China's Literary Cosmopolitans offers a comprehensive introduction to the literary oeuvres of Qian Zhongshu (1910-98) and Yang Jiang (b. 1911). It assesses their novels, essays, stories, poetry, plays, translations, and criticism, and discusses their reception as two of the most important Chinese scholar-writers of the twentieth century. In addition to re-evaluating this married couple's intertwined literary careers, the book also explains why they have come to represent such influential models of Chinese literary cosmopolitanism. Uncommonly well-versed in Western languages and...

The Spring and Autumn Annals of Master Yan is the biography of the most important statesmen and political thinkers of the Eastern Zhou dynasty China: Yan Ying (d. 500 BCE). Living through an exceptionally troubled period, he served three rulers and two dictators of the state of Qi, in Shandong Province. His experiences informed his revolutionary theories concerning the relationship between the individual and the state. Long considered to be a forgery, recent archaeological discoveries have proved the Spring and Autumn Annals of Master Yan to be a genuinely ancient text. This...

Ideology of Power and Power of Ideology in Early China explores ancient Chinese political thought during the centuries surrounding the formation of the empire in 221 BCE. The individual chapters examine the ideology and practices of legitimation, views of rulership, conceptualizations of ruler-minister relations, economic thought, and the bureaucratic administration of commoners. The contributors analyze the formation of power relations from various angles, ranging from artistic expression to religious ideas, political rhetoric, and administrative action. They demonstrate the...

In Dialectics of Spontaneity, Zhiyi Yang examines Su Shi's poetry on art and connoisseurship, his emulation of Tao Qian in exile poetry, and his inner alchemical practice. She argues that the concept of absolute spontaneity is defined negatively, and artistic and ethical spontaneity which can be actualized must be provisional and conditioned. This book argues that Su Shi's lyrical persona of a 'spontaneous genius' is a construction that serves various rhetorical and existential purposes. Making use of Su's prolific works and referring to a broad scope of Western philosophy, this book...

In Roaming into the Beyond Zornica Kirkova provides the first detailed study in a Western language of Daoism-inspired themes in early medieval Chinese poetry. She examines representations of Daoist xian immortality in a broad range of versified literature from the Han until the end of the Six Dynasties, focusing on the transformations of themes, concepts, and imagery within a wide literary and religious context. Adopting a more integrated approach, the author explores both the complex interaction between poetry and Daoist religion and the interrelations between various verse...

In Legal Practice in the Formative Stages of the Chinese Empire, Ulrich Lau and Thies Staack offer a richly annotated English translation of the Wei yu deng zhuang si zhong 爲獄等狀四種, a collection of criminal case records from the pre-imperial state of Qin (dating from 246 BC-222 BC) that is part of the manuscripts in the possession of Yuelu Academy. Through an analysis of the collection and a comparison with similar manuscript finds from the Qin and Han periods, the authors shed new light on many aspects of the Qin administration of...

The matter of saṃgha-state relations is of central importance to both the political and the religious history of China. The volume The Middle Kingdom and the Dharma Wheel brings together, for the first time, articles relating to this field covering a time span from the early Tang until the Qing dynasty. In order to portray also the remarkable thematic diversity of the field, each of the articles not only refers to a different time but also discusses a different aspect of the subject. Contributors include: Chris Atwood, Chen Jinhua, Max Deeg, Barend ter Haar, Thomas Julch, Albert...

This book represents the first monograph-length study of the relationship between Protestant Bible translation and the development of Mandarin from a lingua franca into the national language of China. Drawing on both published and unpublished sources, this book looks into the translation, publication, circulation and use of the Mandarin Bible in late Qing and Republican China, and sets out how the Mandarin Bible contributed to the standardization and enrichment of Mandarin. It also illustrates that the Mandarin Union Version, published in 1919, was involved in promoting Mandarin as not...

This volume deals with the world of carpenters and joiners in late Imperial China, discussing both the technical and the religious and ritual aspects of building. It uses as its point of departure a unique and hitherto unused source: the fifteenth-century carpenter's manual Lu Ban jing. The first part of the book examines building materials, the life of labourers and craftsmen, and the process of building a house. Subjects included are the choice of favourable measurements, the ritual of raising the ridge pole, and the complete, annotated translation of the Lu Ban jing, preceded...

For centuries, Chinese critics have acclaimed Du Fu (712-770) as "China's greatest poet." He has exerted tremendous influence both as a model poet and as a cultural icon. In The Reception of Du Fu (712-770) and His Poetry in Imperial China, Ji Hao provides modern readers with a general picture of the reception of Du Fu and his work from the Song to the Qing. He also explores major shifts in interpretive approaches to Du Fu's poetry and their poetic and cultural implications. Through the case of reading Du Fu, the book also offers an in-depth examination of subtleties of the mode of...