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  • General Editors: Patrick Hannan, Denis Twitchett

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26 results in Cambridge Studies in Chinese History, Literature and Institutions

Page 1 of 2

Women, Property, and Confucian Reaction in Sung and Yüan China (960–1368)
  • Bettine Birge
  • Published online:
    24 August 2009
    Print publication:
    07 January 2002
  • This book, originally published in 2002, argues that the Mongol invasion of the thirteenth century precipitated a transformation of marriage and property law in China that deprived women of their property rights and reduced their legal and economic autonomy. It describes how after a period during which women's property rights were steadily improving, and laws and practices affecting marriage and property were moving away from Confucian ideals, the Mongol occupation created a new constellation of property and gender relations that persisted to the end of the imperial era. It shows how the Mongol-Yüan rule in China ironically created the conditions for radical changes in the law, which for the first time brought it into line with the goals of Learning the Way Confucians and which curtailed women's financial and personal autonomy. The book evaluates the Mongol invasion and its influence on Chinese law and society.

Fu Ssu-nien
  • A Life in Chinese History and Politics
  • Fan-sen Wang
  • Published online:
    01 February 2010
    Print publication:
    06 November 2000
  • Fu Ssu-nien, scholar, and political and social critic, was one of the most colourful, influential intellectual figures in twentieth-century China. Wang Fan-sen's biography of Fu's life and contributions offers an in-depth examination of his role in intellectual development in modern China. Fu's life in many ways embodied the dilemma faced by modern Chinese intellectuals: dissatisfied with the model of the traditional literati, they lacked a professional, academic model to take its place. Fu's early years as a student leader of the May Fourth movement and subsequent life as an activist were born of intellectual dissatisfaction: as an educator and founder of the Institute of Philology and History at Peking University and the Academia Sinica, he worked to fill the void by professionalizing Chinese research and education. This book, incorporating original, previously unpublished material from Fu's personal archives, fills a major gap in the cultural and intellectual history of modern China.

Manslaughter, Markets, and Moral Economy
  • Violent Disputes over Property Rights in Eighteenth-Century China
  • Thomas M. Buoye
  • Published online:
    28 October 2009
    Print publication:
    31 July 2000
  • In this book, Thomas Buoye examines the impact of large-scale economic change on social conflict in eighteenth-century China. He draws upon a large body of actual, documented homicide cases originating in property disputes to recreate the social tensions of rural China during the Qianlong reign (1736–95). The development of property rights, a process that had begun in the Ming dynasty, was accompanied by other changes that fostered disruption and conflict, including an explosion in the population growth and the increasing strain on land and resources, and increasing commercialization in agriculture. Buoye challenges the 'markets' and 'moral economy' theories of economic behaviour. Applying the theories of Douglass North for the first time to this subject, he uses an institutional framework to explain seemingly irrational economic choices. Buoye examines demographic and technological factors, ideology, and political and economic institutions in rural China to understand the link between economic and social change.

Cosmology and Political Culture in Early China
  • Aihe Wang
  • Published online:
    16 September 2009
    Print publication:
    08 May 2000
  • 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.

Mourning in Late Imperial China
  • Filial Piety and the State
  • Norman Kutcher
  • Published online:
    14 October 2009
    Print publication:
    13 August 1999
  • As a conquest dynasty, Qing China's new Manchu leaders desperately needed to legitimize their rule. To win the approval of China's native elites, they developed an ambitious plan to return Confucianism to civil society. Filial piety, the core Confucian value, would once again be upheld by the state, and laborious and time-consuming mourning rituals, the touchstones of a well-ordered Confucian society, would be observed by officials throughout the empire. In this way, the emperor would be following the ancient dictate that he 'govern all-under-heaven with filial piety'. Norman Kutcher's study of mourning looks beneath the rhetoric to demonstrate how the state - unwilling to make the sacrifices that a genuine commitment to proper mourning demanded - quietly but forcefully undermined, not reinvigorated, the Confucian mourning system. With acute sensitivity to language and its changing meanings, Kutcher sheds light on a wide variety of issues that are of interest to historians of late Imperial China.

Deadly Dreams
  • Opium and the Arrow War (1856–1860) in China
  • J. Y. Wong
  • Published online:
    29 September 2009
    Print publication:
    28 June 1998
  • The Arrow War (1856–60) involved all the world's major powers, and could almost be called a world war because of the global economic and diplomatic issues driving it. For twenty-five years Dr John Wong has been trying to discover the true origins of the war. What began as a study of an alleged insult to the British flag supposedly flying over the boat Arrow led to an analysis of complex Chinese and British diplomacy; of the even more complex Chinese tea and silk exports; of British India's jealously guarded economic strategies and opium monopoly; of cotton supplied to the Lancashire mills by the Americans, who thereby made up their trade deficit with China occasioned by their heavy purchases of tea; of intricate Westminster politics and British global trade; of French pride and cultural priorities; of Russian intrigues and territorial designs; and of America's apparent aloofness and real ambitions.

From Chronicle to Canon
  • The Hermeneutics of the Spring and Autumn according to Tung Chung-shu
  • Sarah A. Queen
  • Published online:
    10 December 2009
    Print publication:
    28 August 1996
  • Every general account of the development of Chinese thought makes mention of Tung Chung-shu (c. 195–105 bce) as one of the pivotal philosophers of the Han. Professor Queen's accomplishment is a meticulous dissection of Tung Chung-shu's major work. The Luxuriant Gems of the Spring and Autumn Annals (Ch'un-ch'iu fan lu) established the first state-sponsored Confucian Canon, and created an ideal of the ruler and his role in government that was central to political discussion for two thousand years. The author has carefully scrutinised this text for authenticity, and has concluded that it was compiled several centuries after Tung's death, but was mostly compiled from Tung's authentic writings. By historicising this important text, Queen allows a new view of Tung's relation to the political and doctrinal discourses of his day, and also addresses the role of scriptures in Confucian spirituality.

The Shanghai Badlands
  • Wartime Terrorism and Urban Crime, 1937–1941
  • Frederic Wakeman, Jr
  • Published online:
    02 November 2009
    Print publication:
    13 July 1996
  • Between August 1937 and December 1941, when the Chinese sectors of Shanghai were occupied by the Japanese, terrorist wars broke out between Nationalist secret agents and assassins of the Japanese military authorities. The most intensely disputed area was the western suburb, the Badlands, but warfare was not restricted to that zone. A spate of assassinations, bombings, and machine gun raids took place under the noses of the authorities. Thanks to the release of secret Chinese police files by the CIA, the inner workings of these terrorist groups and their links to the notorious Green Gang can now be exposed for the first time. In so doing, this book also explores the social history of Shanghai's underworld, the worsening relations between the US and Japan before World War II, and the rivalry between leaders Chiang Kai-shek and Wang Jingwei during China's War of Resistance.

Religious Experience and Lay Society in T'ang China
  • A Reading of Tai Fu's 'Kuang-i chi'
  • Glen Dudbridge
  • Published online:
    15 January 2010
    Print publication:
    24 November 1995
  • The remains of Tai Fu's lost collection Kuang-i chi ('The Great Book of Marvels') preserve three hundred short tales of encounters with the other world. This study develops a style of close reading through which those tales give access to the lives of individuals in eighth-century China. Through the eyes of a mid-century county official the picture emerges of a complex lay society, served by a mixed priesthood of ritual practitioners, whose members' lives at all levels were profoundly shaped by their perceived experience of contact with the other world. It was a society embarking on fundamental change, and this book uses the sharp historical focus of Tai Fu's collection to study the dynamics of that change. The work gracefully reveals the transition from the beliefs and institutions of early mediaeval China towards those we now recognize as modern.

Reconsidering Tu Fu
  • Literary Greatness and Cultural Context
  • Eva Shan Chou
  • Foreword by James R. Hightower
  • Published online:
    24 November 2009
    Print publication:
    24 November 1995
  • Tu Fu is, by universal consent, the greatest poet of the Chinese tradition. In the epochal An Lu-shan rebellion, he alone of his contemporaries consistently recorded in poetry the great events and pervasive sufferings of the time. For a millennium, Tu Fu's poetry has been accepted as epitomizing the Chinese moral conscience at its highest, and as such his work has been placed almost beyond the reach of criticism. In Reconsidering Tu Fu, Eva Shan Chou defuses these formidable problems by examining Tu Fu as both a cultural monument and a poet. She investigates the evolution of his stature as an icon and shows its continuing effect upon interpretations of Tu Fu's work. Dr Chou provides translations of many poems, both well known and obscure. Her analyses are both original in their formulation and considerate of the many fine readings of traditional commentators.

Philosophy, Philology, and Politics in Eighteenth-Century China
  • Li Fu and the Lu-Wang School under the Ch'ing
  • C. S. Huang
  • Published online:
    17 September 2009
    Print publication:
    24 November 1995
  • This book explains the general intellectual climate of the early Ch'ing period, and the political and cultural characteristics of the Ch'ing regime at the time. Professor Huang brings to life the book's central characters, Li Fu and the three great emperors - K'ang-hsi, Yung-cheng, and Chien-lung - whom he served. Although the author's main concern is to explain the contributions of Li Fu to the Lu-Wang school of Confucianism, he also gives a clearly written account of the Lu-Wang and Ch'eng-Chu schools from the twelfth century to the eighteenth. In a clear, succinct style, Huang explains the historical differences between the Ch'eng-Chu and Lu-Wang schools without sacrificing the subtleties of either. The book culminates in a discussion of the hero-emperor K'ang-hsi's appropriation of the 'Tradition of the Way' from his intellectual officials, which denied them their traditional role as moral censors and critics of the emperor's exercise of authority.

Within the Human Realm
  • The Poetry of Huang Zunxian, 1848–1905
  • J. D. Schmidt
  • Published online:
    25 March 2010
    Print publication:
    25 November 1994
  • This book is a study of the poetry of Huang Zunxian, one of the most famous authors of late nineteenth-century China. The first part consists of a detailed biography outlining Huang's literary and political career. This is followed by a critical discussion of Huang's poetry, including such topics as his theory of literature, his traditional verse, his highly original poetry on foreign lands, his political satire and his scientific verse. The book concludes with a generous sampling of his poetry in translation.

Shen Pao-chen and China's Modernization in the Nineteenth Century
  • David Pong
  • Published online:
    22 September 2009
    Print publication:
    28 January 1994
  • The Opium Wars ushered in an era of intensive Western imperialism in China, at a time when the Ch'ing dynasty was already in decline, forcing a small number of Chinese officials to come to the realisation that China must protect itself by adopting the same military technology that had brought it national humiliation. Shen Pao-chen was one such official. Abandoning the comfort of his successful career, Shen devoted his life to building China's first modern naval dockyard and academy. His successes and failures shed new light on the story of China's efforts at modernization - a story that has not come to a conclusion. As China engages in new rounds of economic and industrial modernization in the post-Mao era, many of these issues acquire new meanings and significance.

Liu Tsung-yüan and Intellectual Change in T'ang China, 773–819
  • Jo-Shui Chen
  • Published online:
    07 October 2009
    Print publication:
    27 November 1992
  • This book is a comprehensive study of Liu Tsang-yüan (773–819), a major literary and intellectual figure in Chinese history. The major aspects of Liu's life and work are explored: the social and cultural background of his family, his relationship with the ku-wen prose reforms and new canonical scholarship in the mid-T'ang, his social and political criticism, his views on Confucian doctrine, and his sentiments and reflections regarding the private realm of human life. Its scope goes beyond the 'life and thought' of this principal intellectual figure in its special emphasis on the connections between Liu's thought and mid-T'ang intellectual change, modifying the conventional view that the mid-T'ang Confucian revival led by Han Yü (768–824) and Liu Tsung-yüan was a precursor of Sung Neo-Confucianism. Chen suggests that the mid-T'ang Confucian movement was essentially a revival of an old form of Confucianism and that Liu's was a powerful voice expressing this sentiment. This in-depth study also encompasses a general interpretation of the nature of the T'ang-Sung intellectual transition. Anyone familiar with the intriguing yet elusive Liu Tsang-yüan will find this book fascinating.

Law and Order in Sung China
  • Brian E. McKnight
  • Published online:
    23 December 2009
    Print publication:
    30 October 1992
  • This study examines law enforcement within the context of Sung society. Professor McKnight shows that the group of criminals who were the core of the habitual criminal group in Sung China were young unattached males with few lifeskills. What became of the criminal after capture and conviction is also an important aspect of this study, which addresses basic questions in Chinese punishment. This work is the first comprehensive study of law enforcement in traditional China. The depth and rigour to which the subject is treated would make it most appropriate for scholars in legal history and East Asian studies.

Stone Lake
  • The Poetry of Fan Chengda 1126–1193
  • J. D. Schmidt
  • Published online:
    29 March 2010
    Print publication:
    25 September 1992
  • Stone Lake is a translation and study of the poetry of Fan Chengda (1126–1193), one of the most famous Chinese poets of the twelfth century. For the non-specialist reader the main attraction of this 1992 book will be the translations from an extensive body of Fan Chengda's poetry, which make up almost half of the text, and includes poems on such familiar themes as the Chinese countryside, peasant life, Buddhism and growing old. The more technical part of the book contains a biography of the poet, a discussion of his affiliation with poets of the generation before him such as Lu You and Yang Wanli, a detailed analysis of his style, and discussion of the major themes of his work.

The Writing of Official History under the T'ang
  • Denis Twitchett
  • Published online:
    03 November 2009
    Print publication:
    24 April 1992
  • This book describes how the Chinese government, between about 620 and 850, developed an official organization designed to select, process, and edit material for inclusion in official historical works eventually to be incorporated in an official history of the dynasty. The first part gives a detailed account of the establishment of the official apparatus designed to produce a record of the T'ang dynasty, which would remain standard for more than a millennium, with some analysis of the individuals who served in these offices. The second part gives all available detail about the various works produced by this apparatus, divided among its various genres, and listing all known titles, their authorship, and their relationships to one another. The third part shows the cumulative process by which a dynastic history came into being, and the way in which we can detect various elements in the completed history.

Community, Trade, and Networks
  • Southern Fujian Province from the Third to the Thirteenth Century
  • Hugh R. Clark
  • Published online:
    13 October 2009
    Print publication:
    30 August 1991
  • Community, Trade, and Networks traces the economic and demographic history of a corner of China's southeast coast from the third to the thirteenth century, investigating the relationship between changes in the agrarian and urban economies of the area and the expanding role of domestic and foreign trade. It provides a fresh perspective on the role of commercialized production and trade in a regional economy in the premodern era and demonstrates that trade was able to drive change in a premodern economy in a way that has not generally been recognized.

Yüan Hung-tao and the Kung-an School
  • Chih-P'ing Chou
  • Published online:
    30 October 2009
    Print publication:
    31 March 1988
  • Professor Chou here offers a perspective on the rise and fall of the Kung-an school as a key to understanding the development of Chinese literary criticism in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. His book focuses upon the literary theories of Yüan Hung-tao (1568–1610) - the leader of the Kung-an school - and his two brothers. Its core is a detailed study of the poetry and prose of Yüan Hung-tao, comparing his theories with his writings and analysing systematically the merits and flaws of his work. The book concludes with a discussion of the legacy of the Kung-an school, treating the school not only as the major force behind the expressive trend in the late Ming period, but also as one of the precursors of the modern Chinese literary movement.

The Thought of Chang Tsai (1020–1077)
  • Ira E. Kasoff
  • Published online:
    02 February 2010
    Print publication:
    13 September 1984
  • Chang Tsai is one of the three major Chinese philosophers who, in the eleventh century, revitalised Confucian thought after centuries of stagnation and formed the foundation for the neo-Confucian thinking that was predominant till the nineteenth century. The book analyses in depth Chang's views of man, his nature and endowments, the cosmos, heaven and earth, the problems of learning and self cultivation, the ideal of the sage - and how that ideal might be attained. It looks at the intellectual climate of the eleventh century, the assumptions Chinese intellectuals shared, and the problems which concerned them. It describes the triumph of Chang's rivals within the neo-Confucian movement and the subsequent emergence of neo-Confucianism to state orthodoxy in the thirteenth century.

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