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Markus Samuel Haselbeck 趙澤煊 @ciaota.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

I presented my paper on didactic persuasion in He Xiu‘s 何休 writings on the Chunqiu 春秋 at the Venice EACS yesterday. I argued that the 公羊墨守, 左氏膏肓, and 穀梁廢疾 are not reading aids for the 春秋 but instead push the reader to dismiss the 左 and 穀梁 and choose the 公羊. #Sinology #ChinesePhilosophy

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Reposted by Markus Samuel Haselbeck 趙澤煊

Marco Pouget @marcopouget.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Very chuffed to see this volume appearing! It really spans a broad spectrum of revenge conceptions from early China to the present, and from visual culture and art to literature and philosophy. And the preceding workshop @china-kuleuven.bsky.social taught me a lot! Thanks, @ciaota.bsky.social!

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Markus Samuel Haselbeck 趙澤煊 @ciaota.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

I am very happy that the new issue of Oriens Extremus will be coming out soon, which includes a 10-article special section Exploring Revenge Across Chinese History that I edited. We cover #ChinesePhilosophy, #ChineseHistory, literature, and law. #Sinology (1/2)

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Markus Samuel Haselbeck 趙澤煊 @ciaota.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Another case of interesting reading marks! Check out this preface: Throughout the preface, you see full stops, but the first page features a 、 right in the first line and a few triangles. Page two continues with tripple 、. Anyone got a clue what this is? #ChinaBooks #Sinology

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Markus Samuel Haselbeck 趙澤煊 @ciaota.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

Our copy of the 徐氏三種 is full of surprises! Let me explain: This collection usually includes the 三字經訓詁, the 百家姓考略 & the 千字文釋義, forming a set of educational texts. The first of these texts has been replaced with the 滿漢合璧三字經註解 in our copy. #Sinology (1/6)

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Markus Samuel Haselbeck 趙澤煊 @ciaota.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

Many people are getting married today due to the palindromic date, 26/6/26. So I wanted to share this almanac for 1881, which lists more auspicious days. I really like the aesthetics of the green and red ink in combination with the black ink! #ChinaBooks #Sinology #Astrology

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Markus Samuel Haselbeck 趙澤煊 @ciaota.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

This morning, I revisited the relationship between 秋 and 龜 and found that the #甲骨文 does not actually depict a turtle but, as 郭沫若 identifies it, a cricket. Their omnipresent sound (jiujiu 啾啾) in autumn connects them to 秋. Later, 禾 created the link to harvest. #Sinology

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Markus Samuel Haselbeck 趙澤煊 @ciaota.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

With the Japanese Emperor and the King of Belgium visiting the KU Leuven library today, all employees must work from home. On a day with 36 degrees, there are worse things to do than write an introductory article about the Mullie collection on my balcony! #ChinaBooks #Monarchy

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Markus Samuel Haselbeck 趙澤煊 @ciaota.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Found some nice variant characters #異體字 I hadn’t come across before. While the 春 appears quite often in colophones, both the 秋 and 中 alternatives are super interesting! Anyone knows why they added the 龜 to 秋? (These read 晏子春秋 and 文中子) #Chinese #Sinology

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Markus Samuel Haselbeck 趙澤煊 @ciaota.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Had an interesting discussion on the concept of da yitong within Chinese Philosophy over on the other platform with someone arguing it was all about waging war and conquering surrounding states to expand China. Here are my two cents on the topic: (1/8) #ChinesePhilosophy #Sinology

DaddyFatSack wrote:
yeah he has it down right when he said that the "Da Yitong" or "Great Unification" in Imperial China is synonymous with war

Every synasty's unification is in reality an expansion of the core (center of power for wach (sic.) dynasty) and achieves 'peace' by conquering their neighbors

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Markus Samuel Haselbeck 趙澤煊 @ciaota.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Just came across this illustration of an imaginary meeting among the authors of the Four Books 四書 in a 1907 print of the 四書集註. Interestingly, it features Confucius 孔子, Zisi 子思, Yanzi 顏子, and Mengzi 孟子... So Zengzi was replaced by Yan Yuan 顏淵. #ChinaBooks #Sinology #ChinesePhilosophy

Four masters standing and sitting around a scroll that says 監本四書.

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Reposted by Markus Samuel Haselbeck 趙澤煊

Daoxue Academy 道學學堂 @daoxue-academy.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

An introductory essay for Four Books readers: “On the Structure of the Text.” How the ancient verses and medieval commentaries are laid out to form an orderly page architecture, and how our replica reproduces this in English. fourbooks.org/on-structure

fourbooks.org

On the Structure of the Text

Published in 1190, the Four Books with Collected Commentaries quickly became a classic text across East Asia. To the Western reader, however, the commentarial style of this classic may be unfamiliar.

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Markus Samuel Haselbeck 趙澤煊 @ciaota.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

Had the chance to work on some Tibetan #manuscripts and books at KU Leuven Special Collections this week. Some even survived since the early 1600s! All these beautiful illustrations of Buddhist deities truly made the work worth it! #ChinaBooks #Sinology #Tibetology

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Markus Samuel Haselbeck 趙澤煊 @ciaota.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

I finally came across one of these stamps in a book from the Republic of China as well. Although I have cataloged many Republican works, this is a first, as far as I remember. But it seems this practice was quite widespread in early 19th-century East Asia. #ChinaBooks #Sinology

Imprint page with the stamp, book dates to 1921

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Markus Samuel Haselbeck 趙澤煊 @ciaota.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

Today, I came across this work on #ChineseArchitecture. Dating to the Republican period, the 中國建築學講義 contains beautiful illustrations of traditional temples, bridges & palaces. For #MarginaliaMonday check especially all the little sketches and notes! #ChinaBooks #Sinology

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Markus Samuel Haselbeck 趙澤煊 @ciaota.bsky.social · 14/06/2026

The second day of the China AG / China Work Group #conference opening was marked by a move to #ChineseEconomics and labor politics. We have thus moved on to contemporary China with this morning's six presentations. #Sinology #ChinaStudies

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Markus Samuel Haselbeck 趙澤煊 @ciaota.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

I’m very happy to join the China AG/China Work Group #conference once again this year. With roughly 20 scholars from Germany, France, Austria, Switzerland, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, and Belgium, this is already shaping up to be a great three days! #Sinology #China

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Markus Samuel Haselbeck 趙澤煊 @ciaota.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

I came across books by 郭沫若 on bronze inscriptions, printed in 1930s Japan. Though I often see publishers’ seals on books’ imprint pages, I’ve not come across publishers’ postal stamps before! Do you know whether this is a common practice and how it came about? #ChinaBooks #Japan

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Markus Samuel Haselbeck 趙澤煊 @ciaota.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

Jozef Mullie formerly owned the collection I am working on. The first volume was published in 1930, shortly before he was named a professor of Chinese, phonetics, and missiology at Leuven. With two more volumes in 1931 & 1933, this became his magnum opus. #Sinology (1/3)

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Markus Samuel Haselbeck 趙澤煊 @ciaota.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

For today’s #MarginaliaMonday I want to take a look at this 清文啟蒙, a popular textbook among Qing scholars for studying Manchu. While the book contains Manchu text with Chinese translation, our annotator added mainly phonetic notes in red ink. #ChinaBooks #Sinology

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Markus Samuel Haselbeck 趙澤煊 @ciaota.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

On my quest to decipher the seal stamps in the books I work with, I’ve started studying seal script by copying the 說文解字 and have returned to Oracle Bone Script 甲骨文. A few days ago, I came across 丁輔之’s 商卜文集聯, which made studying 甲骨文 really fun! (1/5) #ChinaBooks

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Markus Samuel Haselbeck 趙澤煊 @ciaota.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

This noon, I attended @yunxie.bsky.social’s lecture on the materiality of printed Chinese script in 19th-century Netherlands. The talk addressed challenges, networks, reasons, and innovations related to printing Chinese in Europe. Thanks for this new angle on printing culture! #ChinaBooks #Sinology

Print from 1893 combining Latin and Chinese script (printed in Hong Kong)

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Markus Samuel Haselbeck 趙澤煊 @ciaota.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

Joined Christopher Mittelstaedt's lecture on the rhizomatic logic of Xi Jinping’s thought today—a thoughtful framing of Xi’s fragmentary ideas as becoming coherent politics only through a participatory process. Resonates with Lee Ting-mien’s idea of Xi’s Calls for Papers. #ChinesePolitics #Sinology

Title and abstract of his recent article on the topic

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Markus Samuel Haselbeck 趙澤煊 @ciaota.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

Here is a brief update of my work on Jozef Mullie‘s collection of rare Chinese books. I have created metadata for over 250 titles from the 1600s to the early RoC, totaling ca. 3,000 volumes. There are still many books to add, so keep your eyes open for more! #ChinaBooks #Sinology

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Markus Samuel Haselbeck 趙澤煊 @ciaota.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

As I always enjoy depictions of waves in Chinese prints, I want to share two more water-themed works from the 龍圖公案. The water appears quite stormy and dangerous in this print. (1/2) #ChinaBooks #Sinology

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Markus Samuel Haselbeck 趙澤煊 @ciaota.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

Today, I’d like to share some pictures of our 龍圖公案 copy. While the preface contains a few nice 異體字, I especially enjoy the pictures’ angular style: The rough woodblock print makes faces and objects look almost Picasso-esque here! #ChinaBooks #Sinology #ChinaArt

Title page and beginning of the 繡像龍圖公案‘s preface

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Markus Samuel Haselbeck 趙澤煊 @ciaota.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

Came across this advertisement for a Chinese typewriter - reminded me of @tsmullaney.bsky.social ‘s book! I also like that it is advertised as a ”new tool of the new era“ (新時代的新工具). Has a nice ring to it! #Sinology #ChineseHistory

Advertisement for a Chinese typewriter. The headline reads 新式華文打字機

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Markus Samuel Haselbeck 趙澤煊 @ciaota.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

Let me share some pages from the 傳家寶書 that depict seals. I love the variety of scripts, shapes, sizes, and character placements used here. The one that looks like a jug of alcohol is definitely my favorite! Which one do you like the most? #ChinaBooks #Sinology

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Markus Samuel Haselbeck 趙澤煊 @ciaota.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

I was finally able to pick up my PhD diploma for my doctorate in #ChineseStudies this week. Now onto new shores—or at least the search for new shores around the globe! #ChinesePhilosophy

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Markus Samuel Haselbeck 趙澤煊 @ciaota.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

The popular scientific encyclopedia 傳家寶書 (or 傳家寶全集), written by 石成金, contains many beautiful illustrations! In addition to depictions of seal stamps and scholarly objects, I especially like the pictures that accompany these poems. #ChinaBooks #Sinology #ChinesePoetry

Man enjoying the autumn breeze in his pavilion

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Markus Samuel Haselbeck 趙澤煊 @ciaota.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

Returning to a discussion from last year for #MarginaliaMonday: This 1920s copy of the 蕙風詞話 features added marks for emphasis as 。and punctuation as 8 in red and yellow ink. First time I see yellow ink—do you know if it was common in the early Republic? #ChinaBooks #Sinology #RepublicanChina

Pages featuring yellow and red punctuation and yellow writing in the head margins

Pages featuring yellow and red punctuation

Pages featuring yellow and red punctuation and red writing in the head margins

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Markus Samuel Haselbeck 趙澤煊 @ciaota.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

I really like this advertisement for 廣益書局 at the back of the 元亨療馬集, which lists the types of books they publish and where their offices are situated. Using writing utensils as a backdrop frames this dry information quite playfully! #ChinaBooks #Sinology

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Markus Samuel Haselbeck 趙澤煊 @ciaota.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

Our 清文鑑 has previously been partially restored—likely in the late 1800s. After the volumes were damaged by bugs, the restorer added a layer of paper under the holes and sometimes even rewrote (parts of) the missing text by hand. #ChinaBooks #Sinology #BookRestoration

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Markus Samuel Haselbeck 趙澤煊 @ciaota.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

After the 三合便覽, here is the 清文鑑, a Manchu-Chinese dictionary. Beyond translating the words into the other language and giving a definition, phonetic transliterations are given next to the text. In some volumes, our copy also includes punctuation in red ink. #ChinaBooks

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Markus Samuel Haselbeck 趙澤煊 @ciaota.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

Fun read for all sinologists and those interested in China!

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Markus Samuel Haselbeck 趙澤煊 @ciaota.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

Check out our 1792 copy of the Manchu-Mongolian-Chinese dictionary 三合便覽: Handwritten annotations in all three languages, in red & black ink, and punctuation added across all 12 volumes—Always inspiring to trace someone’s study of a full dictionary. #MarginaliaMonday #Sinology

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Markus Samuel Haselbeck 趙澤煊 @ciaota.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

Surprising elements in our 庸菴遺集: the print includes handwritten corrections; each text bears its own stamped seal—10 different seals!; and somehow the author’s death certificate is signed and hand-translated in the book… might be the author’s copy? #ChinaBooks #Sinology

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Markus Samuel Haselbeck 趙澤煊 @ciaota.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

I enjoy publishers’ ad designs in #RepublicanChina books, at the front/end of volumes or the casing. But this ad in the mid of a prefatory volume (首卷) is a first—a 1925 掃葉山房 print of 紅樓夢. And they must love dictionaries judging from all the hearts! #ChinaBooks #Sinology

Full-page ad for various classical dictionaries

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Markus Samuel Haselbeck 趙澤煊 @ciaota.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

Found this beautiful 1738 print of the Daodejing 道德經 in our collection. Its journey can only be traced in part from China, through the hands of CICM missionaries (check out the stamps), to KU Leuven. But we all know: 道可道非常道. #ChinaBooks #Daoism #Sinology

First chapter, including the famous line: 道可道非常道.

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Markus Samuel Haselbeck 趙澤煊 @ciaota.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

Once again adding to my collection of drawings of water on Chinese #maps: I came across a 1703 copy of the 禹貢圖 this week, which depicts quite the stormy sea to the East of China. Must have been quite the trip crossing the sea back then! #ChinaBooks #Sinology

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Markus Samuel Haselbeck 趙澤煊 @ciaota.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

Check out this 釋名疏證 compiled by the Qing-scholar Bi Yuan 畢沅. This 1789 edition of the glossary dictionary 釋名 is almost fully written in seal script. Looks like a fun task for learners of seal script like me! #ChinaBooks #Philology #Sinology

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Markus Samuel Haselbeck 趙澤煊 @ciaota.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

Oh wow, this is awesome news! This means we will get some Song-Ming Confucianism soon. Justin Tiwald is just the right person for the podcast. Super excited for this!

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Markus Samuel Haselbeck 趙澤煊 @ciaota.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

For this week’s #MarginaliaMonday, check out this Wuche yunrui 五車韻瑞, printed with a woodblock from the Wanli #萬曆 reign (1573-1620): red and black annotations in the head margins, red punctuation marks, and more annotations at the bottom and in empty columns. #ChinaBooks

Page with marginalia on the top, bottom, and in empty columns. Also some added punctuation marks.

Page with annotations in the head margins and added punctuation.

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Markus Samuel Haselbeck 趙澤煊 @ciaota.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

Going through the #linguistics books in the Mullie collection, I’ve come across this assembly of early animal depiction in a work on bronze inscriptions by Ruan Yuan 阮元. I especially liked the elephant 象 that honestly looks more like a shrimp! #Sinology #EarlyChina

List of various animal depictions with tails and beaks.

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Markus Samuel Haselbeck 趙澤煊 @ciaota.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

This #MarginaliaMonday, let‘s look at this 1863 copy of the 皇朝中外壹統輿圖, a collection of detailed #maps of China and beyond. A previous owner added annotations, amended map, adding mountains, lakes, and borders, and even restored parts of the maps by hand. A true marvel! #Sinology #ChinaBooks

Page with marginalia in the head margins

Some more notes in the head margins, this time in red ink

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Markus Samuel Haselbeck 趙澤煊 @ciaota.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

To all the Sinologists: I keep finding little dedications on the first volumes of books at the bottom within the stitching of the spine (both front/back). Is there a specific term for this? As far as I can decipher them, the two examples here read: 至子祀 and 開端丰端 #ChinaBooks

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Markus Samuel Haselbeck 趙澤煊 @ciaota.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

I feel that most people underappreciate Local Gazetteers #地方志 for their artistic value. They often contain lots of beautifully drawn pictures and maps of natural and populated areas in the region. Check out some of these pictures from the 熱河志!

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Markus Samuel Haselbeck 趙澤煊 @ciaota.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

For this week‘s #MarginaliaMonday, I have a copy of the 元朝祕史 in store: The text is written in Chinese characters phonetically representing #Mongolian. The annotator seemingly tried to represent it in Mongolian, Western transcriptions, and other Chinese characters. #ChinaBooks #Sinology

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Markus Samuel Haselbeck 趙澤煊 @ciaota.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

Ever seen a hand-copied Chinese #map? I came across a #manuscript copy of the 欽定盛京通志 in our collection this week. If you look closely, you can spot subtle differences from the print edition of this map of Mukden (modern-day Shenyang 沈陽)! #ChinaBooks #Sinology

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Markus Samuel Haselbeck 趙澤煊 @ciaota.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

Found a beautiful Shanhai jing #山海經 in our collection today. While the #illustrations in our 繪圖廣注-edition are reminiscent of Jiang Yinggao’s 蔣應鎬, they have something far more ornamental to them and at times feel almost comical. Really enjoyable read! #ChinaBooks

Depiction of various creatures from the 山海經

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