Forming the Early Chinese Court: Rituals, Spaces, Roles

Forming the Early Chinese Court builds 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 Court encourages 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.

Author: Luke Habberstad
Publisher: University of Washington Press
Published: 01/01/2018
Pages: 256
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.20lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.69d
ISBN: 9780295742397

About the Author

Luke Habberstad is assistant professor of Chinese literature at the University of Oregon.