Problems of Han Administration : Ancestral Rites, Weights and Measures, and the Means of Protest

Michael Loewe

ISBN 10: 9004314881 / ISBN 13: 9789004314887

Published by Brill Jun 2016, 2016

About this Item

Neuware - China's early emperors must pay their respects to their predecessors in the correct form; the conduct of government and commercial practice depended on a generally accepted system of weights and measures; critics needed a secure means of expressing their views.

Seller Inventory # 9789004314887

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Problems of Han Administration : Ancestral Rites, Weights and Measures, and the Means of Protest
• Publisher: Brill Jun 2016
• Publication Date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 9004314881
• ISBN 13: 9789004314887
• Binding: Buch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 236W x 155H x 23D millimeters 236 millimeters width by 155 millimeters height by 23 millimeters depth
• Weight: 590 grams

About this title

Synopsis

Michael Loewe calls on literary and material evidence to examine three problems that arose in administering China’s early empires. Religious rites due to an emperor’s predecessors must both pay the correct services to his ancestors and demonstrate his right to succeed to the throne. In practical terms, tax collectors, merchants, farmers and townsmen required the establishment of a standard set of weights and measures that was universally operative and which they could trust. Those who saw reason to criticise the decisions taken by the emperor and his immediate advisors, whether on grounds of moral principles or political expediency, needed opportunities and the means of expressing their views, whether as remonstrants to the throne, by withdrawal from public life or as authors of private writings.

About the Author

Michael Loewe, PhD, served as University Lecturer in Chinese Studies at Cambridge from 1963 to 1990. His publications range from Records of Han Administration (1967) to Dong Zhongshu, a ‘Confucian’ Heritage and the Chunqiu fanlu (2011).