Structures of the Earth (Hardcover)

D. Jonathan Felt

ISBN 10: 0674251164 / ISBN 13: 9780674251168

Published by Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass, 2022

About this Item

Hardcover. The traditional Chinese notion of itself as the "middle kingdom"-literally the cultural and political center of the world-remains vital to its own self-perceptions and became foundational to Western understandings of China. This worldview was primarily constructed during the earliest imperial unification of China during the Qin and Han dynasties (221 BCE220 CE). But the fragmentation of empire and subsequent "Age of Disunion" (220589 CE) that followed undermined imperial orthodoxies of unity, centrality, and universality. In response, geographical writing proliferated, exploring greater spatial complexities and alternative worldviews.This book is the first study of the emergent genre of geographical writing and the metageographies that structured its spatial thought during that period. Early medieval geographies highlighted spatial units and structures that the QinHan empire had intentionally sought to obscure-including those of regional, natural, and foreign spaces. Instead, these postimperial metageographies reveal a polycentric China in a polycentric world. SuiTang (581906 CE) officials reasserted the imperial model as spatial orthodoxy. But since that time these alternative frameworks have persisted in geographical thought, continuing to illuminate spatial complexities that have been incompatible with the imperial and nationalist ideal of a monolithic China at the center of the world. Structures of the Earth is the first study of the emergent genre of geographical writing and the metageographies that structured its spatial thought during the Age of Disunion and continue to illuminate spatial complexities that have been incompatible with the imperial and nationalist ideal of a monolithic China at the center of the world. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9780674251168

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Structures of the Earth (Hardcover)
• Publisher: Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass
• Publication Date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0674251164
• ISBN 13: 9780674251168
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

The traditional Chinese notion of itself as the “middle kingdom”―literally the cultural and political center of the world―remains vital to its own self-perceptions and became foundational to Western understandings of China. This worldview was primarily constructed during the earliest imperial unification of China during the Qin and Han dynasties (221 BCE–220 CE). But the fragmentation of empire and subsequent “Age of Disunion” (220–589 CE) that followed undermined imperial orthodoxies of unity, centrality, and universality. In response, geographical writing proliferated, exploring greater spatial complexities and alternative worldviews.

This book is the first study of the emergent genre of geographical writing and the metageographies that structured its spatial thought during that period. Early medieval geographies highlighted spatial units and structures that the Qin–Han empire had intentionally sought to obscure―including those of regional, natural, and foreign spaces. Instead, these postimperial metageographies reveal a polycentric China in a polycentric world. Sui–Tang (581–906 CE) officials reasserted the imperial model as spatial orthodoxy. But since that time these alternative frameworks have persisted in geographical thought, continuing to illuminate spatial complexities that have been incompatible with the imperial and nationalist ideal of a monolithic China at the center of the world.

About the Author

D. Jonathan Felt is Assistant Professor of History at Brigham Young University.