Text and Ritual in Early China
Douban
Martin Kern ed.
Overview
Leading scholars of ancient Chinese history, literature, religion, and archaeology consider the presence and use of texts in religious and political ritual. Through balanced attention to both the received literary tradition and the wide range of recently excavated artefacts, manuscripts, and inscriptions, their combined efforts reveal the rich and multilayered interplay of textual composition and ritual performance.
contents
Introduction: The Ritual Texture of Early China
MARTIN KERN VII
1. Toward an Archaeology of Writing: Text, Ritual, and the Culture of Public Display in the Classical Period (475 B.C.E.–220 C.E.)
MICHAEL NYLAN 3
2. The Composite Nature of Early Chinese Texts
WILLIAM G. BOLTZ 50
3. The E Jun Qi Metal Tallies: Inscribed Texts and Ritual Contexts
LOTHAR VON FALKENHAUSEN 79
4. The Ritual Meaning of Textual Form: Evidence from Early Commentaries of the Historiographic and Ritual Traditions
JOACHIM GENTZ 124
5. The Odes in Excavated Manuscripts
MARTIN KERN 149
6. Playing at Critique: Indirect Remonstrance and the Formation of Shi Identity
DAVID SCHABERG 194
7. Reimagining the Yellow Emperor’s Four Faces
MARK CSIKSZENTMIHALYI 226
8. Text and Ritual in Early Chinese Stelae
K. E. BRASHIER 249
Works Cited 285
Contributors 311
Index 312
