Tongdian
The Tongdian (Chinese: 通典; Wade–Giles: T'ung-tien; literally: "Comprehensive Institutions") is a Chinese institutional history and encyclopedia text. It covers a panoply of topics from high antiquity through the year 756, whereas a quarter of the book focuses on the Tang Dynasty. The book was written by Du You from 766 to 801. It contains 200 volumes and about 1.7 million words, and is at times regarded as the most representative contemporary texts of the Tang Dynasty. Du You also incorporated many materials from other sources, including a book written by his nephew, Du Huan, who was taken captive in the famous battle at the Talas River between Tang and the Arabs in 751 and did not return to China until ten years later. It became a model for works by scholar Zheng Qiao and Ma Duanlin centuries later.
Robert G. Hoyland relates that the Tongdian 's first draft was a "history of human institutions from earliest times down to the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang", and was subsequently revised as matters continued to evolve. It incorporates parts of the Zhengdian of Liu Zhi and the Great Tang Ritual Regulations of the Kaiyuan Era compiled by Xiao Song, and others in 732. The Tongdian was never included in the canon of the Twenty-Four Histories. It was however quoted extensively in several books which were, starting with the Old Book of Tang.
Podcasts:
-
by Harris Emmylou
-
by Mark Knopfler
-
by Dr. Steel
-
by Legacy
Donkey Town
by: Harris EmmylouI've been around in Donkey Town
Too long baby too long
Checking out of Donkey Town
So long, so long, so long
Her pretty eyes are pretty still
But Jim's got a kind of a squint Yeah
I dug up my last check from out of the mine
Now I feel like I've done my stint
Jim got an army pension
When he walked from the military court
No body ever mentioned
The medical report
She does little things for me
She likes to get the both of us high. Yeah
She says I'm a tender-hearted man
Prince charming,yeah, sure, I'm the guy
He likes the wrecker's dogs on chains
And the smoke from the company fires
Diesel oil in the trucks and cranes
And the smell of burning tires
But I've been around in Donkey Town
Too long, baby ,too long
Checking out of Donkey Town
So long, so long, so long
There's a purple heart in a silver tin
And a grey .45 in a drawer
Most of the time you can drink with him
But some other time he's just sore
On days when she says she can't think straight
Or she feels like she's getting the jumps
She'll go shoot off her .38
At cans on a Donkey Town dump
It was Friday late and she crossed those legs
She told me flat out she would. Yeah
If I could pull up my trailer pegs
We could get away together for good
I sure wish her the best of luck
She's going to need it thinking of Jim
I don't like to leave her stuck
But she's near as bad as him
But I've been around in Donkey Town
Too long baby too long
Checking out of Donkey Town
So long, so long, so long
Checking out of Donkey Town
So long, so long, so long