Local history between fact and fabrication: the history of Ningbo during the Tang Dynasty

Ningbo in the southeastern Chinese province of Zhejiang emerged as a city during the Tang dynasty (618–907), and was known at that time as Mingzhou. On the question where the administrative, political and economic center of the Ningbo region was located between 738 and 821 the various source materia...

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Main Author: Hirzel, Thomas
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor and Francis 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/64162/
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author Hirzel, Thomas
author_facet Hirzel, Thomas
author_sort Hirzel, Thomas
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description Ningbo in the southeastern Chinese province of Zhejiang emerged as a city during the Tang dynasty (618–907), and was known at that time as Mingzhou. On the question where the administrative, political and economic center of the Ningbo region was located between 738 and 821 the various source materials either remain silent or tell very different stories. In this study I re-visit and discuss the three main theories using textual analysis combined with archaeological evidence. On the basis of textual and recent archaeological evidence this study argues that today’s location of Ningbo at Sanjiangkou was the political, economic and cultural center of Eastern Zhejiang over 400 years earlier than previously thought. This clearly demonstrates the geographical and economic importance of the location at Sanjiangkou and the political stability of the region from the end of the Eastern Jin dynasty (317–420).
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spelling nottingham-641622020-12-28T07:54:10Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/64162/ Local history between fact and fabrication: the history of Ningbo during the Tang Dynasty Hirzel, Thomas Ningbo in the southeastern Chinese province of Zhejiang emerged as a city during the Tang dynasty (618–907), and was known at that time as Mingzhou. On the question where the administrative, political and economic center of the Ningbo region was located between 738 and 821 the various source materials either remain silent or tell very different stories. In this study I re-visit and discuss the three main theories using textual analysis combined with archaeological evidence. On the basis of textual and recent archaeological evidence this study argues that today’s location of Ningbo at Sanjiangkou was the political, economic and cultural center of Eastern Zhejiang over 400 years earlier than previously thought. This clearly demonstrates the geographical and economic importance of the location at Sanjiangkou and the political stability of the region from the end of the Eastern Jin dynasty (317–420). Taylor and Francis 2020-12-09 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en cc_by_nc_nd https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/64162/1/Hirzel-2020-Local-history-between-fact-and-fabr.pdf Hirzel, Thomas (2020) Local history between fact and fabrication: the history of Ningbo during the Tang Dynasty. Tang Studies . pp. 1-24. ISSN 0737-5034 Ningbo; Tang dynasty; local history; local gazetteers; Mingzhou http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07375034.2020.1850397 doi:10.1080/07375034.2020.1850397 doi:10.1080/07375034.2020.1850397
spellingShingle Ningbo; Tang dynasty; local history; local gazetteers; Mingzhou
Hirzel, Thomas
Local history between fact and fabrication: the history of Ningbo during the Tang Dynasty
title Local history between fact and fabrication: the history of Ningbo during the Tang Dynasty
title_full Local history between fact and fabrication: the history of Ningbo during the Tang Dynasty
title_fullStr Local history between fact and fabrication: the history of Ningbo during the Tang Dynasty
title_full_unstemmed Local history between fact and fabrication: the history of Ningbo during the Tang Dynasty
title_short Local history between fact and fabrication: the history of Ningbo during the Tang Dynasty
title_sort local history between fact and fabrication: the history of ningbo during the tang dynasty
topic Ningbo; Tang dynasty; local history; local gazetteers; Mingzhou
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/64162/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/64162/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/64162/