Martial Spectacles of the Ming Court

Martial Spectacles of the Ming Court PDF Author: David M. Robinson
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 1684170710
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 444

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Book Description
Like most empires, the Ming court sponsored grand displays of dynastic strength and military prowess. Covering the first two centuries of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), Martial Spectacles of the Ming Court explores how the royal hunt, polo matches, archery contests, equestrian demonstrations, and the imperial menagerie were represented in poetry, prose, and portraiture. This study reveals that martial spectacles were highly charged sites of contestation, where Ming emperors and senior court ministers staked claims about rulership, ruler-minister relations, and the role of the military in the polity. Simultaneously colorful entertainment, prestigious social events, and statements of power, martial spectacles were intended to make manifest the ruler’s personal generosity, keen discernment, and respect for family tradition. They were, however, subject to competing interpretations that were often beyond the emperor’s control or even knowledge. By situating Ming martial spectacles in the wider context of Eurasia, David Robinson brings to light the commensurability of the Ming court with both the Mongols and Manchus but more broadly with other early modern courts such as the Timurids, the Mughals, and the Ottomans.

Martial Spectacles of the Ming Court

Martial Spectacles of the Ming Court PDF Author: David M. Robinson
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 1684170710
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 444

Get Book

Book Description
Like most empires, the Ming court sponsored grand displays of dynastic strength and military prowess. Covering the first two centuries of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), Martial Spectacles of the Ming Court explores how the royal hunt, polo matches, archery contests, equestrian demonstrations, and the imperial menagerie were represented in poetry, prose, and portraiture. This study reveals that martial spectacles were highly charged sites of contestation, where Ming emperors and senior court ministers staked claims about rulership, ruler-minister relations, and the role of the military in the polity. Simultaneously colorful entertainment, prestigious social events, and statements of power, martial spectacles were intended to make manifest the ruler’s personal generosity, keen discernment, and respect for family tradition. They were, however, subject to competing interpretations that were often beyond the emperor’s control or even knowledge. By situating Ming martial spectacles in the wider context of Eurasia, David Robinson brings to light the commensurability of the Ming court with both the Mongols and Manchus but more broadly with other early modern courts such as the Timurids, the Mughals, and the Ottomans.

Exotic Animals in the Art and Culture of the Medici Court in Florence

Exotic Animals in the Art and Culture of the Medici Court in Florence PDF Author: Angelica Groom
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004371133
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 360

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Book Description
An examination of the diverse roles exotic animals, both living species and depicted as motifs in art, played in the fashioning of the Medici’s courtly identity.

Yang Tinghe: A Political Life in the Mid-Ming Court

Yang Tinghe: A Political Life in the Mid-Ming Court PDF Author: Aaron Throness
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004682376
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 262

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Book Description
Who was Yang Tinghe? Despite being one of Ming China’s most eminent officials, Yang and his career have long eluded scholarly study in the West. In this volume, Aaron Throness engages a trove of untapped Ming sources and secondary scholarship to recount Yang Tinghe’s political life, and in unprecedented detail. Throness explores how Yang, a pragmatic politician and conservative Confucian, rose through the bureaucracy and responded to dire threats to the Ming court from within and without. He also traces Yang’s meteoric rise to power, the clashes that occasioned his downfall, and his apotheosis as dynastic savior. Through Yang Tinghe’s successes, struggles, and failures this political biography offers a critical appraisal of both the man and his times.

Ming China and its Allies

Ming China and its Allies PDF Author: David M. Robinson
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108489222
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 263

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Book Description
Explores the Ming Dynasty's foreign relations with neighboring sovereigns, placing China in a wider global context.

Gender, Continuity, and the Shaping of Modernity in the Arts of East Asia, 16th–20th Centuries

Gender, Continuity, and the Shaping of Modernity in the Arts of East Asia, 16th–20th Centuries PDF Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004348956
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 354

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Book Description
Gender, Continuity, and the Shaping of Modernity in the Arts of East Asia, 16th–20th Centuries presents a critical introduction and nine essays that examine women’s and men’s participation in the art world and gendered visual representations from the premodern through modern eras.

Empire in Asia: A New Global History

Empire in Asia: A New Global History PDF Author: Jack Fairey
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472591232
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 321

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Book Description
Asia was the principle focus of empire-builders from Alexander and Akbar to Chinggis Khan and Qianlong and yet, until now, there has been no attempt to provide a comprehensive history of empire in the region. Empire in Asia addresses the need for a thorough survey of the topic. This volume traces the evolution of a constellation of competing empires in Asia from the 13th through to the 18th centuries. Separate chapters will describe the history and characteristic features of imperial regimes in each major sub-region of Asia, from the Ottomans and Safavids in the West, Romanovs in the North, Mughals in the South, the Mongols & their successors in Inner Asia, to the Ming and Qing Dynasties in the East. The contributors address common questions in considering the various empires, including: - How did imperial Asian states understand themselves and their place in the world? - How were these empires constructed and how did they attain such prominence? - To what extent did imperial repertoires of rule differ? The two volumes of Empire in Asia offer a significant contribution to the theory and practice of empire when considered globally and comparatively and are essential reading for all students and scholars of global, imperial and Asian history.

The Ming World

The Ming World PDF Author: Kenneth M Swope
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000134660
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 845

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Book Description
The Ming World draws together scholars from all over the world to bring China’s Ming Dynasty (1368-1662) to life, exploring recent scholarly trends and academic debates that highlight the dynamism of the Ming and its key place in the early modern world. The book is designed to replicate the structure of popular Ming-era unofficial histories that gathered information and gossip from a wide variety of fields and disciplines. Engaging with a broad array of primary and secondary sources, the authors build upon earlier scholarship while extending the field to embrace new theories, methodologies, and interpretive frameworks. It is divided into five thematically linked sections: Institutions, Ideas, Identities, Individuals, and Interactions. Unique in its breadth and scope, The Ming World is essential reading for scholars and postgraduates of early modern China, the history of East Asia and anyone interested in gaining a broader picture of the colorful Ming world and its inhabitants.

In the Shadow of the Mongol Empire

In the Shadow of the Mongol Empire PDF Author: David M. Robinson
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108482449
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 387

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Book Description
Memories of the Mongol Empire loomed large in fourteenth-century Eurasia. Robinson explores how Ming China exploited these memories for its own purposes.

A Ming Confucian’s World

A Ming Confucian’s World PDF Author: Lu Rong
Publisher: University of Washington Press
ISBN: 0295749946
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 190

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Book Description
A forgotten century marks the years between the Ming dynasty's (1368–1644) turbulent founding and its sixteenth-century age of exploration and economic transformation. In this period of social stability, retired scholar-official Lu Rong chronicled his observations of Chinese society in Miscellaneous Records from the Bean Garden (Shuyuan zaji). Openly expressing his admirations and frustrations, Lu provides a window into the quotidian that sets Bean Garden apart from other works of the biji genre of "informal notes." Mark Halperin organizes a translated selection of Lu's accounts from Miscellaneous Records from the Bean Garden to create a panorama of Ming life. A man of unusual curiosity, Lu describes multiple social classes, ethnicities, and locales in his accounts of political intrigues, farming techniques, religious practices, etiquette, crime, and family life. Centuries after their composition, Lu's words continue to provide a richly textured portrait of China on the cusp of the early modern era.

Dynasties

Dynasties PDF Author: Jeroen Duindam
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107060680
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 437

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Book Description
A vibrant and broad-ranging study of dynastic power in the late medieval and early modern world.