The official history of the Later Han dynasty (AD 25-220) contains eight so-called Treatises, traditionally regarded as accurate descriptions of the dynasty's institutions. Practically all literature dealing with the bureaucratic system, the geography, the religious beliefs or the calendar of the first two centuries AD is based on these Treatises, even though their value as source material has never been critically examined. This study subjects each of the Treatises in turn to a detailed scrutiny. The sources used by the Chinese historian and their adaption to suit his historiographical...

This volume is part of a three-volume work tracing the history of Zoroastrianism. In the set, literary, archaeological and numismatic evidence is drawn on and local developments are explored. Study is made of the Zoroastrian contributions to Hellenistic thought and to Judaism, Christianity and Mithraism. An excursus provides a reassessment of the Zoroastrian pseudepigrapha.

In 1967 a body of Chinese texts was discovered in a tomb outside Shanghai. It contained a set of unique examples of an oral genre favoured by unlearned classes in the late imperial period (15th century), best called 'chantefables', appearing at the beginning of a profound historical shift which resulted in a broadening of the uses of writing and printing in China. These texts are now generally seen to occupy an important place in the development of Chinese literature as a whole, and of Chinese vernacular literature in particular. In the first monographic treatment of all the...

If any subject lends itself to treatment in an edited volume, it is Chinese Religions; It is a recognized fact that the boundaries between the various religions in China, and those between religion and culture in general, have always been fluid. This can only be duly acknowledged by careful research from many angles - and by many experts. It is exactly these mutual influences that form the leading theme in this Festschrift in honour of Kristofer Schipper, taken up by a selection of his many expert pupils and colleagues. The thirteen contributions span over two millennia, ranging from the late...

The 14th century dragon king temple in Southern Shanxi is the only known intact survivor of this ancient Water God institution once existing in every Chinese agricultural community. After describing the history, lay-out and mural paintings of the building, its original Yuan time mural paintings enable the author to depict the ritual of praying for rain, and the actual rain-making of the god. The meaning of the unique painting of a theatrical company is interpreted as to subject and its connections with the ritual of praying for rain. Rainmaking magic is compared with similar practices in...

This volume presents the nearly complete oeuvre of ShenYueh, Hsieh T'iao, and Wang Jung, i.e. the full original texts, Professor Richard Mather's full annotated translations, and brief biographies of these three classical poets, who all had such a profound impact on succeeding centuries. The reader will here find first-hand reactions and ruminations by highly sensitive and articulate participants in the tumultuous events and intellectual currents of an age that was definitely more than just a chaotic transition between the Han and the T'ang dynasties. With index.

In 1961 Robert van Gulik published his pioneering overview of Sexual Life in Ancient China. This edition of the work is preceded by an elaborate introduction by Paul Rakita Goldin assessing the value of Van Gulik's volume, the subject itself, and its author. The introduction is followed by an extensive and up-to-date bibliography on the subject, which guides the modern reader in the literature on the field which appeared after the publication of Van Gulik's volume. One of the criticisms in 1961 regarded the Latin translations of passages deemed too explicit by Van Gulik....

Subject of this book is the social and cultural history of Chinese art collecting during the early years of Mongol rule in China (the Yuan dynasty, 1276-1368). At the core of Weitz's book is a complete translation of the Record of Clouds and Mist Passing Before One's Eyes (Yunyan guoyan lu), an art catalog written by the Song dynasty loyalist Zhou Mi (1232-1298). This text contains detailed records of more than forty private art collections that the author saw in Hangzhou between 1275 and 1296. The careful annotations, scholarly introduction, and well-researched appendices help to...

Xun Zi, one of the principal thinkers of the pre-imperial period and as such still widely read, ought to appear on any reading list on Chinese intellectual history. Dr. Sato's volume deals with the origin and formation of Xun Zi's political thought, with close focus on the intellectual activity of the Jixia Academy and its impact on this synthesizer's theory on rituals and social norms. The author convincingly deals with the problems of textual authenticity and biography. The main part of the work treats the shift of intellectual inquiry from an argument of ethical matters to an analysis of...