To Rule All under Heaven: A History of Classical China, from Confucius to the First Emperor

*Thanks to Prof. Meyer for sharing the news about this book.

Author: Andrew Seth Meyer

Publication year: 2026

Publisher: Oxford

Abstract:
The first ever comprehensive history in English of China's Warring States period, an era that saw epic battles, the birth of profound philosophies, groundbreaking innovations, and shaped much of East Asian culture as we know it today In 481 BCE, ancient China was on the cusp of one of the most profound revolutions any society has ever undergone, one that would set the course of world history for the following two millennia and a half. The ruling order that had been set up by the Zhou kings almost six centuries before was disintegrating. 

While the Zhou realm was populous, wealthy, and blessed with a sophisticated and already ancient culture, the basic institutions that structured social and spiritual life were in radical decay. The world was literally falling apart. The following two-hundred and sixty years saw the largest civilization on earth reinvent and recreate itself. Through war, diplomacy, debate, commerce, philosophy, literature, science, and artistic expression, the people of the Warring States gave birth to a radically new social order. The era saw the emergence of Confucianism and Daoism, the composition of seminal texts such as The Art of War by Master Sun and the Book of Changes, and the codification of Chinese script into its current form. 

It also saw the initial building of the Great Wall and the canal system that would become the Grand Canal, as well as the invention of the crossbow--which would not be invented in Europe for another 1,500 years--and the origin of acupuncture and feng shui.

This dynamic period coincided with the lives of global figures such as the Buddha, Socrates, and the prophet Ezra, beginning during Confucius's lifetime and culminating with the reign of the First Emperor, whose tomb is famously guarded by the terra cotta soldiers. The Persian Wars and the conquests of Alexander the Great are well known to people in Europe and America; 

however, far fewer English-language books have attempted to cover this same and equally important period in East Asia. To Rule All under Heaven corrects this imbalance by recounting a detailed history that is replete with dramatic stories and characters. The result is a thorough and entertaining account of one of the most fertile and significant periods in world history.

Table of Contents:
Introduction
1. Lords and Master: The States of Qi and Lu
2. Song of the South: The States of Wu, Chu, and Yue
3. The Partition: The State of Jin
4. Heaven’s Whim versus Heaven’s Will: The Extended Zhou Realm
5. The Prince: The State of Wei
6. Wanderers: The Extended Zhou Realm
7. The Altars of the Soil and Grain are Closer than Kin: The State of Qi
8. The West’s Awake: The State of Qin
9. The Marquis Who Would Be King: The State of Wei
10. We Kings: The Extended Zhou Realm
11. Better to Give: The State of Qi and the Greater Zhou Realm
12. The Harder They Fall: The State of Qi
13. The Duel: The States of Zhao and Qin
14. Gilded Age: The Various Zhou States
15. Unification: The Kingdom of Qin and the Former Zhou States
Epilogue and Conclusions

新編北朝隋代墓誌所在總合目錄

Editor: 梶山　智史 

Publication year: 2025

Publisher: 汲古書院

Abstract: 

唐に先立つ北朝・隋代の墓誌は一體いくつあるのか。この問題の解明を試みたのが拙編『北朝隋代墓誌所在總合目錄』（明治大學東アジア石刻文物研究所・汲古書院、2013年5月）であった。これは本書の前身であり、以下「舊版」と略稱する。舊版では2013年前半までに公開されていた北朝墓誌1211點、隋代墓誌716點、合計1927 點を收錄した。しかしそれから11 年ほどが經過した現在では、舊版を見ただけではもはや北朝隋代墓誌の全容を把握することは到底できない。この閒には新たな墓誌が大量に出現し、また關連する史料集や研究論著の增加も實にすさまじいものがあるからである。そこで編者は舊版の出版以降も關連情報の調査を續け、目錄を增補改訂する作業を進めてきた。本書はこの作業の現時點における成果である。

本書では2023年以前に公開された北朝墓誌1731點、隋代墓誌955點、合計2686 點を收錄した。單純計算すると舊版から759點增えたことになる。ただし舊版では專ら墓誌のみを收錄對象としたのに對し、本書では墓誌以外の墓葬關連文字史料にまで對象を擴大し、墓碑（神道碑）や墓券（買地券）なども併せて收錄することとした。とはいえそれらの數量は墓誌と比べるとごく少なく、具體的には墓碑83點（北朝67、隋16）、墓券13點（北朝12、隋1）、鎭墓石1點（北朝1）、隨葬衣物疏1點（北朝1）、合計98點にすぎない。この98點を差し引くと、純粹な墓誌のみの增加數は661點となる。この10年でこれほど多くの新出墓誌が追加されたのは驚きである。

Table of Contents:

前言／凡例／引用文獻一覽

新編北朝隋代墓誌所在總合目錄

北朝／北魏／東魏・北齊／西魏・北周／隋代

北朝隋代僞刻墓誌目錄

墓誌名稱索引／引用文獻略號索引

Environmental Equity in China and Beyond: Past, Present, and Future

Authors: Michael Nylan, Thomas Hahn

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Publication year: 2026

Abstract:

Together they explore the environment in the Chinese philosophical tradition and contemporary China through the lens of intergenerational justice. Nylan's analysis of lesser known texts from ancient China changes our thinking of Chinese political philosophy and legal antiquity codes. Hahn's comprehensive overview of recent data from China offers a response to the present crisis. Their original approach underscores why environmentalism is always more than a Western issue.

By applying ancient ideas to an urgent topic with a unique emphasis on East Asia, this one-of-a-kind guide to environmental thought challenges standard narratives. It is essential reading for anyone looking to understand how classical Chinese concepts can provide the necessary tools to improve how we think about the world we live in.

Table of Contents:

1. Anglo-American Law

2. Early Empires in China

3. Intergenerational Equity

4. Seasonality and Health for the Body Politic

5. Outlines Policymaking in the PRC

Conclusion

Before and Beyond Pingcheng: The Xianbei in Inner Mongolia (4th-6th Centuries)

Editors: Annette L. Juliano / Judith A. Lerner

Publisher: Brepols Publishers

Publication year: April, 2026

Table of Contents:

Introduction

Annette L JULIANO and Judith A. LERNER, “The Puzzle of the Yihe-Nur Cemetery”

I. Nomads and the Northern Wei

Sören STARK, “Xianbei, Tegreg, and Rouran-Abar: Yihe-Nur and the Nomadic World

of Inner Asia between the Second and the Fifth/Early Sixth Century CE”

Scott PEARCE, “The Xianbei in Their Historical Setting”

Judith A. LERNER, “Cauldrons”

Chin-Yin TSENG, “The Mobile Court of Pingcheng”

II. Reaching the Red Mountains: The Xianbei and the Afterlife

Annette L JULIANO, “Tombs and Their Furnishings”

Annette L. JULIANO, “Pushou”

III. Luxury Objects

Sarah LAURSEN, “Adorned: Nomadic Gold and Bronze”

Sören STARK, “Belts and Pectorals as Elite Markers Across Second to Fifth Century

Eurasia”

Judith A. LERNER, “Luxury Objects: Local and from the West”

Annette L. JULIANO and Judith A. LERNER, “The Gold Chin Strap”

Annette L. JULIANO and Judith A. LERNER, “The Gilt Silver Earred Cup”

IV. Where the Xianbei Buddhists?

Annette L. JULIANO, “Early Buddhist Images from Inner Mongolia”

Annette L. JULIANO, “The Pointed Pectoral”

Conclusion

Annette L JULIANO and Judith A. LERNER, “The Power of Place: Yihe-Nur and the

Xianbei”

A Prince of Martial Splendour in the Sixteen Kingdoms: Li Hao (351-417), Ruler of Western Liang

Author: Dominik Declercq

Abstract: The Sixteen Kingdoms (304-439) saw Northern China become a multiethnic mosaic of states and statelets, one of which was Western Liang (400-422) in modern Gansu province at the edge of the Silk Roads. Its founder Li Hao 李暠 was a Han settler on soil only recently annexed to the Empire. Here, immigrants ruled semi-nomadic locals, while elsewhere, non-Chinese ruling houses dealt with local Chinese elites. Their interaction, here seen close up in the life and times of Li Hao, had a lasting formative influence on Chinese culture and society for centuries to come.See Less

Publication Year: 2025

Table of Contents:
1 Introduction

2 The Hexi Corridor

3 The Colonisation of Liangzhou, 100 BCE to 300 CE

4 Former Liang (320–376): Li Hao’s Forebears under the Former Liang

5 Former Qin (351–384) and Later Liang (385–403)

6 Linked Destinies: Li Hao and Juqu Mengxun

7 Building a State, Part 1: Li Hao’s Western Liang

8 Building a State, Part 2: Juqu Mengxun’s Northern Liang

9 Relations with Eastern Jin

10 Li Hao Moves to Jiuquan

11 Li Hao’s Last Years

12 The Sequel: Li Hao’s Son Loses Western Liang

13 The Aftermath, and Conclusions

Appendix 1: Commandant Protectors of the Qiang
Appendix 2: Prefects of Wuwei, Zhangye, Jiuquan and Dunhuang

Traditions of Exemplary Transcendents by Liu Xiang (79–8 BCE)

Author: Robert Ford Campany

Publication year: 2026

Publisher: De Gruyter

Abstract: 

By the middle of the third century BCE, some people in China had begun to imagine it possible to employ esoteric methods to refashion themselves into posthuman beings with spirit-like capabilities, enhanced bodies, and greatly extended lifespans. Such beings were termed transcendents (xian 仙).

Traditions of Exemplary Transcendents (Liexian zhuan 列仙傳), attributed to the imperial bibliographer Liu Xiang 劉向 (79-8 BCE), is the earliest extant collection of colorful stories about such figures. This volume makes available a critical edition and the first complete, annotated English translation of a text preserving some of the earliest mentions of alchemical, dietary, and medicinal methods of self-cultivation that later became standard in transcendence-seekers’ repertoire of practices.

Through this work we can already glimpse the sorts of engagements with local communities that made the quest for transcendence a matter of keen interest not just to practitioners themselves but to many in Chinese society for centuries thereafter.