At last here is the long-awaited, first Western-language reference guide focusing exclusively on Chinese literature from ca. 700 B.C.E. to the early seventh century C.E. Alphabetically organized, it contains no less than 1095 entries on major and minor writers, literary forms and "schools," and important Chinese literary terms. In addition to providing authoritative information about each subject, the compilers have taken meticulous care to include detailed, up-to-date bibliographies and source information. The reader will find it a treasure-trove of historical accounts, especially when browsing through the biographies of authors. Indispensable for scholars and students of pre-modern Chinese literature, history, and thought. Part Two contains S to Xi.
This is the first book in any language to inquire into the emergence of childhood as a topic of significant cultural attention in Han times, as expressed in the intellectual discourse surrounding early Chinese cosmology, medicine, law, statecraft, and dynastic history.
Gu's original perspective on legal history challenges established theories of law based on political science, sociology, and philosophy. She argues that language at a specific time and place determines how the law works in each culture. As each language accumulates too many meanings and connotations, the law becomes inflated by rulings, interpretations, and codified cases that overlap and contradict one another.
Falling between the great unified empires of the Han and T'ang, the Period of Division (A.D. 220-589) is one of the most overlooked and least understood eras in Chinese history. At the start of the fourth century much of China's traditional heartland fell under the control of ethnic non-Chinese. The remnants of the Chinese court fled to the still somewhat exotic region south of the Yangtze River, where an Eastern Chin dynasty (318-420) was established in virtual exile. The state's ability to command population and other resources had declined sharply from the heights of Han imperial splendor, but it retained considerable influence over most aspects of society, including the economy. This residual state power made possible the rise, through the monopolization of government office, of a new elite class - the literati, or shih-ta-fu. In this groundbreaking history, Charles Holcombe examines the conditions that produced the literati and shaped their activities during the first of the Southern dynasties, with particular attention to the life and thought of the fourth-century monk Chih Tun (314-366). The security of the literati's positions in the state, as well as the cooptation process through which they rose to office, encouraged them to neglect the details of actual administrative service and concentrate instead upon peer recognition through the refinement of social graces and through literary, artistic, and philosophical achievements. While the empire hung poised on the brink of ruin, fourth-century literati engaged in round after round of abstruse discussion concerning the ultimate meaning of existence. Their seemingly impractical dalliances blossomed, however, into an age of intellectual and cultural creativity second only to the Warring States period of the late classical era. The Southern dynasties even witnessed significant commercialization and economic growth. Far from the dark ages that their political disunity might imply, China's Southern dynasties reveal themselves to have been great eras of an unexpected kind. In the Shadow of the Han explores some of the implications of this distinctive Southern dynasty culture.
Chinese in the twentieth century, intent on modernizing their country, condemned their inherited culture in part on the grounds that it was oppressive to the young. The authors of this pioneering volume provide us with the evidence to re-examine those charges. Drawing on sources ranging from art to medical treatises, fiction, and funerary writings, they separate out the many complexities in the Chinese cultural construction of childhood and the ways it has changed over time. listening to how Chinese talked about children - whether their own child, the abstract child in need of education or medical care, the ideal precocious child, or the fictional child - lets us assess in concrete terms the structures and values that underlay Chinese life. -- Patricia Buckley Ebrey, University of Illinois
This second volume offers numerous approaches to using Chinese medicine for the prevention and treatment of various diseases in medical practice. It brings the concepts and theories learned in the first volume and applies them in clinical settings with real patient examples. It goes over the four natures and five flavors of herbal drugs, and covers the different techniques of acupuncture. The book considers how the advancements in modern technology have shaped Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), and discusses the revolutionary innovations that are occurring in the Chinese medicine industry today and how they will shape the future.
This innovative new volume offers an in-depth exploration of scale, one of the most crucial elements in the creation and reception of art. Illustrates how scale has compelled audiences to rethink the significance and importance of specific works of art Takes a comparative art historical approach exploring issues of scale in an array of forms, from Islamic architecture to contemporary photography A global consideration of scale, with examples of work from ancient Egypt, eighteenth-century Korea, and contemporary Europe The newest addition to the Art History Special Issue Book Series
Many of the basic characteristics of Imperial China took shape during the Han period (202 BC-AD 220). This book, first published in 1982, is a key contribution to our understanding of China’s cultural history. It explains the conceptual background of many of the artefacts of China’s past, and calls on the written word of the philosopher, poet and historian, and on cultural treasures revealed by archaeologists.
This is the first English-language book on the philosophy of Ji Kang. Moreover, it offers the first systematic treatment of his philosophy, thus filling a significant gap in English-language scholarship on early medieval Chinese literature and philosophy. David Chai brings to light Ji Kang’s Neo-Daoist heritage and explores the themes in his writings that were derived from classical Daoism, most notably the need for humanity to return to a more harmonious co-existence with Nature to further our own self-understanding. His analysis is unique in that it balances translation and annotation with expositing the creative philosophizing of Neo-Daoism. Chai analyzes the entirety of Ji Kang’s essays, exploring his philosophical reflections on music, aesthetics, ethics, self-cultivation, and fate. Reading Ji Kang/s Essays will be of interest to scholars and students of Chinese philosophy and literature. It offers the first comprehensive philosophical examination of a heretofore neglected figure in Neo-Daoism.
This title was first published in 1977. The name of Shang Yang (c. 390-338 B.C.) is inseparable from his reforms, which laid the foundation for the first Chinese empire and had a deep and lasting influence on Chinese political thought and institutions. A wide-ranging series of carefully prepared translations of books published in China since 1949, each with an extended introduction by a western scholar.
