| Witchcraft and the Rise of the First Confucian Empire Contributor(s): Cai, Liang (Author) |
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ISBN: 1438448503 ISBN-13: 9781438448503 Publisher: State University of New York Press OUR PRICE: $33.20 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: January 2015 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - History | Asia - China - Religion | Confucianism |
| Dewey: 299.512 |
| LCCN: 2012048621 |
| Series: Suny Chinese Philosophy and Culture |
| Physical Information: 0.3" H x 6.1" W x 9" (0.80 lbs) 288 pages |
| Themes: - Cultural Region - Chinese - Cultural Region - Asian |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Finalist for the 2015 Best First Book in the History of Religions presented by the American Academy of Religion Winner of the 2014 Academic Award for Excellence presented by Chinese Historians in the United States When did Confucianism become the reigning political ideology of imperial China? A pervasive narrative holds it was during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han dynasty (141-87 BCE). In this book, Liang Cai maintains that such a date would have been too early and provides a new account of this transformation. A hidden narrative in Sima Qian's The Grand Scribe's Records (Shi ji) shows that Confucians were a powerless minority in the political realm of this period. Cai argues that the notorious witchcraft scandal of 91-87 BCE reshuffled the power structure of the Western Han bureaucracy and provided Confucians an opportune moment to seize power, evolve into a new elite class, and set the tenor of political discourse for centuries to come. |