Political Frontiers, Ethnic Boundaries and Human Geographies in Chinese History

About this book

Boundaries - demanding physical space, enclosing political entities, and distinguishing social or ethnic groups - constitute an essential aspect of historical investigation. Obscured by the influence upon scholars of a myth of Unitarian historical and cultural development, not until recently have questions pertaining to boundaries come to represent a fertile ground in the analysis of Chinese history and society. It is especially with regard to disciplinary pluralism and historical breadth that this book most clearly departs and distinguishes itself from other works on Chinese boundaries and ethnicity. In addition to history, the disciplines represented in this book include anthropology (particularly ethnography), religion, art history, and literary studies. Each of the authors focuses on a distinct period, beginning with the Zhou dynasty (c. 1100 BCE) and ending with the early centuries after the Manchu conquest (c. CE 1800) - resulting in a chronological sweep of nearly three millennia.

Contents

Acknowledgements Contributors Table of Dynasties Nicola Di Cosmo and Don J. Wyatt Introduction 1. Edward L. Shaughnessy Toward a Social Geography of the Zhouyuan during the Western Zhou Dynasty: The Jing and Zhong Lineages of Fufeng County 2. Vera Dorofeeva-Lichtmann Mapping a 'Spiritual' Landscape: Representation of Terrestrial Space in the Shanhaijing 3. Dorothy C. Wong Ethnicity and Identity: Northern Nomads as Buddhist Art Patrons during the Period of Northern and Southern Dynasties 4. Marc Samuel Abramson Deep Eyes and High Noses: Physiognomy and the depiction of Barbarians in Tang China 5. Naomi Standen Raiding and Frontier Society in the Five Dynasties 6. Irene S. Leung 'Felt Yurts Neatly Arrayed, Large Tents Huddle Close': Visualizing the Frontier in the Northern Song Dynasty 7. Don J. Wyatt The Invention of the Northern Song 8. John E. Herman The Mu'ege Kingdom: Rise and Fall of a Frontier Empire in Southwest China 9. Andrea Riemenschnitter Traveler's Vocation - Xu Xiake and his Excursion to the Southwestern Frontier 10. Joanna Waley-Cohen Changing Spaces of Empire in Eighteenth Century Qing China 11. Nicola Di Cosmo Kirghiz Nomads on the Qing Frontier: Tribute, Trade, or Gift-Exchange? 12. Daphne Pi-Wei Lei Envisioning New Borders for the Old China in Late Qing Fiction and Local Drama Index

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