Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Dao Companion to the Philosophy of Han Fei 韓非

Editor: Paul R. Goldin

Publication Year: 2013 (2012)

Publisher: Springer

Abstract:
Han Fei, who died in 233 BC, was one of the primary philosophers of China’s classical era, a reputation still intact despite recent neglect. This edited volume on the thinker, his views on politics and philosophy, and the tensions of his relations with Confucianism (which he derided) is the first of its kind in English.
Featuring contributions from specialists in various disciplines including religious studies and literature, this new addition to the Dao Companions to Chinese Philosophy series includes the latest research. It breaks new ground with studies of Han Fei’s intellectual antecedents, and his relationship as a historical figure with Han Feizi, the text attributed to him, as well as surveying the full panoply of his thought. It also includes a chapter length survey of relevant scholarship, both in Chinese and Japanese.

Table of Contents:


Introduction: 
Han Fei and the Han Feizi — Paul R.Goldin,University of Pennsylvania.-

I.  Han Fei’s Predecessors.- 
From Historical Evolution to the End of History: Past, Present and Future from Shang Yang to the First Emperor — Yuri Pines, Hebrew University of Jerusalem.- 
Shen Dao’s Theory of fa and His Influence on Han Fei — Soon-ja Yang, Inha University.- 

II.  The Philosophy of Han Fei.- 
Submerged by Absolute Power: The Ruler’s Predicament in theHan Feizi — Yuri Pines.- 
Beyond the Rule of Rules: The Foundations of Sovereign Power in the Han Feizi — Albert Galvany, University of Cambridge / University Pompeu Fabra .- 
Han Fei on the Problem of Morality — Eirik Lang Harris, Yonsei University .- 

III.  Han Fei and Confucianism.- 
Han Fei and Confucianism: Toward a Synthesis — Bryan W. Van Norden, Vassar College .- 
Did Xunzi’s Theory of Human Nature Provide the Foundation for the Political Thought of Han Fei? — Masayuki Sato, National Taiwan University .- 

IV.  Studies of Specific Chapters.- 
The Difficulty with “The Difficulties of Persuasion” (“Shuinan” 說難) — Michael Hunter, Princeton University .- 
Han Feizi and the Old Master: A Comparative Analysis and Translation of Han Feizi Chapter 20, “Jie Lao,” and Chapter 21, “Yu Lao” — Sarah A. Queen, Connecticut College .- 

Appendix: 
Studies of the Han Feizi in China, Taiwan, and Japan — Masayuki Sato .- Contributors.



Thursday, March 6, 2014

浙江大『左伝』真偽考

Authors浅野裕一 、小沢賢二

Publication Year2013


Publisher汲古書院


Table of Contents

第一章 浙江大学蔵戦国楚簡『左伝』の釈文(浅野裕一)

第二章 『左伝』の研究史(浅野裕一)

第三章 偽簡説の検討(浅野裕一)

第四章 『春秋』及び『左伝』の成立事情(浅野裕一)

第五章 『左伝』の構造的寓意(浅野裕一)

第六章 浙江大楚簡『左伝』発見の意義(浅野裕一)

第七章 伝世本『左伝』の天文暦法データ再検証から見た浙江大『左伝』の有用性(小沢賢二)

第八章 浙江大戦国楚簡『玉勺』の書写年代(小沢賢二)

第九章 中国戦国時代文書文字考(小沢賢二)




Saturday, March 1, 2014

Communication and Cooperation in Early Imperial China: Publicizing the Qin Dynasty

Author
Charles Sanft

Publisher
State University of New York Press

Publication Year
2014




Table of Contents:

1. Introduction

2. Communication and Cooperation: A Framework

3. Communication and Cooperation in Early Chinese Thought

4. Mass Communication and Standardization

5. Progress and Publicity: Qin Shihuang 秦始皇, Ritual, and Common Knowledge

6. Roads to Rule: Construction as Communication

7. Law, Administration, and Communication

8. Conclusion 


Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Witchcraft and the Rise of the First Confucian Empire 巫蠱之禍

Author:
Liang, Cai

Publisher:
SUNY Press

Publication Year:
2014




Abstract:

When did Confucianism become the reigning political ideology of imperial China? A pervasive narrative holds it was during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han dynasty (141–87 BCE). In this book, Liang Cai maintains that such a date would have been too early and provides a new account of this transformation. A hidden narrative in Sima Qian’s The Grand Scribe’s Records (Shi ji) shows that Confucians were a powerless minority in the political realm of this period. Cai argues that the notorious witchcraft scandal of 91–87 BCE reshuffled the power structure of the Western Han bureaucracy and provided Confucians an opportune moment to seize power, evolve into a new elite class, and set the tenor of political discourse for centuries to come.

Table of Contents:

List of Charts and Tables
Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. Minority as the Protagonists: Revisiting Ru 儒 (Confucians) and Their Colleagues under Emperor Wu (141–87 BCE) of the Han

Ru, a Minority Group
Sources of the Myth

2. A Class Merely on Paper: A Study of “The Collective Biographies of Ru” in The Grand Scribe’s Records (Shi ji 史記)

Ru Identity Suppressed by Conflicts
Transforming “Ru” into Confucians
Redefining the Principles of Hierarchy

3. An Archeology of Interpretive Schools of the Five Classics in the Western Han Dynasty

Fragmented Scholarly Lineages
Revising Sima Qian
The Emergence and Proliferation of Interpretive Schools
Continuity or Disruption
Locating the Turning Point

4. A Reshuffle of Power: Witchcraft Scandal and the Birth of a New Class

A Fundamental Disjunction
The Rise of Ru Officials
Witchcraft Scandal and the Birth of a New Class

5. Begin in the Middle: Who Entrusted Ru with Political Power?

Huo Guang’s Dictatorship and Ru Discourse
Techniques of the Classics (jingshu 經術) and Legitimacy of the Throne
Ru Officials under Huo Guang and Emperor Xuan
Who Entrusted Ru with Political Power?

Conclusion
Ru before the Rise of the Ru Empire
Recruitment System of the Han Empire Revisited

Appendix: Major Official Titles of the Western Han Dynasty
Notes
Bibliography
Index


Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Xiongnu Archaeology : Multidisciplinary Perspectives of the First Steppe Empire in Inner Asia 匈奴考古學

Editors: 
Ursula Brosseder & Bryan Miller

Publisher: 

Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn: Bonn

Publication Year: 
2011

Table of Contents:

Introduction: 

State of Research and Future Directions of Xiongnu Studies / Ursula Brosseder, Bryan K. Miller --

Concepts of the polity:


Ethnogenesis, coevolution and political morphology of the earliest steppe empire: the Xiongnu question revisited / Nicola Di Cosmo --


Evidence for the Xiongnu in Chinese wooden documents from the Han period / Enno Giele --


Stateless empire: the structure of the Xiongnu nomadic super-complex chiefdom / Nikolai N. Kradin --


Computing the steppes: data analysis for agent-based models of polities in inner Asia / 
Claudio Cioffi-Revilla, J. Daniel Robers, Steven P. WIlcox, Jai Alterman --


The Xiongnu and the comparative study of empire / Walter Scheidel --


The Xiongnu: progenitors of the classical nomad civilization / Zagd Batsaikhan --

People and life ways:


Typology of ancient settlement complexes of the Xiongnu in Mongolia and Transbaikalia / Sergei V. Danilov --


Settlement patterns and domestic economy of the Xiongnu in Khanui Valley, Mongolia / Jean-Luc Houle, Lee G. Broderick --


The staking tools from the Xiongnu settlement of Boroo Gol, Selenge Aimag, Mongolia / Denis Ramseyer, Marquita Volken --


Xiongnu ceramic chronology and typology in the Egiin Gol Valley, Mongolia / Joshua Wright --


The chronology at the Boroo Settlement, Mongolia: OSL dating of Xiongnu pottery / Saran Solongo, Tsagaan Törbat --


Reconstructing life histories of the Xiongnu. An overview of bioarchaeological applications / Michelle L. Machicek --


Xiongnu pastoral systems: integrating economies of subsistence and scale / Cheryl A. Makarewicz --


Xiongnu population history in relation to China, Manchuria, and the western regions / Christine Lee, Zhang Linhu --

Mortuary eficence of social dynamics:


Grave matters: reconstructing a Xiongnu identity from mortuary stone monuments / Erik G. Johannesson --


Caught in the act: understanding Xiongnu site formation processes at Baga Gazaryn Chuluu, 
Mongolia / Albert Russell Nelson, William Honeychurch, Chunag Amartüvshin --


The animal in the Xiongnu funeral universe: companion of the living, escort of the dead / Hélène Martin --


Gender relationships among the "Xiongnu" as reflected in burial patterns / Yang Jianhua --


Excavations of Xiongnu tombs at Duurlig Nars cemetery in eastern Mongolia / Yun Hyeung-won, Chang Eun-jeong --


A comparative analysis of Xiongnu noble tombs and burials in adjacent regions / Gelegdorzh Eregzen --


The early history of the study of the mounded tombs at the Noyon Uul necropolis: the collection of Andrei Ballod at the Irkutsk Museum of Regional Studies / Grigorii L. Ivanov --


An unlooted elite Xiongnu barrow at Khökh Üzüüriin Dugui-II, Bulgan sum, Khovd aimag, 
Mongolia: relative chronological dating and its significance for the study of Xiongnu burial rites: preliminary report / Alexei A. Kovalev, Diimaazhav Erdenebaatar, Tömör-Ochir Iderkhangai --


Excavations of satellite burial 30, tomb 1 complex, Gol Mod 2 Necropolis / Diimaazhav Erdenebaatar, Tömör-Ochir Iderkhangai, Baatar Galbadrakh, Enkhbaiar Minzhiddorzh, Samdanzhamts Orgilbaiar --

Interregional interaction:


A study on bronze mirrors in Xiongnu graves of Mongolia / Tsagaan Törbat --


Lacquer ear-cups from burial mound 20 in Noyon Uul / Natal'ia V. Polos'mak, Evgenii S. Bogdanov, Agniia N. Chistiakova, Liudmilla P. Kundo --


Animal style silver ornaments of the Xiongnu period / Chimiddorzh Erööl-Erdene --


Ceramic roof tiles from Terelzhiin Dörvölzhin / Sergei V. Danilov, Natal'ia V. Tsydenova --


Belt plaques as an indicator of East-West relations in the Eurasian steppe at the turn of the millennia / Ursula Brosseder --

Regioinal Approaches and delineating the polity:


Preliminary research on the spatial organization of the Xiongnu territories in Mongolia / Juliana Holotová Szinek --


Was the center of the Xiongnu empire in the Orkhon Valley? / Jan Bemmann --


A summary of Xiongnu sites within the northern periphery of China / Pan Ling --


The Shouxiangcheng fortress of the Western Han Period: excavations at Baian Bulag, Nomgon sum, Ömnögov' aimag, Mongolia / Alexei A. Kovalev, Diimaazhav Erdenebaatar, Sergei S. 
Matrenin, Ivan Iu. Grebennikov --


On the walled site of Mangasyn Khuree in Galbyn Gobi / Chunag Amartüvshin, Zham'ian-Ombo Gantulga, Dondog Garamzhav --


New finds from the Xiongnu period in central Tuva: preliminary communication / Pavel M. Leus -


Metal of the Xiongnu period from the Terezin cemetery, Tuva / Sergei V. Khavrin --


Characteristic burials of the Xiongnu period at Ialoman-II in the Altai / Alexei A. Tishkin --


Permutations of peripheries in the Xiongnu empire / Bryan K. Miller.




Sunday, February 2, 2014

Exemplary Women of Early China: The Lienü zhuan of Liu Xiang 列女傳

Translator and editor
Anne Behnke Kinney

Publication Year

2014

Publisher

Columbia University Press




Abstract:


In early China, was it correct for a woman to disobey her father, contradict her husband, or shape the public policy of a son who ruled over a dynasty or state? According to the Lienü zhuan, or Categorized Biographies of Women, it was not only appropriate but necessary for women to step in with wise counsel when fathers, husbands, or rulers strayed from the path of virtue.

Compiled toward the end of the Former Han dynasty (202 BCE-9 CE) by Liu Xiang (79-8 BCE), the Lienü zhuan is the earliest extant book in the Chinese tradition solely devoted to the education of women. Far from providing a unified vision of women’s roles, the text promotes a diverse and sometimes contradictory range of practices. At one extreme are exemplars resorting to suicide and self-mutilation as a means to preserve chastity and ritual orthodoxy. At the other are bold and outspoken women whose rhetorical mastery helps correct erring rulers, sons, and husbands. The text provides a fascinating overview of the representation of women’s roles in early legends, formal speeches on statecraft, and highly fictionalized historical accounts during this foundational period of Chinese history.

Over time, the biographies of women became a regular feature of dynastic and local histories and a vehicle for expressing and transmitting concerns about women’s social, political, and domestic roles. The Lienü zhuan is also rich in information about the daily life, rituals, and domestic concerns of early China. Inspired by its accounts, artists across the millennia have depicted its stories on screens, paintings, lacquer ware, murals, and stone relief sculpture, extending its reach to literate and illiterate audiences alike.

Table of Contents:

Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chronology
1. The Maternal Models
2. The Worthy and Enlightened 
3. The Sympathetic and Wise 
4. The Chaste and Compliant 
5. The Principled and Righteous 
6. The Accomplished Rhetoricians
7. The Depraved and Favored
8. Supplemental Biographies 
Notes
Works Cited

Index