East Asian Studies

This workshop explores the inner and outer workings of the Chinese imperial palace with a focus on the Qing dynasty (1644-1912). It approaches the palace and its organization as a ‘machine’ with partly distinct, partly overlapping, interwoven and dependent functional parts that produced money, matter and identity for the court. Looking at the organisation and workflow of technologies, the transmission and codification of knowledge, and the coordination of profane, administrative and representative activities, the workshop examines how this range of activities conjointly formed this complex organization and made it work: agendas were drawn up, spaces and roles defined, and rules laid out. Participants investigate particular aspects of the working palace concentrating on either a material (such as jade, porcelain, silk) or a producing and controlling unit (regulations, medical treatment, interior decoration) of the ‘machine’.

Which knowledge spheres evolved within this administrative setting and how did they influence each other? How was planning structured by the materials used, and adapted to changing needs or outside influences? What kinds of small and big planning were involved -- what was important, what neglected, what ignored or “black-boxed”?

The current paper studies the transmission and transformation of
mercantile knowledge about precious goods (baohuo 寶貨 ) in the middle period of China, from the Southern Song dynasty (1127–1279) to the early period of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), by scrutinizing the appropriation and modification of texts among three handbooks dealing with these good, namely, (A) Baibao zongzhen ji 百寶總珍集 (Compendium of Numerous Treasures and Rarities) compiled by an anonymous author in the Southern Song dynasty, (B) “Baohuo bianyi” 寶貨辨疑 (Assessment of Precious Goods) collected in an everyday encyclopedia of the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368), and (C) “Zhenqi lun” 珍奇論 (On Precious Objects) in the Gegu yaolun 格古要論 (Essential Criteria of Antiques) complied by Cao Zhao 曹昭 (fl. 14th c.). By comparing the entries on jade, gold/silver and pearls in the three texts, the paper points out that later appropriation of early mercantile experience was a result of the pursuit of profit, while the differences among them reveal changes in consumer preferences and in the transmission and transformation of specialist knowledge throughout the ages.

本文通過比較三種記錄珍寶商品文本的異同，意欲探求由南宋至明初關於寶貨的商業知識之傳播及變化。其中，《百寶總珍集》未署撰者，暫定為南宋之作；〈寶貨辨疑〉出自元代日用類書《居家必用事類全集》；〈珍奇論〉見於明初曹昭所編《格古要論》。本文選取與「玉」、「金銀」和「珠」三類寶貨相關的文字進行比較，指出其相襲部分透露了商賈逐利之心，既有別於皇家典儀圖譜，亦不同於官宦士人格古雅興。繼而通過審視三種寶貨內容相異之處，闡發時代消費偏好以及編者專業知識的演變。