Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
  1. Home
  2. Books
  3. Cosmology and Political Culture in Early China
  • Cited by 48
      • Show more authors
      • You may already have access via personal or institutional login
    • Select format
    • Publisher:
      Cambridge University Press
      Publication date:
      16 September 2009
      08 May 2000
      ISBN:
      9780511529221
      9780521624206
      9780521027496
      DOI:
      https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511529221
      Dimensions:
      (228 x 152 mm)
      Weight & Pages:
      0.55kg, 256 Pages
      Dimensions:
      (228 x 152 mm)
      Weight & Pages:
      0.387kg, 256 Pages
      • Subjects:
      East Asian History, Regional and World History: General Interest, History, Anthropology: General Interest, Anthropology
      Series:
      Cambridge Studies in Chinese History, Literature and Institutions
    You may already have access via personal or institutional login
    • Selected: Digital
    Add to cart View cart Buy from Cambridge.org
    Subjects:
    East Asian History, Regional and World History: General Interest, History, Anthropology: General Interest, Anthropology
    Series:
    Cambridge Studies in Chinese History, Literature and Institutions
    Information

    Book description

    This radical reinterpretation of the formative stages of Chinese culture and history traces the central role played by cosmology in the formation of China's early empires. It crosses the disciplines of history, social anthropology, archaeology and philosophy to illustrate how cosmological systems, particularly the Five Elements, shaped political culture. By focusing on dynamic change in early cosmology, the book undermines the notion that Chinese cosmology was homogeneous and unchanging. By arguing that cosmology was intrinsic to power relations, it also challenges prevailing theories of political and intellectual history.

    Reviews

    "...an ambitious reexamination of the origins and development of Wuxing...it brilliantly clarifies this central component of traditional Chinese imperial statecraft as it was forged in the hands of Confucian ideologues throughout the duration of the Han dynasty." The Journal of Religion

    "This is an excellent book, valuable for its deft use of previous scholarship to describe the interaction of politics and religion. Cosmology and Political Culture in Early China succeeds both as an attack on essentialism and as a description of relationships between political ideals and cosmologies in pre-imperial and early imperial times. It clearly conveys its central message that Chinese cosmology changed over time in conjunction with political changes...Wang provides the most elegant and accurate descriptions that have yet been offered in English of certain fundamental structures. For this reason alone this book should receive wide circulation." Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies

    Refine List

    Actions for selected content:

    Select all | Deselect all
    • View selected items
    • Export citations
    • Download PDF (zip)
    • Save to Kindle
    • Save to Dropbox
    • Save to Google Drive

    Save Search

    You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

    Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
    Cancel
    ×

    Contents

    Contents

    Metrics

    Altmetric attention score

    Full text views

    Total number of HTML views: 0
    Total number of PDF views: 0 *
    Loading metrics...

    Book summary page views

    Total views: 0 *
    Loading metrics...

    * Views captured on Cambridge Core between #date#. This data will be updated every 24 hours.

    Usage data cannot currently be displayed.

    Accessibility standard: Unknown

    Why this information is here

    This section outlines the accessibility features of this content - including support for screen readers, full keyboard navigation and high-contrast display options. This may not be relevant for you.

    Accessibility Information

    Accessibility compliance for the PDF of this book is currently unknown and may be updated in the future.