The Book of Lord Shang

The Book of Lord Shang

Author: Yang Shang

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2017-03-07

Total Pages: 369

ISBN-13: 023154233X

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Compiled in China in the fourth–third centuries B.C.E., The Book of Lord Shang argues for a new powerful government to penetrate society and turn every man into a diligent tiller and valiant soldier. Creating a "rich state and a strong army" will be the first step toward unification of "All-under-Heaven." These ideas served the state of Qin that eventually created the first imperial polity on Chinese soil. In this new translation, The Book of Lord Shang's intellectual boldness and surprisingly modern-looking ideas shine through, underscoring the text's vibrant contribution to global political thought. The Book of Lord Shang is attributed to the political theorist Shang Yang and his followers. It epitomizes the ideology of China's so-called Legalist School of thought. In the ninety years since the work's previous translation, major breakthroughs in studies of the book's dating and context have recast our understanding of its messages. This edition applies these advances to a whole new reading of the text's content and function in the sociopolitical life of its times and subsequent centuries. This fully annotated translation is ideal for newcomers to the book while also guiding early Chinese scholars and comparatists in placing the work within a timeline of influence. It highlights the text's practical success and its impact on the political thought and political practice in traditional and modern China.


The Book of Lord Shang

The Book of Lord Shang

Author: Yang Shang

Publisher:

Published: 1928

Total Pages: 372

ISBN-13:

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"This book gives a complete translation of the work known in Chinese as Shang-chun-shu".


The Most Venerable Book (Shang Shu)

The Most Venerable Book (Shang Shu)

Author: Confucius

Publisher: Penguin UK

Published: 2014-07-31

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 0141970405

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A wonderfully enjoyable storehouse of ancient Chinese history and legends, which also has an important role in understanding 21st-century China 'And remember: Heaven's blessing will cease forever if there's despair and poverty in your lands' The Most Venerable Book (also known as The Book of History) is one of the Five Classics, a key work of Chinese literature which preserves some of the most ancient and dramatic chronicles of the history, both real and mythological, of the Chinese state. For many centuries it was a central work for anyone wishing to work for the Imperial administration, preserving as it does a fascinating mixture of key Confucian concepts as well as page after page of heroes, benevolent rulers, sagacious ministers, and struggles against flood, corruption and vicious, despotic rulers. The First Emperor tried in 213 BC to have all copies of the book destroyed because of its subversive implication that 'the Mandate of Heaven' could be withdrawn from rulers who failed their people. For similar reasons it was also banned by Chairman Mao. Extraordinarily, the values of The Most Venerable Book have been revived by the Chinese government of the 2010s.


The Everlasting Empire

The Everlasting Empire

Author: Yuri Pines

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2012-05-27

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 0691134952

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Established in 221 BCE, the Chinese empire lasted for 2,132 years before being replaced by the Republic of China in 1912. During its two millennia, the empire endured internal wars, foreign incursions, alien occupations, and devastating rebellions--yet fundamental institutional, sociopolitical, and cultural features of the empire remained intact. The Everlasting Empire traces the roots of the Chinese empire's exceptional longevity and unparalleled political durability, and shows how lessons from the imperial past are relevant for China today. Yuri Pines demonstrates that the empire survived and adjusted to a variety of domestic and external challenges through a peculiar combination of rigid ideological premises and their flexible implementation. The empire's major political actors and neighbors shared its fundamental ideological principles, such as unity under a single monarch--hence, even the empire's strongest domestic and foreign foes adopted the system of imperial rule. Yet details of this rule were constantly negotiated and adjusted. Pines shows how deep tensions between political actors including the emperor, the literati, local elites, and rebellious commoners actually enabled the empire's basic institutional framework to remain critically vital and adaptable to ever-changing sociopolitical circumstances. As contemporary China moves toward a new period of prosperity and power in the twenty-first century, Pines argues that the legacy of the empire may become an increasingly important force in shaping the nation's future trajectory.


History of Chinese Political Thought, Volume 1

History of Chinese Political Thought, Volume 1

Author: Kung-chuan Hsiao

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2015-03-08

Total Pages: 800

ISBN-13: 1400869536

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This volume launches the translation of a work that describes the development of Chinese political thought from the time of Confucius in the late Chou era into the twentieth century. The author systematically treats leading thinkers, schools, and movements, displaying a consummate mastery of traditional Chinese learning, and of Western analytical and comparative methods. This first complete translation includes prefatory remarks by Kung-chuan Hsiao and notes prepared by the translator to assist the Western reader. Originally published in 1979. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.


An Introduction to Hanfei's Political Philosophy

An Introduction to Hanfei's Political Philosophy

Author: Henrique Schneider

Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published: 2018-11-27

Total Pages: 166

ISBN-13: 1527522342

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This is the first book to make the philosophy of Hanfei available at an introductory level. This fascinating thinker not only directly influenced the first Chinese Empire, but also embodied the strongest alternative to Confucianism in Chinese thought. Even today, his thinking influences China. It introduces key concepts and arguments in Hanfei’s legalist philosophy. It also contextualizes this thinking within Chinese history and in a comparative approach. The book will appeal to a wide audience interested in Chinese political philosophy, as well as to historians, social and political scientists.


The Mozi as an Evolving Text

The Mozi as an Evolving Text

Author:

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2013-03-27

Total Pages: 302

ISBN-13: 9004246207

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Mozi (ca. 479-381), known as the first outspoken critic of Confucius, is an important but neglected figure in early Chinese philosophy. The book Mozi, named after master Mo, was compiled in the course of the fifth - third centuries BCE. The seven studies included in the The Mozi as an Evolving Text take a fresh look at the Core Chapters, Dialogues, and Opening Chapters of the book Mozi. Rather than presenting a unified vision of Mohist thought, the contributions search for different voices in the text and for evolutions or tensions between its chapters. By analysing the Mozi as an evolving text, these studies not only contribute to the rejuvenation of Mozi studies, but also to the methodology of studying ancient Chinese texts.


The Path

The Path

Author: Michael Puett

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2016-04-05

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 1476777853

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For the first time, an award-winning Harvard professor shares his wildly popular course on classical Chinese philosophy, showing you how ancient ideas—like the fallacy of the authentic self—can guide you on the path to a good life today. Why is a course on ancient Chinese philosophers one of the most popular at Harvard? Because it challenges all our modern assumptions about what it takes to flourish. Astonishing teachings emerged two thousand years ago through the work of a succession of Chinese scholars exploring how humans can improve themselves and their society. And what are these counterintuitive ideas? Transformation comes not from looking within for a true self, but from creating conditions that produce new possibilities. Good relationships come not from being sincere and authentic, but from the rituals we perform within them. A good life emerges not from planning it out, but through training ourselves to respond well to small moments. Influence comes not from wielding power but from holding back. Excellence comes from what we choose to do, not our natural abilities. In other words, The Path “opens the mind” (Huffington Post) and upends everything we are told about how to lead a good life. Its most radical idea is that there is no path to follow in the first place—just a journey we create anew at every moment by seeing and doing things differently. “With its…spirited, convincing vision, revolutionary new insights can be gleaned from this book on how to approach life’s multifarious situations with both heart and head” (Kirkus Reviews). A note from the publisher: To read relevant passages from the original works of Chinese philosophy, see our ebook Confucius, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi: Selected Passages, available wherever books are sold.