The Seven Worthies of the Bamboo Grove
Although Shan Tao, Ruan Ji, Xiang Xiu, Liu Ling, Ji Kang, Ruan Xian, and Wang Rong were historical figures, their identity as a group of like-minded iconoclasts who flouted Confucian ideology and norms of behavior has been questioned in modern scholarship. Even their epithet Zhulin qixian (The Seven Worthies of the Bamboo Grove), as some scholars argued, was retrospectively coined. This chapter argues that not only were the Seven Worthies historical figures in the third century, but they were also famously known by their epithet in their own time. Further, the political significance of their domicile in Shanyang District is explained. Yet the Seven Worthies were not a homogenous group because their political aspirations and philosophical inclinations were quite diverse and dissimilar, as the analysis of the philosophical thinking of Ruan Ji, Ji Kang, and Xiang Xiu in this chapter demonstrates.
What is Geyi, After All?*
The term geyi is often rendered as ‘matching concepts’ and held to be a key means for the transmission of Buddhism from India to China. It is said to be a translation technique whereby Buddhists borrowed Taoist terms to express Indian ideas in Chinese. This study thoroughly debunks that notion, demonstrating that geyi was actually a very short-lived attempt to deal with numbered lists that came to China from India in great profusion during the early medieval period, and that the current misunderstanding of the true nature of geyi is purely a matter of modern scholarship.
THE RELIGIOUS SITES DURING THE CHINESE CULTURAL REVOLUTION, 1966-1976
This study presents a thought-provoking picture of statistical data regarding the growth patterns of the religious sites for five main Chinese religions during the Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976. Applying comparative and quantitative lenses, this paper addresses the diE™erent growth rates of religious sites during the four diE™erent periods from 1949 to 2004 to test the relative growth pace of religious sites during the Cultural Revolution. To understand the patterns of growing religious sites from 1966 to 1976, this study also compares the diE™erent growth rates of religious sites between the first phase (1966 to 1970) and the second phase (1971-1976) of the Cultural Revolution. Furthermore, it provides detailed information concerning the year of building new religious sites for all five major religions that hold more than 2,500 new religious sites during the Cultural Revolution. In addition, the study shows the top five provinces which built the most new religious sites while denoting their respective rural and urban locations in an eE™ort to demonstrate their geographical expansion during the period. Finally, this study addresses the growth rates of the national population and per capita GDP as compared to the growth of the religious sites during the period of national disaster (1966-1976).