title: Ancient Chinese Ideas about the World of Dead Huangquan (According to Pre-Han and Han Texts)
metadata.name: dc.contributor.author
metadata.value: Isachenkova, Marina A.
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.date.accessioned
metadata.value: 2023-08-09T21:37:35Z
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.date.available
metadata.value: 2023-08-09T21:37:35Z
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.date.issued
metadata.value: 2023-03
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.identifier.citation
metadata.value: Isachenkova M. A. Ancient Chinese Ideas about the World of Dead Huangquan (According to Pre-Han and Han Texts). Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Asian and African Studies, 2023, vol. 15, issue 1, pp. 43–57. https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu13.2023.103 (In Russian)
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.identifier.other
metadata.value: https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu13.2023.103
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.identifier.uri
metadata.value: http://hdl.handle.net/11701/43675
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.description.abstract
metadata.value: It is generally accepted that developed ideas about the World of Dead appear among the
  Chinese with the spread of Buddhism. Nevertheless, based on the data of material and spiritual
  culture, it can be assumed that already in the Paleolithic and, especially, in the Neolithic
  on the territory of Ancient China, there were a number of more or less developed models
  of the afterlife. One of its oldest names, recorded by written Chinese monuments, is 黄
  泉 Huangquan, the literal meaning of which is ‘Yellow Wellspring’. The character 泉 quan
  means the water flowing in a mountain cave or grotto, coming out at the base of the mountain.
  Its meaning is consistent with the religious ideas of different peoples: the archetype of
  the mountain is known as the place of birth and departure of ancestors, a tunnel connecting
  the worlds of the living and the dead; water as a boundary separating these worlds is also a
  universal motif of the World Culture. The semantics of the yellow color of the Chinese Hades
  can also be reconstructed by analyzing the sign 黃 huang. The pictogram depicts a man
  with a large swollen belly. Additional information from written monuments suggests that
  the yellow color was originally associated with illness and death, and by coincidence with
  the color of the earth, where the dead “went”, it began to determine the “border” wellspring.
  After the death of a person, the soul 魄 po in the form of 鬼 gui goes to the underworld of
  the ancestors — the place from which it appeared at the time of birth. According to the
  author, this knowledge is connected with the tradition of the center (Yellow River basin).
  An analysis of the texts of the pre-Han and Han periods makes it possible to conclude that
  Huangquan was understood as: 1) a designation of the end of a person’s life; 2) a designation
  of the lower limit in the vertical World Model; 3) a sacred place where 氣 qi is stored — the
  birth and death of ten thousand things.
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.language.iso
metadata.value: ru
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.publisher
metadata.value: St Petersburg State University
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.relation.ispartofseries
metadata.value: Vestnik of St Petersburg University. Asian and African Studies;Volume 15; Issue 1
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.subject
metadata.value: Huangquan
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.subject
metadata.value: Jiuquan
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.subject
metadata.value: the World of Dead
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.subject
metadata.value: soul-po
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.title
metadata.value: Ancient Chinese Ideas about the World of Dead Huangquan (According to Pre-Han and Han Texts)
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.type
metadata.value: Article
metadata.lang: en_GB
resources.filename: 03.pdf
resources.url: https://dspace.spbu.ru/bitstream/11701/43675/1/03.pdf
resources.format: Adobe PDF
resources.size: 877,86 kB