Soybeans May Have Fed Asia Earlier Than Thought (NPR)
It’s funny how the birthplace of one little bean can stir up a world of passions. But when it’s the soybean, maybe it’s not such a shocker.
Soy plays an outsized role in human history, serving as the primary source of protein in Asia for millennia. That can slip by people in the United States, where — until very recently — the super-nutritious bean was relegated to animal feed.
But soybean pride has led to a long-running dispute between China and Korea for bragging rights to the birthplace of soy. Now new research suggests they may have to share the credit. [Continue reading]
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Earliest Chinese Version of Koran Found in NW China (People’s Daily Online)
Muslim culture researchers in China’s northwestern Gansu province said they have found the earliest Chinese version of the Koran, a handwritten copy completed in 1912.
The Koran, found among old archives by researchers with the Muslim Culture Institute of Lanzhou University, is believed to have been translated into Chinese by Sha Zhong and Ma Fulu, two noted imams and Arabic calligraphers in Lanzhou, said Ding Shiren, head of the institute.
Sha and Ma began translating the Koran in 1909 and completed their work in 1912, Ding said. [Continue reading]
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Engraved Tortoise Shells Found in Shaanxi (People’s Daily Online)
Engraved tortoise shells found in ShaanxiAn archaeological team made up of archaeologists from the School of Archaeology and Museology under Peking University and Shaanxi Archaeological Research Institute has unearthed more than 10,000 tortoise shells at the Zhougong Temple site in Shaanxi province.
These tortoise shells date back to the Western Zhou dynasty and were engraved with nearly 2,600 recognizable characters. A tortoise shell unearthed in late November presents a scene of two people practicing divination simultaneously for the first time.
Lei Xingshan, head of the archaeological team and a professor from Peking University’s School of Archaeology and Museology, said that since the beginning of excavations on the Zhougong Temple site in 2004, they have pieced together the tribal structures during the Shang and Zhou dynasties. [Continue reading]
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China Finds 3,600-year-old Palace (People’s Daily Online)
Chinese archaeologists recently found a palace dating back to about 3,600 years ago at the Erlitou Bronze Age site in Henan province.
It is the best-preserved palace ever found at the site and may be the prototype for places of worship during the Shang dynasty.
In the Erlitou site’s palace area, archaeologists found the rammed-earth foundation of the palace, which has at least three courtyards and covers a total area of more than 2,100 square meters. [Continue reading]
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Capital of China’s Yuan Dynasty Proved to be Multi-religious (Xinhua)
The capital of China’s Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region used to be a multi-religious area that included Buddhism, Taoism and Islamism, an expert said Sunday.
Buddhist temples, Taoist temples and mosques had all been built in Yuan’s Shangdu, the dynasty’s capital, which proves the dynasty was tolerant to many religions, said Li Yanyang, a researcher at the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Regional Museum.
The religious leaders were well-treated and privileged under King Kublai Khan’s multi-religion policy, Li said. [Continue reading]
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Site Excavated in Nara May Be Remains of Pond Mentioned in Ancient History Records (Mainichi)
Site excavated in Nara may be remains of pond mentioned in ancient history recordsThe remains of what is believed to be part of a pond described in ancient history and poetry books have been found here, city authorities have announced.
The Kashihara Municipal Board of Education announced Dec. 15 that the late 6th-century remains of what is likely an embankment of the ancient “Iware Pond” have been found in Kashihara, Nara Prefecture. The Iware Pond is mentioned in the history book “Nihon Shoki” (Chronicles of Japan), and the Nara-period poetry anthology “Manyoshu” (Collection of Myriad Leaves). The location of the pond had previously been unknown.
The remains of a large structure were also found on the embankment site, which some researchers believe to have been a facility for Emperor Yomei (died 587), the father of Prince Shotoku (574-622). The facility, called “Iware no ikenobe no namitsuki no miya,” is described in the Chronicles of Japan as having stood by the pond. [Continue reading]
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Train Yard Thought to be Site of Ancient Facility that Served Chinese, Korean Envoys (Mainichi)
A train yard being excavated here is likely the site of a facility mentioned in ancient records that provided food and lodgings to foreign envoys from China and the Korean peninsula from the early eighth to ninth centuries, local education board officials say.
The Dazaifu Municipal Board of Education has been excavating some 12,500 square meters of the train yard since 2005. Officials have since discovered the remains of two large, pillar-supported buildings, as well as luxury eating utensils like tin and copper alloy spoons and food containers thought to be from the Silla kingdom of Korea, lacquerware and Nara tricolor ware. The discoveries have led to the conclusion that a facility mentioned in ancient records as serving envoys from China and Korea stood at the site. [Continue reading]
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Shizuoka’s Tea Links Past and Present (Mainichi)
In Japan’s southern city of Shizuoka, which produces almost 60 percent of the green tea on the domestic market, tea is not only a drink; it is something closely linked to the area’s history and a source of cultural identity as well.
In an area of the city called Chamachi, or “tea town,” stands a small shop called Kinzaburo. Tea gourmand Fusao Maeda opened the shop in April 2010 to offer a place for people to drink green tea and relax. [Continue reading]
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Tokyo Farmer Holds Fast to Year-end Tradition (Asahi Shimbun)
The most magical thing about a Tokyo Christmas is how magically all traces disappear.
Come the dawn of Dec. 26, Santa and the reindeer will have all evaporated, replaced by Japan’s own solemn, simple seasonal ornaments: “kadomatsu” pine and bamboo branch arrangements; and “shimenawa,” thick cords fashioned from dried rice stalks.
These adornments look as if they’ve come from the ancient past. In actuality they’re made in a workshop–an open garage with a tatami mat–deep in Tokyo’s eastern Edogawa Ward. [Continue reading]
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Korea Selects 10 Thematic Tourist Courses Under Joint Project (Dong-A Ilbo)
An initiative to select “Korea`s top 10 thematic courses” spearheaded by the Culture, Sports and Tourism Ministry and Visit Korea Committee is part of a tripartite project with China and Japan to develop “Golden Tourism Routes.”
Tourism ministers of the three countries agreed in May to pursue the project to promote tourism by selecting major tourist destinations in each country. The final courses will be decided Dec. 26-29, when a tripartite working-level meeting is scheduled, but Korea has chosen its major tourist destinations.
Korea has selected UNESCO World Cultural Heritage sites as its representative thematic tourism course. [Continue reading]
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Renaissance Revival of the Ancient Art of Taiwan Glove Puppetry (Digital Journal)
The Kung-Fu Taiwan puppetry known as potehi or budaixi is part of a feature length documentary film titled “PuppetVision: The Movie.” Potehi is glove puppet art, a 3,000-year old artistic skill that originated from ethnic Chinese nomads.
The art of puppetry has become the focus of a renaissance like no other time in history. The magical doppelgänger of yesterday and today’s old-fashioned puppets has replaced the slickness of current cutting-edge technology.
Taiwan potehi is part of an amazing cultural legacy, reaching back tens of thousands of years ago. The film documents “radically different traditions,” with the Taiwan puppetry an inheritance of the earliest moments of mankind’s evolution. Sixty puppeteers will be focused in the film from fifteen different countries, with each artist explaining their craft in detail. [Continue reading]
