Ethnic identity in Tang China / Marc S. Abramson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Abramson, Marc Samuel, 1969-

Series:

Encounters with Asia.

Encounters with Asia

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ethnology--China.

Ethnology.

China--Ethnic relations.

China.

China--History--Tang dynasty, 618-907.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (284 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, c2008.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Ethnic Identity in Tang China is the first work in any language to explore comprehensively the construction of ethnicity during the dynasty that reigned over China for roughly three centuries, from 618 to 907. Often viewed as one of the most cosmopolitan regimes in China's past, the Tang had roots in Inner Asia, and its rulers continued to have complex relationships with a population that included Turks, Tibetans, Japanese, Koreans, Southeast Asians, Persians, and Arabs.Marc S. Abramson's rich portrait of this complex, multiethnic empire draws on political writings, religious texts, and other cultural artifacts, as well as comparative examples from other empires and frontiers. Abramson argues that various constituencies, ranging from Confucian elites to Buddhist monks to "barbarian" generals, sought to define ethnic boundaries for various reasons but often in part out of discomfort with the ambiguity of their own ethnic and cultural identity. The Tang court, meanwhile, alternately sought to absorb some alien populations to preserve the empire's integrity while seeking to preserve the ethnic distinctiveness of other groups whose particular skills it valued. Abramson demonstrates how the Tang era marked a key shift in definitions of China and the Chinese people, a shift that ultimately laid the foundation for the emergence of the modern Chinese nation.Ethnic Identity in Tang China sheds new light on one of the most important periods in Chinese history. It also offers broader insights on East Asian and Inner Asian history, the history of ethnicity, and the comparative history of frontiers and empires.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1. Ethnicity in the Chinese Context

Chapter 2. The Ambiguity of the Non-Han

Chapter 3. Buddhism as a Foreign Religion

Chapter 4. Deep Eyes and High Noses

Chapter 5. The Geopolitics of Ethnicity

Chapter 6. Varieties of Ethnic Change

Conclusion

Appendix A. Chinese Dynasties

Appendix B. Sui and Tang Emperors

Abbreviations

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Acknowledgments

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. [223]-246) and index.

ISBN:

9781283889919

1283889919

9780812201017

0812201019

OCLC:

802057634