What China and India once were : the pasts that may shape the global future / edited by Sheldon Pollock and Benjamin Elman.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Pollock, Sheldon I., editor.

Elman, Benjamin A., 1946- editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

India--History.

India.

History.

China--History.

China.

India--Social life and customs.

Manners and customs.

China--Social life and customs.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

viii, 365 pages : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Columbia University Press, [2018]

Summary:

In the early years of the twenty-first century, China and India have emerged as world powers. In many respects, this is a return to the historical norm for both countries. For much of the early modern period, China and India were global leaders in a variety of ways. In this book, prominent scholars seek to understand modern China and India through an unprecedented comparative analysis of their long histories. Using new sources, making new connections, and reexamining old assumptions, noted scholars of China and India pair up in each chapter to tackle major questions by combining their expertise. What China and India Once Were details how these two cultural giants arrived at their present state, considers their commonalities and divergences, assesses what is at stake in their comparison, and, more widely, questions whether European modernity provides useful contrasts. In jointly composed chapters, contributors explore ecology, polity, gender relations, religion, literature, science and technology, and more, to provide the richest comparative account ever offered of China and India before the modern era. What China and India Once Were establishes innovative frameworks for understanding the historical and cultural roots of East and South Asia in global context, drawing on the variety of Asian pasts to offer new ways of thinking about Asian presents.

Contents:

Introduction / Benjamin Elman and Sheldon Pollock

Life and energy / Sumit Guha and Kenneth Pomeranz

Conquest, rulership, and the state / Pamela Crossley and Richard M. Eaton

Gender systems : The exotic Asian and other fallacies / Beverly Bossler and Ruby Lal

Relating the past : Writing (and rewriting) history / Cynthia Brokaw and Allison Busch

Sorting out babel : Literature and its changing languages / Stephen Owen and Sheldon Pollock

Big science : Classicism and conquest / Benjamin Elman and Christopher Minkowski

Pilgrims in search of religion / Zvi Ben-Dor Benite and Richard H. Davis

Art and vision : Varieties of world making / Molly Aitken and Eugene Wang

Afterword : The act of comparing (both sides, now) / Dipesh Chakrabarty and Haun Saussy.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Online version: What China and India once were.

ISBN:

9780231184700

0231184700

9780231184717

0231184719

OCLC:

1035215686