Problems of Han administration : : ancestral rites, weights and measures, and the means of protest / / by Michael Loewe.

• Superior document: China Studies, Volume 33
• VerfasserIn: Loewe, Michael,
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden, Netherlands ;, Boston, [Massachusetts] : : Brill,, 2016.; ©2016
• Year of Publication: 2016
• Language: English
• Series: China studies (Leiden, Netherlands) ; Volume 33.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (340 p.)
• Notes: Description based upon print version of record.

Michael Loewe calls on literary and material evidence to examine three problems that arose in administering China’s early empires. Religious rites due to an emperor’s predecessors must both pay the correct services to his ancestors and demonstrate his right to succeed to the throne. In practical terms, tax collectors, merchants, farmers and townsmen required the establishment of a standard set of weights and measures that was universally operative and which they could trust. Those who saw reason to criticise the decisions taken by the emperor and his immediate advisors, whether on grounds of moral principles or political expediency, needed opportunities and the means of expressing their views, whether as remonstrants to the throne, by withdrawal from public life or as authors of private writings.

Table of Contents

Preliminary Material -- Introduction to Part 1 -- 1 The Concept and Application of zhaomu -- 2 The Two Series of Imperial Cults -- 3 Zhaomu from Pre-Imperial Times to Eastern Han -- 4 Zhaomu from the Three Kingdoms to the Close of Qing -- 5 The Sites for Imperial Tombs -- 6 The Ming tang -- Appendix to Part 1 -- List of Works Cited Part 1 -- Introduction to Part 2 -- 1 Sources of Information -- 2 The Standardisation of Weights and Measures -- 3 The Evidence of Han shu 21 -- 4 Inscriptions of the Zhan guo, Qin and Han Periods -- 5 The Jia liang hu 嘉量斛 -- 6 The Wei dou Vessel -- Conclusion -- Appendix to Part 2 -- List of Works Cited Part 2 -- Introduction to Part 3 -- List of Works Cited Part 3 -- Index.