slowly waking up…

Posted by wangbo in news on July 12, 2007

I don’t know how, but I fell out of the habit of checking the China Development Brief regularly, which is a shame because it’s got lots of great stuff. Anyway, somehow the news that China Development Brief is in a spot of bother with the authorities got me thinking, hey, didn’t I have that bookmarked somewhere? And so I looked it up, and I’m glad I did, because they’ve got a great article on the degredation of China’s grasslands. Some academics, it would seem, have been casting doubt on government policies towards the grasslands and are arguing for a more people- and culture-centred approach to preserving the grasslands.

According to Wang Xiaoyi (王晓毅), a CASS scholar organising the Kunming conference, after years of huge investments to tackle desertification in Inner Mongolia—which is home to one of the world’s largest grasslands areas and most complicated ecosystems—there is no sign of degradation coming to an end or even slowing.

Surveys show that more than 90% of China’s 400 million hectares of grassland suffer from various degrees of degradation. In the past two decades, only 10% of desertified land has been treated. Meanwhile, two million hectares of rangeland turns into desert each year.

And then:

More and more researchers are questioning the policy, which started in the 1980s, of dividing Inner Mongolia’s grasslands into smaller plots and allocating them to individual families. Policy-makers have applied agricultural logic to pastoral areas, failing to recognise key differences in the management of farmland and rangeland.

“This fundamentally changed the nature of people’s lives on the grasslands, forcing herders to become settlers and farmers and leading to the erosion of grassland culture,� says Wang.

“Chances are the original way of living and production had their value and rationale in maintaining a more sustainable ecosystem that is destroyed by the agriculturalisation and industrialisation of the grassland,� he suggests.

Wah! Who’d’ve thunk it! The nomads had adapted their lifestyles to suit their environment, and then these people from the agricultural cultures south of the Great Wall (reminds me of what I’ve spent the last three days reading and writing about), who of course knew better, came and buggered it up with their lifestyles and techniques ill-suited to the grasslands environment.

Well, fortunately nobody is arguing for a full-on return to the Genghis Khan horse- and camelback nomadic, raiding and pillaging the other side of the Wall when the mood takes you, the occasional conquest and empire lifestyle. Nor even just the regular nomadic herding. But they are arguing for an updated, modernised adaptation of the old practices. Bringing the old, suited to the grasslands lifestyle into the modern age:

She [Hao Bing] suggests that although a return to nomadic lifestyle is not practical, new technologies such as solar energy and Internet might give herders a better chance of reshaping their traditions.

And:

In the fields, some herders have merged their fragmented pasture and graze their animals together, a semi-nomadic way of herding in the new era. Co-operatives have also been established among herders.

“We are studying these new approaches, which are more productive and environment-friendly. Cooperatives could be a solution, which will benefit the herders while minimise the impact on the environment,� she [Hu Jingping] says.

And even involving the herders themselves in the process:

“We want to stress the development impact on people and to analyse government policies and systems from a cultural perspective. We will also pay more attention to herders’ opinions and empower them,� says Hao Bing (�冰), coordinator of the Network.

Sounds like the right idea.

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just what was needed

Posted by wangbo in random on July 12, 2007

Just what was needed on a morning I can’t seem to wake up. Honestly, the inside of my brain feels even smoggier than the air outside. Anyway, what was just so needed was this little exchange between Joe Bageant and one of his many correspondents. The correspondent, who goes by the name of Manuel, points out that if humanity does not pull its collective head out its arse real fast there ain’t gonna be no second chance to rebuild society. To which Joe responds:

Dear Manuel,

I was talking about rebuilding a nice little Neolithic seed gathering, root digging society. One whose religion is centered on long afternoon naps.

In art and labor,

Joe

And to which I say:

AMEN!!!!!!!!

 

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after the Shanrong

Posted by wangbo in Uncategorized on July 11, 2007

I haven’t managed to find a lot of information about the period between the Shanrong and, well, now. Mostly just a few tantalising little glimpses into what may have been happening. I suppose for starters we could begin with Baidu Baike’s brief rundown of Yanqing‘s history:

春秋时期，延庆县曾是山戎�活动地区。春秋晚期和战国�期地属燕国。秦统一全国�，地属上谷郡。西汉开始在延庆境内设县；�末开始在延庆境内设州。此 �二�多年�先�建有居庸县�夷舆县�妫�县�缙山县�永�县�四海县和延庆县，并曾先�设置过儒州�镇州�龙庆州�隆庆州和延庆州。

During the Spring and Autumn period Yanqing County was an area where the Shanrong people were active. In the later part of the Spring and Autumn period and the early Warring States period the area belonged to the State of Yan. After Qin unified China, the land belonged to the Shanggu Prefecture. At the start of the Western Han a county was established in Yanqing; towards the end of the Tang a zhou [an administrative division of ancient times] was established in Yanqing. From this time over two thousand years Juyong County, Yiyu County, Guichuan County, Jinshan County, Yongning County Sihai County and Yanqing County were established one after the other, as were Ru Zhou, Zhen Zhou, Longqing Zhou, Longqing Zhou [different characters for long], and Yanqing Zhou.

Well, the first question is, if all these different counties and zhou were established one after the other over two thousand years from the latter days of the Tang Dynasty, doesn’t that take us into  the 2800s or 2900s? I had no idea I was so old. Secondly, some of those old names for Yanqing are quite interesting. Take Yiyu County, for one example: The territory of the Yi? Isn’t Yi an old term for the people east China in ancient times? Also, some of those names are still in use in Yanqing, with Longqing being the really glaringly obvious example, but also Gui is still the name of a river in the centre of the county. Anyway, the article continues:

1912年，延庆州改为延庆县。1928年�立察哈尔�，延庆县属之。1937年8月25日，日本侵略军�领延庆�，延庆县隶属三个伪政府统治。以延 庆县城为中心设延庆县，隶属伪蒙疆自治政府察�政厅（�改为宣化�）；刘斌堡以东隶属伪�北自治政府昌平县。1941年八路军开辟了“平北�抗日根�地， 今延庆县分属昌延��县和龙延怀��县。1944年撤销昌延��县，�设延庆县，与日伪所设的延庆县并存。

In 1912 Yanqing Zhou became Yanqing County. In 1928 Chahar Province was established, with Yanqing County being a part of it. On the 25 August 1937, after the invading Japanese army captured Yanqing, Yanqing County was under the jurisdiction of the the three puppet governments. With Yanqing county town as the centre, Yanqing County was established, under the jurisdiction of the Chanan [Southern Chahar?] Zhengting of the puppet Mengjiang Autonomous Government (which later became Xuanhua Province); the are east of Liubinbao was under the jurisdiction of Changping County of the puppet North China Autonomous Government. In 1941 the Eighth Route Army opened its “Pingbei� anti-Japanese base area and modern Yanqing was divided into the Changyan United County and the Longyanhuai United County. In 1944 the Changyan United County was disestablished and Yanqing County reestablished, existing side by side with the Yanqing County established by the Japanese puppet regime.

Now, there’s a lot in there that I’m really not sure of, especially all those weird Japanese collaborationist place names and that last clause. Help would be appreciated. But anyway, we now have nothing but a list of the various administrative divisions established in what is now Yanqing in the “two thousand years” since the end of the Tang filling the gap between the Tang and the anti-Japanese war, followed by a brief sketch of what happened in Yanqing during the war. But it continues:

1945年9月20日，八路军解放了延庆县城，以�龙桥为界，�龙桥以�为国民党统治区，�龙桥以北为共产党领导的解放区。1946年10月12日， 国民党军队侵�延庆县城之�，�次出现分属共产党和国民党管�的两个延庆县。1948年5月19日，解放军解放了延庆县城。延庆县属察哈尔�，1952年 改属河北�，1958年10月划归北京市.

On the 20 September 1945, The Eighth Route Army liberated Yanqing county town, with Qinglong Bridge as the boundary. South of Qinglong Bridge was the area ruled by the Guomindang [Kuomintang/KMT/Nationalist Party] and north of the Qinglong Bridge was the liberated area under the leadership of the Communist Party. On the 12 October 1946, after the Guomindang army invaded Yanqing county town, once again there were two separate Yanqing Counties ruled respectively by the Communist Party and the Guomindang. On the 19 May 1948, the PLA liberated Yanqing county town. Yanqing County belonged to Chahar Province, but in 1952 came under the jurisdiction of Hebei Province. It was incorporated into Beijing Municipality in October 1958.

So we get a brief rundown of the last civil war, then Yanqing is transferred from Chahar (which was carved up between Inner Mongolia and Hebei) to Hebei to Beijing. And that article is actually a little more detailed than others I’ve found on the history of Yanqing.

So what happened, apart from the establishment, disestablishment, reestablishment, and coexistence of various counties and zhou, in that huge, huge gap between the Shanrong and the Japanese invasion?

Well, this article tells us about a bunch of tombs from the Warring States, Han and Tang all the way through to the Liao and Jin being dug up. Apparently Nan Caiyuan “has now turned out to be the largest burying area of ancient tombs recently discovered in Beijing, and it has also provided very important archaeological materials for studying the history of the Yanqing County.” Apart from the usual terrible English and lack of details, the article does manage to tell us this:

First, no matter whether it is Han Tomb or Tang Tomb, the large number of unearthed relics and the burial forms are quite different to that of the central China, nor the same as those found in other counties in Beijing area. This shows that Yanqing, a county lying in between the Central and the north China, has always been the hotspot for the collision and blending of the Central China culture and the north grassland culture.

Ah, thanks, People’s Daily, but I think we’d already managed to figure this out. Now how’s about, instead of telling us that this find is really important for the study of Yanqing’s history and repeating what we’ve known for a long time already, actually telling us why these finds are important and how, exactly, they improve our knowledge of Yanqing’s history.

Moving on, we do manage to discover that Genghis Khan paid a visit to the Kangxi Grassland:

公元å??二世纪，女真人建立了北起黑龙江å?—到淮河æµ?域的强大å¸?国，是为金æœ?。当时，康西è?‰åŽŸä¸€å¸¦å±žé‡‘德兴府（今涿鹿）下辖的妫å·?县。å??三世纪åˆ?，蒙å?¤æ—?å…´ 起。公元1211å¹´7月，æˆ?å?‰æ€?汗以哲别为先锋，率军å?—下，首先攻破乌沙堡（今张北县西北），9月攻陷德兴府，å? æ?®å¦«å·?县（今怀æ?¥åŽ¿ä¸œéƒ¨å’Œåº·è¥¿è?‰åŽŸä¸€ 带）。金æœ?居庸关守将è§?蒙军势大，é?‚弃关å?—逃。æˆ?å?‰æ€?汗军直抵中都（今北京）城，久攻ä¸?下，12月撤兵北归。此å?Žï¼Œé‡‘æœ?将缙山县（今延庆）å?‡ä¸ºé•‡å·žï¼Œå¹¶åŠ  强了镇州至德兴一线的防务。公元1213年秋，æˆ?å?‰æ€?æ±—å†?次出兵，金军与蒙军在妫河激战，金兵大败。金尚书完颜纲将大å?°ä¸¢è¿›å¦«æ²³é€ƒèµ°ã€‚蒙军å? é¢†é•‡å·žå?Žï¼Œé?‚ ç»?八达岭进攻居庸关。蒙军攻居庸关ä¸?下，æˆ?å?‰æ€?æ±—ä¾?计从å°?é?“绕过居庸关，直抵å?—å?£ï¼Œç„¶å?Žå…µåˆ†ä¸‰è·¯ï¼ŒæŽ å¤ºäº†é»„河以北除中都ã€?檀ã€?顺等城之外的在部分州县。金 元帅é?£éƒ½å…ƒå¸…完颜晖与蒙军议和。金æœ?以献童男女å?„五百ã€?绣衣三å?ƒä»¶ã€?御马三å?ƒåŒ¹å’Œå¤§æ‰¹é‡‘银ç? å®?，并将歧国公主献给æˆ?å?‰æ€?汗为æ?¡ä»¶ï¼Œå?‘è’™å?¤å±ˆæœ?。1214å¹´ 4月，æˆ?å?‰æ€?汗出居庸关过妫河北还。公元1213年秋，æˆ?å?‰æ€?æ±—å†?次出兵，金军与蒙军在妫河激战，金兵大败。金尚书完颜纲将大å?°ä¸¢è¿›å¦«æ²³é€ƒèµ°ã€‚蒙军å? é¢†é•‡å·žå?Žï¼Œé?‚ ç»?八达岭进攻居庸关。蒙军攻居庸关ä¸?下，æˆ?å?‰æ€?æ±—ä¾?计从å°?é?“绕过居庸关，直抵å?—å?£ï¼Œç„¶å?Žå…µåˆ†ä¸‰è·¯ï¼ŒæŽ å¤ºäº†é»„河以北除中都ã€?檀ã€?顺等城之外的在部分州县。

In the 12th century AD the Jurchen established a powerful empire stretching from the Amur River in the north south to the Huai River valley, the Jin Dynasty. At that time the area around the Kangxi Grassland belonged to Guichuan County under the jurisdiction of Jindexing Prefecture (modern Zhuolu [a county in Hebei]). At the beginning of the 13th century the Mongolian people rose up. In July 1211, Genghis Khan with Zhebie [Mongolian general http://baike.baidu.com/view/11073.htm] as the vanguard, he led the army south, first breaking through Wushabao (the northwest of modern Zhangbei County), then in September capturing Jindexing Prefecture, occupying Guichuan County (the area of modern eastern Huailai County and the Kangxi Grassland). The general of the Jin Dynasty’s Juyongguan Garrison, on seeing the strength of the Mogolian army, abandoned his post and fled south. Genghis Khan’s army headed for Zhongdu (modern Beijing), but didn’t attack, and in December he withdrew his army to the north. From then on, the Jin Dynasty made Jinshan County (modern Yanqing) Zhen Zhou, and strengthened the defensive line from Zhen Zhou to Dexing. In the autumn of 1213 AD, Genghis Khan sent his troops out again, and the Jin and Mongol armies fought fiercely at the Gui River, the Jin soldiers being heavily defeated. The high official of Jin Wan Yangang [just guessing that’s his name] threw the Great Seal into the Gui River and fled. After the Mongolian army occupied Zhen Zhou, it immediately crossed Badaling and attacked Juyongguan. Not being able to break through Juyongguan, Genghis Khan had to use a small path to pass Juyongguan, heading straight for Nankou, then he sent his soldiers on three separate routes, pillaging zhou and counties north of the Yellow River apart from towns such as Zhongdu, Tan, and Shun.

Now this is the kind of thing I’m looking for, exciting things happen in places I’m familiar with, but I just haven’t managed to find that much of it.

The Kangxi Grassland also gets a mention in this story about the emperor Kangxi fighting people in the north, but only towards the end.

Now let’s add this article about a discovery from the Jiuyanlou section of the Ming Dynasty Great Wall, which does contain a few details, but not much, and no explication, with everything we’ve learnt so far and you could be forgiven for thinking that Yanqing County has been of some serious strategic importance since the Spring and Autumn period. An impression that would be reinforced by a quick trip up the Badaling Expressway, in which you will pass under the Great Wall twice (Juyongguan and Badaling, the latter via a tunnel through the mountain on which Badaling sits) and pass a third section (Shuiguan).

So where are all the detailed stories of events in Yanqing County over these thousands of years of strategic importance?!?!?!?

Where are the Yanqing people proud of their county’s unique history publishing articles online to enlighten us all of the importance of this little slice of northwestern Beijing?

Or let’s play another favourite game of mine and look at the place names. Here’s a list of the one community (社区) and thirty two village committees (æ?‘委会) under Zhangshanying Township (å¼ å±±è?¥é•‡):

张山�镇　辖1个社区（张山�镇社区）�32个�委会（大庄科��佛峪���水峪��胡家���姚家���东门���下���西五里����黑龙庙��� 黑龙庙��西�家���下�凤���上�凤���张山���马庄���河屯��上�泉��下�泉��玉皇庙��西羊���辛家堡���家堡���家堡�� 田宋����庄��龙�山庄���家堡��中羊���黄�寺��上�庄��韩�庄���庄�）。

Note the prevalence of the character �? That means camp, barracks or battalion. That character appears in the name of the township itself, a name that is taken from one of the villages under the township, and in the names of 10 of the thirty two villages, or roughly one third of the villages, namely 胡家���姚家���东门���下���西五里���西�家���下�凤���上�凤���张山���田宋��.

Now, Zhangshanying is in the northwest of Yanqing County, whereas the Great Wall runs through the mountains along the border with Changping in the south, on the opposite side of the Guanting Reservoir. The Kangxi Grassland mentioned in those articles about Genghis Khan and the Kangxi emperor are in the southwest of the county, also on the opposite shore of the reservoir. This, to me, only reinforces the impression that Yanqing has a long and proud military history. I would be surprised if all those è?¥ referred to the camps of nomadic herders. And so once again I express my frustration with the lack of information I have found and once again I ask:

So where are all the detailed stories of events in Yanqing County over these thousands of years of strategic importance?!?!?!?

Where are the Yanqing people proud of their county’s unique history publishing articles online to enlighten us all of the importance of this little slice of northwestern Beijing?

Well, all of this brings us back up more modern times, when, as already noted, Yanqing was first a part of Chahar, then after much chopping and changing and division during the war, Hebei, then finally Beijing. And that’s it. Apparently I have reached the end of this little project, and it feels like a huge anticlimax.

Well, all of these posts are preserved on a separate page which I will add to and modify as (if) I find new information, suggestions to improve the translations, and so on.

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question answered

Posted by wangbo in life in Beijing on July 10, 2007

So since we moved back down to BeiGongDa I’ve been wondering- should we order a new bottle for the water dispenser (how do say 饮水机 in English, anyway?) the university supplies in each foreign teacher’s apartment, or should we just keep boiling water, pouring it into a bottle, and storing it in the fridge as we’ve been doing for quite some time now? And then I came across this post from Time’s Jodi Xu, and the question is answered: boil water. Really. Half the bottled water fake? That’s just plain ridiculous. That’s playing Russian roulette with three of six chambers loaded, except, of course, that the water is not going to be quite so immediately fatal. So in a city where half the bottled water is fake and the tap water is perfectly safe for those who live at the water treatment plants (it’s the crappy old pipes in between the treatment plants and your taps that fill the water with all that crud and pollution), I think we’re a lot better off just boiling the tap water.

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And just because I haven’t had enough WTF?! moments today

Posted by wangbo in admin on July 10, 2007

“bucket teeth parts company“?!?!?!?!?! I’m sure there’s a perfectly logical reason behind such a google search, but I can’t see how this blog comes top in the list of results. First of three, in fact.

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The Shanrong people

Posted by wangbo in Chinese study, life in Beijing on July 10, 2007

So trying to figure out what was happening in and around prehistoric Yanqing is rather frustrating, as is trying to figure out exactly who the Xiongnu and Shanrong were and where they came from. But what can we find out about the Shanrong? Fortunately, 延庆文化网 has an online exhibition of the Shanrong. The foreword is interesting:

长城既是人类活动的伟大象�，也是一个��的地�标志——它与400毫 米等�雨线大体��，它是高原和平原之间的�差，干旱与�干旱两大地区在此分�扬镳，但更为��的是�原民�与农耕民�在这里树立起�自家园的文化藩篱 ——长城的���义�在于它阻挡了匈奴人的�骑，而在于以它为背景�建了一个舞�，一个�等到工业时代�临时�能被部分打破的舞�——燕山长城地带。两侧 的人类群体在这个拉锯地带上演了一幕幕他们之间爱与��战争与交�的悲喜剧。数�年�，燕山长城地带，这个无怨无悔地燃烧�麦秸和���燃烧�东胡北狄和 夷�大防的熔炉，�为推动中�文明乃至东亚大陆历��展的动力�。

Now, I had to fudge on a bit of the translation because there’s a clause in there that neither lzh nor I can make head nor tail of, but here goes:

As the Great Wall is a great symbol of human activity, it is also an important geographical marker- it largely follows the 400 millimetre rainfall line, it is the drop in elevation from the plateau to the plain, it’s here that the arid and semi-arid regions part company, but most importantly it is here that the grasslands peoples and agricultural peoples built a cultural barrier between each of their homes. The important significance of the Great Wall is not that it stopped the heavy cavalry of the Xiongnu, but with it as a backdrop a stage was set up, a stage that had to wait until the coming of the industrial age for part of it to be damaged- the Yan Shan Great Wall belt. Scene by scene, the peoples of both sides acted out their tragicomedy of love and hate, war and communication in this zone of seesaw struggle. Over thousands of years, this crucible burning with neither resentment nor regret wheat straw and weeds, burning Donghu Northern Di and Yi and Xia, became a source of energy pushing forward the development of Chinese civilisation and the history of continental East Asia.

Well, it’s very vague and a bit overwrought in places, but it’s just a foreword, a teaser to get you all interested in these mysterious Shanrong people, and besides, I like how it sets the scene.

Well, from one source I thought rather unlikely, we have this:

1985年8月至1987年12月，北京的文物工作者在延庆县境内�掘出玉皇庙��城��葫芦沟三处春秋战国之际的山戎墓葬五百余座，出土�类富有特色的山戎文物八�余件。这些�迹和�物，对于研究北京地区山戎的历�情况，有�很��的�义。

　 　玉皇庙墓地是一处很é‡?è¦?的大型墓地，å? åœ°åœ¨2万平方米以上，共有墓葬三百五å??余座，这是迄今为止在北京地区å?‘现的我国é?’铜时代北方少数民æ—?文化é?—存中规 模最大ã€?年代最早ã€?文物最丰富的一处墓地。æ?®å·²ç»?å?‘掘的墓葬看，å?‡ä¸ºé•¿æ–¹å½¢ç«–穴土å?‘墓。墓内的殉牲现象很普é??，被æ?€æ®‰çš„牲畜主è¦?是牛ã€?羊ã€?狗，其中以殉狗 最为普é??，ä¸?论男女è€?幼，大多殉狗。殉牲的方å¼?，都是将牲畜æ?€æ­»ä»¥å?Žï¼Œå?ªå?–其头和腿，拿æ?¥ä½œè±¡å¾?性的祭祀。牲头和牲腿的摆放方å¼?，多是将牲腿放在下é?¢ï¼Œè€Œ 把牲头放在牲腿之上，一般是以一æ?¡ç‰²è…¿åŠ ä¸Šä¸€ä¸ªç‰²å¤´ï¼Œä»£è¡¨ä¸€ä¸ªç‰²ç•œã€‚多数死者都用麻布覆é?¢ï¼Œè¿™æ˜¯å±±æˆŽæ°‘æ—?的葬俗特点之一，直到今天，我们还有在死者脸上盖 上黄纸的习俗，他们也许表达的是å?Œä¸€ç§?丧葬æ„?æ€?。根æ?®æœ‰å…³æ°‘æ—?å¿—çš„æ??料，这类覆é?¢çš„æ„?义，在于祈望死者的ç?µé­‚附体安æ?¯ï¼Œä¸?è¦?å†?出çª?祸害生人，以ä¿?æ°?æ—?å?Žä»£ 平安无æ?™ã€‚å?Œæ—¶ï¼Œåœ¨è‘«èŠ¦æ²Ÿå¢“地还å?‘现了一处石祭å?›ã€‚è¿™å?¯èƒ½æ˜¯å±±æˆŽåŽŸå§‹å®—教举行仪å¼?和活动的处所。

My terrible translation:

From August 1985 until December 1987, Beijing cultural relics workers in Yanqing County excavated over 500 Shanrong graves of the Spring and Autumn and Warring states periods at the three sites of Yuhuangmiao, Guchengcun, Hulugou and unearthed over 8000 pieces of every kind of cultural relic richly characteristic of the Shanrong. These historical remains and relics have a very important significance with regards to the situation of the research of the history of the Shanrong in the Beijing area.

The Yuhuangmiao tomb area is a very important large tomb area, covering an area of over twenty thousand square metres, with over 350 tombs in total. Up till now this is the largest scale, earliest, most abundant in cultural relics tomb area of China’s northern ethnic minority cultures of the bronze age discovered in the Beijing area. Judging by already excavated tombs, without exception the tombs are vertical rectangular coffin pits. Animal sacrifices within the tombs are very widespread, the main domestic animals to be sacrificed being cattle, sheep and dogs, with dogs being the most commonly sacrificed, regardless of male, female, old or young, the majority sacrificed dogs. The method of sacrificing domestic animals was to, after having killed the animal, to only take the legs and head to offer a symbolic sacrifice. The method of placing the placing the head and leg of the animal in general was to place the animal leg on the bottom and place the animal head on top of the animal leg, in general one animal head was placed on top of one animal leg to represent a sacrifice. The majority of the dead had a cloth (linen? sackcloth? hessian?) covering their face, which is one of the characteristics of Shanrong burial customs. Right up to today we still have the custom of covering dead peoples faces with yellow paper. Probably they were expressing the same kind of funerary meaning. According to materials about the ideals of ethnic groups, the significance of this kind of covering the face lies in the hope that the spirit of the dead person will rest close to the body and won’t come back out and bring disaster on or hurt the living, to protect the good health and safety of later generations of the clan. At the same time at the Hulugou tomb area a stone funeral altar was discovered. Perhaps this was the original place the Shanrong held religious ceremonies and activities. 

So the translation is atrocious, I know. Help and suggestions for improving those areas I’ve either fudged or completely buggered up  would be appreciated. Anyway, there you have it,  a brief introduction to what kind of people these Shanrong may have been and what kind of lives (apart from harrassing Yan) they may have led. Now let’s see what else I can dredge up.  This article, a large part of which is identical to what is translated above, expands on the theme of Shanrong culture:

 

平底陶�： 从墓地出土的陶器�看，山戎文化的陶器自有特点�自�系统，它�仅与中原地区和燕文化的陶器群�貌迥然��，而且与东北辽西地区�家店上层文化——东胡文 化的陶器群�貌也差异明显。山戎的陶器多为手制，器形�大规整，制作粗糙，�候低而��，陶质��，显示出技术的��。

Flat-bottomed pottery jars: judging by the pottery unearthed from tombs, Shanrong culture pottery has its own characteristics, has its own system. Not only are its features widely different from the pottery of the Central Plains and Yan cultures, they’re also clearly different from the features of the Northeast’s Liaoxi area’s Upper Xiajiadian and Donghu cultures’ pottery. Most Shanrong pottery was handmade, the shapes of the utensils were not regular, their manufacture was crude, after firing the bottom wasn’t flat, the quality of the pottery was loose, showing its backward technology.

So obviously the Shanrong people were not the Upper Xiajiadian people, as I suspected. And more from the same article:

 

�铜器的�类很多，包括兵器�工具�装饰器�车马具和容器等。山戎的�铜容器，明显地表现出两�文化因素，一�是体现了山戎文化土著特色的器物，如铸工粗 糙的�耳�铜�和兽头环耳三足�；�一�是体现燕国和中原文化因素的器物，如蟠螭纹铜�云纹铜盘等。这使我们清楚地看到两�文化�生接触�相互交�的情 况。从出土的器物中�以看出，当时的山戎已�进入了�铜时代，过�以游牧�济为主的生活

There were many kinds of bronze ware, including weapons, tools, ornaments, equipment for horses and carts, containers, and more. Shanrong bronze containers clearly show clearly show elements of two kinds of culture. One kind embodies the original characteristics of the utensils of Shanrong culture, such as the coarse casting of twin-eared bronze products and tripod cups with beast’s heads and ring ear. Another kind embodies elements of the wares of the cultures of the State of Yan and the Central Plains, like bronze etched with coiled wingless dragons, cloud etched bronze plates , etc. Through this we can clearly see the situation of contact and mutual communication between two different cultures. From the unearthed wares we can see that at that time the Shanrong had already entered the Bronze Age, with nomadic herding being their main way of life.

Now both lzh and I tried our best to find the proper names of all those different bronze things, and what is written there is the best we could come up with.

So basically the Shanrong were nomadic herders with their own distinct culture who sacrificed animals when a person died,  had their own unique if rather backward pottery and a mixture of their own and Yan and Central Plains bronze ware and a nasty habit of attacking Yan, Zhao and Qi. And they were quite powerful, too.  I still can’t figure out why I’ve found no reference to them in non-Chinese sources.

And should you want more information about the Shanrong people, I suggest you check out that online exhibition. It’s getting late and I’m getting worn out from all this, sorry. Anyway, I think we’ve gotten a good enough idea of who the Shanrong were, and so tomorrow I’ll move on to later periods of history. Unfortunately, I haven’t come across a lot of information yet. Almost everything I’ve seen mentions the Shanrong then fast forwards to the revolutionary/anti-Japanese war era.

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still ugh

Posted by wangbo in Chinese study, life in Beijing on July 10, 2007

And one reason translation is so awful is because some writers should be shot. What, pray tell, am I supposed to make of this:

这个无怨无悔地燃烧�麦秸和���燃烧�东胡北狄和 夷�大防的熔炉

?

?

?

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ugh

Posted by wangbo in Chinese study, life in Beijing on July 10, 2007

I’ve always hated translation. I finally managed to get through the first of the articles on the Shanrong I have to translate. I started at half past ten this morning, and apart from lunch and a few toilet, snack, or tea refilling breaks, I’ve been working on it solidly since then. It’s not even the whole article, just a snippet, and not particularly long. Translation was always my big weak point in all my language classes in all the languages I’ve ever studied. Anyway, it’ll be up here in a public space for all to laugh at by this evening. Constructive criticism, help and suggestions on how to improve my translation would be most welcome.

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delayed start

Posted by wangbo in life in Beijing on July 10, 2007

So a sudden, but fortunately short, powercut has delayed the start of today’s session of banging my head against the brickwall the Shanrong people have become. Actually, I did manage to find some stuff yesterday, including pictures of a couple of relics dug up from Shanrong sites in Yanqing, but I need to get stuck into translating these articles first. Oh joy.

As for the l family history thing, lzh told me a cool story. Apparently her great-grandfather left the ancestral corner of Shanxi with two buckets, one on each end of a carrying pole, and in each bucket a child. And that’s how the l family got to Yanqing.

Umm, just thinking about that first sentence: Is there ever a powercut that isn’t sudden?

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it’s almost pleasant again

Posted by wangbo in life in Beijing on July 9, 2007

A storm that passed by this afternoon seems to have cleared the weather up so that for the first time in ages it’s almost pleasant again here. I haven’t seen so much blue sky in ages. And the humidity seems to have dropped back down to something better suited to north China instead of the horrible, dank, muggy south. We’ll see what happens tomorrow, though.

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