China's Imperial Past

by Hucker, Charles O.

• ISBN13: 9780804723534
• ISBN10: 0804723532
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1995-01-01
• Publisher: Stanford Univ Pr

Summary

A work unique in the sweep of its design and scope, intended expressly for the general reader interested in human history and culture, this is a vivid panoramic survey of the vast course of Chinese civilization from prehistory to 1850, when the old China began the agonizing transition to the new. Historical surveys of China tend to be dynasty-by-dynasty chronicles with a profusion of names and dates and occaisional cultural tidbits, or to concentrate on the period from earliest times to the Han dynasty (or the T'ang), giving only scant coverage to the last thousand years. China's Imperial Past is different. Not only does it treat the three major periods of Chinese history at roughly equal length, weaving all their complexity into a balanced, integrated whole, but it gives ample space to China's magnificent literary and artistic achievements. The author's approach is primarily interpretive, emphasizing patterns of change and development rather than factual details, but he never loses sight of the particularities that made traditional Chinese civilization one of the richest in human history. Especially notable are the many translations of Chinese poetry, among them more than twenty exquisite poems from the great poets of the T'ang. The author divides Chinese history into three major epochs: a formative age, from high antiquity to the unification of China under the Ch'in in the third century B.C.; an early imperial age, from the Han dynasty (202 B.C.-A.D. 220) through the T'ang (618-907) and its breakdown; and a later imperial age, from the Sung dynasty (960-1279) to the mid-nineteenth century. Each major epoch is considered in topical chapterson general history, political institutions, socioeconomic organization, religion and thought, and literature and the arts. A brief Epilogue comments on aspects of Chinese history since 1850. The book includes 47 plates, eight maps, and various charts, and as appendixes and unusually detailed chronological table, notes on the Chines language, and suggestions for supplementary reading.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	xi
List of Maps	xiii
Introduction	1	(1)
The Land and the People	1	(9)
Some Basic Continuities of Chinese Life	10	(11)
The Formative Age, Prehistory--206 B.C.
General History	21	(27)
Prehistory	22	(4)
Shang	26	(4)
Western Chou	30	(5)
Eastern Chou	35	(6)
The Triumph of Ch'in	41	(7)
State and Society	48	(21)
Government	49	(8)
Society	57	(5)
The Economy	62	(7)
Thought	69	(27)
The Hundred Schools	72	(3)
Confucianism	75	(11)
The School of Mo-tzu	86	(1)
Taoism	87	(5)
Legalism	92	(4)
Literature and Art	96	(25)
Prose	97	(9)
Poetry	106	(7)
The Arts	113	(8)
The Early Empire, 206 B.C.--A.D. 960
General History	121	(28)
Han	122	(11)
The Era of Division	133	(4)
Sui	137	(2)
T'ang	139	(8)
The Five Dynasties Era	147	(2)
Government	149	(21)
Organizational Structure	149	(6)
Personnel	155	(6)
Censors	161	(2)
Law	163	(2)
The Military	165	(5)
Society and the Economy	170	(23)
Population	171	(2)
Urbanism	173	(3)
Great Family Dominance	176	(4)
Agriculture	180	(7)
Commerce	187	(6)
Thought	193	(28)
Han Eclecticism	193	(8)
Revived Taoism	201	(6)
Buddhism	207	(14)
Literature and Art	221	(46)
Literature	221	(35)
The Arts	256	(11)
The Later Empire, 960--1850
General History	267	(36)
Sung	268	(11)
The Northern Conquest Dynasties	279	(8)
Ming	287	(7)
Ch'ing	294	(9)
Government	303	(26)
Absolutism	303	(4)
Organizational Structure	307	(8)
Personnel	315	(8)
The Military	323	(6)
Society and The Economy	329	(28)
Population	330	(1)
Urbanism	331	(3)
The Leveling of Society	334	(4)
The New Managerial Class	338	(4)
General Economic Developments	342	(15)
Thought	357	(28)
Later Taoism and Buddhism	358	(4)
Neo-Confucianism	362	(14)
Classical Scholarship	376	(2)
Sino-Western Intellectual Contacts	378	(7)
Literature and Art	385	(49)
Literature	386	(24)
The Arts	410	(24)
Epilogue	427	(7)
APPENDIXES	434	(13)
A. Chronological Chart of Chinese History	434	(2)
B. Notes on the Chinese Language	436	(4)
C. Suggested Additional Readings	440	(7)
Acknowledgments	447	(6)
Index	453