A story about a “lost city” found on the China-North Korea border (with all of the consequent political ramifications), reminds me that I haven’t yet pointed to the latest Asian History carnival, up now on Miscellany. Particularly notable is a piece on the likely loss of a traditional Cambodian music form. It is a topic that I’ve pondered often – how societies “lose” technologies: Tasmanian Aboriginals and fishhooks and Ancient Egyptians and mummification are the two most cited examples.
As for the “lost city”, you’ll notice I haven’t named it, because I’m staying neutral on various issues …

The ruins, exposed when a reservoir was drained near the city of Ji’an, are believed to date from the Han Dynasty, which reigned from 202 BC to AD 220. They include a burial area with 2,360 tombs from Korea’s Koguryo kingdom. China and the two Koreas all claim Koguryo as part of their historical legacies because Koguryoruled north-eastern China and the Korean peninsula 2,000 years ago.

This reminds me of the Pyongyang history museum, which claims Koreans invented …well just about every human advance.

That particular beast, of which I’d previously been unaware, was, I learnt this afternoon, one of the highlights of the cabinet of curiosities of Sir Walter Cope, an associate of William Cecil, who built Cope Castle, later Holland House Kensington. (Some taxidermist must really have been taxed to construct that one.)

He also boasted some fine porcelain, which was the subject of an IHR seminar this afternoon, by Susan Bracken (University of Sussex), “Collecting Chyna in Jacobean London”. She argued that while the traditional view is that interest in porcelain only grew with the spread of “hot liquors”, ie. coffee and chocolate, in fact interest started much earlier.

Indeed in Italy in the 16th-century there were widespread if unsuccessful attempts to imitate the imported Chinese product. The Medicis were the most successful, but the hard paste recipe was not understood in west; many believed you could just dig it up. They had a powerful incentive to try to make it – it was thought that it would break on contact with poison, so its use was particularly suited to court life.

The earliest evidence for its presence in Europe is records from Topkapi palace in 1331. It was traded through India, as well as via the silk route, but Hindus would not use it for eating and drinking. An inventory of Henry VIII’s possession has him in possession of four pieces, three of which had gold fittings around them, reflecting their rarity value.

The word porcelain first appears in English in this context in 1530, and in Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure it is referred to without explanation, so must by then have been widely available. There are references in Ben Johnson’s Epicene, or the Silent Woman to “china houses” and a china woman (presumably a seller of such, and there are other reports of women being china merchants – be nice to know more!)

… is now up at Clioweb. I was particularly taken by Dr Virago’s post on Quod She about Margery Kempe (and not just because it gives me a new way of thinking about some of my English Civil War female “prophetesses”).

Elsewhere in the carnival – and do go to check it out – the BBC’s history unit is under fire over headless Romans, and there is a new timeline of dietary advice. I didn’t know that the key date is 1864:

“First known diet book published: “Letter on Corpulence,” calling for low carbs and daily booze, by William Banting, an English casketmaker who became alarmed when he could no longer tie his shoes. 58,000 copies sold.”