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.

Fan Ye's Book of Later Han (Houhanshu): Military History and Ethnicity. Volume 1: The Twenty-Eight Yuntai Generals of the Eastern Han

Translator: 

Shu-Hui Wu &David Curtis Wright

Publisher:
Brill

Publication Year: 

2023

Abstract:

The Book of Later Han (Houhanshu) by Fan Ye (398-445) is enormously important as China’s most complete work on Eastern Han history in biographical form. For the first time in any Western language, the author introduces Fan Ye’s magnificent writings in lively translation with rich annotation and informative and insightful commentary.

This first volume covers its early military history and highlights the lives and achievements of the twenty-eight generals who helped Emperor Guangwu unify China and establish the Eastern Han dynasty.
Also included are images of these twenty-eight founding fathers, maps, and information related to early Eastern Han systems.

Table of Contents:
Introduction
Brief Individual Introductions to Each of the Twenty-Eight Yuntai Generals, Including Illustrations, Fan Ye’s Conclusion, and List of Their Ranking Orders in HHS 22
Chapter 1 HHS 16: Biographies of Deng and Kou 鄧寇列傳 6
Chapter 2 HHS 17: Biographies of Feng, Cen, and Jia 馮岑賈列傳 7
Chapter 3 HHS 18: Biographies of Wu, Ge, Chen, and Zang 吳蓋陳臧列傳 8
Chapter 4 HHS 19: Biography of Geng Yan 耿弇列傳 9
Chapter 5 HHS 20: Biographies of Yao Qi, Wang Ba, and Zhai Zun 銚期王霸祭遵列傳 10
Chapter 6 HHS 21: Biographies of Ren, Li, Wan, Pi, Liu, and Geng 任李萬邳劉耿列傳 11
Chapter 7 HHS 22: Biographies of Zhu, Jing, Wang, Du, Ma, Liu, Fu, Jian, and Ma 朱景王杜馬劉傅堅馬列傳 12
Chapter 8 HHS 15: Biographies of Li, Wang, Deng, and Lai 李王鄧來列傳 5
Chapter 9 Commentaries 論曰 and Rhymed Summaries 贊曰 by Fan Ye in Chapters 1–8

Appendix 1 The Twenty-Eight Yuntai Generals and the Twenty-Eight Lunar Lodgings, with Notes and a Table of the Twenty-Eight Yuntai Generals and Their Corresponding Lunar Lodgings

Appendix 2 Ban Gu’s Description of an Emperor’s Funeral and Images of the Burial Chamber Built with Yellow Cypress Wood 黃腸題凑

Appendix 3 Analysis and Translation of Texts on Seals and Seal-Ribbons (yin shou 印綬) in HHS zhi 志 30 B Chariots and Clothing 輿服下

Appendix 4 Metadata and Models for Eastern Han Warships, as Reconstructed and Exhibited at the People’s Military Museum in Beijing 中國人民軍事博物館

Appendix 5 An Iron Charter 鐵券, with Introduction, and an Ancient Chinese hu 斛 Measuring Device

Glossary 1: Titles for Military Leaders and Civil Servants (1) English–Chinese
Glossary 2: Titles for Military Leaders and Civil Servants (2) Chinese–English
Glossary 3: Chinese Military Idioms, Proverbs, and Special Terms in the Book of Later Han

The Sōushén hòujì 搜神後記：Latter Notes On Collected Spirit Phenomena Attributed to Táo Yuānmíng (365-427)

Author:
Tao Qian

Translator:
Richard VanNess Simmons

Publisher:

American Oriental Society, New Haven

Publication Year:

2022

Abstract:
The Sōushén hòujì 搜神後記 (Latter Notes on Collected Spirit Phenomena), attributed to the celebrated poet Táo Qián 陶潛 (365-427), is a compilation of anecdotes and stories known as zhìguài 志怪 ('records of the anomalous') that document strange and unusual phenomena the author observed in his lifetime. Intended to serve as a sequel to Gān Bǎo's 干寳 (d. 336) Sōushénjì 搜神記 (Collected Spirit Phenomena), the original text was lost but was reconstructed in the late Míng dynasty. This volume presents an annotated translation of the entire Míng version of the Sōushén hòujì as well as of an additional set of surviving stories that were identified and restored to the text by the modern scholar Lǐ Jiànguó 李劍國. The book also includes a history of the Sōushén hòujì text, an examination of its linguistic style and characteristics, a discussion of the historical nature of its contents and how it fits into the zhìguài genre, providing a window onto medieval Chinese society and culture, and a brief overview of recent zhìguài scholarship to guide readers who hope to continue their exploration of the genre. 

Garden of Eloquence / Shuoyuan 說苑

Author:

Liu Xiang

Translator:

Eric Henry

Publication date:

January 2022

Publisher:

University of Washington Press

Abstract:

In 17 BCE the Han dynasty archivist Liu Xiang presented to the throne a collection of some seven hundred items of varying length, mostly quasi-historical anecdotes and narratives, that he deemed essential reading for wise leadership. Garden of Eloquence (Shuoyuan), divided into twenty books grouped by theme, follows a tradition of narrative writing on historical and philosophical themes that began seven centuries earlier. Long popular in China as a source of allusions and quotations, it preserves late Western Han views concerning history, politics, and ethics. Many of its anecdotes are attributed to Confucius’s speeches and teachings that do not appear in earlier texts, demonstrating that long after Confucius’s death in 479 BCE it was still possible for new “historical” narratives to be created.
Garden of Eloquence is valuable as a repository of items that originally appeared in other early collections that are no longer extant, and it provides detail on topics as various as astronomy and astrology, yin-yang theory, and quasi-geographical and mystical categories. Eric Henry’s unabridged translation with facing Chinese text and extensive annotation will make this important primary source available for the first time to Anglophone world historians.

Spring and Autumn Annals of Wu and Yue: An Annotated Translation of Wu Yue Chunqiu

Author:

Jianjun He

Publication date:

April 2021

Publisher:

Cornell University Press

Abstract:

Spring and Autumn Annals of Wu and Yue is the first complete English translation of Wu Yue Chunqiu, a chronicle of two neighboring states during China's Spring and Autumn period. This collection of political history, philosophy, and fictional accounts depicts the rise and fall of Wu and Yue and the rivalry between them, the inspiration for centuries of poetry, vernacular fiction, and drama.

Wu Yue Chunqiu makes use of rich sources from the past, carefully adapting and developing them into complex stories. Historical figures are transformed into distinctive characters; simple records of events are fleshed out and made tangible. The result is a nuanced record that is both a compelling narrative and a valuable historical text. As one of the earliest examples of a regional history, Wu Yue Chunqiu is also an important source for the history of what is now Zhejiang and Jiangsu.

In Spring and Autumn Annals of Wu and Yue, Jianjun He's engaging translation and extensive annotations make this significant historical and literary work accessible to an English-speaking audience for the first time.

Table of Contents:

Introduction

1. The Tradition of the Great Earl of Wu

2. The Tradition of King Shoumeng of Wu

3. The Tradition of King Liao Commanded Gongzi Guang

4. The Inner Tradition of Helu

5. The Inner Tradition of Fuchai

6. The Outer Tradition of King Wuyu of Yue

7. The Outer Tradition of Goujian as a Servant

8. The Outer Tradition of Goujian's Return to His State

9. The Outer Tradition of Goujian's Secret Plots

10. The Outer Tradition of Goujian Attacking Wu

[Open Access] Family Instructions for the Yan Clan and Other Works by Yan Zhitui (531–590s)

Translator:
Xiaofei Tian

Publisher:
De Gruyter Mouton

Publication date:
March 2021

Abstract:

Yan Zhitui (531–590s) was a courtier and cultural luminary who lived a colorful life during one of the most chaotic periods, known as the Northern and Southern Dynasties, in Chinese history. Beginning his career in the southern Liang court, he was taken captive to the north after the Liang capital fell, and served several northern dynasties. Today he remains one of the best-known medieval writers for his book-length “family instructions” (jiaxun), the earliest surviving and the most influential of its kind. Completed in his last years, the work resembles a long letter addressed to his sons, in which he discusses a wide range of topics from family relations and remarriage to religious faith, philology, cultural arts, and codes of conduct in public and private life. It is filled with vivid details of contemporary social life, and with the author’s keen observations of the mores of north and south China. This is a new, complete translation into English, with critical notes and introduction, and based on recent scholarship, of Yan Zhitui’s Family Instructions, and of all of his extant literary works, including his self-annotated poetic autobiography and a never-before-translated fragmentary rhapsody, as well as of his biographies in dynastic histories.

Open Access: click here

The Empress in the Pepper Chamber: Zhao Feiyan in History and Fiction

Author:
Olivia Milburn

Publication Date:
May 2021

Publisher: 

University of Washington Press

Abstract:

Zhao Feiyan (45–1 BCE), the second empress appointed by Emperor Cheng of the Han dynasty (207 BCE–220 CE), was born in slavery and trained in the performing arts, a background that made her appointment as empress highly controversial. Subsequent persecution by her political enemies eventually led to her being forced to commit suicide. After her death, her reputation was marred by accusations of vicious scheming, murder of other consorts and their offspring, and relentless promiscuity, punctuated by bouts of extravagant shopping.

This first book-length study of Zhao Feiyan and her literary legacy includes a complete translation of The Scandalous Tale of Zhao Feiyan (Zhao Feiyan waizhuan 趙飛燕外傳), a Tang dynasty (618–907 CE) erotic novella that describes in great detail the decadent lifestyle enjoyed by imperial favorites in the harem of Emperor Cheng. This landmark text was crucial for establishing writings about palace women as the accepted forum for discussing sexual matters, including fetishism, obsession, jealousy, incompatibility in marriage, and so on. Using historical documentation, Olivia Milburn reconstructs the evolution of Zhao Feiyan’s story and illuminates the broader context of palace life for women and the novella’s social influence.

Table of Contents:

The Empress in the Pepper Chamber
The Scandalous Tale of Zhao Feiyan
Zhao Feiyan's Biography in Historical Sources
Interpreting The Scandalous Tale
Gendering Empress Zhao
Concluding Remarks

The Essentials of Governance 貞觀政要

Author:
Wu Jing 吳兢

Editors and Translators: 
Hilde De Weerdt, Glen Dudbridge, Gabe van Beijeren

Publisher: 

Cambridge University Press

Publication date:

January 2021

Abstract:
In the eighth century, Wu Jing selected exchanges between Emperor Taizong and his ministers that he deemed key to good governance. This collection of dialogues has been used for the education of emperors, political elites and general readers ever since, and is a standard reference work in East Asian political thought. Consisting of ten volumes, subdivided into forty topics, The Essentials of Governance addresses core themes of Chinese thinking about the politics of power, from the body politic, presenting and receiving criticism, recruitment, the education of the imperial clan, political virtues and vices, to cultural policy, agriculture, law, taxation, border policy, and how to avoid disaster and dynastic fall. Presented with introductory commentary that offers insights into its historical context and global reception, this accessible and reliable translation brings together ten scholars of Chinese intellectual history to offer a nuanced edition that preserves the organisation, tone and flow of the original.

Table of Contents:
Introduction: The Essentials of Governance from the Reign of Constancy Revealed in Context 

Hilde De Weerdt and David McMullen

Prefaces

Presentation of The Essentials of Governance from the Reign of Constancy Revealed Hilde De Weerdt

Preface to The Essentials of Governance from the Reign of Constancy Revealed Hilde De Weerdt

Volume I; 

1. The Way of the Sovereign Jack W. Chen; 

2. The Organization of Governance Jack W. Chen; 

Volume II; 

3. Employing the Wise Hilde De Weerdt; 

4. Seeking Criticism Hilde De Weerdt; 

5. Accepting Criticism Hilde De Weerdt

Volume III; 

6. Lessons from the Past for Sovereign and Officials Chu Mingkin; 

7. On Selecting Officials Oliver Moor; 

8. On Enfieffment David McMullen; 

Volume IV; 

9. On Determining the Roles of the Crown Prince and the Princes David McMullen; 

10. On Respecting Tutors David McMullen; 

11. Instructing and Warning the Crown Prince and the Princes David McMullen; 

12. Reproving the Crown Prince David McMullen; 

Volume V; 

13. On Humaneness and Righteousness Anthony DeBlasi; 

14. On Loyalty and Righteousness Anthony DeBlasi; 

15. On Filial Piety and Friendship Anthony DeBlasi; 

16. On Impartiality Anthony DeBlasi; 

17. On Sincerity and Trustworthiness Anthony DeBlasi; 

Volume VI; 

18. On Frugality and Moderation Gabe van Beijeren; 

19. On Modesty and Deference Gabe van Beijeren; 

20. On Being Humane and Compassionate Gabe van Beijeren; 

21. Caution in One's Preferences Anna M. Shields; 

22. Caution in Speech Anna M. Shields; 

23. Obstructing Slander and Sycophancy Anna M. Shields; 

24. On Regretting One's Faults Anna M. Shields; 

25. On Profligacy and Recklessness Jack W. Chen; 

26. On Greed and Baseness Jack W. Chen; 

Volume VII; 

27. Honoring Classicist Scholarship Chu Mingkin; 

28. On Literature and History Chu Mingkin; 

29. On Rites and Music Chu Mingkin; 

Volume VIII; 

30. Dedication to Agriculture Tineke D'Haeseleer; 

31. On Punishment and Law Tineke D'Haeseleer; 

32. On Amnesties Tineke D'Haeseleer; 

33. On Tribute Presentations Oliver Moor; 

34. Recognizing the Rise and Fall of Dynasties Hilde De Weerdt; 

Volume IX; 

35. Debates about Punitive Expeditions Tineke D'Haeseleer; 

36. Debates about Pacifying the Borders Tineke D'Haeseleer; 

Volume X; 

37. On Tours Oliver Moor; 

38. On Hunting Oliver Moor; 

39. On Auspicious and Inauspicious Signs Gabe van Beijeren; 

40. On Remaining Vigilant until the End Gabe van Beijeren

Dramatis Personae

(via Hilde De Weerdt)

Bibliography of Chinese Dynastic History Translations (3rd to 7th centuries CE)

Last updated: 2021.02.05

Note:
Here is a working bibliography of translations of Chinese dynastic history (3rd to 7th centuries CE). If you have any questions or recommendations, please let me know.

Recommended Readings:

Frankel, Hans H.C. Catalogue of translations from the Chinese dynastic histories for the period 220-960. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1957.

Bielenstein, Hans. "The Six Dynasties," Vol. I,  BMFEA 68 (1996):5-324; Vol. II, BMFEA 69 (1997):5-246. 

Chennault, Cynthia Louise, Keith Nathaniel Knapp, Alan J. Berkowitz, and Albert E. Dien, eds. 2015. Early Medieval Chinese Texts: A Bibliographical Guide. Berkeley, CA: Institute of East Asian Studies.

Swartz, Wendy, Campany Robert Ford, Lu Yang, and Choo Jessey Jiun-Chyi, eds. Early Medieval China: A Sourcebook. New York: Columbia University Press, 2014.

Wilkinson, Endymion. Chinese History: A New Manual. 2017. (check the chapter "Wei Jin Nanbeichao")

Dien, Albert E., and Keith N. Knapp, eds. 2020. The Cambridge History of China: Volume 2, The Six Dynasties, 220-589. Cambridge Eng. ; New York: Cambridge University Press.

Translations:

三國志

魏書

v.1 武帝紀 (曹操)
*cf de Crespigny, Rafe, trans. Imperial Warlord: A Biography of Cao Cao 155-220 AD.  Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2010.

v.5 后妃傳
Cutter, Robert Joe and William Crowell, trans. Empresses and consorts: selections from Chen Shou's Records of the Three States with Pei Songzhi's commentary. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 1999.

v.29 方伎傳
管輅、朱建平、周宣、華佗
DeWoskin, Kenneth J., trans. Doctors, Diviners, and Magicians of Ancient China: Biographies of Fang-shih. New York: Columbia University Press, 1983.

蜀書 

v.2 先主傳

by William Crowell

https://www.academia.edu/5318625/Sanguo_zhi_32_Shu_2_Biography_of_Liu_Bei?email_work_card=thumbnail

v.9 董和、劉巴、馬良、陳震、董允、呂乂
by William Crowell
https://www.academia.edu/5318635/Sanguo_zhi_39_Shu_9_Biographies_of_Dong_He_Liu_Ba_Ma_Liang_Chen_Zhen_Dong_Yun_and_L%C3%BC_Yi

v.34 二主妃子傳 
Cutter, Robert Joe and William Crowell, trans. Empresses and consorts: selections from Chen Shou's Records of the Three States with Pei Songzhi's commentary. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 1999.

v.42 譙周
Farmer, J. Michael. "Sanguo Zhi Fascicle 42: The Biography of Qiao Zhou." Early Medieval China, no. 23 (2017): 22-41.

吳書
v.46 孫堅
de Crespigny, Rafe, trans. The Biography of Sun Chien.  Canberra: Centre of Oriental Studies, Australian National University, 1966.

v.50 妃嬪傳

Cutter, Robert Joe and William Crowell, trans. Empresses and consorts: selections from Chen Shou's Records of the Three States with Pei Songzhi's commentary. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 1999.

* also cf Fang, Achilles, trans. The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms  (220–265): Chapters 69–78 from the Tzu chih t’ung chien of Ssu-ma Kuang  (1019–1086). 2 vols. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1952–1965.

晉書

晉書 v.1 司馬懿
Fairbank, Anthony Bruce. "Ssu-Ma I (179-251): Wei Statesman and Chin Founder: An Historiographical Inquiry." PhD diss., University of Washington, 1994. (Chapter 6)

晉書 v.11-13 天文志
Ho, Peng Yoke. The Astronomical Chapters of the Chin Shu, with Amendments, Full Translation, and Annotations.  Paris: Mouton, 1966.

晉書 v.26 食貨志
Yang, Liansheng. "Notes on the Economic History of the Chin Dynasty." Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 9, no. 2 (1946): 107-85.

晉書 v.36 張華
Straughair, Anna. Chang Hua: A Statesman-Poet of the Western Chin Dynasty.  Canberra: Australian National University, Faculty of Asian Studies, 1973.

晉書 v.47 傅玄
Paper, Jordan D. The Fu-Tzu: A Post-Han Confucian Text.  Leiden; New York: E.J. Brill, 1987.

晉書 v.54 陸雲
Wu, Sujane. "The Biography of Lu Yun (262-303) in Jin Shu 54." Early Medieval China, no. 1 (2001): 1-38.

晉書 v.65 王導
cf Wells, Matthew V. "From Spirited Youth to Loyal Official: Life Writing and Didacticism in the Jin Shu Biography of Wang Dao." Early Medieval China 21 (2015): 3-20.

晉書 v.82
習鑿齒
Chittick, Andrew. "Pride of Place: The Advent of Local History in Early Medieval China.” PhD diss., University of Michigan, 1997. (pp.220-230)

晉書 v.92 
顧愷之
Chen, Shih-hsiang. Biography of Ku K'ai-Chih. (Chin Shu 92.21a-22a).  Berkeley: University of California Press, 1961.

王沉
Declercq, Dominik. Writing against the State: Political Rhetorics in Third and Fourth Century China.  Leiden; Boston: Brill, 1998. (pp.152-158)

晉書 v.95 藝術
戴洋
DeWoskin, Kenneth J. Doctors, Diviners, and Magicians of Ancient China: Biographies of Fang-Shih.  New York: Columbia University Press, 1983.

晉書 v.97 吐谷渾
Carroll, Thomas D. Account of the T'ù-Yü-Hún in the History of the Chïn Dynasty.  Berkeley-Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1953.

晉書 v.101 劉淵
Honey, David B. The Rise of the Medieval Hsiung-Nu: The Biography of Liu Yüan. Bloomington, Ind.: Research Institute for Inner Asian Studies, 1990.

晉書 v.113-114 苻堅
Rogers, Michael C. The rise of the Former Ch'in state and its spread under Fu Chien, through 370 A.D. based on Chin shu 113. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1953.

Rogers, Michael C. The chronicle of Fu Chien: a case of exemplar history. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1968.

晉書 v.116 載記第十六　姚弋仲 姚襄 姚萇

Rachel Meakin, "The Founding of the Qiang state of Later Qin: an annotated translation of Jin Shu Chapter 116"

https://www.academia.edu/37725365/The_Founding_of_the_Qiang_state_of_Later_Qin_an_annotated_translation_of_Jin_Shu_Chapter_116

晉書 v.120-121 李特 李流 李雄 李班 李期 李壽 李勢
Kleeman, Terry F. Great Perfection: Religion and Ethnicity in a Chinese Millennial Kingdom.  Honolulu: University of Hawai`i Press, 1998.

晉書 v.122 呂光
Mather, Richard B. Biography of Lü Kuang.  Berkeley: University of California Press, 1959.

宋書

宋書 v.51 宗室
劉義慶
Zhang, Zhenjun. "Observations on the Life and Works of Liu Yiqing". Early Medieval China. 2014 (20): 83-104.

宋書 v.59 張暢
Dien, Albert. "The Disputation at Pengcheng: Accounts from the Wei Shu and the Song Shu." In Early Medieval China: A Sourcebook, edited by Wendy Swartz, Campany Robert Ford, Lu Yang and Choo Jessey Jiun-Chyi, 32-59. New York: Columbia University Press, 2014.

宋書 v.69 范曄
cf Eicher, Sebastian. "Fan Ye's Biography in the Song Shu: Form, Content, and Impact." Early Medieval China 22 (2016): 45-64.

宋書 v.91 孝義
郭世道; 郭原平
Knapp, Keith N. "Exemplary Everymen: Guo Shidao and Guo Yuanping as Confucian Commoners." Asia Major 23, no. 1 (2010): 87-125.

魏書

魏書 v.1 序記
Holmgren, Jennifer. Annals of Tai: Early T'o-pa History; an Annotated Translation of Chapter 1 of Wei Shu. Canberra: The Australian National University, 1982.

魏書 v.13 皇后列傳
 序 Preface
 Balkwill, Stephanie Lynn. "Empresses, Bhikṣuṇīs, and Women of Pure Faith: Buddhism and the Politics of Patronage in the Northern Wei." PhD diss., McMaster University, 2015. (pp.347-350)

 神元皇后竇氏-高宗乳母常氏
 Holmgren, Jennifer. 1979. "Women's biographies in the Wei-shu." Ph. D., Australian National Univeristy.

 文明太后
 Balkwill, Stephanie Lynn. "Empresses, Bhikṣuṇīs, and Women of Pure Faith: Buddhism and the Politics of Patronage in the Northern Wei." PhD diss., McMaster University, 2015. (pp.351-360)

 Holmgren, Jennifer. 1979. "Women's biographies in the Wei-shu." Ph. D., Australian National Univeristy. (304-311)

 文成元皇后李氏-宣武皇后高氏
 Holmgren, Jennifer. 1979. "Women's biographies in the Wei-shu." Ph. D., Australian National Univeristy. (311-329)

 靈太后
 Holmgren, Jennifer. "Empress Dowager Ling of the Northern Wei and the T'o-Pa Sinicization Question." Papers in Far Eastern History 18 (1978): 160–70.
 Holmgren, Jennifer. 1979. "Women's biographies in the Wei-shu." Ph. D., Australian National Univeristy. (329-339)

魏書 v.37 司馬楚之
Lim, Lucy. "The Northern Wei Tomb of Ssu-Ma Chin-Lung and Early Chinese Figure Painting." PhD diss., New York University, 1990. (pp.178-188)

魏書 v.53 李孝伯
Dien, Albert. "The Disputation at Pengcheng: Accounts from the Wei Shu and the Song Shu." In Early Medieval China: A Sourcebook, edited by Wendy Swartz, Campany Robert Ford, Lu Yang and Choo Jessey Jiun-Chyi, 32-59. New York: Columbia University Press, 2014.

魏書 v.92 列女傳
cf Holmgren, Jennifer. 1979. "Women's Biographies in the Wei-shu: A Study of the Moral Attitudes and Social Background Found in Women's Biographies in the Dynastic History of the Northern Wei." Ph.D., DePaul University.

cf Holmgren, Jennifer. 1981. "Widow Chastity in the Northern Dynasties: The Lieh-nü Biographies in the Wei-shu." Papers on Far Eastern History 23:165–186.

魏書 v.105 天象志
cf Xu, Zhentao, David W. Pankenier, Yaotiao Jiang, and Institute Earth Space. East Asian Archaeoastronomy: Historical Records of Astronomical Observations of China, Japan and Korea.

魏書 v.111 食貨志
Blue, Rhea C. "The Argumentation of the Shih-Huo Chih: Chapters of the Han, Wei, and Sui Dynastic Histories." Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 11, no. 1-2 (1948): 70-75.

魏書 v.114 釋老志
Hurvitz, Leon, trans. Treatise on Buddhism and Taoism, an English Translation of the Original Chinese Text of Wei-Shu Cxiv and the Japanese Annotation of Tsukamoto Zenryu. Kyoto: Jimbunkagaku kenkyujo, Kyoto University.

Ware, James R. "The Wei Shu and the Sui Shu on Taoism." Journal of the American Oriental Society 53, no. 3 (1933): 215-50.

北齊書

北齊書 v.37 魏收
Jamieson, John Charles. "The Biography of Wei Shou.” Mater’s thesis, University of California, Berkeley, 1964.

北齊書 v.45 顏之推
Dien, Albert E. Pei Ch'ishu 45: Biography of Yen Chih-T'ui.  Bern: Herbert Lang, 1976.

周書

周書 v.11 宇文護
Dien, Albert E. Biography of Yu-wen Hu. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1962.

周書 v.23 蘇綽
Goodrich, Chauncey Shafter. Biography of Su Ch'o.  Berkeley: University of California Press, 1961.

周書 v. 50 異域下
Miller, Roy Andrew. Accounts of Western Nations in the History of the Northern Chou Dynasty [Zhou Shu 50. 10b-17b] Berkeley: University of California Press, 1959.

突厥
Parker E.H. "The Early Turks (From the CHOU SHU)." The China Review. 1899. Vol. 24. No.3.

北史

北史 v.13 文明太后
Gibson, Wenley Archibald. "The Grand Empress Dowager Wen Ming and the Northern Wei Necropolis at Fang Shan." Freer Gallery of Art Occasional Papers 1, no. 1 (1947).

北史 v.99 
突厥
Parker E.H. "The Early Turks (From the PEI SHI and the SUI SHU).” The China Review. 1900. Vol. 24. No. 4.

Parker E.H. "The Early Turks - Part II (From the PEI SHI).” The China Review. 1900. Vol. 25. No. 1.

隋書

隋書 v.24 食貨志
Blue, Rhea C. "The Argumentation of the Shih-Huo Chih: Chapters of the Han, Wei, and Sui Dynastic Histories." Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 11, no. 1-2 (1948): 76-89.

隋書 v.35 經籍志
道經
Ware, James R. "The Wei Shu and the Sui Shu on Taoism." Journal of the American Oriental Society 53, no. 3 (1933): 243-50.

隋書 v.58 魏澹
Dien, Albert E. "Wei Tan and the Historiography of the Wei Shu." In Studies in Early Medieval Chinese Literature and Cultural History: In Honor of Richard B. Mather and Donald Holzman. Provo, Utah: Tʻang Studies Society, 2003.

隋書 v.84 北狄
突厥
Parker E.H. "The Early Turks (From the PEI SHI and the SUI SHU).” The China Review. 1900. Vol. 24. No. 4.

Declarations of the Perfected Part Two: Instructions on Shaping Destiny

Author: 
Thomas E. Smith

Publisher: 

Three Pines Press

Publication date:
November 2020

Abstract:

Declarations of the Perfected is the first complete, annotated translation of Zhen’gao 真誥, Tao Hongjing’s (456-536) masterful compilation of the Shangqing or Higher Clarity revelations, setting the stage for the heyday of medieval Daoism. The present volume presents the Declarations’ second part (fasc. 5-8), which focuses on the various difficulties that Daoist practitioners are likely to encounter in a dangerous world, and how to overcome them. It begins with instructions of a more general nature, before moving on to problems faced specifically by Xu Mi 許謐 (303-376) and his family and fellow officials. This volume also sheds much light on the history of its time—the kinds of moral and philosophical issues that were being debated, as well political intrigues in the Eastern Jin court.

Table of Contents:
Introduction
Translation
Preface by Tu Long
Fascicle Five

Fascicle Six
Fascicle Seven
Fascicle Eight
Past translations consulted 

The Secrets of Buddhist Meditation: Visionary Meditation Texts from Early Medieval China

Author:
Eric M. Greene

Publication date: 
January 2021

Publisher: 

Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press

Abstract:
In the early 400s, numerous Indian and Central Asian Buddhist “meditation masters” (chanshi) traveled to China, where they established the first enduring traditions of Buddhist meditation practice in East Asia. The forms of contemplative practice that these missionaries brought with them, and which their Chinese students further developed, remained for several centuries the basic understanding of “meditation” (chan) in China. Although modern scholars and readers have long been familiar with the approaches to meditation of the Chan (Zen) School that later became so popular throughout East Asia, these earlier and in some ways more pervasive forms of practice have long been overlooked or ignored. This volume presents a comprehensive study of the content and historical formation, as well as complete English translations, of two of the most influential manuals in which these approaches to Buddhist meditation are discussed: the Scripture on the Secret Essential Methods of Chan 禪祕要法經 (Chan Essentials) and the Secret Methods for Curing Chan Sickness 治禪病秘要法 (Methods for Curing).

Translated here into English for the first time, these documents reveal a distinctly visionary form of Buddhist meditation whose goal is the acquisition of concrete, symbolic visions attesting to the practitioner’s purity and progress toward liberation. Both texts are “apocryphal” scriptures: Taking the form of Indian Buddhist sutras translated into Chinese, they were in fact new compositions, written or at least assembled in China in the first half of the fifth century. Though written in China, their historical significance extends beyond the East Asian context as they are among the earliest written sources anywhere to record certain kinds of information about Buddhist meditation that hitherto had been the preserve of oral tradition and personal initiation. To this extent they indeed divulge, as their titles claim, the “secrets” of Buddhist meditation. Through them, we witness a culture of Buddhist meditation that has remained largely unknown but which for many centuries was widely shared across North India, Central Asia, and China.

Table of Contents:

Meditation and Meditation Literature in Early Medieval Chinese Buddhism

Visionary Meditation

Buddhist Meditation according to the Chan Essentials and Methods for Curing

Ritual Repentance, Buddha Bodies, and Somatic Soteriology

A Fourth-Century Daoist Family: The Zhen’gao, or Declarations of the Perfected, Volume 1

Author:

Stephen R. Bokenkamp

Publisher:
University of California Press

Publication date:
December 2020

Abstract:
This volume is the first in a series of full-length English translations from one of the foremost classics in Daoist religious literature, the Zhen gao 真誥 or Declarations of the Perfected. The Declarations is a collection of poems, accounts of the dead, instructions, and meditation methods received by the Daoist Yang Xi (330–ca. 386 BCE) from celestial beings and shared by him with his patrons and students. These fragments of revealed material were collected and annotated by the eminent scholar and Daoist Tao Hongjing (456–536), allowing us access to these distant worlds and unfamiliar strategies of self-perfection. Bokenkamp's full translation highlights the literary nature of Daoist revelation and the place of the Declarations in the development of Chinese letters. It further details interactions with the Chinese throne and the aristocracy and demonstrates ways that Buddhist borrowings helped shape Daoism much earlier than has been assumed. This first volume also contains heretofore unrecognized reconfigurations of Buddhist myth and practice that Yang Xi introduced to his Daoist audience.

Table of Contents:

Introduction

Contents and Background of the Work

Women and Goddesses

Mediumism in the Declarations

Buddhism in the Declarations

Prior Translations

1) Tao Hongjing's Postface (DZ 1016, Chapters 19–20) 

Translation: Introducing the Declarations of the Perfected

Translation: Account of the Perfected Scriptures from Beginning to End

Translation: Genealogy of the Perfected Forebears

2) The Poems of Elu¨hua

Translation: The Poems of Elu¨hua (DZ 1016, 1.1a–2a)

3) The Sons of Sima Yu 

Introduction

Translation: The Sons of Sima Yu

4) "Eight Pages of Lined Text"

a) Introduction to the "Eight Pages of Lined Text"

b) Introduction and Translation: Poems on Dependence and Independence

c) Introduction and Translation: Han Mingdi's Dream

d) Introduction and Translation of On Fangzhu 

e) Introduction and Translation of the Teachings and Admonitions of the Assembled Numinous Powers (= The Scripture in Forty-Two Sections)

f) Related Fragments

A Library of Clouds: The Scripture of the Immaculate Numen and the Rewriting of Daoist Texts

Authors:
J. E. E. Pettit & Chao-jan Chang 張超然

Publisher:
University of Hawaii Press

Publication date:
September 2020




Abstract:
From early times, Daoist writers claimed to receive scriptures via revelation from heavenly beings. In numerous cases, these writings were composed over the course of many nights and by different mediums. New revelations were often hastily appended, and the resulting unevenness gave rise to the impression that Daoist texts often appear slapdash and contain contradictions. A Library of Clouds focuses on the re-writing of Daoist scriptures in the Upper Clarity (Shangqing) lineage in fourth- and fifth-century China. Scholarship on Upper Clarity Daoism has been dominated by attempts to uncover “original” or “authentic” texts, which has resulted in the neglect of later scriptures―including the work fully translated and annotated here, the Scripture of the Immaculate Numen, one of the Three Wonders (sanqi) and among the most prized Daoist texts in medieval China. The scripture’s lack of a coherent structure and its different authorial voices have led many to see it not as a unified work but the creation of different editors who shaped and reshaped it over time.

A Library of Clouds constructs new ways of understanding the complex authorship of texts like the Scripture of the Immaculate Numen and their place in early medieval Daoism. It stresses their significance in understanding the ways in which manuscripts were written, received, and distributed in early medieval China. By situating the scripture within its immediate hagiographic and ritual contexts, it suggests that this kind of revelatory literature is best understood as a pastiche of ideas, a process of weaving together previously circulating notions and beliefs into a new scriptural fabric.

Table of Contents:

Part I. Translators’ Introduction

Background 

Chapter One Thirty-One Fascicles: Cataloguing Scriptures of the Heavens

Chapter Two Thrree Ones: A Stereoscopic View of a Daoist Hagiography

Chapter Three Five Stars: Remaking Daoist Ritual

Chapter Four Nine Palaces: Later Reconstructions of Upper Clarity

Chapter Five Three Hundred Fascicles: Rethinking the Authorship of Daoist Scriptures

Conclusion

Part II. Translation: The Most High Wondrous Scripture of the Immaculate Numen [Celestial Palace] and

Penetrating Mystery of the Great Existence [Heaven] (Taishang suling dongxuan dayou miaojing

太上素靈洞玄大有妙經, DZ 1314)

1 The Three Grottoes

2 The Nine Palaces

3 The Three Ones

4 Three [Palaces] and Nine [Openings] 

5 Illustrious Code of the Nine Perfected

Zhou History Unearthed: The Bamboo Manuscript Xinian and Early Chinese Historiography

Author:
Yuri Pines

Publication date:
October 2020

Publisher:
Columbia University Press

Abstract:
There is a stark contrast between the overarching importance of history writing in imperial China and the meagerness of historical texts from the centuries preceding the imperial unification of 221 BCE. However, recently discovered bamboo manuscripts from the Warring States period (453–221 BCE) have changed this picture, leading to reappraisals of early Chinese historiography. These manuscripts shed new light on questions related to the production, circulation, and audience of historical texts in early China; their different political, ritual, and ideological usages; and their roles in the cultural and intellectual dynamics of China’s vibrant pre-imperial age.

Zhou History Unearthed offers both a novel understanding of early Chinese historiography and a fully annotated translation of Xinian 繫年 (String of Years), the most notable historical manuscript from the state of Chu. Yuri Pines elucidates the importance of Xinian and other recently discovered texts for our understanding of history writing in Zhou China (1046–255 BCE), as well as major historical events and topics such as Chu’s cultural identity. Pines explores how Xinian challenges existing interpretations of the nature and reliability of canonical historical texts on the Zhou era, such as Zuo zhuan 左傳 (Zuo Tradition/Commentary) and Records of the Historian (Shiji 史記). A major work of scholarship and translation, Zhou History Unearthed sheds new light on early Chinese history and historiography, demonstrating how new archaeological findings are changing our knowledge of China’s pre-imperial days.

Table of Contents:

Introduction: The Riddle of Zhou Historiography
Part I. Rethinking Early Chinese History Writing
1. Zhou Historiography as Seen from the Transmitted Texts
2. Xinian and Zhou Historiography
3. Zhou Historiography in Other Newly Discovered Sources
4. Beyond Sima Qian: Zhou History Revisited
5. Chu Historiography and Chu Cultural Identity
Part II. Xinian Translation and Commentary
Xinian 1
Xinian 2
Xinian 3
Xinian 4
Xinian 5
Xinian 6
Xinian 7
Xinian 8
Xinian 9
Xinian 10
Xinian 11
Xinian 12
Xinian 13
Xinian 14
Xinian 15
Xinian 16
Xinian 17
Xinian 18
Xinian 19
Xinian 20
Xinian 21
Xinian 22
Xinian 23
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Kao Gong Ji: The World’s Oldest Encyclopaedia of Technologies

Translators & Commentators: 
Zengjian Guan and Konrad Herrmann

Publication Date: 
09 Dec 2019

Publisher:
Brill

Abstract:
In Kao Gong Ji: The World’s Oldest Encyclopaedia of Technologies, Guan Zengjian and Konrad Herrmann offer an English translation and commentary of the first technological encyclopaedia in China. This work came into being around the 5th century C.E. and contains descriptions of thirty technologies used at the time. Most prominent are bronze casting, the manufacture of carriages and weapons, a metrological standard, the making of musical instruments, and the planning of cities. The technologies, including the manufacturing process and quality assurance, are based on standardization and modularization. In several commentaries, the editors show to which degree the descriptions of Kao Gong Ji correspond to archaeological findings.

Table of Contents:
Preface
Foreword
Introduction
The Text
  卷上 (Part One)
  卷下 (Part Two)
Analysis – Commentaries

Treatise on Awakening Mahāyāna Faith

Editors:
John Jorgensen, Dan Lusthaus, John Makeham, and Mark Strange

Publisher:
Oxford University Press

Publication date:
December 2019

Abstract:
Dasheng qixin lun 大乘起信論, or Treatise on Awakening Mahāyāna Faith has been one of the most important texts of East Asian Buddhism since it first appeared in sixth-century China. It outlines the initial steps a Mahāyāna Buddhist needs to take to reach enlightenment, beginning with the conviction that the Mahāyāna path is correct and worth pursuing. The Treatise addresses many of the doctrines central to various Buddhist teachings in China between the fifth and seventh centuries, attempting to reconcile seemingly contradictory ideas in Buddhist texts introduced from India. It provided a model for later schools to harmonize teachings and sustain the idea that, despite different approaches, there was only one doctrine, or Dharma. It profoundly shaped the doctrines and practices of the major schools of Chinese Buddhism: Chan, Tiantai, Huayan, and to a lesser extent Pure Land. It quickly became a shared resource for East Asian philosophers and students of Buddhist thought.

Drawing on the historical and intellectual contexts of Treatise's composition and paying sustained attention to its interpretation in early commentaries, this new annotated translation of the classic, makes its ideas available to English readers like never before. The introduction orients readers to the main topics taken up in the Treatise and gives a comprehensive historical and intellectual grounding to the text. This volume marks a major advance in studies of the Treatise, bringing to light new interpretations and themes of the text.

Table of Contents:
Introduction
Treatise on Awakening Mahāyāna Faith
Bibliography
English-to-Chinese Glossary
Chinese-to-English Glossary

Anthology of Tang and Song Tales: The Tang Song chuanqi ji of Lu Xun

Editors:
Victor Mair & Zhenjun Zhang

Publication date:
April 2020

Publisher: 
World Scientific Publishing Co Pte Ltd

Abstract:
This volume is the first complete English rendition of the 45 famous tales in the monumental anthology masterfully selected and edited by Lu Xun (1881–1936). It is the most distinctive, authoritative, and influential chuanqi collection thus far, and many of the pieces are rendered for the first time. This is an important contribution to the field of Chinese studies in the English-speaking world.

Table of Contents:

Introduction
Preface and Selection Rules
Chinese Dynasty Chronology

Chapter 1:
The Record of the Ancient Mirror
A Supplement to Jiang Zong's 'Biography of the White Ape'
An Account of the Detached Soul
The World Inside a Pillow
The Tale of Miss Ren

Chapter 2:
Zheng Qinyue Deciphers an Ancient Inscription of the Datong Reign Period
The Tale of Miss Liu
Tale of the Transcendent Marriage of Dongting Lake
The Story of Li Zhangwu
The Tale of Huo Xiaoyu

Chapter 3:
The Ancient Classic of Peaks and Waterways
An Account of the Governor of the Southern Branch
The Story of Lady Feng of Lujiang
An Account of Xie Xiao'e
The Courtesan Li Wa
An Account of Three Dreams
The Account of the Song of Lasting Regret
The Elder of the Eastern Wall
The Origin of the Peaceful Kaiyuan Reign Era

Chapter 4:
The Story of Yingying
A Chronicle of My Journey through Zhou and Qin
Lament from the Xiang River: A Prose with a Preface
Registering a Strange Dream
A Record of a Dream of Qin
The Tale of Wushuang the Peerless
An Account of the Maid Shangqing
The Account of Courtesan Yang
The Tale of Feiyan
The Tale of the Curly-Bearded Guest

Chapter 5:
Music from the Netherworld
A Record of Nocturnal Spirits near Dongyang
An Account of Lingying

Chapter 6:
Leftover Record of the Sui Dynasty (A)
Leftover Record of the Sui Dynasty (B)
Record of the Oceans and Mountains of Emperor Yang of the Sui (A)
Record of the Oceans and Mountains of Emperor Yang of the Sui (B)
The Mansion of Enchantment
Records of Constructing the Grand Canal

Chapter 7:
The Tale of Green Pearl
Unofficial Biography of Yang the Grand Verity (A)
Unofficial Biography of Yang the Grand Verity (B)

Chapter 8:
The Record of the Drifting Red Leaf
Separate Traditions of Empress Zhao 'the Flying Swallow'
The Tale of Tan Yige
The Record of Wang Youyu
Wang Xie
The Tale of Concubine Plum
An Unofficial Biography of Li Shishi

Lu Jia's New Discourses: A Political Manifesto from the Early Han Dynasty

Translators: 
Paul Goldin and Elisa Levi Sabattini

Publisher:
Brill

Publication date:
January 2020

Abstract:
Lu Jia's New Discourses: A Political Manifesto from the Early Han Dynasty is a readable yet accurate translation by Paul R. Goldin and Elisa Levi Sabattini. Celebrated as “a man-of-service with a mouth [skilled] at persuasion”, Lu Jia (c. 228-140 BCE) became one of the leading figures of the early Han dynasty, serving as a statesman and diplomat from the very beginning of the Han empire. This book is a translation of Lu Jia’s New Discourses, which laid out the reasons for rise and fall of empires. Challenged by the new Emperor to produce a book explaining why a realm that was conquered on horseback cannot also be ruled on horseback, Lu Jia produced New Discourses, to great acclaim.

Table of Contents:
Historical and Intellectual Context
Lu Jia and the New Discourses
Xinyu and its Editions
Our Principles of Translation and Annotation
Translations into Western languages
New Discourses 新語
The Foundation of the Way 道基
Recounting [Past] Events 術事
Assisting in Government 輔政
Non-Action 無為
Resolving Delusion 辨惑
Attention to the Subtle 慎微
Aides of Quality 資質
Utmost Virtue 至德
Embracing [Consistent] Thoughts 懷慮
Acting on the [Right] Basis 本行
Perceptible Warnings 明誡
Thinking of One's Responsibilities 思務

The Art of War: A New Translation by Michael Nylan

Translator: 
Michael Nylan

Publisher: 
W. W. Norton & Company

Publication date:
January 7, 2020

Abstract:
Sun Tzu’s ancient book of strategy and psychology has as much to tell us today as when it was first written 2,500 years ago. In a world forever at odds, his rules for anticipating the motivations and strategies of our competitors never cease to inspire leaders of all kinds.

Michael Nylan, in her provocative introduction, sees new and unexpected lessons to be learned from The Art of War—in business ventures, relationships, games of skill, academic careers, and medical practices. Strategy, like conflict, is woven into society’s very roots.

Nylan’s crisp translation “offers a masterly new evaluation of this classic work, which balances the overtly military content with a profound and thought-provoking analysis” (Olivia Milburn). Readers newly engaging with ancient Chinese culture will be inspired by Nylan’s authoritative voice. Informed by years of scholarly study, Nylan is uniquely placed to introduce readers to Sun Tzu’s classic work through her detailed annotations on culture and the intricacies of translating ancient Chinese into modern English. She proves that Sun Tzu is more relevant than ever, helping us navigate the conflicts we know and those we have yet to endure.