Witchcraft And The Rise Of The First Confucian Empire

Author : Liang Cai
Publisher : State University of New York Press
Page : 290 pages
File Size : 45,9 Mb
Release : 2014-01-31
Category : History
ISBN : 9781438448510

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Witchcraft and the Rise of the First Confucian Empire by Liang Cai Pdf

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.

Author : Patrick Gray
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
Page : 223 pages
File Size : 47,6 Mb
Release : 2016
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780199359721

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Varieties of Religious Invention by Patrick Gray Pdf

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.

Author : N. Harry Rothschild,Leslie V. Wallace
Publisher : University of Hawaii Press
Page : 289 pages
File Size : 46,9 Mb
Release : 2018-10-31
Category : History
ISBN : 9780824867829

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Behaving Badly in Early and Medieval China by N. Harry Rothschild,Leslie V. Wallace Pdf

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.

Author : Anonim
Publisher : 聯合電子出版有限公司（代理）
Page : 128 pages
File Size : 49,5 Mb
Release : 2024-07-03
Category : Electronic
ISBN : EAN:9772310929005

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by Anonim Pdf

Author : Robert L. Chard
Publisher : BRILL
Page : 231 pages
File Size : 49,8 Mb
Release : 2021-07-19
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9789004465312

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Creating Confucian Authority by Robert L. Chard Pdf

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 : Zhao Lu
Publisher : SUNY Press
Page : 352 pages
File Size : 42,5 Mb
Release : 2019-06-01
Category : History
ISBN : 9781438474915

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In Pursuit of the Great Peace by Zhao Lu Pdf

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

Author : Wicky W. K. Tse
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 183 pages
File Size : 45,9 Mb
Release : 2018-06-27
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781315532318

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

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.

Author : Mark Edward Lewis
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 265 pages
File Size : 47,7 Mb
Release : 2020-12-10
Category : History
ISBN : 9781108843690

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Honor and Shame in Early China by Mark Edward Lewis Pdf

Lewis sheds new light on the early Chinese empires through an ambitious examination of evolving ideas about honor and shame.

Author : Anonim
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 577 pages
File Size : 53,5 Mb
Release : 2023-03-03
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780190906184

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The Oxford Handbook of Confucianism by Anonim Pdf

"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"--

Author : Xiaoye You
Publisher : SIU Press
Page : 233 pages
File Size : 47,6 Mb
Release : 2023-03-31
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9780809338986

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Genre Networks and Empire by Xiaoye You Pdf

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.

Author : William MacAskill
Publisher : Basic Books
Page : 423 pages
File Size : 55,7 Mb
Release : 2022-08-16
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781541618633

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What We Owe the Future by William MacAskill Pdf

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.

Author : Paul R. Goldin
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 726 pages
File Size : 46,8 Mb
Release : 2018-05-15
Category : History
ISBN : 9781317681915

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Routledge Handbook of Early Chinese History by Paul R. Goldin Pdf

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.

Author : Tony Swain
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 312 pages
File Size : 47,7 Mb
Release : 2017-09-07
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781474242462

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Confucianism in China by Tony Swain Pdf

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/.

Author : Randolph B. Ford
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 391 pages
File Size : 45,9 Mb
Release : 2020-04-23
Category : History
ISBN : 9781108473958

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Rome, China, and the Barbarians by Randolph B. Ford Pdf

An exploration of ethnological thought in Greece, Rome, and China and its articulation during 'barbarian' invasion and conquest.

Author : Victor Cunrui Xiong,Kenneth J. Hammond
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 364 pages
File Size : 45,5 Mb
Release : 2018-09-17
Category : History
ISBN : 9781317538226

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Routledge Handbook of Imperial Chinese History by Victor Cunrui Xiong,Kenneth J. Hammond Pdf

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.