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Despite the importance of books and the written word in Chinese society, the history of the book in China is a topic that has been little explored. This pioneering volume of essays, written by historians, art historians, and literary scholars, introduces the major issues in the social and cultural history of the book in late imperial China. Informed by many insights from the rich literature on the history of the Western book, these essays investigate the relationship between the manuscript and print culture; the emergence of urban and rural publishing centers; the expanding audience for books; the development of niche markets and specialized publishing of fiction, drama, non-Han texts, and genealogies; and more.
This innovative collection opens a door into the rich history of animals in China. This title is also available as Open Access.
Preliminary Material -- Introduction -- The Imperial Initiative -- The Scholars' Response -- Scholars and Bureaucrats at the Ch'ien-lung Court: -- Reviewing the Reviewers: -- Ch'ui-mao ch'iu-tz'u: -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Glossary -- Index -- Harvard East Asian Monographs.
This is the world's earliest extant work dealing with the salt industry, providing information on the technical, fiscal, administrative, social and economic background and its editorial history. It includes a complete annotated translation and reproductions of the illustrations.
As the first volume of a two-volume set on Chinese ancient characters and newly unearthed literature, this book brings together the author’s research articles that discuss the development of Chinese characters and the tradition of Chinese palaeography. The 23 chapters in this book focus on two aspects of Chinese characters. The first 13 chapters centre on the evolution of Chinese characters, analysing the composition system and its transformation, the motivation, and mechanisms behind its evolution, as well as the methodology of the study of ancient characters. The subsequent 10 chapters mainly revolve around Shuowen Jiezi, one of the oldest character dictionaries in China. The author offers a novel understanding of the core issues related to this most important philological work, such as the version of the dictionary, misunderstandings in previous scholarship, and its relations with other palaeographical materials. The title will appeal to students and scholars of Sinology, Chinese philology, and palaeography, as well as Chinese characters.
This translation of 65 pieces from Qian Zhongshu's Guanzhui bian (Limited Views) makes available for the first time in English a representative selection from Qian's massive four-volume collection of essays and reading notes on the classics of early Chinese literature. First published in 1979, it has been hailed as one of the most insightful and comprehensive treatments of themes and motifs in early Chinese writing to appear in this century. Scholar, novelist, and essayist Qian Zhongshu (b. 1910) is arguably contemporary China's foremost man of letters, andLimited Views is recognized as the culmination of his study of literature in both the Chinese and the Western traditions.
The Ming maritime policy in transition, 1368-1567" is an unprecedented structural approach to one of the most puzzling phenomena in Chinese early modern history: the maritime trade prohibition from 1368 to 1567. This policy deliberately interdicted its own people from sailing abroad and prevented foreigners from entering China unless they were part of an official tribute mission. Other than treating this phenomenon as an isolated trade policy or defense strategy the author analyzes the policy against the general Chinese historical background from the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries. He approaches the policy as a superstructure established on the foundation of a compatible ideology, the soc...
This is the first comprehensive companion to the study of Daoism as a philosophical tradition. It provides a general overview of Daoist philosophy in various thinkers and texts from 6th century BCE to 5th century CE and reflects the latest academic developments in the field. It discusses theoretical and philosophical issues based on rigorous textual and historical investigations and examinations, reflecting both the ancient scholarship and modern approaches and methodologies. The themes include debates on the origin of the Daoism, the authorship and dating of the Laozi, the authorship and classification of chapters in the Zhuangzi, the themes and philosophical arguments in the Laozi and Zhuangzi, their transformations and developments in Pre-Qin, Han, and Wei-Jin periods, by Huang-Lao school, Heguanzi, Wenzi, Huainanzi, Wang Bi, Guo Xiang, and Worthies in bamboo grove, among others. Each chapter is written by expert(s) and specialist(s) on the topic discussed.