Divination, Monarchy in Han China (University of Cambridge Oriental Publications)
Cambridge University Press, 8/21/2008
EAN 9780521052207, ISBN10: 0521052203
Paperback, 376 pages, 23.4 x 15.6 x 2 cm
Language: English
Chinese 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.
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.