RECENTLY EXCAVATED INSCRIPTIONS AND MANUSCRIPTS (2008–2018)

Early China ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-54
Author(s):  
Olivier Venture
Keyword(s):  
Review Article ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Early China ◽  
New Materials ◽  
Antiquities Market ◽  
China Studies ◽  
Bronze Inscriptions

Abstract Between 2008 and 2018 a significant number of inscriptions and manuscripts from early China were discovered or published. These sources include hundreds of new oracle bone and bronze inscriptions; more than thirty scientifically excavated literary manuscripts; thousands of private and official scientifically excavated documents; and more than seventy literary texts acquired from the antiquities market. This review article, focusing mainly on artifacts with archaeological provenance, offers a global overview of these new materials that have already renewed, or will certainly soon renew, the field of early China studies.

Military Histories of Early China: A Review Article

Early China ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 159-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward L. Shaughnessy
Keyword(s):  
Review Article ◽  
Early China

Gender and China Studies

1995 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 224-231
Author(s):  
James Hevia
Keyword(s):  
Review Article ◽  
Harvard University ◽  
The State ◽  
Contemporary China ◽  
China Studies ◽  
China Series

AbstractA Review Article of CHRISTINA K. GILMARTIN, GAIL HERSHATTER, LISA ROFEL, TYRENE WHITE, eds., Engendering China: Women, Culture, and the State. Cambridge, Mass. Harvard University Press [Harvard Contemporary China Series, 10, 1994, £ 18.25/$ 27.50 paperback/£ 39.95/$ 59.95 hardback]

scholarly journals Handling a double-edged sword: Controlling rhetoric in early China

2014 ◽  
Vol 68 (4) ◽  
pp. 1021-1068
Author(s):  
Matthias L. Richter
Keyword(s):  
Political Thought ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Early China ◽  
Political Practice ◽  
Potential Threat ◽  
Multiple Texts ◽  
General Terms ◽  
Present Essay ◽  
Technical Terms

Abstract The present essay discusses rhetorics as an instrument of both persuasion and deception. Early Chinese political thought shows a keen awareness of the deceptive potential immanent in rhetorical skills. Multiple texts warn against certain types of rhetorical behaviour that entail a potential threat to the ruler's control over political power. Yet, at the same time rhetorical skills were also a desirable qualification. While most texts from early China discuss rhetorical skills in general terms as an asset or a threat to the ruler's power, some texts reflect rhetorical skills in more detail, describing specific types of rhetorical behaviour. This essay introduces examples of such texts that were probably first composed as pragmatic texts for application in political practice, before they were integrated into larger compilations or literary texts for argumentative purposes. The essay also shows that these pragmatic texts used a set of technical terms, some of which were no longer recognized in the later transmission, which often led to changes in the texts.

scholarly journals INTRODUCTION TO THE PEKING UNIVERSITY HAN BAMBOO STRIPS: ON THE AUTHENTICATION AND STUDY OF PURCHASED MANUSCRIPTS

Early China ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
pp. 167-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher J. Foster
Keyword(s):  
Professional Ethics ◽  
Early China ◽  
New Materials ◽  
Academic Institutions ◽  
Warring States ◽  
The Past ◽  
Peking University

AbstractOver the past two decades, remarkable collections of Warring States, Qin, and Han manuscripts have been purchased on the behalf of major academic institutions in China. This article introduces one of the latest acquisitions, the Han bamboo strips donated to Peking University in January 2009. Although the Peking University Han strips offer exciting new materials that promise to significantly advance the study of early China, research on them has been encumbered by the fact that they were not archaeologically excavated. This has invited concerns not only over the manuscripts’ authenticity, but also about the role our scholarship plays in fostering a market for looted artifacts. The article reviews current debates over the authentication of purchased bamboo strips, and discusses how the Peking University Han manuscripts were authenticated in particular. A refutation is given to recent arguments that the Peking UniversityLaoziis a forgery. A methodology is then proposed to positively authenticate purchased manuscripts, taking the Peking UniversityCang Jie pianas a case study and establishing its antiquity. The article concludes by addressing the professional ethics of scholars working with looted manuscripts, giving voice to the “rescue archaeology” position largely adopted in Chinese scholarship.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document