Author: Jordan D. Paper
Publisher: Brill Archive
ISBN: 9789004080997
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 126

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Author: Jordan D. Paper
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004645322
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 116

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Author: Paul R. Goldin
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 9780824824822
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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Book Description
The subject of sex was central to early Chinese thought. Discussed openly and seriously as a fundamental topic of human speculation, it was an important source of imagery and terminology that informed the classical Chinese conception of social and political relationships. This sophisticated and long-standing tradition, however, has been all but neglected by modern historians. In The Culture of Sex in Ancient China, Paul Rakita Goldin addresses central issues in the history of Chinese attitudes toward sex and gender from 500 B.C. to A.D. 400. A survey of major pre-imperial sources, including some of the most revered and influential texts in the Chinese tradition, reveals the use of the image of copulation as a metaphor for various human relations, such as those between a worshiper and his or her deity or a ruler and his subjects. In his examination of early Confucian views of women, Goldin notes that, while contradictions and ambiguities existed in the articulation of these views, women were nevertheless regarded as full participants in the Confucian project of self-transformation. He goes on to show how assumptions concerning the relationship of sexual behavior to political activity (assumptions reinforced by the habitual use of various literary tropes discussed earlier in the book) led to increasing attempts to regulate sexual behavior throughout the Han dynasty. Following the fall of the Han, this ideology was rejected by the aristocracy, who continually resisted claims of sovereignty made by impotent emperors in a succession of short-lived dynasties. Erudite and immensely entertaining, this study of intellectual conceptions of sex and sexuality in China will be welcomed by students and scholars of early China and by those with an interest in the comparative development of ancient cultures.

Author: Yong Chen
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004243739
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 220

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On the Rhetoric of Defining Confucianism as a Religion tackles the perennially controversial question of whether Confucianism is a religion and proposes a holistic and contextual approach to the issue.

Author: Charles Holcombe
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 9780824815929
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description
Falling between the great unified empires of the Han and T'ang, the Period of Division (A.D. 220-589) is one of the most overlooked and least understood eras in Chinese history. At the start of the fourth century much of China's traditional heartland fell under the control of ethnic non-Chinese. The remnants of the Chinese court fled to the still somewhat exotic region south of the Yangtze River, where an Eastern Chin dynasty (318-420) was established in virtual exile. The state's ability to command population and other resources had declined sharply from the heights of Han imperial splendor, but it retained considerable influence over most aspects of society, including the economy. This residual state power made possible the rise, through the monopolization of government office, of a new elite class - the literati, or shih-ta-fu. In this groundbreaking history, Charles Holcombe examines the conditions that produced the literati and shaped their activities during the first of the Southern dynasties, with particular attention to the life and thought of the fourth-century monk Chih Tun (314-366). The security of the literati's positions in the state, as well as the cooptation process through which they rose to office, encouraged them to neglect the details of actual administrative service and concentrate instead upon peer recognition through the refinement of social graces and through literary, artistic, and philosophical achievements. While the empire hung poised on the brink of ruin, fourth-century literati engaged in round after round of abstruse discussion concerning the ultimate meaning of existence. Their seemingly impractical dalliances blossomed, however, into an age of intellectual and cultural creativity second only to the Warring States period of the late classical era. The Southern dynasties even witnessed significant commercialization and economic growth. Far from the dark ages that their political disunity might imply, China's Southern dynasties reveal themselves to have been great eras of an unexpected kind. In the Shadow of the Han explores some of the implications of this distinctive Southern dynasty culture.

Author: Xinzhong Yao
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139431447
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 492

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Book Description
Taking into account the long history and wide range of Confucian Studies, this book introduces Confucianism - initiated in China by Confucius (551 BC–479 BC) - primarily as a philosophical and religious tradition. It pays attention to Confucianism in both the West and the East, focussing on the tradition's doctrines, schools, rituals, sacred places and terminology, but also stressing the adaptations, transformations and new thinking taking place in modern times. Xinzhong Yao presents Confucianism as a tradition with many dimensions and as an ancient tradition with contemporary appeal. This gives the reader a richer and clearer view of how Confucianism functioned in the past and of what it means in the present. A Chinese scholar based in the West, he draws together the many strands of Confucianism in a style accessible to students, teachers, and general readers interested in one of the world's major religious traditions.

Author: Howard L. Goodman
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 900418337X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 426

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Book Description
"This biography of the court scholar Xun Xu explores central areas of intellectual life in third-century China - court lyrics, music, metrology, pitch systems, archeology, and historiography. It clarifies the relevant source texts in order to reveal fierce debates. Besides solving technical puzzles about the material details of court rites, the book unfolds factional struggles that developed into scholarly ones. Xun's opponents were major figures like Zhang Hua and Zhi Yu. Xun Xu's overall approach to antiquity and the derivation of truth made appeals to an idealized Zhou for authority. Ultimately, Xun's precision and methods cost him both reputation and court status. The events mark a turning point in which ideals were moving away from such court constructs toward a relatively more philosophical antiquarianism and towards new terms and genres of self-expression."--Publisher's description.

Author: Wilt Idema
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
ISBN: 0892641231
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 393

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Book Description
Selected for Choice's list of Outstanding Academic Books for 1997. A comprehensive overview of China's 3,000 years of literary history, from its beginnings to the present day. After an introductory section discussing the concept of literature and other features of traditional Chinese society crucial to understanding its writings, the second part is broken into five major time periods (earliest times to 100 c.e.; 100-1000; 1000-1875; 1875-1915; and 1915 to the present) corresponding to changes in book production. The development of the major literary genres is traced in each of these periods. The reference section in the cloth edition includes an annotated bibliography of more than 120 pages; the paper edition has a shorter bibliography and is intended for classroom use.

Author: Lionel M. Jensen
Publisher: Duke University Press
ISBN: 9780822320470
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 476

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Book Description
Is it possible that the familiar and beloved figure of Confucius was invented by Jesuit priests? Based on specific documentary evidence, historian Lionel Jensen reveals how 16th- and 17th-century Western missionaries used translations of the ancient RU tradition to invent the presumably historical figure who has been globally celebrated as philosopher, prophet, statesman, wise man, and saint. 13 illustrations.

Author: Howard L. Goodman
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136745378
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 265

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Book Description
Analyses the foundation of the San-kuo Wei Dynasty by Ts'ao P'I in 220 CE, using the main historical accounts, a wide range of religious and philosophical writings, epigraphical records, and above all, the records contained in the commentaries to Ch'en Shou's San-kuo chih by the fifth century writer P'ei Sung-chih.