Hi all, thought you might be interested in this.
The last full lunar eclipse to occur until 2014 is on THIS SATURDAY, the 10th of December.
The eclipse will not be fully visible to much of the world, but lucky Yunnan residents get to see the whole thing! (Check out shadowandsubstance.com/20111210ecl/USA12102011a.png for a world map).
Having seen a similar event earlier this year in India, I can recommend making the effort to get out and see it.
The local timings for viewing the event in Kunming, courtesy of NASA at eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/JLEX/JLEX-AS.html, are as follows.
The initial penumbral (partial / 'shadow cast by the edge of the earth's atmosphere') eclipse begins at 19:34.
The partial umbral (actual hard shadow from the earth) eclipse begins at 20:46.
The total eclipse begins at 22:06. As this begins, be on the look out for special colours on the moon. Once it sets in, the moon will apparently be coloured with a reddish or orange hue of unknown nature, due to unpredictable atmospheric conditions at the time. Mid-eclipse will occur almost half an hour later at 22:32. The total eclipse will end at 22:57. The partial eclipse will end at 00:18 and the penumbral eclipse will end at 01:30AM on Sunday, December 11.
It might be worth getting a little out of town to see this. I'm thinking of going to see from the cemetery parking lot on Yu'an Shan, accessible by a small road leading off the main one up to Bamboo Temple. To get there, head directly west from Xuefu Lu / Huangtupo.
If someone has a car I'd appreciate a lift!
Enjoy,
Walter
Kunming's etymological vapor trail
Posted byNote that 柘 can refer specifically to the Chinese mulberry (on which silkworms are grown) or may refer more generally to thistle or thorny shrubs. As the document is written for the Emperor/imperial bureaucracy, the choice of character could be an purposeful implication, ie. 'its a thorny horrid place', or 'we will gain mulberry fields and silk through conquering their territory'.
Note also that the Chinese author of the text specifically accuses Nanzhao of stealing silkmaking technology from the Chinese through capturing large numbers of women and children in a recent invasion of Sichuan, and asserts that all of Nanzhao is now capable of silk production.
Kunming's etymological vapor trail
Posted by@Peter99
Your theory sounds good however my observations differ - in the 9th century Nanzhao-era / Tang Dynasty text about Yunnan I am translating 柘 is used instead of 拓 or 陀 for Tuodong.
The degree of character-shifting observed over time would suggest that the 'real' origin of the sound Tuodong is an earlier, endemic, non-Chinese language. Given the time and historical linguistic makeup of Yunnan to which modern groups and other evidence attest, this was probably related either to a language spoken by the Yelang Kingdom (eg. Miao/Hmongic) or an Yi language.
As I have already found very directly attested Yi words transliterated to Chinese in the same book in the context of Nanzhao's army, weapons and customs, I would suggest this may be the origin.
Unfortunately Yi is a very fragmented language family so it is difficult to infer meaning to ancient phonemes.
en.wikisource.org/wiki/Translation:Manshu
Book Review: Travels through Dali with a leg of ham
Posted byI wonder if there's some kind of historical study about the cured hams ... clearly Xuanwei took the cake as the 'famous place' in modern times, but how far back did that extend? I suspect not all that far. What of the cured hams of Pu'er, Dali, etc.? Is this all stemming from a single tradition (as is likely) or are there distinct approaches? Curing can occur through salt or smoke, what range of techniques are used across Yunnan? Are these limited to or aligned with particular geographies or meats? 'Ganba' beef, for example, tends to be smoked water buffalo meat.
Flare-up in Myanmar violence sends refugees over Chinese border
Posted byIt seems to be an alternative(/old?) name for the Ruili River (瑞丽江).
Flare-up in Myanmar violence sends refugees over Chinese border
Posted byPatrick I believe you must have been referring to the 龙川江 (Longchuan River) which is evidenced online and means 'River of Dragon-Valley' or some such.