Ideology of Power and Power of Ideology in Early China

Editors:
Yuri Pines, Paul R. Goldin, and Martin Kern

Publisher:
Brill

Publication Year:
2015

Abstract:

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 interrelatedness of historiography and political ideology and show how the same text served both to strengthen the ruler’s authority and moderate his excesses. Together, the chapters highlight the immense complexity of ancient Chinese political thought, and the deep tensions running within it.

Table of Contents:

Preliminary Material
pp i –viii

Introduction
pp 1 –29

1 Representations of Regional Diversity during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty
pp 31 –48

2 Omens and Politics: The Zhou Concept of the Mandate of Heaven as Seen in the Chengwu 程寤 Manuscript
pp 49 –68

3 Long Live The King! The Ideology of Power between Ritual and Morality in the Gongyang zhuan 公羊傳
pp 69 –117

4 Language and the Ideology of Kingship in the “Canon of Yao” 堯典
pp 118 –152

5 Monarch and Minister: The Problematic Partnership in the Building of Absolute Monarchy in the Han Feizi 韓非子
pp 155 –180

6 The Changing Role of the Minister in the Warring States: Evidence from the Yanzi chunqiu 晏子春秋
pp 181 –210

7 Ideologies of the Peasant and Merchant in Warring States China
pp 211 –248

8 Population Records from Liye: Ideology in Practice
pp 249 –270

9 Political and Intellectual Authority: The Concept of the “Sage-Monarch” and Its Modern Fate
pp 273 –300

Bibliography
pp 301 –336

Index
pp 337 –348