From: Dawsonzhu@aol.com
Date: Tue Apr 22 2003 - 11:46:33 EDT
Lucien wrote:
> The Chinese have a had widespread respect for historic literature since
> early on, and since the Tang dynasty anyway for calligraphy and painting,
> but their history is also not without holes, due somewhat as you say, to
> neglect, but also to intentional destruction. Chinese history of ages
> comparable to the Assyrians and Babylonians is also largely lost, primarily
> to Qin Shihuang's destruction of traditional writings. And as with many
> cultures, it was not uncommon for a new dynasty to destroy the writings of
> the previous one and rewrite their history. As with Assyria and Babylon,
> the history of pre-Qin China is pieced together from the few remaining
> writings and from artifacts that were largely ignored until last century.
>
Yes, I did forget to mention that important point. In fact, they're
still in the habit of doing that. Some of the greatest loses may
even have occurred during the Cultural Revolution (but that is
hard to say for sure).
Yet even with all that loss, China still has quite an astounding wealth
of artifacts. I can easily imagine what would be left of the Great Wall
if something like that was built around the borders of Egypt (for
example). And what about all the artifacts in the Ming tombs? I
begin to realize just how much stuff must have been carted off
in the looting of these civilizations.
by Grace alone we proceed,
Wayne
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