{"product_id":"technical-arts-in-the-han-histories-hardcover","title":"Technical Arts in the Han Histories: Tables and Treatises in the Shiji and Hanshu - Hardcover","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eMark Csikszentmihalyi\u003c\/b\u003e (Editor), \u003cb\u003eMichael Nylan\u003c\/b\u003e (Editor)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe first concerted attempt to analyze how the histories \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eShiji\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e and \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eHanshu\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e described the technical arts as they were applied in vital areas of the administration of pre-Han and Han China.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhile cultural literacy in early China was grounded in learning the Classics, basic competence in official life was generally predicated on acquiring several forms of technical knowledge. Recent archaeological finds have brought renewed attention to the use of technical manuals and mantic techniques within a huge range of discrete contexts, pushing historians to move beyond the generalities offered by past scholarship. To explore these uses, \u003ci\u003eTechnical Arts in the Han Histories\u003c\/i\u003e delves deeply into the rarely studied \"Treatises\" and \"Tables\" compiled for the first two standard histories, the \u003ci\u003eShiji\u003c\/i\u003e (Historical Records) and \u003ci\u003eHanshu\u003c\/i\u003e (History of Han), important supplements to the better-known biographical chapters, and models for the inclusion of technical subjects in the twenty-three later \"Standard Histories\" of imperial China. Indeed, for a great many aspects of life in early imperial society, they constitute our best primary sources for understanding complex realities and perceptions. The essays in this volume seek to explain how different social groups thought of, disseminated, and withheld technical knowledge relating to the body, body politic, and cosmos, in the process of detailing the preoccupations of successive courts from Qin through Eastern Han in administering the localities, the frontier zones, and their numerous subjects (at the time, roughly one-quarter of the world's population).\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eMark Csikszentmihalyi \u003c\/b\u003eis Marjorie Meyer Eliaser Chair of International Studies and Professor of Chinese at the University of California at Berkeley. His books include \u003ci\u003eMaterial Virtue: Ethics and the Body in Early China\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003cb\u003eMichael Nylan \u003c\/b\u003eis Sather Professor of History at the University of California at Berkeley. In addition to her works devoted to Han history, she is the translator of several classics of early China, including \u003ci\u003eThe Art of War\u003c\/i\u003e, ascribed to Sunzi, and Yang Xiong's \u003ci\u003eExemplary Figures\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eCanon of Supreme Mystery\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n        \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 426\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1.06 x 9 x 6 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIllustrated:\u003c\/strong\u003e Yes\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e November 01, 2021\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42100360839303,"sku":"9781438485430","price":177.84,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0601\/2623\/2711\/files\/24a473e58fd38ee48c27401267357a9b_28a2b9ed-b7b9-495b-93a7-cbee3a376317.webp?v=1732383900","url":"https:\/\/booksby.splitshops.com\/products\/technical-arts-in-the-han-histories-hardcover","provider":"Books by splitShops","version":"1.0","type":"link"}