Witchcraft And The Rise Of The First Confucian Empire

Download Witchcraft And The Rise Of The First Confucian Empire full books in PDF, epub, and Kindle. Read online Witchcraft And The Rise Of The First Confucian Empire ebook anywhere anytime directly on your device. Fast Download speed and no annoying ads. We cannot guarantee that every ebooks is available!

Witchcraft and the Rise of the First Confucian Empire

Author : Liang Cai
Publisher : State University of New York Press
ISBN 13 : 1438448511
Total Pages : 290 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (384 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Witchcraft and the Rise of the First Confucian Empire by : Liang Cai

Download or read book Witchcraft and the Rise of the First Confucian Empire written by Liang Cai and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2014-01-31 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Finalist for the 2015 Best First Book in the History of Religions presented by the American Academy of Religion Winner of the 2014 Academic Award for Excellence presented by Chinese Historians in the United States When did Confucianism become the reigning political ideology of imperial China? A pervasive narrative holds it was during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han dynasty (141–87 BCE). In this book, Liang Cai maintains that such a date would have been too early and provides a new account of this transformation. A hidden narrative in Sima Qian's The Grand Scribe's Records (Shi ji) shows that Confucians were a powerless minority in the political realm of this period. Cai argues that the notorious witchcraft scandal of 91–87 BCE reshuffled the power structure of the Western Han bureaucracy and provided Confucians an opportune moment to seize power, evolve into a new elite class, and set the tenor of political discourse for centuries to come.

Varieties of Religious Invention

Author : Patrick Gray
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN 13 : 0199359725
Total Pages : 223 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (993 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Varieties of Religious Invention by : Patrick Gray

Download or read book Varieties of Religious Invention written by Patrick Gray and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2016 with total page 223 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Religious controversies frequently focus on origins, and at the origins of the major religious traditions one typically finds a seminal figure. Names such as Jesus, Muhammad, Confucius, and Moses are well known, yet their status as 'founders' has not gone uncontested. The aim of this book is to consider the subtexts of debates about these 'founders' as an exercise in comparative religion. As the contributors survey the landscape shaped by questions within each tradition, they provide an opportunity to map their contours from a novel perspective.

Behaving Badly in Early and Medieval China

Author : N. Harry Rothschild
Publisher : University of Hawaii Press
ISBN 13 : 0824867823
Total Pages : 289 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (248 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Behaving Badly in Early and Medieval China by : N. Harry Rothschild

Download or read book Behaving Badly in Early and Medieval China written by N. Harry Rothschild and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2018-10-31 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Behaving Badly in Early and Medieval China presents a rogues’ gallery of treacherous regicides, impious monks, cutthroat underlings, ill-bred offspring, and disloyal officials. It plumbs the dark matter of the human condition, placing front and center transgressive individuals and groups traditionally demonized by Confucian annalists and largely shunned by modern scholars. The work endeavors to apprehend the actions and motivations of these men and women, whose conduct deviated from normative social, cultural, and religious expectations. Early chapters examine how core Confucian bonds such as those between parents and children, and ruler and minister, were compromised, even severed. The living did not always reverently pay homage to the dead, children did not honor their parents with due filiality, a decorous distance was not necessarily observed between sons and stepmothers, and subjects often pursued their own interests before those of the ruler or the state. The elasticity of ritual and social norms is explored: Chapters on brazen Eastern Han (25–220) mourners and deviant calligraphers, audacious falconers, volatile Tang (618–907) Buddhist monks, and drunken Song (960–1279) literati reveal social norms treated not as universal truths but as debated questions of taste wherein political and social expedience both determined and highlighted individual roles within larger social structures and defined what was and was not aberrant. A Confucian predilection to “valorize [the] civil and disparage the martial” and Buddhist proscriptions on killing led literati and monks alike to condemn the cruelty and chaos of war. The book scrutinizes cultural attitudes toward military action and warfare, including those surrounding the bloody and capricious world of the Zuozhuan (Chronicle of Zuo), the relentless violence of the Five Dynasties and Ten States periods (907–979), and the exploits of Tang warrior priests—a series of studies that complicates the rhetoric by situating it within the turbulent realities of the times. By the end of this volume, readers will come away with the understanding that behaving badly in early and medieval China was not about morality but perspective, politics, and power.

Creating Confucian Authority

Author : Robert L. Chard
Publisher : BRILL
ISBN 13 : 9004465316
Total Pages : 231 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (44 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Creating Confucian Authority by : Robert L. Chard

Download or read book Creating Confucian Authority written by Robert L. Chard and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2021-07-19 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents extensive primary sources to reveal how Confucians in Early China parlay their knowledge of ritual into political power, from the ancient aristocratic culture of the Spring and Autumn era to the state religion of the Han empire.

Author :
Publisher : 聯合電子出版有限公司（代理）
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (772 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis by :

Download or read book written by and published by 聯合電子出版有限公司（代理）. This book was released on with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

In Pursuit of the Great Peace

Author : Zhao Lu
Publisher : SUNY Press
ISBN 13 : 1438474911
Total Pages : 352 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (384 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis In Pursuit of the Great Peace by : Zhao Lu

Download or read book In Pursuit of the Great Peace written by Zhao Lu and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 2019-06-01 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines the Great Peace (taiping), one of the first utopian visions in Chinese history, and its impact on literati lives in Han China. Through an examination of the Great Peace (taiping), one of the first utopian visions in Chinese history, Zhao Lu describes the transformation of literati culture that occurred during the Han Dynasty. Driven by anxiety over losing the mandate of Heaven, the imperial court encouraged classicism in order to establish the Great Peace and follow Heaven’s will. But instead of treating the literati as puppets of competing and imagined lineages, Zhao uses sociological methods to reconstruct their daily lives and to show how they created their own thought by adopting, modifying, and opposing the work of their contemporaries and predecessors. The literati who served as bureaucrats in the first century BCE gradually became classicists who depended on social networking as they traveled to study the classics. By the second century CE, classicism had dissolved in this traveling culture and the literati began to expand the corpus of knowledge beyond the accepted canon. Thus, far from being static, classicism in Han China was full of innovation, and ultimately gave birth to both literary writing and religious Daoism. “Zhao’s study presents a model of intellectual history. Smartly written, it excels in connecting the analysis of specific texts and concepts with broader trends in the social-political realm. His work helps demythologize Chinese thought and makes it legible to scholars around the world.” — Miranda Brown, University of Michigan

The Collapse of China's Later Han Dynasty, 25-220 CE

Author : Wicky W. K. Tse
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 131553231X
Total Pages : 183 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (155 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Collapse of China's Later Han Dynasty, 25-220 CE by : Wicky W. K. Tse

Download or read book The Collapse of China's Later Han Dynasty, 25-220 CE written by Wicky W. K. Tse and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-06-27 with total page 183 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the Later Han period the region covering the modern provinces of Gansu, southern Ningxia, eastern Qinghai, northern Sichuan, and western Shaanxi, was a porous frontier zone between the Chinese regimes and their Central Asian neighbours, not fully incorporated into the Chinese realm until the first century BCE. Not surprisingly the region had a large concentration of men of martial background, from which a regional culture characterized by warrior spirit and skills prevailed. This military elite was generally honoured by the imperial centre, but during the Later Han period the ascendancy of eastern-based scholar-officials and the consequent increased emphasis on civil values and de-militarization fundamentally transformed the attitude of the imperial state towards the northwestern frontiersmen, leaving them struggling to achieve high political and social status. From the ensuing tensions and resentment followed the capture of the imperial capital by a northwestern military force, the deposing of the emperor and the installation of a new one, which triggered the disintegration of the empire. Based on extensive original research, and combining cultural, military and political history, this book examines fully the forging of military regional identity in the northwest borderlands and the consequences of this for the early Chinese empires.

Honor and Shame in Early China

Author : Mark Edward Lewis
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1108911609
Total Pages : 265 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (89 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Honor and Shame in Early China by : Mark Edward Lewis

Download or read book Honor and Shame in Early China written by Mark Edward Lewis and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2020-12-10 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this major new study, Mark Edward Lewis traces how the changing language of honor and shame helped to articulate and justify transformations in Chinese society between the Warring States and the end of the Han dynasty. Through careful examination of a wide variety of texts, he demonstrates how honor-shame discourse justified the actions of diverse and potentially rival groups. Over centuries, the formally recognized political order came to be intertwined with groups articulating alternative models of honor. These groups both participated in the existing order and, through their own visions of what was truly honourable, paved the way for subsequent political structures. Filling a major lacuna in the study of early China, Lewis presents ways in which the early Chinese empires can be fruitfully considered in comparative context and develops a more systematic understanding of the fundamental role of honor/shame in shaping states and societies.

Genre Networks and Empire

Author : Xiaoye You
Publisher : SIU Press
ISBN 13 : 080933898X
Total Pages : 233 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (93 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Genre Networks and Empire by : Xiaoye You

Download or read book Genre Networks and Empire written by Xiaoye You and published by SIU Press. This book was released on 2023-03-31 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A decolonial reading of Han Dynasty rhetoric reveals the logics and networks that governed early imperial China In Genre Networks and Empire, Xiaoye You integrates a decolonial and transnational approach to construct a rhetorical history of early imperial China. You centers ancient Chinese rhetoric by focusing on how an imperial matrix of power was established in the Han Dynasty through genres of rhetoric and their embodied circulation, and through epistemic constructs such as the Way, heaven, ritual, and yin-yang. Through the concept of genre networks, derived from both ancient Chinese and Western scholarship, You unlocks the mechanisms of early Chinese imperial bureaucracy and maps their far-reaching influence. He considers the communication of governance, political issues, court consultations, and the regulation of the inner quarters of empire. He closely reads debates among government officials, providing insight into their efforts to govern and legitimize the regime and their embodiment of different schools of thought. Genre Networks and Empire embraces a variety of rhetorical forms, from edicts, exam essays, and commentaries to instruction manuals and memorials. It captures a range of literary styles serving the rhetorical purposes of praise and criticism. In the context of court documentation, these genre networks reflect systems of words in motion, mediated governmental decisions and acts, and forms of governmental logic, strategy, and reason. A committed work of decolonial scholarship, Genre Networks and Empire shows, through Chinese words and writing, how the ruling elites of Han China forged a linguistic matrix of power, a book that bears implications for studies of rhetoric and empire in general.

Routledge Handbook of Early Chinese History

Author : Paul R. Goldin
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317681916
Total Pages : 726 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (176 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Routledge Handbook of Early Chinese History by : Paul R. Goldin

Download or read book Routledge Handbook of Early Chinese History written by Paul R. Goldin and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-05-15 with total page 726 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The study of early China has been radically transformed over the past fifty years by archaeological discoveries, including both textual and non-textual artefacts. Excavations of settlements and tombs have demonstrated that most people did not lead their lives in accordance with ritual canons, while previously unknown documents have shown that most received histories were written retrospectively by victors and present a correspondingly anachronistic perspective. This handbook provides an authoritative survey of the major periods of Chinese history from the Neolithic era to the fall of the Latter Han Empire and the end of antiquity (AD 220). It is the first volume to include not only a comprehensive review of political history but also detailed treatments of topics that transcend particular historical periods, such as: Warfare and political thought Cities and agriculture Language and art Medicine and mathematics Providing a detailed analysis of the most up-to-date research by leading scholars in the field of early Chinese history, this book will be useful to students and scholars of Chinese history, Asian archaeology, and Chinese studies in general.

The Oxford Handbook of Confucianism

Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0190906189
Total Pages : 577 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (99 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis The Oxford Handbook of Confucianism by :

Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Confucianism written by and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2023-03-03 with total page 577 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A vast and complex tradition foundational to East Asian civilizations, Confucianism continues to be a cultural force of global significance. The Oxford Handbook of Confucianism is a collection of 38 essays that explore the variety, complexity, and richness of Confucianism over time and across regions. These essays are written to be of value to the educated public while presenting new scholarship and fresh perspectives from leading scholars in Confucian studies. Using a range of critical approaches, the volume is divided into four parts. Confucianism presents unique problems to study and interpretation, and the introductory section offers three essays exploring the history and criticism of East Asian and Western constructions of the tradition. The bulk of the volume's essays are divided into three parts. The first part considers Confucianism's development within the Chinese context, centering on historical moments, key figures, and formative texts. The second part analyzes the development, impact, and reach of Confucianism in Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, and "Boston" Confucianism. The final part offers topical studies of the impact of Confucianism in culture, politics and government, social structures, and ideology, exploring topics as wide-ranging as family, social structure, gender, visual and literary arts, government, ethics, religion, and ritual. Expansive in scope and sophisticated in approach, the Oxford Handbook of Confucianism presents a superb resource for study of this ancient, and still vibrant tradition"--

Routledge Handbook of Imperial Chinese History

Author : Victor Cunrui Xiong
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317538226
Total Pages : 364 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (175 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Routledge Handbook of Imperial Chinese History by : Victor Cunrui Xiong

Download or read book Routledge Handbook of Imperial Chinese History written by Victor Cunrui Xiong and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-09-17 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The resurgence of modern China has generated much interest, not only in the country’s present day activities, but also in its long history. As the only uninterrupted ancient civilization still alive today, the study of China’s past promises to offer invaluable insights into understanding contemporary China. Providing coverage of the entire Imperial Era (221 BCE–1912 CE), this handbook takes a chronological approach. It includes comprehensive analysis of all major periods, from the powerful Han empire which rivalled Rome, and the crucial transformative period of the Five Dynasties, to the prosperous Ming era and the later dominance of the non-Han peoples. With contributions from a team of international authors, key themes include: Political events and leadership Religion and philosophy Cultural and literary achievements Legal, economic, and military institutions This book transcends the traditional boundaries of historiography, giving special attention to the role of archaeology. As such, the Routledge Handbook of Imperial Chinese History is an indispensable reference work for students and scholars of Chinese, Asian, and World History.

What We Owe the Future

Author : William MacAskill
Publisher : Basic Books
ISBN 13 : 1541618637
Total Pages : 423 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (416 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis What We Owe the Future by : William MacAskill

Download or read book What We Owe the Future written by William MacAskill and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2022-08-16 with total page 423 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An Instant New York Times Bestseller “This book will change your sense of how grand the sweep of human history could be, where you fit into it, and how much you could do to change it for the better. It's as simple, and as ambitious, as that.” —Ezra Klein An Oxford philosopher makes the case for “longtermism” — that positively influencing the long-term future is a key moral priority of our time. The fate of the world is in our hands. Humanity’s written history spans only five thousand years. Our yet-unwritten future could last for millions more — or it could end tomorrow. Astonishing numbers of people could lead lives of great happiness or unimaginable suffering, or never live at all, depending on what we choose to do today. In What We Owe The Future, philosopher William MacAskill argues for longtermism, that idea that positively influencing the distant future is a key moral priority of our time. From this perspective, it’s not enough to reverse climate change or avert the next pandemic. We must ensure that civilization would rebound if it collapsed; counter the end of moral progress; and prepare for a planet where the smartest beings are digital, not human. If we make wise choices today, our grandchildren’s grandchildren will thrive, knowing we did everything we could to give them a world full of justice, hope and beauty.

Confucianism in China

Author : Tony Swain
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1474242464
Total Pages : 312 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (742 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Confucianism in China by : Tony Swain

Download or read book Confucianism in China written by Tony Swain and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2017-09-07 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This accessible history of Confucianism, or the 'Way of the Ru', emphasizes the religious dimensions of the tradition. It clearly explains the tradition's unique and subtle philosophical ideals as well as the 'arts of the Ru' whereby seemingly simple acts such as reading, sitting quietly, good manners, and attending to family and state responsibilities, became ways of ultimate transformation. This book explains the origins of the Ru and documents their impact in imperial China, before providing extensive coverage of the modern era. Confucianism in China: An Introduction shows how the long history of the Ru is vital to comprehending China today. As the empire drew to an end, there were impassioned movements both to reinvent and to eradicate Ru tradition. Less than forty years ago, it seemed close to extinction, but today it is undergoing spectacular revival. This introduction is suitable for anyone wishing to understand a tradition that shaped imperial China and which is now increasingly swaying Chinese religious, philosophical, political, and economic developments. The book contains a glossary of key terms and 22 images, and further resources can be found on the book's webpage http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/confucianism-in-china-9781474242462/.

Rome, China, and the Barbarians

Author : Randolph B. Ford
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1108596606
Total Pages : 391 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (85 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Rome, China, and the Barbarians by : Randolph B. Ford

Download or read book Rome, China, and the Barbarians written by Randolph B. Ford and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2020-04-23 with total page 391 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book addresses a largely untouched historical problem: the fourth to fifth centuries AD witnessed remarkably similar patterns of foreign invasion, conquest, and political fragmentation in Rome and China. Yet while the Western Roman Empire was never reestablished, China was reunified at the end of the sixth century. Following a comparative discussion of earlier historiographical and ethnographic traditions in the classical Greco-Roman and Chinese worlds, the book turns to the late antique/early medieval period, when the Western Roman Empire 'fell' and China was reconstituted as a united empire after centuries of foreign conquest and political division. Analyzing the discourse of ethnic identity in the historical texts of this later period, with original translations by the author, the book explores the extent to which notions of Self and Other, of 'barbarian' and 'civilized', help us understand both the transformation of the Roman world as well as the restoration of a unified imperial China.

World History and National Identity in China

Author : Xin Fan
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1108842607
Total Pages : 267 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (88 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis World History and National Identity in China by : Xin Fan

Download or read book World History and National Identity in China written by Xin Fan and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2021-02-25 with total page 267 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Focuses on individual lived experiences to trace the development of world-historical studies in China's long twentieth century.

Mediation of Legitimacy in Early China

Author : Yegor Grebnev
Publisher : Columbia University Press
ISBN 13 : 0231555032
Total Pages : 359 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (315 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Book Synopsis Mediation of Legitimacy in Early China by : Yegor Grebnev

Download or read book Mediation of Legitimacy in Early China written by Yegor Grebnev and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2022-07-12 with total page 359 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scholarship on early China has traditionally focused on a core group of canonical texts. However, understudied sources have the potential to shift perspectives on fundamental aspects of Chinese intellectual, religious, and political history. Yegor Grebnev examines crucial noncanonical texts preserved in the Yi Zhou shu (Neglected Zhou Scriptures) and the Grand Duke traditions, which represent scriptural traditions influential during the Warring States period but sidelined in later history. He develops an innovative framework for the study and interpretation of these texts, focusing on their role in the mediation of royal legitimacy and their formative impact on early Daoism. Grebnev demonstrates the centrality of the Yi Zhou shu in Chinese intellectual history by highlighting its simultaneous connections to canonical traditions and esoteric Daoism. He also shows that the Daoist rituals of textual transmission embedded in the Grand Duke traditions bear an imprint of the courtly environment of the Warring States period, where early Daoists strove for prestige and power, offering legitimacy through texts ascribed to the mythical sage rulers. These rituals appear to have emerged at the same period as the core Daoist philosophical texts and not several centuries later as conventionally believed, which calls for a reassessment of the history of Daoism’s interrelated religious and philosophical strands. Offering a far-reaching reconsideration of early Chinese intellectual and religious history, Mediation of Legitimacy in Early China sheds new light on the foundations of the Chinese textual tradition.