Ledderose, Lothar

Introduction

Ledderose, Lothar, (2000) "Introduction" from Ledderose, Lothar, Ten thousand things : module and
mass production in Chinese art pp.1-8,215, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press

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Notes

The two quotations that begin [his book (page i), which
together serve as its underlying motto, arc from,
respectively Shao Yong, Guanwu waipian (Outer chapter

2. Slcll'/~Jr Ihe XLlclI1mi Pagoda of Dharma Master Data

(Dala/ashi Xlianmiia b~il of A.ll. 841, now in the

forest or Stele in Xian (Xian beilin) See Liu Boqing,

on observation of things), in Hlwngji jingshi, 31166; and

Zhou Dunyi, Tai)i tushuo (Diagram of the supreme
ultimate explained), in Zhou Dunyi and Zhang Zai,

LiLl ti, 5-6.

3. For a detailed discussion of the "Eight Laws in the

Character yong" (vongZi buiel), sec fUJiwara, Sho/u, solnt
S/W/LL vol. 2, :)-4il.
4. The thirteenth-century theorist Chen Si quotes the

eighth-century writer Li Yangbing telling the story

Reference in Driscoll and Toda, Chinese Calligraphv,

36-38.

5. for the engrawd sutra stones at [he Yunlusi, see

Ledderose, "Ein Programm."

6. for visual perception as an information-processing

problem, sec Marr, Vision.

7. for types and styles in calligraphy, sec Ledderose,

l.,li Fu, 7-9.

8. Boltz, Origin. An intriguing find arc ele\'Cn characters

incised on a ceramic shard, believed by some [0
belong to the Longshan culture (ca 2000 ll.C.)
Shandong daxue, "Shandong Zouping."
9. Sun Haibo, ed,]iu,~Llwcn bian 1965, the standard

dictionary of script on oracle bones, contains 4,672

characters, 2,949 of which are not deciphered or

Z/wu Zhang 4uanshll, vol. 1,47.

Introduction
The comprehensive dictionary Zhongwcn da cidian

contains 49,90') characters.

2
Shaughnessy, "1 ching," 216.

3. for Leihnizs 0646-17]6) fascination with the YUing,

sec l\lungellll, Curious' Land, especially 318-28.
4. for this cave at YunJusi (Cloud Dwelling Monastery),
see Tsukamoto, "Hazan Ungo-.li"
5. Julien and Champion, Industries, 453.
6. "Tous ces peuplcs etaient autrefois bien supcrieUl's a
nos peuplcs occidentaux dans tous les arts de l'esprit
et de la main. Mais que nous anll1S regagnc Ie temps
. font devenues les
perdu ' Les pays loccidentaux1
premiers pays de la [erre. 'Voltaire, Elsai, vol. 18 (Du
}apon), 283 r
7. furd, "Mass Production." I would like to thank

Professor Robert Bagley for this refen:nce.

8. for the principle of modularity in animals and

humans, sec Gould, Eight Littk Piggies, 254-60.
fodor, Modldarity, 37,47, and 128, entertains the
possibility of informational encapsulation in cognitive
modular input systems, but supposes that central
cognitive processes arc non modular.
9. In his essay "The \Vork of Art in the Age of Mechanical
Reproduction," first puhlished in 1936.
10. E.g" Belting, Lillcncss and Presence. for a specific
critique of Benjamin, see Bredekamp, "Ocr simulicrle
Bcnpmin."
11. Bryson, Vision and Painting, 1, takes the competition
bet\veen Zeuxis and Parrhasius as his starting point in
analyzing mimesis as a core issuc in Western art.

Chapter 1

The System of Script

I. This topic was first presented in Ledderose, "Modul

und Serie." and in Ledderose, "Zimu yu daliang Sheng
chan" The term ten thousand things (wanwu) refers to
categories of things rather than to single items. See the
translations in Rollikc, "Sclbll-Erweisung," passim.

classified Sec Keightlcy, Sources, 59n.8.

10. Based on the breakdown of a sample of I ,226 graphs

into the six traditional categories of character
composition (lwshu) made by Li Xiaoding in 1968.
11

Quoted by Keightley, Sourccs, 68n.49.

for a transcription of the text into modern graphs see

Keightlcy, SOllrCe.l, fig. 12.

12. Zhang Guangyu'1n has argued that the oracle bone
script is a kind of simplified script type, and that the
difference between it and the bronze script is one of
function, not of chronology. See Zhang Guangyuan,
"Shang Zhou Jinwcn."
13. Beginning phase of the Middle Western Zhou dynasty,
ca. il75-il25 B l for the date, sec Rawson, Western

Zhml Rilual Bronzes, 19. Translations of the inscription

in Shaughnessy, Sources, 3-4, and \Vu, Monumentality,
93-94. More references to the inscription, ibid.,
300n.86.
14. For a German translation and discussion of the Yishal1
bei inscription, see Eckhard Schneider, "Schrift," in
Ledderose and Schlombs, cds.,]cmcits clcr Grof~CI1
Maw'l; 243-48.
15. Bodde, "The State and Empire of Ch'in," 56-58.

16. Huangtil1?, ling, Waijin?,}il1g (Book of the yellow court,

book of the outer view), wrillen in A.D. 356. Sec
Ledderose, Mi Fu, 70 f.

215