The heir and the sage : dynastic legend in early China / Sarah Allan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Allan, Sarah, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Legends--China.

Legends.

China.

China--History--To 221 B.C.

History.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xiv, 202 pages ; 24 cm

Edition:

Revised and expanded edition.

Place of Publication:

Albany : State University of New York Press, [2016]

Summary:

This book presents a comprehensive analysis of the accounts of change of rule in Chinese texts from 600 to 100 BC, including the core philosophical works of the Chinese tradition attributed to Confucius, Mozi, Mencius, Xunzi, Hanfeizi, and Zhuangzi. Drawing from the early structuralism of Claude Lévi-Stratiss, Sarah Allan demonstrates that similar motifs repeat in every period, and argues that they serve, like myth, to mediate the inherent social conflict between kinship relations and that of the larger community. This conflict is embodied in the idea of a dynastic cycle, founded by a virtuous sage king and passed down hereditarily until a last evil ruler is again replaced, and played out at regular intervals in legends of kings and ministers, heirs and sages, ministers and recluses, regents and rebels. Each philosophical text transforms the legends in a systematic manner to reflect its own understanding of the patterns of history that inform the present In this revised and expanded edition, Allan has added translations and original Chinese texts, as well as a new introduction further analyzing structuralism and discussing how the book remains relevant to ongoing sinological arguments. An earlier article by Allan, with supporting evidence for this book's thesis, is included as an appendix. Book jacket.

Contents:

Chapter 1 Problem and Theory 13

Chapter 2 Legend Set 1: Tang Yao to Yú Shun 33

Chapter 3 Legend Sets 2 and 3: Yú Shun to Xia Yu and the Foundation of the Xia Dynasty 59

Chapter 4 Legend Set 4: The Foundation of the Shang Dynasty 79

Chapter 5 Legend Set 5: The Foundation of the Zhou Dynasty 101

Chapter 6 The Philosophers 119

Chapter 7 Conclusion 137.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Allan, Sarah. Heir and the sage.

ISBN:

9781438462257

1438462255

OCLC:

939911242