T'ang China The Rise of the East in World History

by Adshead, Samuel Adrian M.

• ISBN13: 9781403934574
• ISBN10: 1403934576
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-10-29
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

China's role in world history has been controversial, especially as seen through an economic lens. This book presents an alternative interpretation of that role, less exclusively economic, more broadly based, and focused on the T'ang period, one of China's acknowledged golden ages. It shows how a different China, Buddhist or Taoist rather than Confucian, aristocratic as much as meritocratic, achieved, through openness to the outside world and partnership with its elites, a multiple preeminence in politics, economics, society and the intellect, not unlike that enjoyed by the United States today. Within a looser web of globalization, the T'ang period and its dynamics offers a distant mirror of our own time, casting a new light on issues in contemporary politics.

Author Biography

S.A.M. Adshead is Professor Emeritus in History at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Polemic: Before the Rise of the East	1	(29)
Frank's concept of the world order	3	(8)
A critique of Frank's concept of the world order	11	(9)
The preponderance of the West	20	(10)
Politics: The Genius of T'ang	30	(38)
The Sui-T'ang refoundation	31	(18)
The Silver T'ang restoration	49	(3)
The Sung counter-revolution	52	(2)
Contrast with the West	54	(14)
Economy: China takes Centre-Stage	68	(33)
The milieu of Chinese economic growth, 500--1000	69	(5)
The motors of Chinese economic growth, 500--1000	74	(14)
The management of Chinese economic growth, 500--1000	88	(5)
Cross-economic comparison, 500--1000	93	(8)
Society: A Multiple China	101	(29)
The interface between the economy and society	101	(2)
The matrix of social activity: family and friends	103	(5)
An anthropology of Chinese marriage	108	(10)
Non-kinship institutions: a multiple associationism	118	(3)
Cross-social comparisons, 500--1000	121	(9)
Intellect: China's Complex Pluralism	130	(38)
China's intellectual complexity	131	(15)
China's intellectual pluralism	146	(16)
Eurasian intellectual comparisons, 500--1000	162	(6)
Return to the West: Reflux and Prognosis	168	(34)
Politics, 1000--1500	169	(7)
Economy, 1000--1500	176	(8)
Society, 1000--1500	184	(4)
Intellect, 1000--1500	188	(8)
Prognosis	196	(6)
Notes	202	(10)
Bibliography	212	(8)
Index	220