Drew Gibson
@drewgibson.bsky.social
Independent Scholar: Chinese Dynastic Histories, Zizhi Tongjian, Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Lessons of Chinese history: If you're in Chang'an, stay in Chang'an.
December 20, 2025 at 5:38 AM
Lessons of Chinese history: If you're in Chang'an, stay in Chang'an.
I am reading a 1700s-era book on Chinese history which repeatedly describes the Prime Minister of Chinese states using the term "Colao", no characters provided. Is this actually some kind of Portuguese loan word, or something else? Anyone know this one?
November 20, 2025 at 8:30 AM
I am reading a 1700s-era book on Chinese history which repeatedly describes the Prime Minister of Chinese states using the term "Colao", no characters provided. Is this actually some kind of Portuguese loan word, or something else? Anyone know this one?
Slightly diminish a book
The Meh Earth
The Meh Earth
Slightly diminishing a book
Journey to the Store
Journey to the Store
Slightly diminish a book
The Faux Pearl
The Faux Pearl
September 8, 2025 at 2:53 PM
Slightly diminish a book
The Meh Earth
The Meh Earth
"In any given farming family of five people, no fewer than two of them will be liable to be called away to perform military service or corvee labor, and the family will be able to farm no more than a hundred mu of land, the yield of which will not exceed a hundred bushels.
That dumb myth is what inspired me to write the current peasant series and we'll get to tearing it down in part 4
July 20, 2025 at 12:52 AM
"In any given farming family of five people, no fewer than two of them will be liable to be called away to perform military service or corvee labor, and the family will be able to farm no more than a hundred mu of land, the yield of which will not exceed a hundred bushels.
What a wreck this life!
At forty years no codger
Yet overnight thrust into chaos
And tomorrow no longer certain
The capital snatched by brutes
The palace overrun with weeds
Heart-breaking the sacred tombs
And sightless the royal roads
At forty years no codger
Yet overnight thrust into chaos
And tomorrow no longer certain
The capital snatched by brutes
The palace overrun with weeds
Heart-breaking the sacred tombs
And sightless the royal roads
…the latter of which is what the line means in the Cen Ci poem it comes from: zh.m.wikisource.org/zh-hant/%E8%...
行軍詩 (早知逢世亂) - 維基文庫，自由的圖書館
https://zh.m.wikisource.org/zh-hant/行軍詩_(早知逢世亂)
July 13, 2025 at 8:56 PM
What a wreck this life!
At forty years no codger
Yet overnight thrust into chaos
And tomorrow no longer certain
The capital snatched by brutes
The palace overrun with weeds
Heart-breaking the sacred tombs
And sightless the royal roads
At forty years no codger
Yet overnight thrust into chaos
And tomorrow no longer certain
The capital snatched by brutes
The palace overrun with weeds
Heart-breaking the sacred tombs
And sightless the royal roads
What's the policy on swear word usage in academic translations? Asking for a peer.
June 28, 2025 at 8:54 AM
What's the policy on swear word usage in academic translations? Asking for a peer.
A bit of slapstick in the Hojo Tokimune show when Tokimune and the other shogunate regents fear that the box containing Kublai's letter might be booby-trapped and they toss it to the ground and cringe as they open it.
June 14, 2025 at 4:27 AM
A bit of slapstick in the Hojo Tokimune show when Tokimune and the other shogunate regents fear that the box containing Kublai's letter might be booby-trapped and they toss it to the ground and cringe as they open it.
Watching more of the Hojo Tokimune series. A Chinese character makes the comment that "[China] has 1,500 years of history". Seems like a curious remark for a setting of ~1260 AD.
June 11, 2025 at 7:20 AM
Watching more of the Hojo Tokimune series. A Chinese character makes the comment that "[China] has 1,500 years of history". Seems like a curious remark for a setting of ~1260 AD.
Watching the 2001 taiga drama "Hojo Tokimune" and enjoying how every episode seems to end with a countdown of "Days Until The Mongols Arrive". Feel like more shows should use this as a cliffhanger.
June 10, 2025 at 12:30 AM
Watching the 2001 taiga drama "Hojo Tokimune" and enjoying how every episode seems to end with a countdown of "Days Until The Mongols Arrive". Feel like more shows should use this as a cliffhanger.
@bretdevereaux.bsky.social Big fan of the blog, enjoyed the latest post on archers. I notice a few references to Chinese historical stuff there, I have some primary source translation material you may find of use. Is your CV email the best place to send?
May 3, 2025 at 8:14 PM
@bretdevereaux.bsky.social Big fan of the blog, enjoyed the latest post on archers. I notice a few references to Chinese historical stuff there, I have some primary source translation material you may find of use. Is your CV email the best place to send?
Have decided to default to translating 可謂 as "now that's what I call..."
April 4, 2025 at 6:59 AM
Have decided to default to translating 可謂 as "now that's what I call..."
Reposted by Drew Gibson
Today in the ARB: Elizabeth Lawrence reviews “The Women Who Ruled China: Buddhism, Multiculturalism, and Governance in the Sixth Century” by Stephanie Balkwill @ucpress.bsky.social asianreviewofbooks.com/the-women-wh...
“The Women Who Ruled China: Buddhism, Multiculturalism, and Governance in the Sixth Century” by Stephanie Balkwill
The Northern Wei (386-534) are having a moment. Heritage projects, including large-scale digitization efforts, have brought renewed attention to Northern Wei sites of Buddhist statuary, including t…
asianreviewofbooks.com
February 24, 2025 at 12:39 AM
Today in the ARB: Elizabeth Lawrence reviews “The Women Who Ruled China: Buddhism, Multiculturalism, and Governance in the Sixth Century” by Stephanie Balkwill @ucpress.bsky.social asianreviewofbooks.com/the-women-wh...
Reposted by Drew Gibson
How the CCP co-opted ancient buddhist monk Kumarajiva – Victoria Jones for The Diplomat
How the CCP Co-opted an Ancient Buddhist Monk
The Chinese government venerates Kumarajiva not only for his contributions to Buddhism but also as a symbol of China’s ideological and geopolitical ambitions.
thediplomat.com
February 20, 2025 at 9:52 AM
How the CCP co-opted ancient buddhist monk Kumarajiva – Victoria Jones for The Diplomat
His purse hides holy writ
To free the sacred words
To save his sovereign ward
He'll bear this tender trust
Loving until his heart aches
Raging even in his dreams
Devotion is what we remember
Life or death but details
To free the sacred words
To save his sovereign ward
He'll bear this tender trust
Loving until his heart aches
Raging even in his dreams
Devotion is what we remember
Life or death but details
February 9, 2025 at 4:58 AM
His purse hides holy writ
To free the sacred words
To save his sovereign ward
He'll bear this tender trust
Loving until his heart aches
Raging even in his dreams
Devotion is what we remember
Life or death but details
To free the sacred words
To save his sovereign ward
He'll bear this tender trust
Loving until his heart aches
Raging even in his dreams
Devotion is what we remember
Life or death but details
Reading @rfkuang.bsky.social 's The Burning God. Noticed a character use the phrase "Hunt a rat, you're going to smash some dishes." Was this original? It strikes me as being very similar to Jia Yi's quoted proverb 欲投鼠而忌器.
#Sinology 🀄️📚
#Sinology 🀄️📚
February 4, 2025 at 11:37 PM
Reading @rfkuang.bsky.social 's The Burning God. Noticed a character use the phrase "Hunt a rat, you're going to smash some dishes." Was this original? It strikes me as being very similar to Jia Yi's quoted proverb 欲投鼠而忌器.
#Sinology 🀄️📚
#Sinology 🀄️📚
Reading Harbsmeier et al's Hanfeizi translation tonight. Struck by how often 忠 in texts means not simply servile loyalty but an obligation to tell your superior things that they don't want to hear but that they need to be aware of. Treason when you don't tell someone when you know they're wrong.
January 31, 2025 at 3:31 AM
Reading Harbsmeier et al's Hanfeizi translation tonight. Struck by how often 忠 in texts means not simply servile loyalty but an obligation to tell your superior things that they don't want to hear but that they need to be aware of. Treason when you don't tell someone when you know they're wrong.
From 新元史:
Among the descendants of Kiyan was Bortechino, meaning "grey wolf", and his wife was called Guamaral, meaning "pallid doe"... Bortechino and Guamaral together crossed the Tenggis Sea and moved to the source of the Onon River beneath Mount Burqan, and gave birth to their son Batacihan.
Among the descendants of Kiyan was Bortechino, meaning "grey wolf", and his wife was called Guamaral, meaning "pallid doe"... Bortechino and Guamaral together crossed the Tenggis Sea and moved to the source of the Onon River beneath Mount Burqan, and gave birth to their son Batacihan.
Comparison of the opening lines of the Secret History of the Mongols translated by Christopher Atwood compared to other English translations.
January 22, 2025 at 9:11 PM
From 新元史:
Among the descendants of Kiyan was Bortechino, meaning "grey wolf", and his wife was called Guamaral, meaning "pallid doe"... Bortechino and Guamaral together crossed the Tenggis Sea and moved to the source of the Onon River beneath Mount Burqan, and gave birth to their son Batacihan.
Among the descendants of Kiyan was Bortechino, meaning "grey wolf", and his wife was called Guamaral, meaning "pallid doe"... Bortechino and Guamaral together crossed the Tenggis Sea and moved to the source of the Onon River beneath Mount Burqan, and gave birth to their son Batacihan.
I'll have to get around to submitting a translation of Ye Boju's biography sometime, if for no other reason than to counter this meme image.
January 11, 2025 at 7:54 AM
I'll have to get around to submitting a translation of Ye Boju's biography sometime, if for no other reason than to counter this meme image.
I want to make a more substantiative response to this thread later, but for now: what is the source of this claim (which I've seen elsewhere) that no state/dynasty before Yuan ever additionally called itself "大/Great X"? This certainly happened at least as far back as Han. What makes it "official"?
Ensuite, le choix du nom contrevient à tous les usages. Même s'il sera souvent abrégé, le nom officiel est bien Da Yuan 大元, en deux caractères, et non en un comme pour les Han 漢 ou les Tang 唐, par exemple. 10
December 26, 2024 at 3:15 AM
I want to make a more substantiative response to this thread later, but for now: what is the source of this claim (which I've seen elsewhere) that no state/dynasty before Yuan ever additionally called itself "大/Great X"? This certainly happened at least as far back as Han. What makes it "official"?
Have we decided yet whether 直躬 (from the Analects story about testifying against his father) was Zhi Gong or Upright Gong?
December 21, 2024 at 7:37 AM
Have we decided yet whether 直躬 (from the Analects story about testifying against his father) was Zhi Gong or Upright Gong?
漢室傾危天數終
無謀何進作三公
幾番不聽忠臣諫
宮中受劍鋒
Wobbly was that house of Han
When witless He Jin held the reins
No ear hath he for blunter words
Yet takes a sharper point
無謀何進作三公
幾番不聽忠臣諫
宮中受劍鋒
Wobbly was that house of Han
When witless He Jin held the reins
No ear hath he for blunter words
Yet takes a sharper point
November 18, 2024 at 7:44 AM
漢室傾危天數終
無謀何進作三公
幾番不聽忠臣諫
宮中受劍鋒
Wobbly was that house of Han
When witless He Jin held the reins
No ear hath he for blunter words
Yet takes a sharper point
無謀何進作三公
幾番不聽忠臣諫
宮中受劍鋒
Wobbly was that house of Han
When witless He Jin held the reins
No ear hath he for blunter words
Yet takes a sharper point
Reposted by Drew Gibson
青鳥已死
The Azure bird is dead
蒼天當立
The Blue Sky is now established
歲在甲辰
When the year is Jia-Chen
天下大喜
GREAT JOY UNDER HEAVEN
The Azure bird is dead
蒼天當立
The Blue Sky is now established
歲在甲辰
When the year is Jia-Chen
天下大喜
GREAT JOY UNDER HEAVEN
November 12, 2024 at 2:52 PM
青鳥已死
The Azure bird is dead
蒼天當立
The Blue Sky is now established
歲在甲辰
When the year is Jia-Chen
天下大喜
GREAT JOY UNDER HEAVEN
The Azure bird is dead
蒼天當立
The Blue Sky is now established
歲在甲辰
When the year is Jia-Chen
天下大喜
GREAT JOY UNDER HEAVEN
Reposted by Drew Gibson
Official launch of the Hsu-Tang Library of Classical Chinese Literature at Oxford University Press www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAtn...
Celebrating the Launch of the Hsu-Tang Library
YouTube video by Oxford Academic (Oxford University Press)
www.youtube.com
September 16, 2024 at 7:15 AM
Official launch of the Hsu-Tang Library of Classical Chinese Literature at Oxford University Press www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAtn...
Spent all night pondering a translation interpretation, I finally came up with an answer so it's probably wildly off-base.
August 31, 2024 at 1:45 PM
Spent all night pondering a translation interpretation, I finally came up with an answer so it's probably wildly off-base.
I am finding that the "fun" thing about grappling with Daoist writings is that you have to pretend to understand them even when working with people who are criticizing them.
August 13, 2024 at 5:07 PM
I am finding that the "fun" thing about grappling with Daoist writings is that you have to pretend to understand them even when working with people who are criticizing them.