E-Books →Forming the Early Chinese Court Rituals, Spaces, Roles

Free Download Forming the Early Chinese Court: Rituals, Spaces, Roles By Luke Habberstad
2017 | 256 Pages | ISBN: 0295742399 | PDF | 2 MB
Forming the Early Chinese Courtbuilds on new directions in comparative studies of royal courts in the ancient world to present a pioneering study of early Chinese court culture. Rejecting divides between literary, political, and administrative texts, Luke Habberstad examines sources from the Qin, Western Han, and Xin periods (221 BCE-23 CE) for insights into court society and ritual, rank, the development of the bureaucracy, and the role of the emperor. These diverse sources show that a large, but not necessarily cohesive, body of courtiers drove the consolidation, distribution, and representation of power in court institutions.Forming the Early Chinese Courtencourages us to see China's imperial unification as a surprisingly idiosyncratic process that allowed different actors to stake claims in a world of increasing population, wealth, and power.