[
    {
        "id": 212132,
        "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-1990",
        "page_number": 74,
        "title": "RAS-1990",
        "content_text": "51\n\nthe fortunes of the Nestorian church in China between 638 and 781, and a brief exposition of the major Christian doctrines. It was composed, according to the main Chinese inscription, by a Nestorian monk who had taken the Chinese name Ching-ching. From the Syriac section of the inscription we learn that his true name was Adam, and that he was the Nestorian metropolitan, or archbishop, of China.\n\nThe Chinese term used throughout the Sian tablet inscription for Christianity is Ta-ch'in Ching-chiao K4, which can be roughly translated as the 'Syrian Brilliant Teaching.' The expression appears prominently in the inscription's title, the 'Tablet of the Spread of the Syrian Brilliant Teaching in China'.\n\nThere has been considerable debate on the significance of the Chinese geographical term “Ta-ch'in'. In fact the term always remained imprecise in its application. At its most restricted, it denoted Syria and the country around Antioch. But it is also found before the Arab conquests applied to the Roman empire generally, or at least to its eastern part. Probably the best way to think of 'Ta-ch'in' is from the viewpoint of a Chinese merchant. He knew that there was a market for his silk at the Mediterranean port of Antioch. Antioch was in Ta-ch'in and to get there a man had to go through Persia. \"Ta-ch'in' was simply the region to the west of Persia, and in most contexts 'Syria' adequately conveys the geographical area in question.\n\nAs used in the Sian tablet inscription, Ta-ch'in retains its basic geographical significance as the country, however vaguely defined, to the west of Persia. Ta-ch'in is explicitly distinguished from Persia in a section of the inscription describing the Nativity:\n\n\"One person of our Trinity, the brilliant and revered Messiah, veiling and hiding his true majesty, came to earth in the likeness of man. Angels proclaimed the good news; a virgin gave birth to a saint in Syria (Ta-ch'in). A bright star told of good fortune; Persians saw its glory and came to offer gifts.\"\n\nBut whereas Ta-ch'in is sometimes used in the Sian tablet inscription in this restricted geographical sense, in other contexts it is used as a synonym for 'Christendom'. The inscription asserted, for example, that Ta-ch'in had Christian laws, fa fei ching p'u hsing JRIO.\n\n+",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1990.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/d79206299",
        "rank": 0
    },
    {
        "id": 214825,
        "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-1999",
        "page_number": 240,
        "title": "RAS-1999",
        "content_text": "206\n\n8\n\nbeen affixed. A case of this kind from Chekiang in 1909 was cited in Lin Shao-yang, A Chinese Appeal to Christendom Concerning Christian Missions (London, Watts & Co., 1911), p.236.\n\n* Rev. S. Beal, Buddhism in China (London, Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1884), p.241.\n\n? Holmes Welch, Buddhism under Mao (Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press, 1966), p.\n\nFor an updated statement on Buddhism in Hong Kong, see Bartholomew P.M. Tsui, \"Recent Developments in Buddhism in Hong Kong\" at pp.299-311 of Julian F.Pas (ed.) The Turning of the Tide, Religion in China Today (Hong Kong, Royal Asiatic Society, Hong Kong Branch, in association with Oxford University Press, 1989).\n\n10 During a recent visit with friends to a small religious house in the hills behind Tsuen Wan (the Sai Chuk Lam), the couplets in the hall dedicated to the care of ancestral tablets of former inmates and the departed relatives of its clients gave the following messages to visitors: Place Trust in Kuan Yin's Great Mercy and Kindness (right) and Relieve Those in Hardship and Suffering by Reciting Her Name (left); with (above) another scroll to the effect that the Mercy Boat will Carry All over the Cruel Sea. I am grateful to Mr. Simon C.P. Yeung for discussing this with me on the visit. Hong Kong persons, temples, deities and places in these Notes are given in Cantonese romanisation.\n\nA whole chapter on \"The Moral Tract Literature of China\" is devoted to this subject by Rev. John L. Nevius, China and the Chinese (Philadelphia, Presbyterian Board of Publication, revised edition, 1882), pp.226-236.\n\n12 H.A.Giles, Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio (Shanghai, Kelly and Walsh, 1915), p.469. A translation of the work is given at pp.469-487.\n\n13 Besides the Buddhist and Taoist works in their collection (Moral Tenets and Customs in China, Ho-kien-fu, Catholic Mission Press, 1913) Fathers Wieger and Davrout also include some Confucian contributions. One of these was yet another very influential work, the Chu Pai Lu Chia Shun or the \"Familiar Instructions of Chu Pai-lu”, a 17th century Confucian scholar. The \"Instructions\" were particularly favoured by generations of teachers. Enshrined in countless vertical scrolls and horizontal exemplars brushed by distinguished calligraphers, their text, in full or in part, served as suitable texts for pupils to copy. In both\n\nPage 240\n\nPage 241",
        "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1999.txt",
        "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/s178b887x",
        "rank": 0
    }
]