Talk:Portraits of Periodical Offering

The real enyclopedia entry here is Zhigongtu (chih-kung-t'u) in general. A link to the entry on Liang Dynasty is also needed. Some links to further Zhigongtu would break the isolation of this potentially informative entry. Wetman 01:07, 17 Jan 2004 (UTC):

A suggestion:

Liang chih-kung-t'u (梁 職貢圖) (alternative transliterations need to be given).

Zhigongtu (or Chih-kung-t'u) (職貢圖) were official historical documents used in many Chinese dynasties, an expression that roughly translates as duty offering pictorial. Throughout Chinese history, peoples conquered by Chinese were required to send ambassadors to the center of government periodically and bring valuable gifts (kung-pin) to the dynastic ruler.

Drawings and paintings with detailed descriptions were used as far back as the (xxx Dynasty) to record the look of these ambassadors and show the cultural aspects of these ethnic groups. These historical documents became good records of diplomatic relations in each dynasty.

A Zhigongtu of the Liang Dynasty is of special significance because the Liang ruler of whose tribute is recorded (南朝 梁元帝 蕭繹) was a painter himself, and this particular document was royal work.

The original was lost. The surviving document in [an unidentified museum] is a copy made in the Song dynasty. It records [some brief description what the text records, translated].

External link

 * Illustration of Song copy of Liang chih-kung-t'u

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OR
I removed a footnote due to OR. While the note contained some sources to back a few facts mentioned in it, the whole assumption that the Rouran ambassador was depicted in such way because of the actions of the Rouran Khagan is an idea of OP and so the whole thing is pure OR. Fries Montana (talk) 16:25, 8 May 2023 (UTC)