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Chang'an 26 BCE: An Augustan Age in China

Chang'an 26 BCE: An Augustan Age in China

Chang'an 26 BCE: An Augustan Age in China

Chang'an 26 BCE: An Augustan Age in China

Overview

During the last two centuries BCE, the Western Han capital of Chang'an, near today's Xi'an in northwest China, outshone Augustan Rome in several ways while administering comparable numbers of imperial subjects and equally vast territories. At its grandest, during the last fifty years or so before the collapse of the dynasty in 9 CE, Chang’an boasted imperial libraries with thousands of documents on bamboo and silk in a city nearly three times the size of Rome and nearly four times larger than Alexandria. Many reforms instituted in this capital in ate Western Han substantially shaped not only the institutions of the Eastern Han (25–220 CE) but also the rest of imperial China until 1911.

Although thousands of studies document imperial Rome’s glory, until now no book-length work in a Western language has been devoted to Han Chang’an, the reign of Emperor Chengdi (whose accomplishments rival those of Augustus and Hadrian), or the city's impressive library project (26-6 BCE), which ultimately produced the first state-sponsored versions of many of the classics and masterworks that we hold in our hands today. Chang’an 26 BCE addresses this deficiency, using as a focal point the reign of Emperor Chengdi (r. 33–7 bce), specifically the year in which the imperial library project began. This in-depth survey by some of the world’s best scholars, Chinese and Western, explores the built environment, sociopolitical transformations, and leading figures of Chang’an, making a strong case for the revision of historical assumptions about the two Han dynasties. A multidisciplinary volume representing a wealth of scholarly perspectives, the book draws on the established historical record and recent archaeological discoveries of thousands of tombs, building foundations, and remnants of walls and gates from Chang’an and its surrounding area.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780295994055
Publisher: University of Washington Press
Publication date: 12/01/2014
Series: Samuel and Althea Stroum Books Series
Pages: 656
Product dimensions: 7.40(w) x 10.20(h) x 1.70(d)
Age Range: 18 Years

About the Author

Michael Nylan is professor of history at the University of California, Berkeley. Griet Vankeerberghen is associate professor of history at McGill University. Other contributors are Miranda Brown, Mark Csikszentmihalyi, Luke Habberstad, Huang Yijun, David Knechtges, Jurij Kroll, Arlen Lian, Liu Tseng-kuei, Michael Loewe, Carlos Noreña, Tang Xiaofeng, Tian Tian, Hans van Ess, Shao-yun Yang, and Zhang Jihai.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Editorial Note xi

Chronology of Dynasties and Han Reign Periods xiii

Introduction Michael Nylan $$$ 3

Part 1 The Built Environment and Archaeology of Han Chang'an 53

1 The Evolution of Imperial Urban Form in Western Han Chang'an Tang Xiaofeng $$$ 55

2 Chang'an and Rome: Structural Parallels and the Logics of Urban Form Carlos F. Noreña $$$ 75

3 Supplying the Capital with Water and Food Michael Nylan $$$ 99

4 Mural Tombs in Late Western Han Chang'an Arlen Lian $$$ 131

5 Chang'an's Funerary Culture and the Core Han Culture Huang Yijun $$$ 153

6 The Residential Wards $$$ of Western Han Chang'an Zhang Jihai $$$ 175

7 The Tombs Built for Han Chengdi and Migrations of the Population Michael Loewe $$$ 201

Part 2 Sociopolitical Transformations in Late Western Han 219

8 Chengdi's Reign, Problems and Controversies Michael Loewe $$$ 221

9 Recasting the Imperial Court in Late Western Han: Rank, Duty, and Alliances during Institutional Change Luke Habberstad $$$ 239

10 The Suburban Sacrifice Reforms and the Evolution of the Imperial Sacrifices Tian Tian $$$ 263

11 Calendrical Computation Numbers and Han Dynasty Politics: A Study of Gu Yong's Three Troubles Theory Liu Tseng-kuei $$$ 293

12 The Politics of Omenology in Chengdi's Reign Shao-yun Yang $$$ 323

13 Pining for the West: Chang'an in the Life of Kings and Their Families during Chengdi's Reign Griet Vankeerberghen $$$ 347

Part 3 Leading Figures in Late Western Han 367

14 Liu Xiang and Liu Xin Michael Loewe $$$ 369

15 A Fu by Liu Xin on His Travels in Shanxi and Inner Mongolia David R. Knechtges $$$ 391

16 Yang Yun's Biography, His Outlook, and His Poem Jurij L. Kroll $$$ 411

17 Looking Backward: The Rise of Medical Tradition in the Han Period Miranda Brown $$$ 441

18 The Social Roles of the Annals Classic in Late Western Han Mark Csikszentmihalyi $$$ 461

19 The Late Western Han Historian Chu Shaosun Hans Van Ess $$$ 477

Afterword: New Perspectives and Avenues for Future Research Michael Nylan $$$ 505

Glossary 519

Bibliography 559

List of Contributors 601

Index 605

What People are Saying About This

Martin Kern

"Tremendously valuable . . . redefines how to look at an ancient Chinese city. Every historian of early China will find a treasure-trove of new and valuable information on the social, administrative, cultural, and ideological fabric of one of the most important cities of antiquity."

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Related Subjects

History
Asian History
Chinese History
General & Miscellaneous Chinese History
History
Asian History
Chinese History
General & Miscellaneous Chinese History

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