Culture and power in the reconstitution of the Chinese realm, 200-600

Scott Pearce, Audrey G. Spiro, Patricia Buckley Ebrey, Stephen Bokenkamp, Robert Joe Cutter, Albert E. Dien, Donald Holzman, David Knechtges, Shufen Liu

"China's early medieval age - the time between the fall of the Han in A.D. 220 and the Sui's reunification of the realm in 589 - receives short shrift in most accounts of Chinese history, which typically characterize it in negative fashion as an age of disorder and dislocation, ethnic strife and bloody court battles, an era whose only notable achievement was the introduction of Buddhism. But despite the violence and volatility, these centuries were a time of extraordinary cultural flowering, which reshaped and deeply enriched Chinese civilization. Culture and cultural change are the primary focuses of the eight essays in this volume.". "The authors of these essays address the growth of cities, literary theory, the civil service examinations, Buddhist art, governmental reform, Daoism, and literary anthologies. Although they take diverse viewpoints as they seek to chart the changes...

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