Divination, Mythology and Monarchy in Han China
Divination, Mythology and Monarchy in Han China
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GBPChinese empires were established by force of arms, but sustained by religious rites and intellectual theory. The four centuries from 206 BC to AD 220 witnessed major changes in the state cults and the concepts of monarchy, while various techniques of divination were used to forecast the future or to solve immediate problems. Michael Loewe examines these changes and the links between religion and statecraft. While both mythology and the traditions nurtured by the learned affected the concept and practice of monarchy throughout the period, the political and social weaknesses of the last century of Han rule bring into question the success that was achieved by the imperial ideal. Nevertheless, that ideal and its institutions were of prime importance for the understanding of Han times and for the influence they exercised on China's later dynasties.
- An original study on the types of divination and the concept of sovereignty in the Han dynasty
- An interdisciplinary potential: oriental studies, religious studies, anthropology
- Michael Loewe is a distinguished scholar in the field who has published several times with the Press
Product details
February 2008Paperback
9780521052207
376 pages
234 × 156 × 18 mm
0.53kg
18 b/w illus.
Available
Table of Contents
- List of figures
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- List of abbreviations
- Introduction: the history of the early empires
- 1. Man and beast: the hybrid in early Chinese art and literature
- 2. Water, earth and fire: the symbols of the Han dynasty
- 3. The Han view of comets
- 4. The authority of the emperors of Ch'in and Han
- 5. The term K'an-yü and the choice of the moment
- 6. Imperial sovereignty: Tung Chung-shu's contribution and his predecessors
- 7. The cult of the dragon and the invocation for rain
- 8. Divination by shells, bones and stalks during the Han period
- 9. The oracles of the clouds and the winds
- 10. The Almanacs (Jih-shu) from Shui-hu-ti: a preliminary survey
- 11. The Chüeh-ti games: a re-enactment of the battle between Ch'ih-yu and Hsüan-yüan?
- 12. The failure of the Confucian ethic in Later Han times
- 13. The imperial tombs of the Former Han dynasty and their shrines
- List of Han emperors
- Glossary
- Bibliography
- Index.
