Celestial Signs and Classical Rhetoric in Early Imperial China.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Chapman, Jesse J.

Series:

SUNY Series in Chinese Philosophy and Culture Series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Divination--China--History.

Divination.

Astronomy--China--History.

Astronomy.

Omens--China.

Omens.

Cognition and culture--China--History.

Cognition and culture.

China--Civilization--221 B.C.-960 A.D.

China.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (295 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Albany : State University of New York Press, 2025.

Summary:

Considers how sign-reading fit into broader understandings of the human and cosmic worlds in Han times.

Contents:

Intro

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Celestial Signs, Tianwen, and the Emergence of Classicism in Early China

Jing, the Five Classics, and Classical Texts

Perspectives on the Meaningfulness of Omens

Celestial Signs and Shifting Definitions of Tianwen

Celestial Signs across Disciplines

Audience, Limitations, and a Word on Teleology

The Heart of the Argument

Outline of Chapters

Part I Technical Manuals and Classical Authority

Chapter 1 Practical Omenology and Classical Ideals at Mawangdui

The Tombs of the Marquises of Dai

Situating the Significance of Excavated Texts in Textual Communities

The Celestial Signs Manuscripts

The Five Planets

The Miscellaneous Sign-Readings

The Fog of War: "Harshness and Favor"

Observation and Emulation in the Constant Models

The Changes as a Guide for Reading Celestial Signs

Virtue, Heaven, and the Five Kinds of Action

Conclusion

Chapter 2 Sign-Reading and Sagely Rulership in the Huainanzi and Shiji

Historical Circumstances and Technical Content

Tianwen and the Huainanzi "Tianwen" Treatise

Qi and the Integrated Cosmos

Heaven and the Human Heart

Sign-Reading in the Shiji

Lineage and History in the "Celestial Offices"

Sign-Reading in Antiquity in the "Basic Annals"

Chapter 3 Integrating Classical Texts with Omen-Reading Technology

The "Wuxing Treatise" and Its Classical Models

The "Wuxing Treatise" Chronicle of Comets

Etiology, Chronology, and Classicism in the "Celestial Patterns"

Linking Signs to the Classics in the "Celestial Patterns"

The "Celestial Patterns" as a Dynastic History

Part II Rhetoric in Practice

Chapter 4 Classical Authority and the Elimination of Baleful Signs

Authoritative Theories: From Etiology to Elimination

The "Appended Statements".

The "Great Plan"

Authoritative Exemplars: Turning Calamities into Good Fortune

King Wuding and the Pheasant in "The High Ancestor's Day of Sacrifice"

King Cheng and the Violent Winds

The Integrity of Duke Jing of Song

Chapter 5 Reading Signs, Reading the World

Seeking Auspicious Signs at the Court of Emperor Wu

Dong Zhongshu

Gongsun Hong

Crisis at Court and the Comet of 12 BCE

Gu Yong

Liu Xiang

The Earthquake of 133 CE as a Celestial Sign

Zhang Heng

Ma Rong

Li Gu

Conclusion: Interwoven Discourses and Contextualized Interpretation

Classical Authority in Technical Writing and Memorials

Sign-Reading as Reading the World

Appendix A: Terminology and Translation

Appendix B: The Bibliographic Category of Tianwen

Tianwen Texts in the Bibliographic Treatise to the Hanshu

Notes

Works Cited

Received Sources in Classical Chinese

Excavated Sources

Translations and Secondary Sources

Index.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

979-88-558-0055-5

OCLC:

1520279808