Overview

An internationally recognized authority on Chinese history and a leading innovator in its telling, Cho-yun Hsu constructs an original portrait of Chinese culture. Unlike most historians, Hsu resists centering his narrative on China's political evolution, focusing instead on the country's cultural sphere and its encounters with successive waves of globalization. Beginning long before China's written history and extending through the twentieth century, Hsu follows the content and expansion of Chinese culture, describing the daily lives of commoners, their spiritual beliefs and practices, the changing character of their social and popular thought, and their advances in material culture and technology. In addition to listing the achievements of emperors, generals, ministers, and sages, Hsu builds detailed accounts of these events and their everyday implications. Dynastic change, the rise and fall of national ambitions, and the growth and decline of institutional systems take on new significance through Hsu's careful research, which captures the multiple strands that gave rise to China's pluralistic society. Paying particular attention to influential relationships occurring outside of Chinese cultural boundaries, he demonstrates the impact of foreign influences on Chinese culture and identity and identifies similarities between China's cultural developments and those of other nations.

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9789622014169

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China: A Religious State is a pathbreaking overview of Chinese religious traditions that represents the fruition of three decades of research. It is also noteworthy for its solid interdisciplinary approach, with the author convincingly demonstrating the importance of ethnography in the study of Chinese communal religions.--Paul Katz, Academia Sinica, Taiwan

"An important and original book on a permanently important topic by one of the world's leading historians of China. The writing is lucid, often elegant, and has been beautifully translated into English."" —William C. Kirby, director of the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, Harvard University ""Nothing quite like this exists in the modern literature, and it is especially valuable for readers interested in world/global history."" —James L. Watson, Harvard University ""Hsu's book is unique in the field, and makes a distinct contribution above the many other grand narratives of Chinese history. Impeccably researched and consistently insightful, this is precisely the sort of book that every serious scholar of China should keep within arm's reach."" —Thomas David DuBois, China Journal"

Author Information

"John Lagerwey is a professor of Daoist history at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes and of Chinese studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is author of Taoist Ritual in Chinese Society and History and editor of the thirty-volume ""Traditional Hakka Society Series"" as well as the recently published four-volume set Early Chinese Religion."

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