{"title":"Tang Center Series In Early China","description":"\u003cp\u003eDelve into the depths of early China with this fascinating book series from the Tang Center. Explore pivotal moments and scholarly insights into this formative period of history and culture.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"many-worlds-under-one-heaven-book-yan-sun-9780231198424","title":"Many Worlds Under One Heaven","description":"In the mid-eleventh century BCE, the Zhou overthrew the Shang, a dynastic power that had dominated much of northern and central China. Over the next three centuries, they would extend the borders of their political control significantly beyond those of the Shang. The Zhou introduced a political ideology centered on the Mandate of Heaven to justify their victory over the Shang and their territorial expansion, portraying the Zhou king as ruling the frontier from the center of civilization. Present-day scholarship often still adheres to this core-periphery perspective, emphasizing cultural assimilation and political integration during Zhou rule. However, recent archaeological findings present a more complex picture.  Many Worlds Under One Heaven analyzes a wide range of newly excavated materials to offer a new perspective on political and cultural change under the Western Zhou. Examining tombs, bronze inscriptions, and other artifacts, Yan Sun challenges the Zhou-centered view with a frontier-focused perspective that highlights the roles of multiple actors. She reveals the complexity of identity construction and power relations in the northern frontiers of the Western Zhou, arguing that the border regions should be seen as a land of negotiation that witnessed cultural hybridization and experimentation. Rethinking a critical period for the formation of Chinese civilization, Many Worlds Under One Heaven unsettles the core-periphery model to reveal the diversity and flexibility of identity in early China.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49741742407953,"sku":"NGR9780231198424","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50346151117073,"sku":"CIN0231198426VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0231198426.jpg?v=1750780185"},{"product_id":"kingly-splendor-book-allison-r-miller-9780231196604","title":"Kingly Splendor","description":"The Western Han dynasty (202 BCE–9 CE) was a foundational period for the artistic culture of ancient China, a fact particularly visible in the era’s funerary art. Iconic forms of Chinese art such as dazzling suits of jade; cavernous, rock-cut mountain tombs; fancifully ornate wall paintings; and armies of miniature terracotta warriors were prepared for the tombs of the elite during this period. Many of the finest objects of the Western Han have been excavated from the tombs of kings, who administered local provinces on behalf of the emperors.  Allison R. Miller paints a new picture of elite art production by revealing the contributions of the kings to Western Han artistic culture. She demonstrates that the kings were not mere imitators of the imperial court but rather innovators, employing local materials and workshops and experimenting with new techniques to challenge the artistic hegemony of the imperial house. Tombs and funerary art, Miller contends, functioned as an important vehicle of political expression as kings strove to persuade the population and other elites of their legitimacy. Through case studies of five genres of royal art, Miller argues that the political structure of the early Western Han, with the emperor as one ruler among peers, benefited artistic production and innovation. Kingly Splendor brings together close readings of funerary art and architecture with nuanced analyses of political and institutional dynamics to provide an interdisciplinary revisionist history of the early Western Han.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50347067408657,"sku":"CIN0231196601VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0231196601.jpg?v=1751070791"},{"product_id":"remembrance-in-clay-and-stone-book-hajni-elias-9780231217101","title":"Remembrance in Clay and Stone","description":"This book explores the memorial and funerary artistic traditions of Southwest China during the Eastern Han dynasty (25–220 CE). In early imperial times, the art of this region—present-day Sichuan province—differed in both style and content from tomb and memorial art produced in other parts of the Han empire, especially that of the Central Plains, considered the heartland of Chinese civilization. Although Southwest China was described in contemporaneous accounts as an uncultured backwater, it had a vibrant and sophisticated artistic tradition.  Hajni Elias examines the Southwest’s rich material culture, which includes pictorial brick tiles, mingqi or spirit vessels, pottery figurines, decorated stone sarcophagi, architectural gate towers, and commemorative and ancestral stelae. She sheds light on the distinct traits and practices that arose from the region’s complex geographical, cultural, and economic tapestry. Elias also places the Southwest in a broader Han cultural framework, offering a new perspective on early Chinese society and its mortuary and memorial practices. Showcasing the quality and breadth of the achievements of the Southwest’s artisans and craftsmen, Remembrance in Clay and Stone reveals the distinctive and sophisticated ways in which people of this era recorded and memorialized their lives.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":51201929871633,"sku":"NGR9780231217101","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0231217102.jpg?v=1769248700"},{"product_id":"the-allure-of-the-mirror-book-yanlong-guo-9780231217781","title":"The The Allure of the Mirror","description":"In Han China (202 BCE–220 CE), few luxury objects were as widely coveted as bronze mirrors. Typically circular and ranging from seven to thirty centimeters in diameter, these mirrors were crafted from high-tin bronze, with highly reflective surfaces on the front and intricate designs and auspicious inscriptions on the reverse.  The Allure of the Mirror explores how and why these objects, historically known as haowu (“fine things”), became so beloved throughout early imperial China. Tracing their production and consumption—from manufacture in imperial, princely, and private workshops to their roles in life and death—Yanlong Guo uncovers the varied ways these seemingly trivial objects took on social and cultural significance. Across social classes, mirrors had a wide range of uses as status symbols, personal tools, romantic tokens, family heirlooms, auspicious amulets, treasured gifts, and funeral offerings. Guo demonstrates how these “fine things,” once exclusive to elites, gradually became accessible to a wider segment of society. Mirrors, he argues, connected people across the empire, fostering a shared cultural community of aesthetic tastes and social values from royal courts to rural households.  Interdisciplinary and comprehensive, The Allure of the Mirror offers fresh insights into the relationship among art, society, and ideology in the Han Empire, revealing how decorative objects could bridge social divides and shape cultural identity.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51595853922577,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":51595854283025,"sku":"NGR9780231217781","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0231217781.jpg?v=1769248326"},{"product_id":"writing-and-materiality-in-ancient-china-book-luke-waring-9780231219563","title":"Writing and Materiality in Ancient China","description":"Excavations at the famous Mawangdui tomb site in south-central China (early to mid-second century BCE) have unearthed many kinds of writing, including documents made of silk, wood, and bamboo as well as a wide range of inscribed artifacts. This book is an interdisciplinary study of these varied forms of writing, exploring the different roles that texts played in the lives and afterlives of Chinese elites during the Han dynasty.  Examining documents and artifacts from the Mawangdui tombs in comparative perspective, Luke Waring demonstrates that early Chinese writing should be understood as part of the material and visual cultures of its time. Written texts were used to do more than simply preserve and transmit important information: they were also work tasks, storage items, performance aids, apotropaic talismans, aesthetically pleasing patterns, display pieces, possessions, and burial objects. Writing was even integrated into older, perhaps more powerful modes of cultural expression such as ritual performance and material display. Waring argues that manuscripts and inscribed objects were always things, artifacts that had powerful effects on the world that created them. Comprehensively researched and lavishly illustrated, Writing and Materiality in Ancient China offers a new understanding of the textual cultures of the early Western Han.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51595904942353,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":51595905204497,"sku":"NGR9780231219563","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0231219563.jpg?v=1769248514"},{"product_id":"modeling-peace-book-jie-shi-9780231191029","title":"Modeling Peace","description":"Among the ancient graves and tombs excavated to date in China, the Mancheng site stands out for its unparalleled complexity and richness. Modeling Peace interprets Western Han royal burial as a political ideology by closely reading the architecture and funerary content of this site and situating it in the historical context of imperialization.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51606022553873,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51606023700753,"sku":"CIN0231191022G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0231191022.jpg?v=1750940453"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/fr-fr\/collections\/tang-center-series-in-early-china-series-de-livres.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}