Download or read book Heaven and Earth in Early Han Thought written by John S. Major and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 1993-01-01 with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Huainanzi has in recent years been recognized by scholars as one of the seminal works of Chinese thought at the beginning of the imperial era, a summary of the full flowering of early Taoist philosophy. This book presents a study of three key chapters of the Huainanzi, "The Treatise on the Patterns of Heaven," "The Treatise on Topography," and "The Treatise on the Seasonal Rules," which collectively comprise the most comprehensive extant statement of cosmological thinking in the early Han period. Major presents, for the first time, full English translations of these treatises. He supplements the translations with detailed commentaries that clarify the sometimes arcane language of the text and presents a fascinating picture of the ancient Chinese view of how the world was formed and sustained, and of the role of humans in the cosmos.

Download or read book Heaven and Earth in Early Han Thought written by John S. Major and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 1993-08-03 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Huainanzi has in recent years been recognized by scholars as one of the seminal works of Chinese thought at the beginning of the imperial era, a summary of the full flowering of early Taoist philosophy. This book presents a study of three key chapters of the Huainanzi, “The Treatise on the Patterns of Heaven,” “The Treatise on Topography,” and “The Treatise on the Seasonal Rules,” which collectively comprise the most comprehensive extant statement of cosmological thinking in the early Han period. Major presents, for the first time, full English translations of these treatises. He supplements the translations with detailed commentaries that clarify the sometimes arcane language of the text and presents a fascinating picture of the ancient Chinese view of how the world was formed and sustained, and of the role of humans in the cosmos.

Download or read book Heaven and Earth in Early Han Throught written by John S. Major and published by . This book was released on 1993 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Ways of Heaven written by Roel Sterckx and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2019-09-17 with total page 512 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A brilliant history of ancient China's masters of philosophy -- and how they help us understand China today In Ways of Heaven, leading China scholar Roel Sterckx offers an engrossing introduction to classical China's world of ideas. Drawing on evocative examples from philosophical texts, literature, and everyday life over centuries of Chinese history, Sterckx introduces major thinkers and traditions, illuminates key concepts like the dao, qi, yin, and yang, and examines questions of leadership, social order, death, nature, and more. He also reveals how these ideas shape contemporary China, from table manners at a traditional banquet, to the Chinese obsession with education and family, to the rhetoric of political leaders and the nation's grand strategy. Essential reading for students, travelers, businesspeople, and anyone curious about this rising global power, Ways of Heaven shows that to comprehend China today we must learn to think Chinese.

Download or read book Picturing Heaven in Early China written by Lillian Lan-ying Tseng and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2020-03-17 with total page 479 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tian, or Heaven, had multiple meanings in early China. It had been used since the Western Zhou to indicate both the sky and the highest god, and later came to be regarded as a force driving the movement of the cosmos and as a home to deities and imaginary animals. By the Han dynasty, which saw an outpouring of visual materials depicting Heaven, the concept of Heaven encompassed an immortal realm to which humans could ascend after death. Using excavated materials, Lillian Tseng shows how Han artisans transformed various notions of Heaven—as the mandate, the fantasy, and the sky—into pictorial entities. The Han Heaven was not indicated by what the artisans looked at, but rather was suggested by what they looked into. Artisans attained the visibility of Heaven by appropriating and modifying related knowledge of cosmology, mythology, astronomy. Thus the depiction of Heaven in Han China reflected an interface of image and knowledge. By examining Heaven as depicted in ritual buildings, on household utensils, and in the embellishments of funerary settings, Tseng maintains that visibility can hold up a mirror to visuality; Heaven was culturally constructed and should be culturally reconstructed.

Download or read book How Master Mou Removes Our Doubts written by John P. Keenan and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 1994-01-01 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the first English translation of the earliest Chinese Buddhist text, but it is more than a translation. Keenan shows that Mou-tzu's Treatise on Alleviating Doubt is a Buddhist hermeneutic on the Chinese classics. Using a reader-response method of examining the text, Keenan shows how the rhetoric convinces readers that one can remain culturally Chinese yet be a Buddhist. The Introduction explains the reader-response methodology, develops the movement of the dialogue in terms of this method, and clarifies the rhetorical impact of Master Mou's argument. The Introduction is followed by the thirty-seven articles of the text. Each article is first translated into English, then the contextual images and ideas are unpacked for each, and finally each article is subjected to a reader-response critique that shows what the argument accomplishes in each of its progressive steps.

Download or read book Art of the Yellow Springs written by Wu Hung and published by Reaktion Books. This book was released on 2015-02-15 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We might think the Egyptians were the masters of building tombs, but no other civilization has devoted more time and resources to underground burial structures than the Chinese. For at least five thousand years, from the fourth millennium B.C.E. to the early twentieth century, the Chinese have been building some of the world’s most elaborate tombs and furnishing them with exquisite objects. It is these objects and the concept of the tomb as a “treasure-trove” that The Art of the Yellow Springs seeks to critique, drawing on recent scholarship to examine memorial sites the way they were meant to be experienced: not as a mere store of individual works, but as a work of art itself. Wu Hung bolsters some of the new trends in Chinese art history that have been challenging the conventional ways of studying funerary art. Examining the interpretative methods themselves that guide the study of memorials, he argues that in order to understand Chinese tombs, one must not necessarily forget the individual works present in them—as the beautiful color plates here will prove—but consider them along with a host of other art-historical concepts. These include notions of visuality, viewership, space, analysis, function, and context. The result is a ground-breaking new assessment that demonstrates the amazing richness of one of the longest-running traditions in the whole of art history.

Download or read book Dong Zhongshu a Confucian Heritage and the Chunqiu fanlu written by Michael Loewe and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2011-04-11 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Intellectual developments of the Western Han dynasty (202 BCE – 9 CE) have been studied hitherto on the assumptions that a system described as ‘Confucianism’ acquired paramount importance and that Dong Zhongshu (ca. 198 to ca. 107 BCE) had been responsible for formulating its principles. In challenging these assumptions, this book examines Dong’ career and reputation, and his supposed authorship of the Chunqiu fanlu, for long subject to question. It is concluded that while some parts of that text may well represent the teachings that Dong Zhongshu promoted, some may perhaps date from as late as 79 CE; still others bear an affinity to writings which, banned as being suspect or potentially subversive, survive in no more than fragmentary form.

Download or read book Shizi written by and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2012-07-03 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By blending multiple strands of thought into one ideology, Chinese Syncretists of the pre-imperial period created an essential guide to contemporary ideas about self, society, and government. Merging traditions such as Ruism, Mohism, Daoism, Legalism, and Yin-Yang naturalism into their work, Syncretists created an integrated intellectual approach that contrasts with other, more specific philosophies. Presenting the first full English translation of the earliest example of a Syncretist text, this volume introduces Western scholars to both the brilliance of the syncretic method and a critical work of Chinese leadership. Written by Shi Jiao, China's first syncretic thinker, during the Warring States Period of 481 to 221 BCE, Shizi is similar to Machiavelli's The Prince in that it dispenses wisdom to would-be rulers. It stresses the need for leaders to be detached and objective. It further encourages self-cultivation and effective government, recommending that rulers maintain self-discipline, hire reliable people, delegate power transparently, and promote others in an orderly fashion. The people, it is argued, will emulate their leader's wisdom and virtue, and a just and peaceful state will result. Paul Fischer provides an extensive introduction and a chapter-by-chapter summary and analysis of the text—outlining the importance of syncretism in Chinese culture—and explores the text's particular features, authorship, transmission, loss, and reconstruction over time. The Shizi set the stage for a long history of syncretic endeavor in China, and its study provides insight into the vital traditions of early Chinese philosophy. It is also a template for interpreting other well-known works, such as the Confucian Analects, the Daoist Laozi, the Mohist Mozi, and the Legalist Shang jun shu.

Download or read book Chinese History written by Endymion Porter Wilkinson and published by Harvard Univ Asia Center. This book was released on 2000 with total page 1220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Endymion Wilkinson's bestselling manual of Chinese history has long been an indispensable guide to all those interested in the civilization and history of China. In this latest edition, now in a bigger format, its scope has been dramatically enlarged by the addition of one million words of new text. Twelve years in the making, the new manual introduces students to different types of transmitted, excavated, and artifactual sources from prehistory to the twentieth century. It also examines the context in which the sources were produced, preserved, and received, the problems of research and interpretation associated with them, and the best, most up-to-date secondary works. Because the writing of history has always played a central role in Chinese politics and culture, special attention is devoted to the strengths and weaknesses of Chinese historiography.

Download or read book In Praise of Nothing written by Ellen M. Chen and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2010-12-22 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the fi rst work devoted to an expositi on on Daoist metaphysics and presenti ng Dao as a feminine principle. The work should be of interest to scholars and general readers in many disciplines: Comparati ve philosophy, religious studies, metaphysics, Asian studies, Chinese studies... etc.

Download or read book The History of Thoughts in Qin and Han Dynasty written by Li Shi and published by DeepLogic. This book was released on with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book is the volume of “The History of Thoughts in Qin and Han Dynasty” among a series of books of “Deep into China Histories”. The earliest known written records of the history of China date from as early as 1250 BC, from the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BC) and the Bamboo Annals (296 BC) describe a Xia dynasty (c. 2070–1600 BC) before the Shang, but no writing is known from the period The Shang ruled in the Yellow River valley, which is commonly held to be the cradle of Chinese civilization. However, Neolithic civilizations originated at various cultural centers along both the Yellow River and Yangtze River. These Yellow River and Yangtze civilizations arose millennia before the Shang. With thousands of years of continuous history, China is one of the world's oldest civilizations, and is regarded as one of the cradles of civilization.The Zhou dynasty (1046–256 BC) supplanted the Shang and introduced the concept of the Mandate of Heaven to justify their rule. The central Zhou government began to weaken due to external and internal pressures in the 8th century BC, and the country eventually splintered into smaller states during the Spring and Autumn period. These states became independent and warred with one another in the following Warring States period. Much of traditional Chinese culture, literature and philosophy first developed during those troubled times.In 221 BC Qin Shi Huang conquered the various warring states and created for himself the title of Huangdi or "emperor" of the Qin, marking the beginning of imperial China. However, the oppressive government fell soon after his death, and was supplanted by the longer-lived Han dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD). Successive dynasties developed bureaucratic systems that enabled the emperor to control vast territories directly. In the 21 centuries from 206 BC until AD 1912, routine administrative tasks were handled by a special elite of scholar-officials. Young men, well-versed in calligraphy, history, literature, and philosophy, were carefully selected through difficult government examinations. China's last dynasty was the Qing (1644–1912), which was replaced by the Republic of China in 1912, and in the mainland by the People's Republic of China in 1949.Chinese history has alternated between periods of political unity and peace, and periods of war and failed statehood – the most recent being the Chinese Civil War (1927–1949). China was occasionally dominated by steppe peoples, most of whom were eventually assimilated into the Han Chinese culture and population. Between eras of multiple kingdoms and warlordism, Chinese dynasties have ruled parts or all of China; in some eras control stretched as far as Xinjiang and Tibet, as at present. Traditional culture, and influences from other parts of Asia and the Western world (carried by waves of immigration, cultural assimilation, expansion, and foreign contact), form the basis of the modern culture of China.

Download or read book The Huainanzi written by John S. Major and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2010-04-14 with total page 1003 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Compiled by scholars at the court of Liu An, king of Huainan, in the second century B.C.E, The Huainanzi is a tightly organized, sophisticated articulation of Western Han philosophy and statecraft. Outlining "all that a modern monarch needs to know," the text emphasizes rigorous self-cultivation and mental discipline, brilliantly synthesizing for readers past and present the full spectrum of early Chinese thought. The Huainanzi locates the key to successful rule in a balance of broad knowledge, diligent application, and the penetrating wisdom of a sage. It is a unique and creative synthesis of Daoist classics, such as the Laozi and the Zhuangzi; works associated with the Confucian tradition, such as the Changes, the Odes, and the Documents; and a wide range of other foundational philosophical and literary texts from the Mozi to the Hanfeizi. The product of twelve years of scholarship, this remarkable translation preserves The Huainanzi's special rhetorical features, such as parallel prose and verse, and showcases a compositional technique that conveys the work's powerful philosophical appeal. This path-breaking volume will have a transformative impact on the field of early Chinese intellectual history and will be of great interest to scholars and students alike.

Download or read book The Cambridge History of Ancient China written by Michael Loewe and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1999-03-13 with total page 1192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Cambridge History of Ancient China provides a survey of the institutional and cultural history of pre-imperial China.

Download or read book Dao De Jing written by Laozi and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2004-05-24 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dao De Jing was composed in China between the late sixth and late fourth centuries BC.

Download or read book The Natural Philosophy of Chu Hsi 1130 1200 written by Yung Sik Kim and published by American Philosophical Society. This book was released on 2000 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Chu Hsi (1130-1200) exerted a lasting influence on the thought and life of the Chinese in subsequent cent. The core of his synthesis was moral and social philosophy, but it also included knowledge about the natural world. His doctrine of ke-wu (invest. of things) made him mindful of the specialized knowledged in such "scientific" traditions as astronomy, harmonics, med., etc. This study of Chu Hsi's thought gives a systematic account of the basic concepts of his natural philosophy. Also discusses Chu Hsi's actual knowledge about the natural world. And examines the relation between Chu Hsi and Chinese "scientific" traditions and compares his natural knowledge with that of the Western scientific tradition.

Download or read book Yinyang written by Robin Wang and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2012-09-24 with total page 263 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The concept of yinyang lies at the heart of Chinese thought and culture. This book explores the relationship between these two opposing forces.