This paper explores a specific mode of illustrations to accompany the most popular dramatic publication in late Ming, The Story of the Western Wing. The visual interpretations of the play will be discussed side by side with the commentaries attributed to contemporary eminent literary figures, in order to examine the common change in reading mentality. Analysis of the image–text relationship for each of the pictures in those editions under discussion reveals that they all relate to the script with the caption taken from the text. Unlike the previous illustrated editions in a narrative mode, the pictures represent the fragmented poetic sentences instead of the narrative text of the play. The caption, a fragmented segment of the text, therefore becomes the key element that relates the image to the text. For the illustrator, it was probably more important to find a key line and a matching scene from the visual repertoire than it was to expound the essence of the script. The emerging mode of “poetic pictures” not only emphasized the poetic quality of the text, but also incorporated visual elements learned from traditional brush painting. The sophisticated integration of poetry and painting into the comparatively popular form of prints attested to the publishers' pursuit of artistic prestige, and the shift in illustrations for narratives during this period.

In contrast to the currency issued for use in ancient and early modern Japan, a feature of the currency of that country's medieval period was that the Japanese state did not mint its own coinage but rather imported the entirety of its supply of copper coins from China. An economy based on Chinese coins therefore lasted for 650 years, from the middle of the twelfth century, through the upheavals of the sixteenth century, down to the seventeenth century when the Tokugawa Bakufu once again minted coins. This article outlines the situation of currency and its specific features during this period, paying particular attention to the trend towards the use of credit, in such forms as bills of exchange and promissory notes. In addition, it points out that the medieval Japanese state had absolutely no motivation, either financially or geopolitically, to issue its own currency.

The International Journal of Asian Studies has published four seminal articles by Japanese scholars of the history of Chinese law (2004–2007). In the first part of his review and analysis of the series (see IJAS 4:2, 2007), Jérôme Bourgon dealt in the main with the work of Shigeo Nakamura and Osamu Takamizawa. In the present part he concludes his discussion with an examination of the remaining articles, “The Nature of Social Agreements (yue) in the Legal Order of Ming and Qing China” by Hiroaki Terada and “Litigation Masters and the Litigation System of Ming and Qing China” by Susumu Fuma.

Wakita Haruko. Women in Medieval Japan: Motherhood, Household Management and Sexuality. Translated by Alison Tokita. Clayton, Australia: Monash Asia Institute and Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 2006.

Hsieh Ming-liang. Maoyi taoci yu wenhuashi 貿易陶瓷與文化史 (Trade Ceramics and Cultural History). Taipei: Yunchen Wenhua, 2005. Pp. 399 + 9 colour plates.