Books of Fate and Popular Culture in Early China : : the Daybook Manuscripts of the Warring States, Qin, and Han / / edited by Donald Harper and Marc Kalinowski.

• TeilnehmendeR: Harper, Donald John.; Kalinowski, Marc.
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden ;, Boston : : Brill,, [2017]
• Year of Publication: 2017
• Language: English
• Series: Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 4 China 33.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (xxv, 517 pages) :; illustrations, maps.

Books of Fate and Popular Culture in Early China is a comprehensive introduction to the manuscripts known as daybooks, examples of which have been found in Warring States, Qin, and Han tombs (453 BCE–220 CE). Their main content concerns hemerology, or “knowledge of good and bad days.” Daybooks reveal the place of hemerology in daily life and are invaluable sources for the study of popular culture. Eleven scholars have contributed chapters examining the daybooks from different perspectives, detailing their significance as manuscript-objects intended for everyday use and showing their connection to almanacs still popular in Chinese communities today as well as to hemerological literature in medieval Europe and ancient Babylon. Contributors include: Marianne Bujard, László Sándor Chardonnens, Christopher Cullen, Donald Harper, Marc Kalinowski, Li Ling, Liu Lexian, Alasdair Livingstone, Richard Smith, Alain Thote, and Yan Changgui.

Table of Contents

Preliminary Material -- Introduction / Donald Harper and Marc Kalinowski -- Daybooks in Archaeological Context / Alain Thote -- Daybooks: A Type of Popular Hemerological Manual of the Warring States, Qin, and Han / Lexian Liu -- Daybooks in the Context of Manuscript Culture and Popular Culture Studies / Donald Harper -- Hemerology and Prediction in the Daybooks: Ideas and Practices / Marc Kalinowski -- Daybooks and the Spirit World / Changgui Yan -- The Zidanku Silk Manuscripts / Ling Li -- Calendars and Calendar Making in Qin and Han Times / Christopher Cullen -- Daybooks in Qin and Han Religion / Marianne Bujard -- The Legacy of Daybooks in Late Imperial and Modern China / Richard Smith -- Hemerology in Medieval Europe / László Sándor Chardonnens -- Babylonian Hemerologies and Menologies / Alasdair Livingstone -- Appendix A: Survey of Excavated Daybooks, Daybook-Related Manuscripts, and Other Hemerological Material -- Appendix B: Summary of Published Daybooks and Daybook-Related Manuscripts -- Appendix C: Description of Select Hemerologies and Classificatory Systems in Daybooks -- Bibliography -- Index -- Plates.