Rumor in Early Chinese Empires

Rumor in Early Chinese Empires

Author: Zongli Lu

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2021-03-11

Total Pages: 389

ISBN-13: 110847926X

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A major historical study of the formation, spread and impact of rumor in the early Chinese empires.


Rhetoric in Ancient China, Fifth to Third Century B.C.E

Rhetoric in Ancient China, Fifth to Third Century B.C.E

Author: Xing Lu

Publisher: Univ of South Carolina Press

Published: 2022-03-10

Total Pages: 376

ISBN-13: 1643362909

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Xing Lu examines language, art, persuasion, and argumentation in ancient China and offers a detailed and authentic account of ancient Chinese rhetorical theories and practices within the society's philosophical, political, cultural, and linguistic contexts. She focuses on the works of five schools of thought and ten well-known Chinese thinkers from Confucius to Han Feizi to the the Later Mohists. Lu identifies seven key Chinese terms pertaining to speech, language, persuasion, and argumentation as they appeared in these original texts, selecting ming bian as the linchpin for the Chinese conceptual term of rhetorical studies. Lu compares Chinese rhetorical perspectives with those of the ancient Greeks, illustrating that the Greeks and the Chinese shared a view of rhetoric as an ethical enterprise and of speech as a rational and psychological activity. The two traditions differed, however, in their rhetorical education, sense of rationality, perceptions of the role of language, approach to the treatment and study of rhetoric, and expression of emotions. Lu also links ancient Chinese rhetorical perspectives with contemporary Chinese interpersonal and political communication behavior and offers suggestions for a multicultural rhetoric that recognizes both culturally specific and transcultural elements of human communication.


The Early Chinese Empires

The Early Chinese Empires

Author: Mark Edward Lewis

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2010-10-30

Total Pages: 334

ISBN-13: 0674265424

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In 221 BC, the First Emperor of Qin unified the lands that would become the heart of a Chinese empire. Though forged by conquest, this vast domain depended for its political survival on a fundamental reshaping of Chinese culture. With this informative book, we are present at the creation of an ancient imperial order whose major features would endure for two millennia. The Qin and Han constitute the “classical period” of Chinese history—a role played by the Greeks and Romans in the West. Mark Edward Lewis highlights the key challenges faced by the court officials and scholars who set about governing an empire of such scale and diversity of peoples. He traces the drastic measures taken to transcend, without eliminating, these regional differences: the invention of the emperor as the divine embodiment of the state; the establishment of a common script for communication and a state-sponsored canon for the propagation of Confucian ideals; the flourishing of the great families, whose domination of local society rested on wealth, landholding, and elaborate kinship structures; the demilitarization of the interior; and the impact of non-Chinese warrior-nomads in setting the boundaries of an emerging Chinese identity. The first of a six-volume series on the history of imperial China, The Early Chinese Empires illuminates many formative events in China’s long history of imperialism—events whose residual influence can still be discerned today.


The Origin of East Asian Medieval Capital Construction System

The Origin of East Asian Medieval Capital Construction System

Author: Niu Runzhen

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2021-07-06

Total Pages: 405

ISBN-13: 1000381765

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Ye is a historical Chinese city built in 659 BC and burned down to the ground in AD 580. The book investigates the characteristics of the city’s layout and its deep influence on the urban construction in East Asia since the 6th century AD. By studying archaeological findings and historical documents, the author illustrates the historical significance of Ye city, both as capital for six dynasties over 370 years of ancient Chinese history and as a paragon of East Asian capital planning. Ye serves as an exemplary model for famous capitals in later dynasties of imperial China, such as Beijing and Xi’an. Its influence also extends to other East Asian capitals, including Seoul in Korea, Kyoto in Japan, and Hanoi in Vietnam. Comparing the archetypical structure of Ye city and the features of its East Asian descendants, the author encapsulates the lineage of capital city development across medieval East Asia and uncovers a philosophy of construction that rests upon traditional Chinese thinking. The book will be an essential read for scholars and general readers interested in East Asian heritage, urbanology, and architecture, as well as a useful reference for urban planners willing to learn from historical experience.


Witchcraft and the Rise of the First Confucian Empire

Witchcraft and the Rise of the First Confucian Empire

Author: Liang Cai

Publisher: SUNY Press

Published: 2014-02-28

Total Pages: 290

ISBN-13: 143844849X

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Contests long-standing claims that Confucianism came to prominence under China’s Emperor Wu. 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.


The Worlds of Classical Chinese Aesthetics

The Worlds of Classical Chinese Aesthetics

Author: Paul R. Goldin

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2024-03-12

Total Pages: 199

ISBN-13: 1003861334

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This book presents the foundations of classical Chinese aesthetic discourse - roughly from the Bronze Age to the early Middle Ages - with the following animating questions: What is art? Why do we produce it? How do we judge it? The arts that garnered the most theoretical attention during this time period were music, poetry, calligraphy, and painting, and this book considers the reasons why these four were privileged. Whereas modern artists most likely consider themselves musicians or poets or calligraphers or painters or sculptors or architects, the pre-modern authors who produced the literature that established Chinese aesthetics prided themselves on being wenren, “cultured people,” conversant with all forms of art and learning. Other comparisons with Western theories and works of art are presented at due junctures. Key Features Addresses Chinese aesthetic discourse on its own terms Provides comparisons of key concepts and theories with examples from Western sources Includes more coverage of primary sources than any other English-language book on the subject Each chapter opens with a helpful summary, highlighting the chapter’s key themes


Honor and Shame in Early China

Honor and Shame in Early China

Author: Mark Edward Lewis

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2020-12-10

Total Pages: 265

ISBN-13: 1108843697

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


Perduring Protest?

Perduring Protest?

Author: Thomas Crone

Publisher: V&R Unipress

Published: 2023-12-04

Total Pages: 205

ISBN-13: 3847016512

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Early Chinese inscriptions show that already the kings of the Western Zhou period (1045–771 BCE) called upon officials to submit remonstrances. However, it was not until the Warring States period (fifth century BCE to 221 BCE) that remonstrance was explained to mean that monarchical rule would be optimized if officials could object to the monarch's decisions. This book examines the history of remonstrance in China from conceptual, institutional, literary, and comparative perspectives, pointing out parallels to European institutions and the expression of dissent in modern China. Special attention is paid to the historical semantics of remonstrance, the strategies and intentions of remonstrants, and the perspective of the rulers who instrumentalized criticism to pursue their own goals.


Rumor in the Early Chinese Empires

Rumor in the Early Chinese Empires

Author: Zongli Lü

Publisher:

Published: 2020

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 9781108749534

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"The academic study of rumor as a phenomenon began in the early 20th century among psychologists, notably Louis William Stern in Hamburg, who conducted experiments on how the content of information was altered in the process of passing between individuals. However, it became a topic for historical study only as attention shifted towards examining the conduct of "crowds," the "masses," or the emergence of public opinion. The most important studies of rumor thus appeared in France, where the "crowd" had become a central topic in sociology in the late nineteenth century. Here the study of rumors focused on their contents and significance, specifically on how rumors revealed the fears, hopes, resentments, and other passions of the lower strata who did not otherwise figure in the historical record, notably peasants and urban workers"--


Life Along the Silk Road

Life Along the Silk Road

Author: Susan Whitfield

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 1999

Total Pages: 276

ISBN-13: 9780520232143

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The Silk Road was the most traveled trade route for over 1,000 years until it was eclipsed by maritime trade. Whitfield presents composite stories of merchants, soldiers, artists, and princesses who traveled the route, and presents its history through their personal experiences.