This book traces the shared culture of the Chinese elite from the seventh to the twelfth centuries. The early T'ang definition of 'This Culture of Ours' combined literary and scholarly traditions from the previous five centuries. The late Sung Neo-Confucian movement challenged that definition. The author argues that the Tang-Sung transition is best understood as a transition from a literary view of culture - in which literary accomplishment and mastery of traditional forms were regarded as essential - to the ethical orientation of Neo-Confucianism, in which the cultivation of one's innate moral ability was regarded as the goal of learning. The author shows that this transformation paralleled the collapse of the T'ang order and the restoration of a centralized empire under the Sung, underscoring the connection between elite formation and political institutions.
Copyright:
1992
Book Details
Book Quality:
Publisher Quality
ISBN-13:
9780804765756
Related ISBNs:
9780804723619,
9780804719209
Publisher:
Stanford University Press
Date of Addition:
10/20/16
Copyrighted By:
the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University Printed in the United States of America
