, causing the nation's violent earthquakes. The legend of Namazu is believed to have its origins in the ancient Chinese and Japanese belief that earthquakes were caused by dragons or dragon-snakes living underground. Dragons were also worshipped as a water deity by the Chinese and Japanese people and they associated it with flooding and heavy rains.

Namazu-e prints were a genre of woodcut prints, or ukiyo-e (浮世絵) that were popular for two months in 1855-56 after the earthquake. The first prints went into publication a mere two days after the earthquake. During the period of November 1855-January 1856, over 400 namazu-e prints were published and distributed around Edo. Namazu-e prints satirized the people who profited from the Ansei Edo Earthquake, and offered a little bit of entertainment and humor to the quake-stricken city. They also depicted traditional Shinto beliefs about the disaster, promised protection from future earthquakes, and even have a connection with a major event in both Japanese and American histories. Nearly all of these paintings were painted anonymously and could be found throughout Edo during this disaster.

First and foremost, many Namazu-e prints showed all the citizens of Edo coming together to defeat Namazu and chase him out of their city. Usually these prints showed Kashima subduing Namazu or in pursuit of the giant catfish. These prints were meant to inspire the people to keep moving and rebuild the great city of Edo.

Namazu-e also satirized the profiteers who made a fortune from the disaster, such as the construction workers, lumber merchants, blacksmiths, newspaper editors, celebrities, and so on. These people are shown standing around watching and cheering Namazu on while the ordinary people suffer and die. Many people blamed the quake on the greed of the profiteers of Edo, and the Tokugawa bureaucracy in particular. They believed it was punishment for their excessive greed. Even before the quake, corruption had been rampant. Prices of everyday items were getting higher and merchants were deliberately hoarding items from store shelves to induce an artificial shortage of goods. When the quake struck Edo, they saw the perfect opportunity to make a fortune knocking. After the quake, a great number of these people quickly rebuilt their homes and re-opened their businesses with their inexhaustible supply of money.

Apart from Namazu himself, another deity who was blamed for the quake was Ebisu, the Shinto god of fishing and commerce. According to legend, Namazu is restrained by the Shinto god Kashima, who keeps a stone on top of him. However, when Kashima is not looking, Namazu will roll around or wiggle his tail, causing the nation's violent earthquakes. Ebisu was said to have temporarily taken over the job of guarding Namazu while Kashima was away and fell asleep on the job. While he was asleep, Namazu got away and caused massive destruction. The theme of a sleeping Ebisu recurs throughout many of these prints.

Another underlying theme in Namazu-e was the arrivial of U.S. Navy Commodore Matthew Perry and his fleet of black steamships two years earlier to negotiate a trade treaty on behalf of President Millard Fillmore. These trade negotiations began the opening up of Japan. The fleet of black steamships terrified the people of Japan greatly, both literally and emotionally. Most Japanese had never seen a steamship before and a whole fleet of them in Japan's harbors was terrifying to see. The threat of war shook up the Tokugawa shogunate and the samurai, whose weaponry and tactics were outdated at this point in time and were no match against the advanced weapons of Perry's fleet. Also, pressure and the threat of possible military action caused uncertainty in Japan and gave the merchants an excuse to keep upping their prices.

Many prints and illustrations of Perry's ships from this time depicted the ships as bearing a strong resemblance to Namazu, and when the Edo earthquake struck in 1855, Commodore Perry was still fresh on the minds of the people of Edo. In many namazu-e prints, Namazu bears a resemblance to Perry's steamships. The underlying message was very clear: Perry and his fleet were Namazus who were "rectifying" Japan and ushering in an era of change.

Daikoku, the Japanese God of Fortune, showers coins down on the quake-stricken people of Edo while a grinning Namazu rides on. Kashima stands on Namazu with his sword drawn, indicating that he has Namazu under control. A poem praises the water god Suijin for sparing the lives of the artist's family. (Wikimedia Commons)

Despite all the destruction he caused, Namazu was also viewed as a savior. He was regarded by many people as the agent of world rectification sent from the gods above and, in the eyes of many people living at the time, would change Japanese society for the better. Many Namazu-e prints offered inspiration to the citizens of Edo by depicting Namazu, in his role as a yonaoshi daimyojin, spewing coins (often with Daikoku, the god of wealth, looking on) to people all over the city, promising a new era of prosperity through rebuilding Edo. Others even depicted Namazu (or numerous Namazus) apologizing and helping to rescue people, claiming that it was the profiteers who wanted Namazu to go on his rampage! Many of these prints were said to have special powers that gave the owner protection from Namazu and his wrath, thus boosting the popularity of the Namazu-e genre of woodcut.

Naturally, it wasn't long before the Tokugawa shogunate caught wind of this genre and decided that they couldn't have the people mocking the government and breaking its strict censorship laws. In January 1856, the Tokugawa shogunate officially banned Namazu-e prints from production. Since a lot of Namazu-e prints were one-of-a-kind prints made by relatively unknown local artists, many of them vanished forever.

One legacy of Namazu-e is that it was a "protest art". It emerged at a time when social discontent was very high in Japan and protests had been becoming more and more common over the decades. The Ansi-Edo earthquake in general brought all this discontent and anger out to the surface, and Namazu-e was the perfect way to express it.

Namazu-e was a very small genre of Japanese art that existed for only a very short period of time in the Edo area. It depicted and satirized the huge divide between rich and poor that existed in Edo society, the changes that were brewing in Japan underneath the surface of Edo society, and the changes that were soon to come. Furtthermore, Namazu-e prints gave the people of Edo a sense of safety and security and gave them a reason to smile and laugh. In this sense, Namazu-e was a two-sided art genre.

For more info about Namazu-e, check out:
-http://pinktentacle.com/2011/04/namazu-e-earthquake-catfish-prints/ (Blog post from Pink Tentacle about Namazu-e. Includes a gallery of Namazu-e prints and background info on these prints.)
-http://shinku.nichibun.ac.jp/namazu/ichiran.php (A very comprehensive gallery of Namazu-e. Japanese language only.)
-http://www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/g/j/gjs4/Shaking_Up_Japan.pdf (Paper about Namazu-e by Gregory Smits.)

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

2012-12-25T06:13:00.000-05:00

Here's wishing all of you out there a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! May 2013 be a happy and prosperous year for each and every one of you and may all of your New Year resolutions come true.

Also, thank you so much for your visits to this blog since I started it earlier this year and I do apologise for not having posted anything new over the past month. I've started some new blogs here as of late and have been busy getting those set up. I plan on making some new posts sometime soon now that I've got a little more time, so stay tuned!

Anyway, enjoy the rest of your 2012 and thanks again for dropping in.

--Josh

Konosuke Matsushita and the "Bullet Lamp"

2012-11-22T04:03:00.000-05:00

A Japanese motorcycle policeman with a "bullet lamp" circa 1925. (Wikimedia Commons)

Konosuke Matsushita was a man of many talents who truly changed the world around him with his ideas. He was a man who started a little company out of nothing that became a major international corporation. He made a number of inventions that were highly innovative during the early 20th century, such as two-way socket light bulbs, light sockets that could charge any electrical appliance, and electrical plugs and sockets that were more efficient than any others available at the time.

However, Matsushita's one invention that propelled Matsushita Industrial Electric, Co. (now better known to the world as Panasonic) into the national - and eventually the international spotlight (no pun intended) - was the battery-powered bicycle lamp, or the "bullet lamp" as it was nicknamed.

In 1923, bicycle lamps were a necessity in Japan. Many people used bikes as their primary mode of transportation everyday and needed a guiding light when riding at night or during bad weather. Bicycle lamps were very much a necessity. However, the bicycle lamps of the time were very inefficient. Battery-operated bicycle lamps were available during this time, but could only provide about several hour's worth of light before the batteries ran down. Candle or oil lamps would flop around a lot and were not very useful at all during a wind or rain storm!

Matsushita, who was himself an avid bike rider, also saw a need for a better light and invented a far more superior bicycle lamp for the market. Matsushita's lamp was a battery-powered lamp that was oval, or bullet-shaped, and was powered by dry-cell batteries and lighbulbs. The light casings were proudly manufactured by his company. Most importantly of all, the bullet lamp could provide light for 40 hours compared to a paltry 3 hours for other bicycle lamps!

At first, the bullet lamp was a hard sell. Retailers weren't convinced that the technology behind a battery-powered bicycle lamp would appeal to the average Japanese consumer. After being rejected by the mainstream market, Matsushita took his invention to a place he knew well and a place which would happily try to sell it: the local bicycle shops. He provided display models to the bicycle shops to use to demonstrate the lamp and, of course, the lamps themselves to sell to the public. Over time, the public saw how these lamps worked and they gradually became hot-sellers across Japan.

Statue of Konosuke Matsushita in Japan.

Matsushita capitalized on the success of the bullet lamp. This little lamp not only turned the fortunes of his company around (which had been faltering prior to this point in time), but expanded it! As the bullet lamp's popularity grew, he rebranded his company National, lowered the price of the lamps, started an advertising campaign in the national newspapers, and watched the success of the bullet lamp grow beyond his wildest dreams.

Over the course of the 20th century, National would manufacture new and improved bicycle/home lamps known as National Lamps as well as other light products such as flashlights. They continue to manufacture these products today.

The bullet lamp found another important use among the Japanese public besides its primary purpose. Many Japanese found the bullet lamp useful inside the home! Since these were battery-powered and had a long life, many people replaced the traditional kerosene lamps with bullet lamps. This, in turn, led to the creation of the National Lamp, which could be used on a bicycle or in a home. Also, bullet lamps were no doubt a safer alternative to kerosene and oil lamps, which can be a fire hazard.

Another group of people who found good use for the bullet lamp were police officers, such as the one in the above picture. At the time the bullet lamp was invented, Japanese police officers patrolling on bicycle were - and are still today - common sights on city streets. The motorcycle police force, or Aka-bai Taiin (赤バイ隊員, or 'red bike personnel'. They were renamed shirobai, or 'white bike force' during the 1930s.) was becoming a mainstay of the Japanese police force. The bullet lamp was no doubt useful for these police officers navigating the streets of Japan's cities at night or through stormy weather. Also, as the country experienced a number of natural disasters during the 1920s and 30s such as the Great Kantō Earthquake of 1923 (which devastated cities such as Tokyo and Yokohama) and Typhoon Muroto of 1934, these lamps were no doubt essential to police and rescue personnel as they rescued victims trapped by the disasters or navigated their way through debris.

Matsushita's bullet lamp was a highly innovative invention that turned Panasonic into the multi-national corporation we all know today. However, it was also an invention that made life a lot easier for a lot of people and most likely saved lives as well.

Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konosuke_Matsushita (Konosuke Matsushita at Wikipedia.)
http://panasonic.net/history/founder/chapter2/story2-02.html (Panasonic's webpage about the bullet lamp.)
http://www.quoteswise.com/konosuke-matsushita-quotes-2.html (Quotes from Konosuke Matsushita about his bullet lamp.)

Image Copyright:
*Statue of Konosuke Matsushita: Rsa via Japanese Wikimedia.

*This blog entry references information from the following:
-布卢姆斯伯里出版公司, Business: 英文. Beijing: Citic Publishing House, 200?, pg. 1114.
-Kamioka, Kazuyoshi, Japanese Business Pioneers. Tokyo: Heian Press, 1988, pg. 65
-Alexander, Jeffrey W. Japan's Motorcycle Wars. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2009, pg. 46

*This blog post is not endorsed by, affiliated with, nor advertising products manufactured by the Panasonic Corporation.

King Naresuan and the Wild Tiger Corps

2012-11-14T20:50:00.003-05:00

Statue of King Naresuan at Naresuan University, Pitsanulok, Thailand.

One of Thailand's most famous national heroes is King Naresuan. Naresuan was the king of the Ayutthaya kingdom who, in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, drove the Burmese who occupied a large part Siam (Thailand) out of the kingdom and basically crushed their empire, returning Siam to its full glory. In essence, he is much like America's first president and military commander George Washington and the American Revolutionary War guerrilla leader "Swamp Fox" Francis Marion rolled into one.

In the year 1600, the Ayutthaya kingdom (Siam) had been at war against the Burmese for over three decades. Most of the kingdom had been invaded and occupied by the Burmese in 1567. However, that changed in 1583 when Naresuan, who was then the king of Sukothai (a kingdom that consisted of what is now northern Thailand), led a war of independence from Burma. After driving Burmese forces out of Ayutthaya proper several times (which culminated in a historical duel with his childhood nemesis, the Burmese prince Mingyi Swa, on the backs of elephants), he followed up with an invasion of Burma and its Mon allies in modern-day Cambodia.

As part of his campaign against the Burmese, Naresuan created the Wild Tiger Corps (กองเสือป่า) to harass and observe the enemy armies. They were an early example of a guerrilla army.

Naresuan wanted all of his men in the corps to be experts in Muay Thai kickboxing, weapons, and jungle warfare. During the 16th century, Siam and its neighbors were constantly at war with each other and it was not hard to find men who were good at martial arts. Many young men in Siam learned Muay Thai and swordfighting from a very young age. Some became elite martial artists thanks to training in sword and pole fighting at the nationally-renowned Phudaisawan Sword Training Center in Bangkok. These were exactly the men who would come in useful for King Naresuan. Most importantly of all, men in the Wild Tiger Corps were men who had lost their homes and families since the beginning of the Burmese invasion in 1563 and had a burning desire to see their country become a strong, independent nation once again.

Mural at Wat Suvandaram in Ayutthaya depicting Siamese and Burmese forces in battle.

During this period of time, the Wild Tiger Corps were a thorn in the side of the Burmese. Scouts from the corps lurked in the jungles, observed, and reported Burmese troop positions, strengths, and numbers to the Siamese commanders. They also launched ambushes on enemy soldiers, putting their jungle fighting and Muay Thai skills to good use. They were instrumental in the ultimate Siamese victory over the Burmese.

In 1911, the Wild Tiger Corps would be resurrected in name by King Vajiravudh (Rama VI) on the day he ascended to the throne. However, unlike their namesake, this corps wasn't exactly a guerrilla army. This one was a paramilitary corps created by the King to provide military training to those civil servants who were exempt from national military service a chance to receive training. The Wild Tigers, which were based on the pre-World War I volunteer service in the UK, were initially created as a ceremonial guard. However, over time their ranks and duties grew. In the event of war, the Wild Tigers would act as both a police force and army reserve and observe the enemy's positions. In addition, they also acted as bodyguards to the King and were expected to be fiercely nationalistic. All mid-to high level civil servants were required to join the Wild Tiger Corps. Throughout the course of 1911, the Wild Tigers became just as powerful as the army itself and some of its officers became high-ranking army officers and right-hand advisers to the King!

The King could often be seen socializing with and lecturing the Wild Tigers. He invested a lot of time creating this organization and they had his implicit trust.

A year later, the Wild Tigers were disbanded by the King after the failed Palace Revolt, which was carried out by a group of army officers. However, the youth wing of the Wild Tigers, the Tiger Cubs, would set the foundations for the Thai Boy Scouts, which still exists today.

Over the centuries, the legend of King Naresuan has never been forgotten by the Thai people. Nor has the legend of the famous guerrilla army he created. Their stories have been told and retold in the Thai imagination for four hundred years and in recent years, have been introduced to Westerners thanks to the series of King Naresuan movies!

If you're interested in learning a little more about King Naresuan or the Wild Tiger Corps (both the 17th and 20th century versions), here are some sites for you:

http://www.ajarn.com/blogs/john-quinn/the-battle-of-nong-sarai/ (Very good blog post about King Naresuan and the Battle of Nong Sarai.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naresuan (Wikipedia entry on King Naresuan.)
http://www.muaysanghaindia.com/chronology
http://histclo.com/youth/youth/org/nat/tha/nattha.htm (Webpage about King Rama VI's Wild Tiger Scouts.)

Image copyrights:
King Naresuan picture: Mixvasuvadh
Wat Suvandaram picture: Toutou

Hanyang Arsenal and Its Place in Chinese History

2012-11-12T10:28:00.001-05:00

Hanyang Arsenal. (Wikimedia Commons)

One of China's largest and most famous weapons manufacturers of the 20th century was the Hanyang Arsenal. Located in the city of Hanyang, Wuhan province, Hanyang Arsenal not only supplied the various armies of China with weapons, but also to several Cold War hotspots...long after the arsenal itself ceased to exist.

The Hanyang Arsenal was founded in 1891 by Zhang Zhidong, a prominent Qing official and governor of Hubei province who advocated modernizing China's military by strenghtening its iron and steel-producing capabilities. At the time it opened, Qing rule was under serious threat from Western imperialism and home-grown revolutionary movements.

Along with the historic Hanyang Steel Mill (now Chongqing Iron and Steel), Hanyang Arsenal opened its doors in 1894. Despite a fire that took out much of the machinery of the plant a year later, Hanyang manufactured and supplied the Qing military with a huge portion of its weaponry, particularly rifles and rifle ammunition. When it first opened, Hanyang Arsenal hired German managers to run the plant. It mainly manufactured German rifles such as the Type 88 Mauser rifle as well as other German weapons such as Krupp artillery pieces. During this time, German arms were some of the most sophisticated in the world and these were the arms the Qing wanted for their military. Also manufactured at Hanyang was smokeless powder ammunition. Smokeless guns (i.e. bolt-action rifles) were gradually introduced to Western countries such as the US and Great Britain during the 1890s-1900s and during this time, Hanyang had an upper-hand on this new technology in Asia.

Not long after it first opened, Hanyang Arsenal would play a vital role in one of the nation's conflicts: the Boxer Rebellion. In 1900-01, over three thousand Mauser rifles and ammunition were supplied to Boxer fighters fighting the armies of the Eight-Nation Alliance. The Qing and the Righteous Harmony Society lost this conflict, but the arsenal would keep producing arms for the Qing military for another decade to come.

In 1911, Qing rule was crumbling and anti-Qing fervor was spreading across the nation. In October, the first major uprising against Qing rule, or the Xinhai Revolution, broke out near the Hanyang Arsenal in Wuchang. During this incident, revolutionaries stormed the arsenal and took a number of rifles and other arms. When all was said and done, Hubei province fell to the revolutionaries and the officials at Hanyang Arsenal actively supported the revolutionaries, supplying them with much-needed guns and ammunition and helping to deliver a major blow to the Qing authorities.

After the Qing Dynasty collapsed in 1912, Hanyang Arsenal would produce weapons for the new Republic of China. Under the Kuomintang, Hanyang Arsenal would expand and in 1917 a ordinance and weapons-manufacturing school opened at the arsenal. It continued to produce mainly German weapons, such the Type 88 and the Gewehr 98, which was the standard rifle of the German Army during World War I. Also during this time, Hanyang began manufacturing German and American machine guns, such as the Browning M1917 heavy machine gun. Many of these guns were used in the First Northern Expedition of 1926-28 against Communist forces.

Hanyang was also a site where a number of modified Western weapons and innovative arms were created. Modified versions of some of the latest Western arms such as the British Maxim machine gun (the Type 24 HMG) and the Type 88 (also called the "Chiang Kai-Shek" or "Chungcheng" rifle) were created at Hanyang during the late 1910s-1920s. These versions were distributed to the Nationalist army and later on, would be used by the Communists as well. Hanyang was also the birthplace of the famous - and extremely rare - General Liu rifle. This rifle, developed in 1916 by the commander of Hanyang Arsenal Gen. Liu Qing-En, was one of the world's first semi-automatic rifles. Only a dozen or less were ever manufactured and they were all made at Hanyang.

Nationalist, or KMT soldiers, during WWII. (Wikimedia Commons)

In 1933, China found itself at war with Japan and Hanyang Arsenal manufactured a great deal of the weapons used at the front. In 1937, the Chinese government ordered the arsenal to be dismantled and relocated to several locations in Hunan province before the Hanyang area fell to advancing Japanese forces. The facilities kept manufacturing Mausers throughout the anti-Japanese war and World War II.

Hanyang-manufactured guns were used not only by KMT forces, but by the Red Army as well. Even though much of their arms were Soviet or captured Japanese weapons, Communist guerrillas fighting the Japanese - and the KMT itself after WWII - took pride in their Hanyang guns and stockpiled them. Many captured and defecting KMT soldiers brought their Hanyang guns with them, leading Mao Zedong to claim that the CPC "had a claim on the output of the arsenals of London as well as Hanyang"! (Griffith, 49)

After World War II, production of Mausers resumed at Hanyang. But not for long. At that point, more advanced arms such as semi-automatic rifles were becoming the norm worldwide and bolt-action rifles such as Mausers were becoming increasingly obsolete. In 1947, Hanyang Arsenal was ordered closed by the KMT government and the site was eventually razed to the ground.

However, the Hanyang story does not end there. Many of the weapons manufactured at Hanyang were still in the hands of Mao Zedong's forces, who were growing by the number. In 1949, mainland China came under Communist control and with it much of what remained of Hanyang Arsenal and its guns.

Many of these guns were used several years later during the Korean War. Mausers and other weaponry manufactured at Hanyang were used by Chinese volunteers who fought in Korea against US and UN forces. Likewise, a few Hanyang guns such as Chinese K-98s even made their way to Indochina where they were used by Viet Minh forces against the French and, another decade later, by the Viet Cong during America's war in Vietnam!

The Hanyang legacy also made its way to Taiwan with the Nationalists who fled there in 1949. Many of Hanyang's senior staff went there with the KMT government and military and helped lay the foundations for Taiwan's own military arsenals during the Cold War.

Hanyang Arsenal only existed for over half a century, but during this period of time it supplied weapons for numerous conflicts ranging from the Boxer Rebellion to the Cold War. It was a very advanced arsenal for its time and it certainly left its mark on the history of China...as well as countries just beyond its borders.

Much more about Hanyang Arsenal can be found at:
http://www.cloudaqua.com:8080/showItem/showDetail/12820793.html (Blog post from Chinese blogger roomx. Includes info about her visit to the old Hanyang Arsenal site.)

*This blog post references information from:
-Sun Tzu and Griffith, Samuel B. The Art of War. London: Oxford Press, 1971: pg. 49.
-Waldron, Arthur. From War to Nationalism: China's Turning Point, 1924-1925. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003: pgs. 66-67.
-MacKinnon, Stephen B. Wuhan, 1938: War, Refugees, and the Making of Modern China. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008: pg. 9

A History of Asia's Neon Signs

2012-11-06T19:09:00.000-05:00

One of the most profound features of almost any of the major urban landscapes in Asia are the neon signs that illuminate the city. Over store entrances, on the sides of buildings, and elsewhere, neon signs and billboards light up the night sky in many an Asian city. They have made the atmosphere of countless movies (both in Asia and abroad) a little more saultry and made travel ads for these countries much more appealing. Tourists make special trips to cities such as Tokyo just to see the neon lights at night!

In Asia there are three cities where neon signs are particularly famous: Tokyo and Osaka in Japan, and Hong Kong. In each city these signs have their own history and their own special meanings. Let's learn a little more about the neon signs of these cities!

Neon signs in Kabuchiko, Tokyo.

One of the world's "neon capitals" is without a doubt Tokyo. The very first neon sign in Japan was set up in 1926 by Tokyo Pan Bakery in Shinjuku district to advertise their business. During and after World War II, neon signs gradually became a popular form of advertising in the country and at the very end of 1957, the Totsuko company erected a huge neon billboard modeled after New York City's famous billboards in Sukiyabashi, which is located in Tokyo's Ginza shopping district. The switching-on of the lights on this billboard was a nationally-televised event, and when the lights came on, the new name of Totsuko was revealed to the world: Sony.

After this sign became an instant Tokyo landmark, more and more businesses in the city saw the value of having their own neon signs. Throughout the 1960s, Tokyo's shopping districts were plastered with neon signs ranging from giant billboards to tiny window signs, trying to outdo all the other nearby businesses and make their brand a popular one. Over the past few decades, entire streets blanketed in neon lights have become a trademark image in Tokyo. Also, other cities in Japan have followed suit and erected neon signs over their own businesses and shopping districts.

The neon lights of Dōtonbori, Osaka, Japan. Notice the Glico Man in the foreground.

One of these is Osaka - and in particular the part of town known as Dōtonbori. At night, Dōtonbori turns into an amazing paradise of bright lights and gigantic mechanical crabs advertising the many restaurants and stores up and down the street, as well as Japan's (and other countries') famous corporations. Dōtonbori can also lay claim to one of the oldest neon sign in Japan: The running man advertising the Japanese Glico candy brand! This sign, which has been around since 1935 (with some sources saying it was erected in 1919!), has become a city icon and has been used to advertise other sporting events and welcome international visitors to the city for venues such as the 2002 World Cup.

The 1960s saw neon signs start popping up in another major urban area of Asia: Hong Kong. In Hong Kong, neon signs can be found almost everywhere. As is the case with Tokyo, images of young couples walking underneath massive neon signs or lights of every color bouncing off a rain-soaked Nathan Road have become a trademark.

Portland Street in Kowloon, Hong Kong. Note the lucky bat in the top sign.

As was the case for Tokyo, the neon signs of Hong Kong were erected by shop owners to advertise their businesses and compete against "the other guys". The bigger and flashier the sign, the more business they could rake in. Over time these signs became a trademark of the territory that could be found everywhere from postcards to HK blockbuster movies of the 1980s and 90s. And of course, any person who has ever lived in or visited Hong Kong are all too familiar with the city's nighttime lights! Areas of Hong Kong such as Nathan Road and Portland street (see above) are particularly famous for their neon signs that turn the night into a dazzling landscape of colors.

As Christopher DeWolf discusses in his excellent article about the neon lights of Hong Kong, many of these signs use traditional Chinese symbolism to advertise their business. For instance, bats carrying coins are very common on pawn shop signs. In traditional Chinese beliefs, bats descending from the sky are a sign of happiness, as are bats featured on "eye coin" amulets. Naturally, coins themselves are also a sign of wealth! DeWolf also points out that many of these signs use traditional Chinese colors that were used to paint the signs of old. Red (traditionally a lucky color), white, and green were the most common colors.

Hong Kong is also famous for being the inspiration for the city scenes in director Ridley Scott's 1982 film Blade Runner. With all of its amazing neon signs illuminating the night streets in a blanket of light, Ridley couldn't have picked a better inspiration for a futuristic Los Angeles than Hong Kong on a rainy day!

Over the course of the mid to late-20th century, neon lights became as much a part of many Asian city landscapes as their temples, parks, restaurants, and other buildings. To some they may be an annoyance, but to others they are valuable pieces of the cities themselves that are more than just an advertising medium. They light up the city at night and create a beautiful nighttime atmosphere for everyone to enjoy.

For more about the neon signs, here are a couple of sites for you:
http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2007/09/japans-neon-vision-lights-up-night.html (Steve Levenstein's article about Tokyo's neon lights.)
http://randomwire.com/hong-kong-nights (A blog post from Random Wire about Hong Kong's neon signs.)

Image Copyrights:
Tokyo: Puffyjet
Dōtonbori: JoopDooresteijn
Portland St.: UCLARodent
All images used courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

James C. Mars and Thomas Scott Baldwin: Early Aviation Pioneers in Asia

2012-11-05T06:17:00.000-05:00

During the early years of flight, a number of young men learned how to fly the new "flying machines" and became daredevil aviators. These aviators are the men and women who not only set the first world records for flight, but also paved the way for air travel as we know it.

Thomas Scott Baldwin's plane, the Red Devil. (Mark Pellegrini/Wikimedia Commons)

Two of these men were the Americans James C. "Bud" Mars (1876-1944) and US Army Capt. Thomas Scott Baldwin (1854-1923). Just a few years after Wilbur and Orville Wright made their historic first flight in Kitty Hawk, NC in 1903, Bud Mars was one of the first daredevil pilots. He became America's eleventh licensed pilot and the first aviator to fly over a number of American states, including Arkansas and Hawaii. Thanks to these historic firsts and his death-defying flying exploits (which included a crash into the Atlantic Ocean where he nearly drowned, as well as a near-crash into the Rocky Mountains), he became a celebrity in the US during the late 1900s. Cpt. Baldwin was one of America's first balloonists who made history in 1885 when he jumped out of a balloon in mid-air with a parachute. He also made a number of circus performances involving a hot-air balloon and a trapeze. After the Wright Brothers made their flight, Baldwin mastered the biplane as well.

Sometime at the end of 1910, Capt. Baldwin organized an exhibition for the Asia-Pacific region to demonstrate the airplane. He managed to get Mars and fellow "aeronaut" Tod Shriver on board. Throughout 1911, the three put on performances in countries which included Hawaii, Japan, Russia, Indonesia, India, Thailand, China, the Philippines, and Korea. Mars performed breath-taking stunts for the amazed (or terrified) crowds with his plane while Baldwin performed stunts with his own plane, the Red Devil.

During their exhibition, they reportedly had 750,000 people show up in Osaka to watch their flights. At the time, this was the largest crowd ever to show up for an air show. In Manila, a crowd almost as large showed up to watch the two fly at the 1911 Manila Carnival. During the Manila performance, Bud Mars became the first person to fly in the skies over the Philippines when he orbited the Manila Carnival Tower.

Throughout their Asian journey , the exhibition experienced a number of "interesting incidents." While performing in Japan, Mars claimed to have almost been killed by a mob of villagers in one Japanese village who were fearful of the new contraption. He also claimed to have had constant protection from the Japanese authorities during their stay in Korea due to the possibility of having more "unfriendly" run-ins from fearful villagers. Also, Baldwin and Mars unintentionally caused panic in many of the areas of Asia they visited among people who were unfamiliar with airplanes and saw these alien contraptions flying in the skies over their cities.

Also in this exhibition, the trio made aviation history. Bud Mars made aviation history yet again when he made the first flights over the Philippines and, quite possibly, Korea as well. While not being the first aviators to fly over the skies of most of the countries they visited, he and Baldwin were the first to fly over a number of regions in these countries. Also while in Siam (Thailand), HRH King Rama VI became one of the first - if not the first - Thai king to fly in an airplane when he went for a short 12 mile (19 km) flight in Mars's airplane.

Two countries Mars and Baldwin left very profound impacts on during their visits were Japan and the Philippines. In Japan, they aroused much interest in the "flying machines" and donated an airplane, helping spark Japan's own breed of aviators and airplane industry. In the Philippines (which was also the first stop of their Asian exhibition), they sold planes to one of the country's first flight schools. These planes - and Mars's first flight over Manila - helped set the stage for air travel in the Philippines.

All in all, Capt. Baldwin and Bud Mars's exhibition helped change history in Asia. They introduced the airplane to parts of the world which were still largely unaware of its existence and helped pave the way for these countries to enter the world of aviation themselves.

For more information about James C. Mars and the 1911 exhibition, here are some webpages for you:
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F40610F73F5517738DDDAC0994DF405B818DF1D3 (New York Times articles from 1911 about James C. Mars.)
http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_print.asp?menu=A11100&no=351687&rel_no=1&isPrint=print (Article about Mars and Baldwin's visit to Korea, James C. Mars's account of the visit, and the continuing dispute over whether or not they were the first pilots to fly over Korea.)
http://roynagl.50megs.com/manila.htm (Pictures and info about Baldwin and Mars's Manila visit and their performances there.)

Gaya: The "Iron Kingdom" of the Korean Peninsula

2012-11-04T03:53:00.000-05:00

A suit of armor from the Gaya kingdom in Korea. (Good friend 100/Wikimedia Commons)

Have you seen the Korean drama series from 2010 titled Kim Su-Ro: The Iron King? If you have, you are probably familiar with the ancient Korean kingdom of Gaya (가야). While not as well-known as the larger Korean kingdoms of Gorguyeo, Baekje, and Silla, Gaya was a very small but important kingdom in not just ancient Korea, but in northeast Asia as a whole.

Gaya was a confederacy of city-states that existed from around AD 42-532. It was situated in extreme south-central Korea on an abundant natural supply of soil and minerals, including iron. These natural resources helped it develop an earthenware trade and, most importantly of all, an iron trade. This abundance of iron - and Gaya's advanced smelting and iron-making techniques - helped Gaya gain its reuptation as the "Iron Kingdom." Over time it developed extensive trading networks with the neighboring kingdoms of Baekje and Silla...as well as China and Wa, or Kofun-period Japan!

Iron-manufacturing technology most likely spread into Korea from Yan state in China, which was located around the modern-day Beijing area. Yan existed from the 9th century BC-222 BC, when it was conquered and absorbed by Qin state.

A map of different locations in Korea where Gaya helmets have been found. (Azukiajuma/Wikimedia Commons)

Gaya made and exported a wide variety of iron objects, including farming implements such as sickles and axes, weaponry such as iron arrowheads, swords, and knives, and armor. Gaya's reputation for high-quality iron products was well-known throughout the region. In the map above, we can see that iron helmets from Gaya (blue) have been found at a number of Baekje (red) and Silla (yellow and green) sites. These helmets were no doubt worn by soldiers who fought their nations' inter-kingdom wars. And of course, the soldiers of the Gaya kingdom made use of this armor as well. Gaya's city-states had armies that kept the tiny kingdom alive for nearly 500 years.

A Gaya warrior.

Gaya had extensive trading networks inside the Korean peninsula. In Korea, it traded with its neighboring kingdoms of Silla and Baekje. Gaya weapons and armor helped Baekje become a major military power on the Korean peninsula. Its main trading partners outside the Korean peninsula were the Chinese commandery of Lelang (Located in present-day North Korea; conquered and annexed by the neighboring Korean state of Goguryeo in AD 313.) and the Japanese states in Kyushu, but Gaya armor has been found elsewhere in China as well. At the time, Japan had no iron-making skills of its own and made much use of Gaya's iron products.

Over time, Gaya taught the techniques and technology for smelting earthenware and iron. Also, people from Gaya began to emigrate to Kyushu and set up earthenware kilns. By the end of the 5th century AD, Japan began producing its own iron and earthenware products (including Sue ware) thanks to the contributions of these immigrants and the Gaya kingdom. These developments would change Japan forever and have an impact on Japanese civilization and culture long after Gaya ceased to exist.

Armor, helmets, jewelry, trinkets, tools, and more that can be traced back to Gaya have been found at a number of Kofun-period burial sites in Japan.

In the 4th and 5th centuries AD, much of Gaya gradually disintegrated due to pressure from the much more powerful Goguryeo kingdom. In the 6th century, Silla declared war on Gaya as a punishment for aiding Baekje during a war between the two kingdoms. Gaya - or what remained of it - lost this war and was absorbed into Silla.

The ancient kingdom of Gaya may be a relatively obscure kingdom and it may have disappeared into history, but it played a crucial role in the histories of Korea and Japan (and would continue to play an instrumental role in Silla after it annexed Gaya) through its iron-making technology. It also left behind remains of a civilization that have fascinated arachaeologists and historians for decades.

For more information about Gaya, check out the following:
http://www.hongik.ac.kr/~kayakim/openlec/Gaya_foreign/Gaya%20in%20English.htm (Very in-depth article about the kingdom of Gaya.)
http://kyb0417.blogspot.com/ (Post from Mugap's Korean Armour about Gaya armor. Includes other lesser-known armor from the region (Korean peninsula/China/Manchuria/Siberian Russia) as well.
http://kimhaekims.net/cultural_foundations_of_gaya.htm (Article about Gaya and its iron trade.)
http://gimhae.museum.go.kr/html/en/exh/exh_01.html (Website about Gaya from the Gimhae National Museum in Gimhae, South Korea. Includes pictures of Gaya artifacts.)

*This blog post has referenced information from the following book:
Barnes, Gina L. China, Korea, and Japan: The Rise of Civilization in East Asia. London: Thames and Hudson, Ltd, 1993: pgs. 208, 232, 244.

(Gaya warrior image copyright: Dentarg. Used via Wikimedia Commons.)

Hsinchu's Historic Movie Theater

2012-11-02T11:04:00.003-04:00

The Hsinchu Municipal Image Museum.

One of Taiwan's oldest and most historic movie theaters is the Hsinchu Municipal Image Museum, which is located in the northern city of Hsinchu. In the nearly eight decades since it first opened, this theater has shown a number of movie classics and has not only survived, but taken part in a number of tumultuous events in the region's history.

When it initially opened, the theater was known as the Yu Le Hall. It was built in 1933 when Taiwan was under Japanese occupation. When it first opened, it was the first modern air-conditioned and indoor theater on the island. The interior design is a combination of Roman and Arabesque designs that were intended to magnify the "splendor" of the Japanese Empire. The theater showed the most popular Chinese and Japanese movies of the day.

To the people living in Taiwan at the time, Yu Le Hall was a place of grandeur filled with bright lights and flickering film images during a time when most people were poor and could only dream of watching a movie in this cinema.

In 1941, Yu Le Hall played a role in one pivotal moment in history. On December 7th, Japanese Air Force pilots stationed at nearby air bases watched their last movie in this theater before embarking on bombing missions over Allied targets in southeast Asia.

Despite suffering heavy damage from an Allied bombing raid during the war, Yu Le Hall stayed open after the Japanese departure at the end of World War II. After the war, the theater was renamed the Kuo Min (National) Theater and became Taiwan's most modern movie theater. It didn't take long for Kuo Min to become a hotspot as Taiwan started to modernize and become a much more urbanized society!

Throughout its life as an ordinary theater, the Kuo Min Theater showed not only movies, but operas, concerts, musicals, and plays as well. It was also used for ROC military recruiting throughout the Cold War period. US military servicemen stationed nearby who were part of the MAAG advisory group in Taiwan during the 1950s-1970s often frequented the theater as well. The Kuo Min Theater showed all the latest Taiwan blockbusters, as well as hits from the West and elsewhere, and it usually stayed very packed during its heyday!

In the 1980s, its status as a hotspot started to change. Video and other entertainment industries started to take off. More people were renting and buying movies instead of going to the theater to see them on the big screen. This took its toll on the cinema's profits. Also, Kuo Min Theater was involved in some local disputes with the local Hsinchu governments. These factors led to the closure of Kuo Min Theater in 1991.

For the next few years (except for a brief period in 1996 when the cinema was temporarily re-opened to host the city's local events during Taiwan's national arts festival that year), Kuo Min Theater was abandoned. However, all of that changed in 2000, when the local city government in conjunction with The Chinese Taipei Film Archive re-opened the cinema as the Hsinchu Municipal Image Museum. This museum is dedicated to Taiwanese cinema from its beginnings up to the modern day.

On display at the new museum is old film and movie theater equipment from the 20th century, exhibits of movie stills, and other pictures from Taiwan's movie history. Also, the museum shows themed film festivals and various other movies from around the world. In short, there's plenty here for the film buff - and the Taiwanese film buff in particular - to see and enjoy!

When it was built, the Yu Le Hall was a place that was intended to be majestic and cosmopolitan. Today, almost eighty years later, it is still a hotspot for movie lovers and Taiwan cinema!

http://www.hcccb.gov.tw/english/04museum/1mus_a01.asp?cate_id=56 (Homepage for the Hsinchu Municipal Image Museum.)
http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=19803&CtNode=122 (Excellent article about the Hsinchu Municipal Image Museum and its history as a cinema.)
http://eng.taiwan.net.tw/pda/m1.aspx?sNo=0002109&id=6882 (A page from the Taiwan Tourism Bureau's website about the museum.)

(Image copyright: Mmonhsi via Flickr)

Samurai Ghosts and Warrior Spirits in Japan

2012-10-31T13:20:00.004-04:00

Print by Utagawa Yoshitaki (1841-1899) of a boy showing his mother a samurai ghost. (Visipix.com)

Since today is Halloween, I thought I'd make today's post a spooky one (or at least as spooky as possible!) for you guys!

Japan is a country haunted by many ghosts. Ghosts of warriors and shogunates past. Ghosts of soldiers who died far too young in the nation's wars. Ghosts of young lovers whose romances ended tragically. Many of these ghosts have become the subjects of legends and kabuki theatre over the centuries. Many still roam the Japanese countryside today, making their presence known to whole new generations, seeking release from their purgatorial state, or safeguarding the country as they have for centuries.

Some of the most famous ghosts in Japan are the ghosts of samurai warriors. Many of these ghosts are the spirits of some of Japan's most famous warriors who have sworn to protect the nation in life and in death. Others are vengeful spirits out to seek revenge on those who defeated them and/or their clan.

"The Ghost of Taira no Tomomori" by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839-1892). (Library of Congress)

One real-life warrior who became a ghost of legend was Taira no Tomomori (1152-1185). Tomomori was one of the Taira clan's commanders at the end of the Genpei War, which was a war waged between the Taira and Minamoto clans during Japan's Heian period (794-1185).

Tomomori fought in a number of battles with the Minamoto clan, including the famous naval battle of Mizushima where Taira forces defeated a Minamoto invasion force by tying their ships together and creating a huge fighting platform which enabled them to fight a land battle in the middle of the ocean!

In 1185, the Taira clan was finally defeated at the Battle of Dan-no-ura, which was the battle that determined which family would rule Japan. Rather than face the humiliation of defeat, Taira no Tomomori and his warriors committed hara-kiri by jumping overboard into the ocean. According to many legends, Tomomori tied a gigantic anchor around himself before hurling himself into the water. To this day many Japanese believe the spirits of the Taira warriors inhabit the Heike crabs that live on the ocean floor in the Shimonoseki Strait (which was the location of the battle) between the islands of Kyushu and Honshu.

In the case of Taira no Tomomori's spirit, his has become the subject of many legends. Some say his ghost rose from the depths of the ocean and wanders the earth, waiting for the chance to take his revenge on the Minamoto clan. Over the centuries, his ghost has been depicted in paintings, manga, and ukiyo-e prints such as the one above by Yoshitoshi. It was a character in various Noh plays such as Ikarikazuchi and Funa benkei (1885), which was about Tomomori's ghost unleashing his vengeance on the famous warrior monk Benkei, who served the Minamoto clan.

In modern times, Taira no Tomomori has made the occasional appearance (in both ghostly and human form) in anime, in movies such as the 1964 film Kwaidan, and in games such as the 2000 video game Harukanaru Toki No Naka De (Haruka: Beyond the Stream of Time). Also, his ghost has been a popular tattoo for members of the Japanese underworld.

Taira no Masakado. (Wikimedia Commons)

One warrior who has become a real-life "warrior spirit" is Tomomori's relative Taira no Masakado (?-940). Masakado's ghost has not only become the subject of legend, but a real-life deity residing in a shrine in the middle of downtown Tokyo's business district!

Masakado was a member of the Taira clan who was a powerful landowner in the Kanto area (the area surrounding modern-day Tokyo). In the the mid-930s, he was involved in a number of disputes with the Minamoto clan, as well as members of his own family. This culminated in a rebellion against the Imperial court in Kyoto. He set up his own kingdom in all eight provinces of eastern Japan and proclaimed himself Emperor. The rebellion lasted throughout 939-940 until Imperial forces retook the region, captured Masakado, and beheaded him.

However, Masakado was not going to disappear from the land of the living so easily. Most legends state that his head, which was on display in Kyoto, flew through the air and landed in the tiny fishing village of Shibasaki, which was located near where the shrine is located in Tokyo's banking district of Otemachi. His head was buried at the site and over time, Masakado became the protector of Tokyo.

A shrine was built to Masakado at the site in 940, but was later moved to another site nearby during the 17th century. Over the centuries, Masakado's spirit has stayed relatively quiet....unless his shrine falls into disrepair or attempts are made to raze it. Plague fell on that part of Edo (Tokyo) when his shrine was neglected in the early 14th century and a Buddhist temple was built next door. After the great Kanto earthquake of 1923, his shrine was nearly forgotten in the midst of the chaos. As a result, some of Tokyo's most well-known corporate presidents mysteriously committed suicide. After World War II, an attempt was made by American occupation forces to raze the shrine and turn it into a motorpool. The bulldozer used for its demolition mysteriously overturned and the driver was killed. There have also been a few other calamities that have fallen on that particular area when Masakado's shrine fell into disrepair. Those calamaties have been enough to convince the public to leave his tomb where it has been for over a thousand years.

However, Masakado has been regarded as a protector of Tokyo. Many people pray and leave offerings at his tomb. The Imperial Palace - and the Tokugawa castle before it - were located near his shrine, no doubt taking advantage of his protection.

If you want to see Masakado's tomb up close, check out this video from YouTube of one Japanese family's visit to the site!

Ghosts and spirits have been a part of Japan throughout its existence, and no doubt will be for the rest of time.

Have a happy Halloween folks and stay safe tonight!

For more about Taira no Tomomori, Taira no Masakado, and other "bewitching" places in Japan, here are some links for you:
http://www.mackinnon.org/masakado-home.html (Excellent site about Masakado.)
http://www.northernearth.co.uk/inttairo.htm (A very good article about Masakado's shrine and tomb.)
http://www.hauntedamericatours.com/ghosthunting/JAPAN.php (Webpage from Haunted Tours America about haunted places in Japan.)

Telescopes in Edo-Period Japan

2012-10-30T09:15:00.000-04:00

"Young Woman Looking Through a Telescope" by Edo artist Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849). (Visipix.com)

During the Edo period in Japan (1603-1868), a device came from Europe to Japan that revolutionized science and astronomy, helped change the calendar, and became a hot novelty item among the public. That device was the telescope.

The first refracting telescope (which was the type of telescope most widely used by the public before the reflecting telescope started becoming more popular over the past century) was brought to Japan in 1614 during a mission to open trade between England and Japan. That telescope was presented as a gift to the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu from the English captain John Saris and one of his sailors,William Adams.

A few years later, the first homemade telescope was made by Tohichi Ikushima. Unfortunately, this milestone also led to telescope manufacturing being initially banned in Japan by the Tokugawa shogunate due to its dual purpose as a military application.

In 1659, telescopes received their first major military usage when they were used at three different observation towers set up along Japan's coast for observing foreign ships arriving in Japanese waters.

According to Peter Abrahams's in-depth history of the Japanese telescope, it was used throughout the course of the 17th and early 18th centuries mainly for terrestrial purposes, such as measuring angles and military observation. Over the course of the 18th century, more and more of the general Japanese public, including astronomers, would use the telescope for observing the nighttime skies. The telescope was used by Edo astronomer and government official Harumi Shibukawa when, in the early 18th century, he discovered a series of new stars and added them to the traditional Chinese celestial map, which had been used for centuries. This new celestial map, named the "Tenmon Seisho-zu", became the foundation of modern Japanese astronomy.

After the creation of the new map, new advances were made in Japanese astronomy, such as a new set of celestial globes by Shibukawa and the creation of a new "lunisolar" calendar. Astronomy became a popular subject of study for the country's intelligentsia. All of these advances were helped in 1720 by the Tokugawa lifting their ban on scientific research from the West that had no religious implications. However, the Tokugawa shogunate made the priority of the nation's new science not of mapping the galaxies, but for making new calendars to justify its own power and prestige.

Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, the Japanese learned about the art of the telescope from the Dutch, who also imported their own telescopes and telescope parts such as lenses. Also during the 1700s, a number of Japanese astronomers and artisans started making their own telescopes. By the end of the century, homemade telescopes and lenses were very commonplace.

During the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the telescopes made in Japan started catching up to the Western models that were imported to Japan. The famed telescope-maker Zenbei Iwahashi's (1756-1811) refracting telescope from the late 1700s was equal - and possibly superior to - the Western telescopes which were the standard of the time! Also during the early 19th century, the Asada school, founded by astronomer Asada Goryu (1734-1799), created modern astronomy instruments and used Iwahashi's telescopes for their observations. These and other developments set the basis for the optical industry in Japan - a tradition that continues today with Japan's leading camera and optical equipment manufacturers.

Kunitomo Ikkansai's telescope, c. 1832. (Wikimedia Commons)

In 1833, after spending a little time in Edo (modern-day Tokyo) learning about telescopes from the Dutch, the ex-gunsmith Kunitomo Ikkansai created Japan's first Gregorian reflecting lens telescope. This telescope allowed him to make some very detailed observations of sun spots and the surface of the moon.

After the Tokugawa shogunate became a little less paranoid about the usage of telescopes, they became a popular novelty item among the public. Telescopes made their way into Japanese fiction such as kibyōshi (黄表紙). They were used by ordinary people for observing nature, nearby cities, and so on. Many ukiyo-e prints from the time depict ordinary people watching birds or observing ships at sea with telescopes. During the 19th century, crowds gathered at observation points to look out over mountains or the ocean.

Telescopes also became popular during the Edo period for gossip and voyeuristic purposes! As a matter of fact, some of the "pleasure districts" in Japanese cities offered telescopes for this very purpose.

In 1854, the Tokugawa shogunate opened Japan's borders to foreign trade. In 1868, the Tokugawa shogunate's rule came to an end and the Meiji Restoration began. During the Meiji period, Japan opened its doors to the outside world. The Meiji government formally adopted the solar calendar used by the West and Japanese astronomers were finally able to study the science of astronomy in full.

The telescope is an instrument that has become a part of our everyday lives, but in Edo-period Japan, it was instrumental in changing science and society.

For more about Japanese astronomy in the Edo period, here's another site you might want to visit:
http://teapot.lib.ocha.ac.jp/ocha/bitstream/10083/3391/1/P242-244.pdf

The Sambyeolcho: Military Rule and Rebellion in Ancient Korea

2012-10-25T12:22:00.001-04:00

One of the earliest-known examples of a state security agency or police force in Asia is that of the Sambyeolcho, which was responsible for both military and police functions during the final decades of the Goryeo Dynasty in Korea when the powerful Choe family ascended to power and used it to extend military rule across the peninsula.

In 1196, Korea had been in the throes of a military dictatorship for 26 years. During this time, the country had been ruled by four different military rulers. Three of these rulers had been assassinated. Two ruled with an iron fist and murdered a number of political opponents, including the former Emperor Uijong and many of his officials. The tyrannical military ruler of the time, Yi Ui-min (who personally murdered Emperor Uijong), was assassinated by Choe Chung-heon and his brother Choe Chung-soo, who had launched a coup d'etat with various allies in the military government.

After ascending to power, Choe Chung-heon established a new order in Korea. He removed Emperor Myeongjong from power, replaced him with Emperor Sinjong, and reversed many of the policies of the previous military rulers. However, he also paved the way for 61 years of rule over Korea by the Choe family.

During their time in power, the Choe family established the Yabyeolcho (야별초, meaning "Special Night Unit" in Korean) as a special army unit. The Yabyeolcho was a type of police force composed of elite soldiers who kept law and order at night in the streets of the Goryeo capital Kaesong and prevented burglaries. They were composed of two initial units: the Jwabyeolcho, or "Special Left Unit", and the Ubyeolchol, or "Special Right Unit".

In 1232, one year after the first invasion of Korea by the Mongols under Ögedei Khan, the Goryeo royal court was moved to Ganghwa Island, which is a large island located in Gyeonggi Bay near the present-day Korean DMZ. This island was inaccessible to the Mongols, who at the time were limited to land-based horse and cavalry attacks.

In 1255, under a decree from Choe Hang, the Yabyeolcho received an extra unit for escaping Goryeo POWs and former Goryeo defectors and collaborators who had a change of heart. This unit was known as the Shin-euigun ("Divine Righteous Troops") and the Yabyeolcho was officially renamed the Sambyeolcho (삼별초; Hanja 三別抄; "three special units").

Throughout its history, the Yabyeolcho/Sambyeolcho was the Choe family's private army. They were a combination of police and army and eventually superceded the army itself. The Sambyeolcho worked in conjunction with the Tobang, which was a separate elite army unit responsible for safeguarding the military leader(s).

During the Mongol invasions, the Shin-euigun was particularly useful to the Goryeo leadership on Ganghwa Island. They were used as frontline soldiers and as diplomats to the Mongols. Rather than executing traitors, the Goryeo and Sambyeolcho generals used them for military intelligence, psychological operations, and diplomatic purposes. In fact, some Shin-euigun soldiers learned and practiced the art of diplomacy!

After almost thirty years of war, the Korean countryside was in ruins and scores of Koreans, both military and civilians, were killed. A growing number of leading Goryeo scholars just wanted peace with the Mongols and for Goryeo to become one of Khubilai Khan's vassal states. The Sambyeolcho were used in a number of plots by these scholars to overthrow or murder the leaders in power. In 1258, they were used to overthrow Choe Ui and bring the Choe dynasty's hold on Korea to an end, bringing to power the pro-Mongol faction with Kim Jun as military leader. Ten years later, Kim was assassinated by the Sambyeolcho acting under orders from Im Yeong. In 1270, they were used again to assassinate Im Yumu, who would be Goryeo's final military leader.

That same year, the military's hold on power in Goryeo was abolished with Mongol help. King Wonjong complied with Mongol demands that the Goryeo capital be relocated back to Kaesong and the Sambyeolcho be disbanded. Wonjong complied, but the Sambyeolcho would not fade away so easily....

A group of military officials led by the general in charge of the Sambyeolcho, Bae Jungson, refused to submit to Mongol authority over Goryeo. They declared a revolt against the Goryeo Dynasty. The Sambyeolcho seized control of Ganghwa Island, some other islands lying off the shores of Korea, and a few coastal regions of the Korean mainland. They appointed a member of the royal family, Wang On, king of this dominion.

Not long afterwards, the Sambyeolcho retreated from Ganghwa to Jindo Island and established their headquarters there. They managed to hold out on Jindo for a few months in the winter of 1270-71 and coordinated raids on Mongol and Goryeo targets along the Jeolla coastline of southwest Korea.

The Sambyeolcho proved to be a serious thorn in the side of the Mongol overlords. He demaded their immediate and unconditional surrender. Bae Jungson appealed directly to Khubilai Khan to be recognized as an autonomous region, but he refused. Instead, he ordered the Sambyeolcho to be annihilated and in April of that year, a combined force of Mongol and Goryeo soldiers stormed Jindo Island. The island capitulated in a month and the king was killed in battle.

The Sambyeolcho fled to Jeju Island, which was an autonomous kingdom at the time. They overthrew the Tamna (Jeju) king, took control of the island, and set up a fortress. Throughout 1271, they laid low, regrouped, and launched sporadic raids on the Korean mainland. In February of 1272, an Mongol-Goryeo invasion force invaded Jeju Island. The island fell two months later and the Sambyeolcho was no more.

Today the Sambyeolcho are honored as heroes in Korea who stood up to the mighty Mongol hordes and bravely defended their country, even after defeat. A statue dedicated to them stands at the site of their fortress on Jeju Island. They may have started out as an organ of the military dictatorship which ruled over Goryeo-era Korea, but they ended up becoming defenders of the nation.

If you want to see the homepage of the Hangpaduri Earthen Fortress the Sambyeolcho constructed and used on Jeju Island, you can find that here:
http://english.jeju.go.kr/index.php/contents/culture-nature/history/tamna/after-tamna/sambyeolcho

For more information about the Shin-euigun, check out these articles:
http://www.dbpia.co.kr/Journal/ArticleDetail/1650077
http://www.dbpia.co.kr/Journal/ArticleDetail/1151074

A.F. Lindley: The Englishman who Became a Taiping Rebel

2012-10-24T12:28:00.000-04:00

One of the longest and bloodiest civil wars ever waged in history was China's Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864). The Taiping rebellion was launched by the "Heavenly King" (天王) Hong Xiuquan and his followers. Hong claimed to be a brother to Jesus Christ who aimed to end Qing rule and establish a "Heavenly Kingdom" in China with Christianity as its official religion. The rebellion claimed at least thirty million lives and caused massive destruction across the country in a war of attrition waged by both sides. Throughout the course of the conflict, a number of Westerners came to the aid of the Qing (or Manchu) Dynasty as it attempted to crush the rebellion. Many of these were mercenaries or officers dispatched by Western countries such as the US and UK. The most famous of the pro-Qing mercenaries were the Shanghai Foreign Arms Corps, later rechristened the Ever Victorious Army, which was created and organized in 1860 by the American Frederick Townsend Ward. However, there were a smaller number of Western mercenaries who joined the Taiping rebels as well.

Bust of Li Xiucheng (1823-1864). (John Smith/Wikimedia Commons)

The most prominent Western Taiping rebel was the Englishman Augustus F. Lindley. Lindley was a British soldier who was dispatched to Hong Kong in 1859 to serve aboard a steamer. The following year, while delivering a load of silk into Taiping territory in and around Suzhou (which had been the scene of fighting and had just fallen to the rebels) for a private company, Lindley got to see the Taipings up close. He had heard much about their "savagery" from others who supported the Qing, but he was shocked at the beauty and humility of the people and countryside of the Heavenly Kingdom that he personally saw. In Lindley's autobiography Ti-ping Tien-kwoh (Taiping Tianguo, or "Taiping Heavenly Kingdom"), he discusses how mesmerized he was by the "kindness, hospitality, and earnest friendship" he received from the people living in the Taiping-controlled areas. Also during his trek, he met and interviewed the Chung Wang (忠王, or 'devoted king') Li Xiucheng. Li was one of Hong Xiuquan's military commanders. During this interview, Lindley learned more about the Taiping Rebellion and how the West was aiding and arming a corrupt and highly unpopular Qing government while claiming to be Christian nations.

Lindley grew so enamored with the Taiping cause that he decided to join the rebels. Like many other Westerners who joined their ranks, the rebels' cause appealed to his Christian beliefs and his love of the Chinese people and culture. He resigned from his commission and was granted a commission as a Taiping officer from the Chung Wang. After departing his steamer at Hangzhou, Lindley and two pro-Taiping European friends proceeded to the Heavenly Capital Nanjing, where they became artillery instructors to the rebels. Lindley also became an English "voice of the rebels" who regularly courted the Westerners in Taiping territory for the Taiping cause, as well as weaponry and supplies for the rebels. He also wrote a number of letters to English-language newspapers in China criticizing the Western stance toward the rebels.

An illustration of Qing forces occupying Suzhou in 1863. (Wikimedia Commons)

Over time, Lindley grew increasingly involved in the armed conflict. He grew very close to Hong's inner circle during his time in the Heavenly Kingdom. He served in combat and was wounded on more than one occasion (including one ambush in which his wife Maria was killed). In response to the creation and success of the Ever Victorious Army, Lindley and his friends attempted to set up the Loyal and Faithful Auxillary Legion, which served very much the same purposes as the Ever Victorious Army, which was now under the command of the British officer Charles "Chinese" Gordon. This legion would be under the command of his fellow European officers and all the soldiers in it would be trained in Western weaponry and combat tactics. Unfortunately for Lindley (and for Hong Xiuquan), the vast majority of European officers - including Lindley's two friends - were killed in action when the Qing retook Suzhou in 1863.

Also during this time, Lindley and a group of mercenaries carried out a secret mission: To steal the Imperial steamship 'Firefly'. Their mission was accomplished and they were paid $20,000 - a princely sum at the time. As a matter of fact, the vast majority of rebel fighters and mercenaries were paid nothing! The 'Firefly' would be used in action against regular Qing forces - as well as Gordon and his Ever Victorious Army.

Lindley remained in the Heavenly Kingdom and stayed close to his comrades and the Taiping leadership until the death of Hong Xiuquan and the fall of the Kingdom in 1864. After the end of the rebellion, A.F. Lindley returned to Britiain and continued to act as the rebels' "spokesman." In 1866, he published his two-volume autobiography, in which he details his experiences in the rebellion and offers a scathing criticism of the Qings and the British government in its support for the Qing Dynasty. To this day this autobiography is the only detailed look the West has had at the Taiping Rebellion from the rebels' point of view. For the British public, there was plenty of food for thought about British foreign policy in the pages of these books as the government of the time was growing increasingly involved in China. Unfortunately, just three decades later, Britain and the West would find themselves at war with the Qing Dynasty itself during the Boxer Rebellion.

It's hard to say what A.F. Lindley saw - or believed he saw - during that first trip into the Heavenly Kingdom. He may have wandered into one of history's greatest bloodbaths, but one thing is for sure: Lindley gained much greater insight into the Chinese people and culture that many other Westerners living in the time could ever have hoped to gain.

For more about A.F. Lindley and the Taiping Rebellion, please see:
-http://books.google.com/books?id=zMwNAAAAIAAJ (Ti-ping Tien-kwoh, Vol. I. This is the first book of A.F. Lindley's autobigraphy.)
-http://books.google.com/books?id=jI4xAQAAMAAJ (Ti-ping Tien-kwoh, Vol. II. This includes not only his account of the rebellion, but Taiping documents, texts, and prayers as well. If you're studying the Taiping Rebellion, you might want to give this a look.)
-http://history.emory.edu/home/assets/documents/endeavors/volume2/AlexanderGouzoules.pdf (A paper about the usage of foreign mercenaries and soldiers in the Taiping Rebellion.)

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2012-10-23T09:27:00.000-04:00

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Ji and the Qin and Han Dynasties

2012-10-22T09:03:00.001-04:00

If you've been following the past two blog posts, you've read about the beginnings of today's city of Beijing through its foundation as Ji state and its rise as the capital of Yan after Ji was crushed and annexed by Yan state. If you've been following these posts, let's continue on with the history of Ji during the Qin and Han Dynasties!

After the state of Yan was defeated by Qin in 222 BCE, it ceased to exist. As a result Ji lost its status as a capital city. However, it remained the most powerful city in northeast China. It was a city of strategic importance and the regional hub for transportation.

A statue of Qin Shi Huang. (Prosopee/Wikimedia Commons)

During Qin rule, Emperor Qin Huangdi (Qin Shi Huang) implemented a commandery system (郡, or 'jun') on the former Zhou vassal states as part of the military occupation. This divided each county in a state into a special adminstrative zone that made the county system of ancient China essentially irrelevant. The 36 commanderies he established (in addition to 12 others in the Qin territories that were created during the Warring States period) each carried their own weight militarily. Ji became the capital of the Guangyang commandery.

After the fall of Qin, the Han Dynasty (206 BCE-220 AD) took possession of Ji, officially renamed the city Fanyang and made it the administrative capital of Youzhou prefecture, which encompassed much of the area around today's Beijing, Hebei province, and Tianjin. Also during this time Ji was transferred to Yuyang commandery and made its capital.

During Han rule, the old states were transformed into "regional kingdoms" by Han Emperor Liu Bang and given a little more autonomy than they had under the Qin. Also, a system of prefectures was also established. Ji was made the capital of Youzhou prefecture.

Ji was involved in a number of conflicts with the surrounding regional powers both inside and outside of China. When the Yellow Turban Revolt broke out in AD 184, Ji came under assault from the revolting peasants who were led by Zhang Jue, leader of the secretive Taoist societies which organized and instigated the revolt.

According to the classical Chinese novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, in AD 189, Yuyang Commandery was the scene of a dramatic rebellion staged by the rebels Zhang Ju and Zhang Chun. The two launched a rebellion against Liu Yu (governor of Youzhou) and the Ten Eunuchs, took control of Yuyang, and organized an army. After Zhang Chun started becoming tyrannical toward his own soldiers, he was murdered by one of his own officers. The rebel army surrendered to Han forces afterwards. Zhang Ju, who at that time was isolated and desperate, commmitted suicide.

After the collapse of the Han Dynasty in the year 220, the ancient city of Ji would undergo keep changing hands and undergo many changes for centuries to come.......

The City of Ji and Yan State

2012-10-21T05:35:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I talked a little about the state of Ji and how the city of Beijing has its roots in that ancient city-state. Today we'll take a look at Ji during its time as capital of the state which conquered and annexed Ji, Yan.

Soon after its conquest by Yan, Ji became the capital of Yan State and was known alternately as Ji or Yanjing (燕京, meaning "Yan capital") - a name for Beijing which has persisted well into the modern age. It remained northern China's regional powerhouse for many more centuries to come. As the authority of the King of Zhou waned, Yan emerged as one of China's most powerful states. Throughout the period of the Warring States (475-221 BCE), Yan remained at war with Zhao and Qi states, as well as the nomadic peoples to the north. It was invaded a number of times by all three.

For the next several hundred years, Ji remained the most powerful city in the region. It was naturally one of Yan's fortified cities. In fact, the walls that surrounded Ji and other regions of Yan state predate the Great Wall by some 1,500 years! The Lotus Pond and its location along the major north-south trade route where traders from the central states and the steppes of northern Asia stopped made Ji a strategically valuable city. Throughout most of Yan's existence during this time, Ji was not only the main capital (Yan had one other city - Xiadu - which occasionally served as Yan's capital city) of Yan, but was also a military base and the economic and political center of the state.

In 227 BC, most of the neighboring states had fallen to and were absorbed by the powerful Qin state (778-07 BCE). They started massing troops on Yan's borders to prepare for its eventual conquest. Prince Dan of Yan sent the assassin Jing Ke to assassinate the Qin king Qin Shi Huang, aka the "tiger of Qin ". His attempt failed and the king, who personally killed Jing Ke, was enraged. He ordered his army to crush Yan and make it part of Qin. A year later, Ji fell to the Qin armies after the defeat of the vast majority of the Yan army on the banks of the Yishui River. Three years later, the rest of Yan state fell to the Qin and King Xi was captured.

In recent years, remnants of the old Yan capital have been found some 30 miles (48 km) southwest of what is now downtown Beijing. At one site which was discovered near the Liuli River in Fangshan district in recent decades, remnants of the city walls, moats, Yan palaces, and various artifacts were unearthed by archaeologists. This was the location of the ancient capital of Yanjing, which had expanded well beyond the borders of the old city-state of Ji.

For more about Yanjing, check out the following link:
http://www.archaeology.org/beijing/songnian.html (A very interesting interview with one of China's "veteran" archaeologists about ancient Beijing.)
http://www.bjchinese.bjedu.cn/englishHome.do?method=article&&articleId=221 (Details about the Yanjing archaeological dig and a little history of the ancient Yan capital.)

(Map copyright: Philg88/Wikimedia Commons)

Ji State and the Beginnings of Beijing

2012-10-20T08:55:00.000-04:00

Over the next several days I'm going to write a series of blog posts about one of the great capital cities of our time: Beijing. In these posts we'll explore the history of Beijing and how it went from being a tiny city-state to the massive city it gradually became over the past millinea.

Beijing is a city that is both the capital of China and a major technological and industrial hub. But many people in the West are not aware that many centuries ago on the site of one of modern-day Beijing's residential districts, a whole different city-state once existed! In its time this city-state - and the capital city it remained for many centuries after the fall of the state - was also regarded as a major metropolitan area and a military power to be reckoned with. It was also the city where Beijing itself has its roots.

Along Liulichang Street in what is now the Xicheng district of Beijing once stood the city of Ji. Ji City was the capital of Ji State (11th century-7th century BCE), which was essentially the city itself. Ji was a walled city which was inhabited by people said to be descendants of the Yellow Emperor. It was one of eight states which were the vassal states that founded the Zhou Dynasty (1046-256 BCE).

For some three hundred years during the Spring and Autumn period of the Zhou Dynasty (771-476 BCE), Ji remained a powerhouse in the region. It was certainly a tiny city-state compared to the neighboring states, but it had a powerful army. The city-state depended on Lotus Pond, which is now located in Beijing, for its water supply. This gave the city a huge natural advantage that lasted well beyond the demise of Ji.

During the 7th century BCE (approx.), the more powerful neighboring state of Yan (11th century-222 BCE) defeated Ji in a war and absorbed it into Yan. Soon afterwards, it became the capital of Yan State and was known alternately as Yanjing or Ji.

Ji State might have fallen, but Ji City itself remained as strong as ever.

If you want to read more about the state of Ji and the discovery by Chinese archaeologists of the ancient sites of Ji City and the Yan capital it became, be sure to have a look at the following article:
http://www.archaeology.org/beijing/songnian.html

Im Kkeok-jeong: The Real-Life Korean Robin Hood

2012-10-17T11:45:00.000-04:00

One of Korea's most legendary real-life "outlaw heroes" was the Joseon-era outlaw Im Kkeok-jeong (Kr. name 임꺽정; 林巪. Born ?-1562). While very little is known of him in the English language, his story was made into the 1996-97 TV drama from South Korean broadcaster SBS that shares his name. Also, Im Kkeok-jeong is supposedly an inspiration for Heo Gyun's classic novel The Tale of Hong Gil Dong, which is Korea's equivalent of Robin Hood. The only difference is that Hong Gil Dong is a work of fiction. Im Kkeok-jeong isn't.

In 16th century Joseon dynasty-era Korea, the yangban aristrocracy who governed the countryside were imposing a multitude of taxes on the ordinary peasants. They were having to pay land taxes, military taxes, corvee taxes, and tribute taxes, which were the hardest-hitting. In addition, the land allotments of the yangban were growing ever-larger and the peasants were losing land. They were growing more and more desperate by the hour.

During the mid-16th century, one man decided to rise up and challenge the status quo. That man was Im Kkeok-jeong. He organized a large group of peasants and together they became a major thorn in the side of the yangban in Gyeonggi and Hwanghae (located in modern-day South and North Korea respectively) provinces. They robbed the wealth of the yangban officials and redistributed their booty to the poor, suffering peasants. They raided the government granaries and distributed the plundered food to the peasants, many of whom were starving.

In 1562, Im Kkeok-jeong was captured by Joseon officials and beheaded. However, they were not able to stamp out the legend surrounding him and he remained an inspiration to the Korean people for generations to come.

In modern-day South Korea, the cave where Im hid with some of his men has been turned into a tourist attraction at the Chiljangsa Temple, which is located in Anseong, Gyeonggi province.

Im Kkeok-jeong is a true hero to the people of Korea. He defended them from a corrupt system of government and, ultimately, gave his life so the Korean peasants could keep on living and have a better future.

*Portions of this blog entry were referenced from "A Handbook of Korea" (Seoul: Korean Overseas Information Service, 1980).

Back from the Dead

2012-10-11T12:16:00.004-04:00

As you may have noticed, it's been a few months since I last posted on this blog. I am terribly sorry for not having posted here in such a long time. If you've been following my work on Hubpages, you can probably guess my hubs there have kept me very busy this year!

Now that I've turned my full attention to my blogs, I have some new and exciting plans for new entries here and in my other blogs. So please, stay tuned over the coming days and weeks! Hopefully you'll find the upcoming posts on this blog to be interesting, informative, and entertaining! And again, all apologies for having let this blog go over the past six months or so!

Attack on South Shaolin

2012-04-13T20:36:00.001-04:00


The Shaolin temple gate. Photo copyright: Yaoleilei/Wikimedia Commons

If you're a fan of Shaolin kung-fu and southern Chinese folklore, you probably know that one of the biggest tragedies for Shaolin kung fu was the attack on the South Shaolin Monastery at Quanzhou in Fujian province, China by the Qing (Manchu) army. This attack is widely agreed to have taken place in 1647, but others say it may have taken place in 1674 or 1732. It was during this attack when the South Shaolin Monastery was burned to the ground and many of the monks were slaughtered.

Why did this tragedy happen? Shaolin had become a hotbed for anti-Qing revolutionary activities and posed a serious threat to the Qing Dynasty. Many anti-Qing and Ming rebels took shelter at Shaolin, and Shaolin had always been allied to the Emperor. Also, it has been said that after Shaolin offered to send monks to support the new dynasty in power, Emperor Yong Zheng started seeing Shaolin as a threat to the new order.

It was for these reasons that Yong Zheng decided to attack and dismantle Shaolin. To this end, he mobilized an army and recruited some Tibetan lamas who, according to legend, were not only trained in kung fu, but also in the fearsome secret weapon known as the "flying guillotine" (血滴子,also known as 'xuèdī zǐ'/'hyut dik zi', or "blood-dripper"). In case you haven't seen the movies, the flying guillotine is said to be a weapon that looked like a bell-shaped hat attached to a chain. This "hat" was filled with razors that fastened around a victim's neck and literally ripped their head off.

The day came when the Qing launched their attack. Thanks in large part to the Tibetan mercenaries and the flying guillotines (again, according to legend since no flying guillotines remain in existence), the Shaolin suffered heavy losses and the loss of their monastery. In addition, all records kept at South Shaolin were destroyed by the Qing and much history was lost.

Fortunately for Shaolin, five Shaolin monks were able to escape the carnage and made their way to Jiulian Mountain, where they rebuilt South Shaolin. These monks were known as the Five Elders and out of the Five Elders, Gee Sin was particularly influential. It was his students (who are also sometimes called the Five Elders) who founded the five different styles of Southern Chinese kung fu. These martial arts styles were created in absolute secrecy as the Qing authorities banned any forms of martial arts from being practiced in open view.

Unfortunately, the monastery at Jiulian Mountain was also destroyed by the Qing in due time, but not before South Shaolin could carry on and new styles of kung fu could be born and flourish.

For more about South Shaolin, Southern Chinese styles, and more, be sure to check these websites out:

-http://www.bgtent.com/naturalcma/CMAarticle14.htm (Article from the Han Wei Wushu newsletter on the various Southern Chinese martial arts styles.)
-http://www.kungfu-taichi.com/servlet/kungfoo/Action/Resource/ResourceKey/1961 (Chinese martial arts website about the history of South Shaolin.)

Shin Don: Reformer of the Goryeo Dynasty

2012-04-09T23:49:00.007-04:00

If you've seen the 2005-06 drama "Shin Don" from South Korean broadcaster MBC or if you're an avid fan of Korean history, chances are you are probably familiar with the story of Shin Don (신돈, also 'Sin Ton'). If not, now's the time to learn a little about this monk turned politician from the Goryeo (Koryo) Dynasty!

Shin Don (1322-1371) was a Buddhist monk whose Dharma name was Pyeonjo (편조). Pyeonjo was a fairly obscure monk, but he managed to catch the attention of the Goryeo King Gongmin at a time when Goryeo was in chaos following the disintegration of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty. At that time, Mongol-favored officials, landlords, and wealthy aristocrats in Goryeo amassed the kingdom's wealth, land, and slaves. Following the disintegration of Yuan, King Gongmin wanted to dislodge the power from the kingdom's elite and set up a more centralized government where the powerful families had little influence..

King Gongmin appointed Pyeonjo as head of his reform program and gave him the name Shin Don. Shin Don would set up and head the Jeonmin Byeonjeong Dogam (전민변정도감), which was a government office responsible for reforming the kingdom's bureaucracy and dismissing those government officials who were corrupt. He also reformed the examinations system for government officials, returned land that was unlawfully seized by corrupt officials, returned slaves to their rightful owners, and in some cases, freed slaves altogether.

Naturally, the wealthy landowners, elite military officers, and aristocrats whose wealth and power were being threatened by Shin Don's reforms were not happy. Without their Mongol allies around to back them up, Shin Don became their number one enemy. In 1371, under pressure from this clique, King Gongmin dismissed Shin Don on falsified charges of wasting state funds on elaborate Buddhist ceremonies. Not long afterwards, the clique - with tacit approval from King Gongmin - had Shin Don murdered.

Shin Don's death spelled the end of King Gongmin's plans for creating a more equal society and centralized government in the Goryeo kingdom.

For more information about Shin Don, be sure to check out the websites below:
-http://www.koreanhistoryproject.org/Ket/C07/E0703.htm
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shin_Don
-http://www.san.beck.org/3-10-Koreato1875.html

Non-Gae: The Korean Heroine

2012-04-07T11:54:00.000-04:00


Portrait of Non-Gae at the Non-Gae Shrine near Chokseongnu, South Korea.

One of Korea's most well-known heroines is without a doubt the Joseon-era kisaeng Ju Non-Gae, or Non-Gae (논개) as she's commonly known. Non-Gae has been the subject of many stories, movies, and even some manhwa (Korean manga), especially since the 1950s and 60s. But the story of Non-Gae is one that is not well-known in the West, and is one that has possibly been romanticized and fictionalized over the centuries.

According to most accounts, Non-Gae was born into extreme poverty during the 16th century in Jangsu, Jeolla province in modern-day South Korea. She grew up without a father and, like many other girls at the time, was destined for arranged marriage. She was, however, raised to be one thing and that was a kisaeng. Just like their geisha counterparts in Japan, kisaeng were trained to sing, dance, and entertain.

When Non-Gae and her mother were arrested in Jinju (in modern-day Gyeongsang province, South Korea), she was bequeathed to a court official who would become the man she loved: Choe Gyeong-hoe.

In 1593, Korea had been invaded by the forces of Japanese shogun Toyotomi Hideyoshi and was struggling to expel the invaders. This war is known as the Seven Year's War. Hideyoshi's forces, under the command of the famous general Keyamura Rokusuke, laid siege to Hanyang (modern-day Seoul) and Choe led a small group of 3,000 Korean guerrillas at the Jinju fortress who were determined to repel Keyamura's 93,000 strong army.

After nine days of fierce fighting, the Japanese forces managed to kill every last defender, including Choe. After declaring victory, they had a celebration during which all the kisaeng of Jinju, including Non-Gae, were summoned to Chokseongnu Pavilion.

The grief-stricken Non-Gae chose to entertain none other than General Keyamura himself. She took him to an overhanging rock on the cliffside, put her arms around him, and locked her fingers together with her karakchi rings. Non-Gae then avenged the deaths of her brothers and sisters by throwing herself over the cliff with Keyamura, killing them both.

To this day, Non-Gae's sacrifice is remembered and honored by the Korean people. The Nongae Festival is held every May at the Jinju Fortress and a reenactment is held on the Uiam rock (의암, or "righteous rock") of Non-Gae's plunge with Keyamura Rokusuke. Near Chokseongnu, there is also a shrine dedicated to Non-Gae. She is upheld to this very day as an example for all Koreans to follow of patriotism, self-sacrifice, and duty.

Since the late 1950s, the story of Non-Gae has been the subject of a number of movies, TV dramas, books and manhwa. The first known movie made about Non-Gae is the 1956 movie "Nongae" starring Kim Sam-hwa, Choi Seong-ho, and Seong Su-min. In 1973, another movie about Non-Gae titled "Nongae the Kisaeng" was released. This movie starred Kim Ji-mee, Shin Sung-il, and Choi Bool-am. In recent years, the 2007 movie "Resurrection of the Butterfly" ('그림자'/Geurimja in Korean) starring Lee Moo-saeng, Jeong Bo-yeong, and Myung Seung-hoon also deals with the story of Non-Gae.

Non-Gae's story is a tragic one, but one that has captivated the Korean public for many centuries.

For more about Non-Gae, be sure to check out these sites:
-http://everything2.com/title/Non-gae
-http://www.magotemple.com/BLOGS/Blog-Posts/storyofnon-gae

Photo of Non-Gae copyright: kangbyeongkee/Wikimedia Commons

The Saga of Poland's "Siberian Children"

2012-03-24T05:50:00.006-04:00

One of the few heartwarming stories to come out of the turmoil of World War I and the Bolshevik Revolution is that of the Polish children rescued by the Japanese government and returned to their homeland in 1922. This story is one that is little-known outside of Poland, where the children are called the "Siberian Children".

In 1919, over 100,000 Poles were stranded in far-eastern Siberia due to the civil war raging in the West between the Bolsheviks and the Whites. These people had no way to make a livelihood and were ravaged by famine and illness. They were dying a slow, agonizing death in a foreign land.

The adults decided that if they were going to die in Siberia, fine. However, they did not want their children (many of whom were orphans) to suffer the same fate. So they formed a relief group and launched appeals to various European countries as well as the US to help transport some of these children out of Russia and back to Poland. All of these countries ignored their plea for help.

However, there was one country that listened and offered to help. That country was Japan. After one of the relief group's leaders arrived in Japan and asked the Japanese government for assistance, they agreed to help. The Japanese Red Cross would dispatch ships to Russia to evacuate the children. They would also provide medical assistance to the children, who had been ravaged with malnutrition and typhoid fever, until they were well-enough to start the journey to Poland.

In July, 1920, a Japanese Red Cross ship arrived in Vladivostok for the children. From July 1920-July 1922, 765 Polish children were saved. People from all over Japan provided assistance for the children including clothing and food donations. Some Japanese even made woolen sweaters for the children to take home to Poland, fearing that Poland would be a very cold place! The children stayed in Japan until they were healthy enough to travel.

In late August-September 1922, the Polish children left Japan to begin the long journey back to Poland. They were given a warm send-off by the Japanese, to whom the Polish children shouted "Arigatou! Sayonara!" ("Thank you! Goodbye") and sang the Japanese national anthem as the ship departed.

Over time, the Siberian Children stayed in close touch, but 17 years later, another devastating war would come to Poland and their story would be nearly forgotten in the aftermath of World War II and four and a half decades of communist rule, during which their story was censored by the authorities so as to not harm Polish-Soviet relations.

After communist rule ended in 1989, the public regained an interest in the saga of the Siberian Children and the Japanese embassy in Warsaw began hosting meetings with some of the surviving Siberian Children in 1993. However, at this point in time, the surviving children were well in their eighties and their numbers were dropping. In July 2002, Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko visited Poland and met with three of the surviving Siberian Children.

These children experience hardships that most children will never know, but thanks to the generosity of the Japanese people, the Siberian Children were able to go home. When disaster struck Japan in March 2011, the Polish people were able to return the favor.

Links:
-http://www.biorytm.wroclaw.pl/japonia.htm (Polish language site about the Siberian children. Includes pictures.)
-http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?198533-Siberian-Children-Japanese-Red-Cross-saved-thousand-of-Polish-children (Internet forum which includes an article written by former Japanese ambassador to Poland Prof. Nagao Hyodo.)

The Nakoso Barrier: A Place of Fear and Intrigue in Ancient Japan

2012-03-18T06:08:00.002-04:00


"Minamoto Yoshiie at the Nakoso Barrier" by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797-1861).(Visipix.com)

In Iwaki City in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, there stands an ancient marker at the Nakoso Barrier Literature and History Museum that says "Enemies of the Emperor, do not come here!". At first glance this marker is an innocuous-looking sign from centuries ago, but at one time this marker used to mark the spot where civilization ended and the unknown began.

The Nakoso (meaning “勿来”, or "Do not come here!") Barrier and the Kikuta barrier gate (depicted in the print above) which stood at the site of the marker were built in the 5th century AD during the Yamato period to protect "civilized Japan" from the "barbarian" Emishi tribes of the north. The message on the marker was directed at the Emishi, or Michinoku ("people of the north" in Japanese) as they are also called.

The lands north of the Nakoso Barrier were a place that most ancient Japanese feared. However, it was also a place of curiosity and even romance. This made the Nakoso Barrier an 'uta-makura', or a place that inspired a number of poets and writers. Many poems were written about lovers who were separated by the barrier, or of the climate being different between north and south.

One person who is most associated with the Nakoso Barrier is Minamoto no Yoshiie (1039-1106), who was a samurai of the Minamoto clan and commander-in-chief of the defense of the North. Yoshiie was skilled in the arts of war, as well as a poet. His most famous poem is one he composed while passing through the barrier, which goes:

"How I wish to forbid the blowing wind,
At the Barrier of Nakoso, the 'forbidding' gate.
But the mountain cherry blossoms are falling,
Filling the rord, to narrow down the pass."
(taken from The Founding of the Nation, page one)

He was so touched by the falling cherry blossom petals that it made the trek through the fearsome Kikuta Gate much more pleasant! This poem also forms the basis for Kuniyoshi's ukiyo-e print above.

Yoshiie subsequently fought two bloody campaigns north of the Nakoso Barrier against the Abe clan during the Zenkunen War, or Early Nine Years' War, as well as the Kiyowara clan during the Gosannen, or Later Three Years' War. His poetic renga, or "linked poem" exchange with Abe warrior Abe Sadato in 1049 about plum blossoms is particularly famous in Japanese history and literature.

Nowadays the Nakoso Barrier is no more, but its place in Japanese history and literature will no doubt live on forever!

For more about the Nakoso Barrier, see the links below:
-http://www.iwakicity-park.or.jp/bungakurekishikan/ Homepage of the Iwaki City Nakoso Barrier Literature and History Museum (in Japanese)
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iwaki,_Fukushima (Wikipedia history of Iwaki city)
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minamoto_Yoshiie (Wikipedia entry on Minamoto no Yoshiie)
-http://collectionsonline.lacma.org/mwebcgi/mweb.exe?request=record;id=104462;type=101 (Another ukiyo-e print by Edo-era artist Tsukioka Yoshitoshi depicting the exchange between Yoshiie and Abe Sadato at the Nakoso barrier.)