“China too has its Aristotle”: the Zhongyong 中庸 “Sinarum Scientia Politico-Moralis” and the Jesuits’ Fascination with Confucius”

The translation of the Chinese Four books served to learn and teach the Chinese language but above all, to fully understand the culture of the Chinese intellectuals. On December 10, 1593, Matteo Ricci wrote that he was asked to translate the Four books into Latin so as to formulate a new catechism. The reading of the Four books was fundamental to capture Chinese thought and to address the common features and cross-cultural concepts between two distant geographical, cultural and social environments. In the Four books, and, as a whole in the Five Classics, Matteo Ricci uncovered numerous passages that support “the truth of our faith”. The paper provides an excursus of the Jesuits’ translation of the Four books, from Matteo Ricci to Prosper Intorcetta, with particular emphasis on the Sinarum scientia politico-moralis

Pensiero e religione in epoca Zhou

The chapter outlines the history of thought and religion in pre-Han China, starting with a brief introduction on the shi, warriors and scholars who filled minor offices in Zhou times. It describes their fundamental role in the development of Chinese thought. In the Warring States period the shi were employed by the rulers for their talents, their knowledge, and their political strategies. The main subjects dealt with by these scholars were the inner cultivation and the art of government and The records of their encounters and dialogues with the rulers were transmitted in written form by their disciples and followers, as in the case of the Lunyu and of the Mengzi. The chapter is divided in the following sections: 1. Introduction; 2. The experts of “yin-yang”; 3. Confucius and the “ru”; 3.1. The Confucian Ethics; 3.2 The discovery of the manuscripts: the end of a myth; 4. Mozi and the refusal of the tradition; 5. Yang Zhu and the value of life; Mengzi and the search for compromise; 7. On the practice of the mean; 8. Xunzi and the power of man; 9. Han Feizi and the power of law; 10. Hui Shi and Gongsun Long: the art of paradox; 11. Zhuangzi and the oblivion of man; 12. Laozi and the wuwei providing benefit; 13. Inner cultivation aimed at the control of the cosmos; 13.1 The soul as mirror, the skin as jade; 14. Rituals and religious beliefs; 14.1 Funerary rites: “Soul, come back!”; 14.2 A new dwelling; 14.3 Souls, gods and spirits; 14.4. In search of immortality

La rivalutazione della cultura tradizionale nella Cina contemporanea

The paper explores the revaluation of Confucian culture in Contemporary China and its implication in social life. On the one hand the ambition to acquire a modern, westernized lifestyle, and on the other the need to adhere to traditional social customs and dogmas, still alive in Contemporary China

Linking Ancient and Contemporary. Continuities and Discontinuities in Chinese Literature

Linking Ancient and Contemporary: Continuities and Discontinuities in Chinese Literature is a collection of essays which stems from a project of cooperation between the Department of Asian and African Studies of Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and the Department of Chinese Language and Literature of Peking University. The first conference was held in Venice on 21-22 March 2013, the second will be held in Peking University on 14-16 October 2016. The volume reflects the desire to compare and integrate different approaches to Chinese literature, showing how, in different epochs, traditional intellectual and literary values have been repeatedly criticized and rejected, yet have often resurfaced in many different ways and have been reinterpreted

Linea diretta con l'Asia. Fare business ad oriente

Il volume raccoglie i contributi qualificati di quanti, nel nodo universitario, istituzionale ed economico veneto e nei diversi Paesi- operano per favorire l'internazionalizzazione delle imprese, offrendo nuovi spunti di approfondimento e prospettive che permettano di cogliere nel continente asiatico non una minaccia ma, con una visione più corretta e lungimirante, una preziosa via d'uscita alla crisi

Evidence of Presynaptic Localization and Function of the c-Jun N-Terminal Kinase

The c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) is part of a stress signalling pathway strongly activated by NMDA-stimulation and involved in synaptic plasticity. Many studies have been focused on the post-synaptic mechanism of JNK action, and less is known about JNK presynaptic localization and its physiological role at this site. Here we examined whether JNK is present at the presynaptic site and its activity after presynaptic NMDA receptors stimulation. By using N-SIM Structured Super Resolution Microscopy as well as biochemical approaches, we demonstrated that presynaptic fractions contained significant amount of JNK protein and its activated form. By means of modelling design, we found that JNK, via the JBD domain, acts as a physiological effector on T-SNARE proteins; then using biochemical approaches we demonstrated the interaction between Syntaxin-1-JNK, Syntaxin-2-JNK, and Snap25-JNK. In addition, taking advance of the specific JNK inhibitor peptide, D-JNKI1, we defined JNK action on the SNARE complex formation. Finally, electrophysiological recordings confirmed the role of JNK in the presynaptic modulation of vesicle release. These data suggest that JNK-dependent phosphorylation of T-SNARE proteins may have an important functional role in synaptic plasticity

Zhongguo xian Qin shiqi de zang lisu, Liji he Liyi de bufen jilu (Mortuary Practices in Ancient China: Some Records form the Liji and the Liyi)

In a civilization where death was not perceived as a traumatic experience but as an ineluctable and temporary phase of life, as it was in ancient China, most of the religious activities occurred in the places of death. The places of the dead offered opportunities for aggregation within the community and the establishment of power. In their spiritual capacity as ancestors, the dead were the main object of devotion and cult. Funerary rites and burial practices were meant to establish a communication with the dead and a point of convergence between the sphere of life and the sphere of death in a complex cosmology where the places and time of power were well defined. Just after a biological destruction had occurred, a cultural reconstruction had started, by putting together and ordering the mortal remains, through the rituals of dressing, the making of the coffins, the preparation of the mortuary chamber, the worship of the dead as ancestor, and the rituals to accompany him in the afterlife. Therefore, all the complex ritual phase, which began before death and continued for the period of mourning, must be considered as a constructive process, meant to reconstruct man’s body, delay its decomposition and bring it back to its natural habitat, together with man’s personal belongings, his family, followers and servants, sacrificed for him. In such a way he was provided with a new identity and social status and his presence and role in the world of the dead was defined. The article explores the rituals preceding the burial of the death, starting from some chapters of the Yili (for instance Tan Gong) and of the Liji (Sang Daji, The Greater Record of Mourning Rites). A few rituals described in these sources are examined: The Zhaofu ritual (summoning of the Departed Soul), an attempt to recall the hun soul back to its body; the Lian ceremony, which consists in wrapping the corpse (xiaolian) in shrouds (the higher the rank, the more numerous the shrouds) and in putting the corpse in the coffin. The shroud used to wrap the corpse during the Lian ceremony, known as lianqin, was identified with the feiyi (flying garment), listed in the inventories of funeral furnishings

Istruzioni per il buon governo. Introduzione

Instructions for the good government. Introduction. The Qunshu jiyao 群書治要 (Instructions for the good government) is an anthology of 360 principles and anecdotes from different Chinese classical sources, edited by two ministers, Wei Zheng 魏徵 and Yu Shinan 虞世南 during the reign of the second emperor of the Tang dynasty (618-907), Li Shimin 李世民 (598-649). In the year 2010 Chin Kung, Head of the Centre of Cultural Studies in Malaysia edited a manuscript copy dating to Kamakura time (1192-1330), preserved by Kapanese monks at the end og the XVIII century. The introduction highlights the main teachings of the work: loving the people and promoting the deserving and virtuous, avoiding considering personal interests, being indulgent, moderate, sober and loyal to others