Since the Western Zhou dynasty in China, the word 聖人began to have a special meaning, entered various social fields such as literature and history and medicine, and gradually integrated into Chinese traditional culture. As an important symbol of traditional Chinese medicine culture, 聖人 shows a basic category of the core concept and value system of traditional Chinese medical classics represented by the book of Huangdi Neijing(also named The Inner Canon of Huangdi) in the pre-Qin and Han dynasties. In Huangdi Neijing which is the foundation work of the theoretical system of traditional Chinese medicine, 聖人is not only a man with perfect personality under the traditional Chinese moral and ethical concepts, but also a regimen practitioner and a master of universe laws and the best model of physical and mental health. Based on the traditional Chinese medicine book Huangdi Neijing, this paper uses the knowledge of Chinese philology and traditional Chinese medicine culture to trace the origin meaning of the Chinese word 聖人 from the perspective of genesis, and examines the semantic evolution of 聖人 and its cultural characteristics in the development of the Chinese nation and the Traditional Chinese medicine

This study examines the creation process of the Yeonhaengrok. The Yeonhaengrok or a collection of diplomatic mission records consists of observation and records. Observation can be further divided into direct observation and indirect observation. A diplomatic envoy and his entourage as well as individuals they interacted with function as a knowledge-information provider or conveyor. Records includes those written by Bandang (messenger), Jajegungwan (informal attendants made up of family members of an envoy), and fellow intellectuals, and previous diplomatic mission records and various literatures. It shows the subjects of recording the Yeonhaengrok. The Yeonhaengrok serve to collect and organize knowledge and information obtained during the missions while expanding and reproducing new knowledge and information.

Countries in the Chinese character cultural sphere share the Chinese Zodiac that assigns twelve animals to each year a person is born based on the order of arrival, so-called Tti. The twelve animals reflect the psychological characteristics of human life and are regarded as more special than other animals. Thus, the animals are used in idiomatic expressions as a vehicle to more properly describe human feelings and thought. This study therefore analyzed the semantic features of the twelve animals to explore the Chinese perception about the animals. The study result can be summarized as below: The representative semantic features of the twelve animals are as follows: [Villain], [Thief], [Misdeed], [Harmful], and [Heinous] for Rat; [Big] for Ox; [Villain], [Ferocious], [Cruel], [Heinous], [Foe], [Causing Fear], [Causing Risk], [Harmful], [Aggressor], and [Predator] for Tiger; [Agile] and [Quick] for Rabbit; [Emperor], [King], [High Status], [Authority], and [General] for Dragon; [Villain], [Aggressor], [Greedy], [Cunning], [Heinous], and [Vicious] for Snake; [War] and [Military] for Horse; [Weak], [Sacrifice], and [Dangerous Situation] for Sheep; [Nominal] for Monkey; [Small], [Slight], [Trifling], and [Useless] for Rooster; [Shabby], [Vulgar], [Bad], and [Foolish] for Dog; and [Shabby], [Vulgar], and [Wicked] for Pig. The negative semantic features were dominant in all animals except the dragon, which is consistent with a tendency that the animals are generally used to emphasize the negative aspects of a person. The semantic features of the animals are also presented in various domains of action, psychology, personality, morality, size, episode, speed, status, position, geographical features, attitude, shape, living, means, situation, etc.

The paper aims to identify place names in illustration titles in John Nieuhoff’s An Embassy from the East-India Company of the United Provinces, to the Grand Tartar Cham Emperour of China (English in 1669, Dutch in 1665). Nieuhoff’s text was very popular with the 17th century European public. After its first publication in Dutch it was translated into French, German, Latin and English and reprinted fourteen times in many European countries. In particular, his illustrations were highly appreciated because they provided realistic and vivid images of China to Europeans at a time when there had been little information about China. It had a great influence on the fever for Chinese style in Europe in the 18th century. Nieuhoff’s illustrations were frequently applied to everyday painted objects such as furniture, screens, wallpaper, textiles, and dishes. About 80% of illustrations present scenery in the area where the Dutch embassy anchored or passed by on their journey from Guangdong to Beijing. However, the place names which were transliterated into Dutch and other European languages are a major obstacle for following Nieuhoff’s travelogue. It is not easy to infer the Chinese regional names from either the Dutch or the English text. Therefore, the paper identifies Chinese regions in the text by mainly comparing Nieuhoff’s information and transliteration with Martino Martini’s Novus Atlas Sinensis (1655).

Modern attempts to decipher the Shang bone scripts have been hampered by the fundamental assumption that the scripts are recordings of the sound of the language and not ideas. Some phonetic “translations” could be proposed without the possibility of verification, and some graphic “translations” without meanings are seen as the names of sacrificial rituals by previous scholars. Actually, a character is derived from a thought, and the thought is derived from a figuration, while the figuration itself is derived from the graphed object or event. Therefore, the same character can be used in different dialects or languages to depict the same concepts. Based on the bone scripts being ideograms, several bone scripts used frequently for the names of the day were assumed to be the moon phases; thus, the time interval between two corresponding days with its moon phase was calculated for verification. Extensionally, according to the time interval between the two days, and the moon phase recorded on the bone tablets (or bronze wares) and the chronological table of the kings of Shang compiled by the pre vious scholars, the assumptions of the moon phase characters are attested by the calculations of the numbering days of the solunar date. Solunar dates (Chinese: Gan-Zhi 干支) were used to record dates with a cycle of 60 days. Conversely, on consideration of the dates and moon phases for the bone inscription events, the prevous chronology is improved with iterative methed, and we propose new chronology for Shang kings. In addition, through computation, three records of a lunar eclipse on the Shang bronze inscriptions and on the Zhou bronze vessels are newly recognized, which helps to reconstruct the years of the kings of Shang and of the kings of Zhou; the Shang bone calendar’s New Year started from the summer solstice of the year, from the full moon of the lunar phase and from the dawn of the day.