CONTENTS

A r t i c l e s

PAWLIKOVÁ-VILHANOVÁ,Viera: Christianity, Islam and the African World. Edward Wilmot Blyden (1832-1912) and Contemporary Missionary Thought, p. 117
SORBY, Karol: The Great Power and the Road Leading to the Suez Crisis, p. 129
MAGDOLEN, Dušan: Two Fragments of an Ancient Egyptian Statue in the City Museum Bratislava, p.147
ANTOSHCHENKO, Vladimir: The Trinh Ruling Family in Vietnam in the 16th-18th Centuries, p.161
BENICKÁ, JANA: Concepts of "Levels" of Discernments of Reality in Different Schools of Chinese Mahay ana Buddhism, p. 169
GÁLIK, Marian: Deviant Love and Violence in Modern Chinese Decadent Drama, p. 185
KADLECOVÁ, Zuzana: The Female Body in the poetry of Tang Dynasty Courtesans, p. 205
KRUPA, Viktor: Semantic Articulation of Reality in Diachrony, p. 220

ABSTRACTS

CHRISTIANITY, ISLAM AND THE AFRICAN WORLD. EDWARD WILMOT BLYDEN (1832-1912) AND CONTEMPORARY MISSIONARY THOUGHT

Viera PAWLIKOVÁ-VILHANOVÁ
Institute of Oriental and African Studies, Slovak Academy of Sciences,
Klemensova 19, 813 64 Bratislava, Slovakia

In many parts of the African continent the religion of the Crescent preceded the religion of the Cross and the struggle between Islam and Christianity became a prominent feature of nineteenth century missionary thought. The publication of E.W. Blyden's famous work Christianity. Islam and the Negro Race in 1887 created an uproar in missionary circles and the wider public and Blyden's Islamic preferences and the question of the suitability of Islam or Christianity for Africans were very much commented and discussed.

THE GREAT POWERS AND THE ROAD LEADING TO THE SUEZ CRISIS

Karol SORBY
Institute of Oriental and African Studies, Slovak Academy of Sciences,
Klemensova 19, 813 64 Bratislava, Slovakia

The Aswan High Dam, one of several projects which had been put forward as a remedy for Egypt's pressing economic problems, was intended to to provide for the needs of the rapidly growing population of the narrow Nile valley, in which there was no new land to be taken into cultivation. By generating electricity, the dam would make possible an industrialization by means of which at least some of the surplus population could get a living. The dam would be costly but the World Bank backed by the US and Britain agreed to finance the project. Then came the abrupt withdrawal of the Western financial assistance by Secretary Dulles. The crisis itself did not suddenly arise when the Egyptian President nationalized the Suez Canal Company on 26 July 1956. It was the product of decades of tension between Britain and Egypt and, in a wider sense, of London's desperate struggle to maintain its Middle Eastern position.

TWO FRAGMENTS OF AN ANCIENT EGYPTIAN STATUE IN THE CITY MUSEUM BRATISLAVA

Dušan MAGDOLEN
Institute of Asian and African Studies, Slovak Academy of Sciences,
Klemensova 19, 813 64 Bratislava, Slovakia

A discovery of two unknown stone fragments of a statue was announced by Dr. Veronika Plachá, of the City Museum Bratislava (CMS), in the summer of 1999. These fragments were found in a magazine of the CMB at Castle Devin in Bratislava and were studied by Jozef Hudec of the Institute of Oriental and African Studies in Bratislava. The preliminary results of his study were presented at the Eighth International Congress of Egyptologists in Cairo. In this article I would like to discuss some of the conclusions presented in his latest paper on the fragments.

THE TRINH RULING FAMILY IN VIETNAM IN THE 16TH - 18TH CENTURIES

Vladimir ANTOSHCHENKO
Centre for Vietnamese Studies, Institute of Asia and Africa,
Moscow University, Russia

The Trinh clan from a community of Soc Son (modern name - Vinh Hung), district Vinh Phuc (the province Thanh Hoa) occupies an especially important place in the history of the Vietnamese state and society of Le Mat period (1533-1789). Representatives of this family, glorified from the times of Lam Son revolt (1417-1427), played a major role in the management of the "[Emperors] Le Restoration" movement (Le Trung Hung) in 16th century and reached an exclusive place in Dang Ngoai's socio-political system after the Emperor (vua) Le returned to the capital of Thang Long. This paper is devoted to the analysis of a historical role of the Trinh ruling clan.

CONCEPTS OF 'LEVELS' OF DISCERNMENT OF REALITY IN DIFFERENT SCHOOLS OF CHINESE MAHAYANA BUDDHISM

Jana BENICKÁ
Department of the Languages and Cultures of the Countries of East Asia, Faculty of Philosophy, Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia

The aim of this article is to briefly examine the main philosophical implications of the notion of different 'levels' or 'stages' of discernment of the true nature of the world by some schools of Chinese Buddhism. The postulations of the 'levels' and their explications by the representatives of the Chinese form of Indian Yogacara- the Faxiang School, the Huayan School and Chan Buddhism will be analysed.

DEVIANT LOVE AND VIOLENCE IN MODERN CHINESE DECADENT DRAMA

Marián GÁLIK
Institute of Oriental and African Studies, Slovak Academy of Sciences,
Klemensova 19, 813 64 Bratislava, Slovakia

The aim of this study is to analyse and appreciate five Chinese decadent plays of the 1920s and 1930s concerned with deviant love and violence, to show the old Chinese attitude to these topoi, the relationships with the traditional Chinese and Indian literatures, as well as with the modern European Decadence of Oscar Wilde and Gabriele D'Annunzio.

THE FEMALE BODY IN THE POETRY OF TANG DYNASTY COURTESANS

Zuzana KADLECOVÁ
Institute of Oriental and African Studies, Slovak Academy of Sciences,
Klemensova 19, 813 64 Bratislava, Slovakia

The aim of this article is to use the poetry written by Tang dynasty courtesans as an example to show the different aesthetic approach to body and soul in medieval Chinese culture as well as to point out the special characteristics of the poetry written by these women.

SEMANTIC ARTICULATION OF REALITY IN DIACHRONY

Viktor KRUPA
Institute of Oriental and African Studies, Slovak Academy of Science,
Klemensova 19, 813 64 Bratislava, Slovakia

While a language is alive as the means of communication of a community, the process of the articulation of the surrounding world takes place without cessation, not only because any a relies on the trial-and-error method requiring occasional deductive adjustment, but also because the reality itself is changing just as the needs of the community itself. While the lexical mapping environment undergoes expansion as well as diversification and the new lexemes are usually from the available substance, a comparison of two different synchronous sections may be expected to prove the existence of some shifts after some time. Evidence of this kind is finished by the appearance of the terminology of internal organs and of expressions referring to mind and emotions in various languages. Semantic articulation is a property of both lexical and grammatical categories. Grammar and especially morphology is a very conservative stratum of language structure and we find within it traces of more archaic motivation as well as evidence of subsequent reinterpretations and interference of diverse categories.