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1. Historical significance The Rites Controversy is the name given to the long quarrel of the 17th and 18th centuries over the Jesuitmission in China, and more precisely the Jesuit missionary concept of accommodation. One important component was the question of how far Chinese converts (Conversion between faiths) should be allowed to practice the rites of the Confucian ancestor cult. The Rites Controversy also marked the end of the period of “third contact” (after early cultural contacts…

Today’s colloquial understanding of kowtowing (derived from the Chinese term ketou, “touching the ground with one’s forehead”) as a self-abasing expression of respect and a gesture of submission dates back to a honorific Manchu ritual introduced in the context of the tribute system of the Qing Empire (1644-1911). In this rite, which was carried out three times in a row, the salutant or supplicant would throw himself to the ground, touching it thrice with his forehead (Chinese san gui jiu kou), while keeping the befitting distance from the dignitary - not only the Emperor, b…

1. European awareness and perceptions The Great Wall of China (Chinese:  wan li changcheng, “Ten Thousand-Mile Wall”) was, in Europe from the second half of the 16th century, known, marveled at, and described as “the world-famous Wall that divides the Empire of China from Great Tartary” [1. 1614] (Chinese world).The much-quoted remark that the Great Wall is more imposing than all the Seven Wonders of the World put together derives from the Jesuit missionary Ferdinand Verbiest (1623-1688) [4. 206]. Enlightenment scholars (e.g. Voltaire) made comparisons with the Pyramid…

1. Introduction The palace eunuch was a long tradition in China, probably dating back as far as the 8th century BCE, even though castration was contrary to the religious principle intrinsic to ancestor worship - securing the succession of generations by producing heirs. Appointing palace eunuchs in the Chinese Empire was therefore a practice strictly confined to the imperial court. The eunuchs’ central task was serving the women of the imperial harem. Over the course of time, however, t…

1. Background and history “As your Ambassador can see for himself, we possess all things. I set no value on objects strange or ingenious, and have no use for your country’s manufactures” [3. 340] – this brusque dismissal of British hopes for a relaxation of trade conditions by the elderly Qianlong Emperor formed the centerpiece of the letter George Macartney was given at the end of his 1793 mission to the Chinese court to submit to King George III of Great Britain. Other British requests, also denied, concerned a permanent emba…

1. MeaningThe Chinese yin-yang symbol as it is known around the world today consists of a circle divided along a sigmoid line into black ( yin) and white ( yang) halves, with a white and black dot in the center of the “head” of the half of the opposite color. Its popularity derives from the clarity with which it illustrates the perfect complementarity of twin opposites: yin  representing the earth, darkness, softness, and femininity,  yang  the heavens, light, hardness, and masculinity.As a philosophical concept of the interplay of primal polar-opposite cosmic forces that…

1. Concept and principlesThe term Neo-Confucianism refers in a strict sense to the Confucianism of the period from the Song to the Ming Dynasties (10th–17th centuries CE), and in a broader sense to the tradition of thought that originated in the transition from the late Tang to the Song Dynasty (9th/10th centuries), coalesced under the Song (960–1279), and dominated Chinese intellectual life until the end of the Ming Dynasty (mid-17th century), extending its influence across the whole of East Asia …

1. OverviewThe term Overseas Chinese (Chinese huaqiao[11. 26–30]) denotes in general people of Chinese background who live outside China (the People’s Republic, Hong Kong, and Macao) and Taiwan, whether temporarily or permanently, or families that have done so over many generations, displaying sometimes strong ethnic and cultural assimilation and correspondingly loose ties with the Chinese homeland. The imprecision of the term is further exaggerated in that it refers to a variety of patterns of emigra…

1. European perceptions and reporting In early modern perceptions and reporting of China, the Grand Canal, the longest artificial waterway in the world, was ranked second only to the Great Wall among manmade structures. Enlightenment-era historians affirmed that the canal “overshadows everything that one might call wondrous of this nature in Europe” [1. 17]. Marco Polo had already told of the wide, deep canals that connected rivers and lakes and that themselves seemed like a great river [4. 312]. Yet information about the Grand Canal in European reports was for the mo…

1. VegetableRhubarb, like sorrel and buckwheat, belongs to the Polygonaceae family of knotweeds. The well-known vegetable species,  Rheum rhabarbarum, the stalks of which are used to make compotes, pies, and jams, is distinct from “Chinese rhubarb” (or “ornamental rhubarb”),  Rheum palmatum. The latter is recognizable by its stalk, which grows up to 3 m in height, branches off at the inflorescences, and is surrounded by abundant clusters of flowers. Pharmaceutical use was made only of the roots [8. 841–851].Worldwide cultivation and consumption of Rheum rhabarbarum only bega…

1. Concept The word “mandarin,” first attested in English and German ( Mandarin) around 1630, derives from the Portuguese  mandarim, which in turn goes back to the Malay menteri and Sanskrit mantrin (“minister,” “advisor”; from Sanskrit mantra, “advice”). In this sense, the Portuguese were the first to apply it to members of the Chinese bureaucratic class, and many other European languages adopted the usage. The term was later extended to other areas of the Chinese cultural sphere, especially the northern dialect of the formal spoken language “Mandarin [Chinese]” (Chinese  guanhua…

1. Europe 1.1. TermThe term economic ethics refers, first, to the attitudes that underlie actions in the individual economy; secondly it describes normative notions of right and just economic activity. The setting of social standards in economic activity does not necessarily coincide with actual practices; divergences give cause for economic-ethical reflection.How a particular economic ethics becomes effective in the economy is evident on the basis of the question of the connection between economic-ethical notions and the relevant economic ord…

1. TermThe term “Taoism” (or “Daoism,” following the pinyin transliteration in general use today), which originated in the 19th century, has two senses. It denotes the philosophical teachings associated with the sage Lao Tzu (Laozi, Lao-Tze, 6th/5th centuries BCE), which are named after the  tao or  dao (Chinese “way,” often also translated as “logos,” “method,” “nature,” or “meaning”), but which – in contradistinction to other rival philosophical schools of ancient China (5th-3rd centuries bce) – also embrace the two concepts of the complementary principles of  yin and yang (…

1. Holy Roman Emperor 1.1. Term and developmentThe Holy Roman Emperor was the supreme head of the Holy Roman Empire, elected for life by the college of electors, in accordance with the majority principle laid down in the Golden Bull (1356). All emperors until 1806, with the exception of the Wittelsbach Karl Albrecht VII (1742-1745), were of the House of  Habsburg (or later Habsburg-Lorraine). The office stood in the tradition of the ancient Roman Empire, and thus gave rise to a claim to precedence in protocol over all other monarchs [8].The close association between the office of …

1. IntroductionThe term for “society” now (and in this specific sense only since the second half of the 19th century) current in  China, Japan, andKorea (pronounced in Chinese shehui, Japanese shakai, Korean sahoe), consists of the two Chinese characters for “earth altar” ( she) and “meeting” ( hui). The reference to the “earth altar” where the local deity of a village was venerated [35] signals the great importance of religious ideas and practices to the social cohesion of the family, associations, neighborhood networks, municipalities, secret societies…

1. Europe 1.1. ConceptThe German Singspiel (sung play) was coined in the 16th century by Jakob Ayrer the Elder (inspired by the performances of visiting English Comedian players) for his own comedic popular works, which incorporated passages of music and songs. Until the second half of the 18th century, the term was used in a general sense, and without clear aesthetic definition, to denote genres of musical theater. Singspiel became a versatile and multifaceted synonym for opera, operetta (see Light music), posse, comedy,  Lustspiel, or  Trauerspiel (Tragedy), and proved…

1. Europe 1.1. Definition and international lawIn the early modern period, the term tribute (from Latin  tributum; “contribution,” “levy”) was used to describe a variety of situations, reflecting its heterogeneous use in classical Latin sources. Zedler’s Universal-Lexicon (1745) cites first the general meaning  Anlage, Schatzung, Land-Steuer (outlay, taxation, land tax), then a reference to the origin of the term in Roman constitutional law: tribute as levy imposed on Roman citizens primarily to meet the demands of an emergency [1]. The term was also common in its bi…

1. IntroductionEver since Marco Polo's travel journal in the Late Middle Ages, China has been seen in Europe as a land of flourishing trade and great wealth. Even in the mid-18th century, it was still characterized as an “earthly paradise” [1. vi]: “Trade in China is done in gold, silver, precious stones, porcelain, silk, calico, spices, rhubarb and other apothecaries' wares, tea, lacquered objects, and the like. The trade among the provinces is so great that they have no need of selling their wares outside” (“Der Handel in China bes…

1. Introduction Chinese porcelain, Japanese lacquerware, Korean ceramics - the influences of East Asian motifs, forms of artistic expression, uses of material, and ornamentation on the development of European art in the early modern period were many and varied, and often powerfully inspiring (Chinoiserie). However, the impact of European works on the arts in China, Japan, and Korea is less well-known.The most visible manifestation of European art in East Asia was in architecture. Striking examples of Jesuit sacred architecture included the Church of St.…

1. Introduction The understanding of history and the resultant historiography depend for the most part on a European self-image that was concerned to impose a certain interpretation and order on the past in accordance with European norms and categories (Eurocentrism).Outside Europe, however, such concerns had no part to play for much of the early modern period. Rather, many different views of history held sway, distinct not only from the European, but also from each other. Although European techniques and conventions were certainly a…