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A Historical Overview of Research on “Shangdafu,” a Variant of the “Shangdaren” Penmanship Primer, Found in the Dunhuang Manuscripts: Contributing to the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Publication of Liu Fu’s “Dunhuang duosuo xumu”
No full text“Shangdaren” 上大人 was a popular children’s text on penmanship that existed in pre-modern China. As Zhai Hao 翟灝 (1736–1788) found, its philological roots can be traced back to a Zen riddle of a ninth-century monk, Chen zunsu 陳尊宿 (also known as Muzhou Daozong 睦州道蹤). However, the roots can probably be traced even further back via the Dunhuang 敦煌 manuscripts. “Shangdafu” 上大夫, a variant of “Shangdaren” found in the Dunhuang manuscripts, has been studied for one hundred years, ever since Liu Fu 劉復 first reported on Dunhuang MS P.3145v in his “Dunhuang duosuo xumu” 燉煌掇瑣叙目 (1925).
In this paper, I will provide a brief overview of the research conducted over the past hundred-years, dividing it into the three periods. Occasional research on “Shangdafu” in Period I (1925–1986) did not flourish into a new research trend. Period II (1987–2007) began with research of two great scholars, Wang Liqi 王利器 and Liu Mingshu 劉銘恕 and progressed steadily. The issues Liu raised have served particularly well as a guideline for researchers of “Shangdafu.” After he raised the issues, the number of “Shangdafu” examples gradually increased and some papers treated it as their central theme. However, there were still too few examples in the second period for research to advance any further. In Period III (2008–present), the number of examples of “Shangdafu” increased further and made more detailed research possible. Achievements such as “isolation” or separation of a companion text “Niuyang qiankou” 牛羊千口 from “Shangdafu,” and clarification on some unique characters in “Shangdafu” have been made in this third period. Most examples of the “Shangdafu” in the Dunhuang manuscripts have common characteristics such as similar character variants and missing phrases. On the other hand, some examples have characters and phrases that are the same as those in the existing “Shangdaren” text. The position of the “Shangdafu” in the Dunhuang manuscripts in the philological history of “Shangdaren” is still problematic. The dating of the manuscripts is still a work in progress and determining dates of text formation beyond Zhai Hao’s estimate remains exceedingly difficult. But some significant achievements have been made in the revision of characters.journal articl
Daily Life and Labor Movement of Rickshaw Men in Chengdu in the mid-1920s
Full text linkThis paper focuses on the social relations established by rickshaw men (chefu 車夫) in their work and daily life, and attempts to clarify their responses to urbanization and the intervention of political forces.
Previous studies have mainly analyzed the mobilization efforts of political forces and the geographic and kinship ties among rickshaw men, focusing on major port cities such as Shanghai 上海. Chengdu 成都, located in southwestern China, experienced road construction in the mid-1920s, which led to the rise of rickshaws as a popular mode of transportation and positioned rickshaw men as the most important members of the working class. However, unlike other cities, most rickshaw men in Chengdu did not rent rickshaws directly from rickshaw garages; instead, they rented them through middlemen or brokers (gongtou 工頭). As a result, rickshaw garages could not serve as patrons for rickshaw men. However, brokers could provide financial support to rickshaw men, which often led to the cultivation of patron-client ties between them.
In late January of 1926, high rents and deposits caused dissatisfaction among rickshaw men toward rickshaw garages, resulting in conflict. This conflict prompted the formation of the rickshaw men’s union, which quickly garnered over 5,000 members, more than half of the rickshaw men in Chengdu. Notably, labor activists of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) rightists succeeded in controlling the union.
Why the KMT was able to mobilize the seemingly scattered rickshaw men? Brokers between rickshaw garages and rickshaw men should be noted. The patron-client ties were often stronger than the connections among the rickshaw men. During this period, brokers faced with a potential ban chose to cooperate with political forces to secure their social status and rickshaw men. Consequently, the labor movement of rickshaw men in Chengdu in the mid- 1920s was primarily driven by brokers, led by the KMT rightists, who mobilized rickshaw men through established patron-client ties.journal articl