[ { "id": 206788, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1973", "page_number": 65, "title": "RAS-1973", "content_text": "PERSIANS, ARABS IN T’ANG CHINA\n\n59\n\nManichaean whose doctrines were proposed to the court in A.D. 694.5 There were students from Japan, who, after enjoying a few years of study on Chinese classics, preferred to remain in China permanently. There were also aristocratic Tibetan youths sent by their parents for traditional Chinese scholarship. There were Khoten painters who later became great masters in Chinese artistic circles. There were Sogdians, who introduced polo to the Chinese. Above all, there were Persians and Arabs, whose activities and contributions had tremendous influence on T'ang political and social history.\n\nI\n\nMany Persians, Arabs and others lived in Tang China. The Turks, Uighurs, Tocharians, Sogdians, Koreans and Japanese for the most part lived in Ch'ang-an and the Chams, Khmers, Javanese and Singhalese in Canton. Persians and Arabs, however, were also to be found in these two places and in Yang-chou and Ch'üan-chou as well. All these foreigners in the early Tang period shared the same kind of life as the T'ang Chinese. In A.D. 714, the T'ang government had to establish a special office known as Shih-po-ssu (Superintendent of Customs) to look after the foreign affairs in Canton and in other cities along the coastal region.\n\nForeigners in T’ang China were not all law-abiding. Uighur nationals sought out Chinese businessmen and young Chinese wastrels and made shady deals with them in the capital. Persians and Arabs, on the other hand, would lure young beautiful Chinese girls to become part of their possessions and even engaged in the slave trade in Canton. Also, some of them would purposely encourage those Chinese who were in need of money to pledge their land, furniture and sacred relics for ready cash.\n\nThe Chinese pawn-shop came into being in late T’ang period and this kind of practice is believed to be the embryo of the modern pawn-shop. The moneylenders' business was regarded as a plague in the beginning of the ninth century and the emperor had to issue a decree in A.D. 822 prohibiting such practice or every Chinese in the Empire would be in debt.7 The Turks were as notorious as the others. A Turk stabbed a Chinese merchant to death in broad daylight and was rescued by his Fan-chang (Sheikh) without any...", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1973.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/8910rj06r", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 207813, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1976", "page_number": 201, "title": "RAS-1976", "content_text": "186\n\nMICHAEL SMITHIES\n\nWith Pegu one is back to the culture of the early inhabitants of Burma, the Mons. Their original centre was around Thaton, further east than Pegu and this was certainly in existence by the 5th century AD. It was a Mon monk who had converted the Burmese King Anawrahta in the middle of the 11th century to Buddhism, and the king had requested certain relics and texts from king Manuha, who had refused. The result of the refusal was the destruction of the Mon kingdom but its cultural preeminence was recognised in the religion, architecture and art of early Pagan. After the fall of Pagan the Mons reestablished their kingdom, first at Mataram, and then, from 1369 at Pegu (Hanthawaddy or Hamsavati). They were temporarily ruled by the Burmese from 1539-1550 and again from 1551-1740; but Mon independence was due to be short-lived and the last king Binnya Dala was killed in 1747 by Alaungpaya and the Mons, like the Chams in Vietnam, then became a people without a country, though they still exist in large numbers in lower Burma near Moulmein and also in scattered villages in central Thailand.\n\nPegu is a day trip out of Rangoon, but as much as the present capital now reflects the condition of contemporary Burma, so Pegu is lost in its past. Its most famous sight is the Shwemawdaw pagoda, centred round a stupa with a broad stepped octagonal base and which is still taller than the Shwedagon in Rangoon. It is in many ways the palladium of Mon culture. Its foundation date is not known, but it was already raised in height by the Mon king Thamala in 825. In the twentieth century it suffered three severe earthquakes, and the present spire effectively dates from 1954 when restoration was completed. A number of ancient Buddha images was found when much of the stupa collapsed in the 1930 earthquake. Not very far from the Shwemawdaw is the spot where the two Hamsa birds alighted, one on the other's back, on a shallow spot in what was then the sea. The Hamsa is the symbol of the Mons and is also of course the mount of Brahma. This site is the Hinthagone, which now boasts a rather horrible modern shrine with vulgar paintings of hamsas but with a good view towards the Shwemawdaw. Hardly less vulgar is the reclining Buddha, the Shwethalyaung, reputed to be largest such image and certainly one of the ugliest. It was originally built in 994 but fell into disrepair and was restored in the 15th century. It was neglected again and became overgrown, to be rediscovered by a railway engineer at the", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1976.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/hq382988q", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 216390, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-2003", "page_number": 149, "title": "RAS-2003", "content_text": "99\n\n7.2 From Truth to Reconciliation:\n\nOne of the more successful examples of such a structure is the Truth and Reconciliation Commission process in South Africa. But a limitation is apparent: while the Commissions may be able to discover the truth, this does not automatically lead to reconciliation. Reconciliation is a more complex process, involving acknowledgement of fault (perhaps on both sides), a change of heart or repentance, a giving and receiving of forgiveness, and a desire to walk together again. The law is a very limited instrument, and cannot by itself bring about internal change.19\n\nReconciliation also requires sensitivity to the particular culture of those involved. The primary source of meaning for many Cambodians is their religion. The majority are Buddhist, and the process of reconciliation needs to be based on a Buddhist understanding of what reconciliation means. But Buddhism, as with other religions, suffered great losses during the period of Khmer Rouge rule, and both monks and people may lack the religious sophistication to approach the task well20. One of the questions, for example, is the Buddhist belief in Karma, which sees suffering in this life as the consequence of wrong-doing in a previous life. If taken in an over-simplified way, this may lead to blaming the victim of atrocities for their suffering, and taking the focus away from the perpetrator.\n\nAlthough Buddhism is the principal religion of Cambodia, and is the state religion, observations have suggested that the generation who were formed during the period of Democratic Kampuchea may not be committed to religion, and may indeed be in practice secular.21 Their approach to reconciliation will be different from the approach of those who are deeply rooted in Buddhism.\n\nSmaller groups in Cambodia are the Muslims (especially the Chams and those of Malay descent) and Christians. Both groups were particular targets of the Khmer Rouge. Both religions have sophisticated approaches to reconciliation, although because of the years of troubles, individual Muslims or Christians may be poorly informed about these approaches.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-2003.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/2v242g390", "rank": 0 } ]