Latins and Georgians and the Crusader Kingdom

Partly because the First Crusade had weakened the Seljuk Sultanate in 1097–1099, David III of Georgia was able to extend his power over much of the Caucasus. The rulers of the Crusader States who stood in need of Eastern Christian allies sought to co-operate with him. Yet although some Western knights served in his army, the practical difficulties of co-ordinating joint action against the Islamic powers of north Syria and Anatolia in the twelfth century proved insuperable. In the thirteenth century the Georgian crown offered an alliance to the leaders of the Fifth Crusade: their forces would attack the northern provinces of the Ayyūbid Empire while the crusaders were invading Egypt. This strategy was sound, but the rise of the Mongol Empire prevented it from being implemented. Nevertheless, the desire for military collaboration between Georgia and the Western powers persisted until the mid-fifteenth century.     

Comfort,Class and Climate Change: The Rise of Glass in Late Medieval and Early Modern Domestic Architecture

ABSTRACT

In the modern world, glass windows are considered an indispensable element of the built environment. Throughout premodern times, however, glass was not universally used in European architecture. This article argues that the rise of glass in Western architecture was neither an inevitable nor a linear process, but rather a response to certain social, cultural and environmental factors that gained increasing relevance from the late medieval period onwards. In other words, glass windows are a cultural convention, reflecting some of the wide-ranging and transformative challenges that Europeans faced in the late medieval and early modern period.     

中韩出版交流感言

作为中国编辑学会代表团成员，我于2008年5月10～16日，赴韩国首尔参加了第13届国际出版学学术研讨会，感触良多。     

Independence and obedience in the United States and Japan

Are some Americans and Japanese beginning to think more similarly about independence and obedience? Middle-class adult respondents from the suburbs of Chicago and Tokyo (U.S.: 43 males and 54 females: Japan: 71 males and 80 females) were surveyed about their sex-role values. This report focuses on two values which have been recognised as constituting fundamental differences between Japanese and Americans: personal independence and obedience. The survey used a metric multidimensional scaling technique called Galileo^®. Analyses of the data and results of other comparative studies suggest that any convergence taking place between the two societies is occurring primarily within American society. There is growing evidence, including the findings of this study, that Americans are moving away from their traditional stress on the importance of the individual in society. The Japanese respondents did show a more liberal conceptualization of the ideal woman with respect to obedience, however, there was no indication that this less traditional image of women extended to their other traditional roles in society.     

中国古代建筑与宇宙观

哲学是关于宇宙观的学问。宇宙观就是人们对于宇宙的总的看法。宇宙是指一切物质及其存在形式的总和。对于宇宙的看法即相当于对于整个世界的看法，因此也可以说，宇宙观亦即世界观。     

上海小吃的市井民俗与源流

琳琅满目的海派小吃 上海日常的传统市井小吃不胜枚举，甜的小点、辣的抄手、素的菜包、臭的豆腐、粘的切糕，几乎是上海市井文化的缩影，很能让人感受到上海琳琅满目的海派小吃的名色。即使是名份相类似的小吃，在口味上、制作上、餐饮的文化氛围上，都能尝试出完全不同的品味来。在今日上海，海派小味在市井里阊中触目皆是，不过，相对说来保存得最完整最集中的当属黄浦区的城隍庙区。     

诸葛村的明清建筑

浙江省兰溪市诸葛村是全国最大的诸葛亮后裔聚居地。这是一个群山环抱、绿树掩映、隐蔽静谧、美丽富饶的古村落。这里自然环境优美,地理位置独特,村落布局精巧,至今仍完好保存着200余座明清建筑。无论是礼制建筑、民居建筑、商业建筑,还是建筑形制、建筑风格、建筑装饰,都充分体现出诸葛氏家族独特的文化意蕴,具有极为重要的历史研究价值。诸葛村村落布局没有中轴线,也不注重均衡对称,而是围绕钟池这个中心分布建筑群,道路呈放射状,构成八卦形,单体建筑缘势而建,星罗棋布,高低错落,井塘点缀,极富诗意。从该村《诸葛氏宗谱》(以下简称《宗谱…     

战国社会新风尚

战国是我国历史上社会急剧变革、思想空前活跃的一个时代。与春秋相比，战国在某些方面有了很大的变化，顾炎武《日知录·周末风俗》做了如此概括：“如春秋时，犹尊礼重信，而七国则绝不言王矣；春秋时，犹严祭祀，重聘享，而七国则无其事矣；春秋时，犹论宗姓氏族，而七国则无一言及之矣；春秋时，犹宴会赋诗，而七国则不闻矣；春秋时，犹有赴告策书，而七国则无有矣。邦无定交，士无定主。”因而王夫之《读通鉴论》称战国为“古今一大变革之会”。的确，战国出现了许多前所未有的新气象。的感情。一旦要离开时，便有割舍不开的眷恋。《孟…     

战国冶铁与棠溪宝剑

棠溪剑史据《资治通鉴》记载:“棠溪之金天下之利。”《史记》记载:“天下之剑韩为众,一曰棠溪,二曰墨阳,三曰合伯,四曰邓师,五曰宛冯,六曰龙泉七曰太阿,八曰莫邪,九曰干将。”《吴越春秋》记载:“棠溪在西平,水淬刀剑,特锋利,为干将莫邪所从出,亦名川也。”据范文澜《中国通史     

战国四大"学术中心"

我国历史演进到春秋后期，社会经济和阶级关系发生了很大变化，周王朝已名存实亡。政权下移，诸侯力政，礼崩乐坏。各诸侯之间争霸与兼并战争持续不断，而战国更成为古今一大变革之会。社会大动荡，导致化和教育被贵族阶级所垄断、“学在王官”的局面被打破，“私学”盛行。一大批掌握了知识的“士”，不仅作为一个独立的阶层登上我国历史舞台。     

Facework in Syria and the United States: A cross-cultural comparison

“The first rule when communicating with people from the Arab world is not to let them lose face” said J. Al-Omari. Face or one's social identity is cultural. A face threat is a situation which threatens to create a loss of face. When experiencing face-threats people guard their face with facework – behavioral actions enacted to protect one's face. Since facework varies across cultures, this study analyzed how cultural collectivism, power distance, masculinity, and uncertainty avoidance influence direct, indirect, competitive, cooperative, hostile, and ritualistic facework in Syria and the United States, employing a MANCOVA design with gender as the covariate. Significant findings (n = 336) showed that: (a) US Americans reported using more direct, competitive, and hostile facework strategies than Syrians while (b) Syrians reported using more indirect, cooperative and ritualistic facework strategies than US Americans (c) US American facework strategies corresponded to individualistic, weak power distance, masculine, and low uncertainty avoidance cultural dimensions while Syrian facework corresponded to collectivistic, high-power distance, moderately masculine, and high uncertainty avoidance and (d) VSM 94 results showed Syria to be more individualistic than Hofstede's original rankings.     

吴哥考察之千年干栏

衣、食、住、行,乃人类生存所必需的四大要素。自古至今,凡有人群存在的地方,就有住宅存在,这恐怕也算是一个放之四海而皆准的真理。只是,因为居住区域自然环境和居民群体社会发展阶段的不同,其住宅建造制式和方法也有着各种各样的不同。