Overview

"The Spring and Autumn (Chunqiu) is a chronicle kept by the dukes of the state of Lu from 722 to 481 B.C.E. Luxuriant Gems of the ""Spring and Autumn"" (Chunqiu fanlu) follows the interpretations of the Gongyang Commentary, whose transmitters sought to explicate the special language of the Spring and Autumn. The work is often ascribed to the Han scholar and court official Dong Zhongshu, but, as this study reveals, the text is in fact a compendium of writings by a variety of authors spanning several generations. It depicts a utopian vision of a flourishing humanity that they believed to be Confucius's legacy to the world. The Gongyang masters thought that Confucius had written the Spring and Autumn, employing subtle phrasing to indicate approval or disapproval of important events and personages. Luxuriant Gems therefore augments Confucian ethical and philosophical teachings with chapters on cosmology, statecraft, and other topics drawn from contemporary non-Confucian traditions. A major resource, this book features the first complete English-language translation of Luxuriant Gems, divided into eight thematic sections with introductions that address dating, authorship, authenticity, and the relationship between the Spring and Autumn and the Gongyang approach. Critically illuminating early Chinese philosophy, religion, literature, and politics, this book conveys the brilliance of intellectual life in the Han dynasty during the formative decades of the Chinese imperial state."

Full Product Details

Author:   Zhongshu Dong ,  John Major ,  Sarah Queen
Publisher:   Columbia University Press
Imprint:   Columbia University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.60cm , Height: 5.30cm , Length: 23.50cm
Weight:   1.134kg
ISBN:  

9780231169325

ISBN 10:   0231169329
Pages:   704
Publication Date:   15 December 2015
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  College/higher education ,  Professional & Vocational ,  Tertiary & Higher Education
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.
Language:   English

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments Introduction Group 1: Exegetical Principles 1. King Zhuang of Chu 2. Jade Cup 3. Bamboo Grove 4. Jade Brilliance 5. The Quintessential and the Ornamental 6. The Kingly Way 7. Annihilated States, Part A 8. Annihilated States, Part B 9. Waxing and Waning in Accord with the Root 10. The Essentials of Covenants and Meetings 11. The Rectifying Thread 12. Ten Directives 13. Emphasize Governance 14. Images for the Regulation of Dress 15. Two Starting Points 16. Signs and Omens 17. Yu's Postface Group 2: Monarchical Principles 18. Departing from and Conforming to the Fundamental 19. Establishing the Originating Spirit 20. Preserving Position and Authority 21. Investigating Achievement and Reputation 22. Comprehending the State as the Body Group 3: Regulatory Principles 23. The Three Dynasties' Alternating Regulations of Simplicity and Refinement 24. Regulations on Officialdom Reflect Heaven 25. Yao and Shun Did Not Presumptuously Transfer [the Throne]; Tang and Wu Did Not Rebelliously Murder [Their Rulers] 26. Regulations on Dress 27. Regulating Limits 28. Ranking States Group 4: Ethical Principles 29. Standards of Humaneness and Righteousness 30. The Necessity of [Being] Humane and Wise 31. For Nurturing the Self, Nothing Is More Important Than Righteous Principles 32. An Official Response to the King of Jiangdu: The Great Officers of Yue Cannot Be Considered Humane 33. Observing Virtue 34. Serving the Root 35. Deeply Examine Names and Designations 36. Substantiating Human Nature 37. The Lords of the Land 38. An Official Response Regarding the Five Phases 39. [Title and text are no longer extant] 40. [Title and text are no longer extant] 41. Heaven, the Maker of Humankind 42. The Meaning of the Five Phases Group 5: Yin-Yang Principles 43. Yang Is Lofty, Yin Is Lowly 44. The Kingly Way Penetrates Three 45. Heaven's Prosperity 46. The Heavenly Distinctions Lie in Humans 47. The Positions of Yin and Yang 48. Yin and Yang End and Begin the Year 49. The Meaning of Yin and Yang 50. Yin and Yang Emerge, Withdraw, Ascend, and Descend 51. Heaven's Way Is Not Dualistic 52. Heat or Cold, Which Predominates? 53. Laying the Foundation of Righteousness 54. [Title and text are no longer extant] 55. The Correlates of the Four Seasons 56. Human Correlates of Heaven's Regularities 57. Things of the Same Kind Activate One Another Group 6: Five-Phase Principles 58. The Mutual Engendering of the Five Phases 59. The Mutual Conquest of the Five Phases 60. Complying with and Deviating from the Five Phases 61. Controlling Water by Means of the Five Phases 62. Controlling Disorders by Means of the Five Phases 63. Aberrations of the Five Phases and Their Remedies 64. The Five Phases and Five Affairs Group 7: Ritual Principles 65. Sayings Pertaining to the Suburban Sacrifice 66. The Principles of the Suburban Sacrifice 67. Sacrificial Rites of the Suburban Sacrifice 68. The Four [Seasonal] Sacrificial Rites 69. The Suburban Sacrifice 70. Following Orders 71. An Official Response Regarding the Suburban Sacrifice 72. Presenting Gifts to Superiors 73. Hymn to the Mountains and Rivers 74. Seeking Rain 75. Stopping Rain 76. The Principles of Sacrificial Rites Group 8: Heavenly Principles 77. Conform to Heaven's Way 78. The Conduct of Heaven and Earth (Lau version) 78A. The Conduct of Heaven and Earth (Su Yu version) 79. The Origins of Severity and Beneficence 80. In Imitation of Heaven's Activities (Lau version) 80A. In Imitation of Heaven's Activities (Su Yu version) 81. Heaven, Earth, Yin, and Yang (Lau version) 81A. Heaven, Earth, Yin, and Yang (Su Yu version) 82. The Way of Heaven Bestows (Lau version) 82A. The Way of Heaven Bestows (Su Yu version) Appendix A. Biographies of the Confucian Scholars Appendix B. The Biography of Dong Zhongshu Selected Bibliography Index

Reviews

This is a major achievement, one that will open many avenues for research into the mind and method of the most influential cosmological synthesis of ancient China. -- Victor H. Mair, University of Pennsylvania

This is a major achievement, one that will open many avenues for research into the mind and method of the most influential cosmological synthesis of ancient China. -- Victor H. Mair, University of Pennsylvania With this first complete translation of the famed Chunqiu Fanlu, Queen and Major have met a level of sinological scholarship and erudition seldom achieved since it was first set by James Legge's translations in the 1870s. Limpid throughout and with many and varied commentaries on the text and its context, this work is guaranteed to find a place on the bookshelf of every serious student of classical Chinese history and philosophy. Bravo! -- Henry Rosemont, Jr., Brown University In this first complete translation of a complex and frequently misunderstood text, expert translator-editors John Major and Sarah Queen show how the work was brought together by some unknown compiler, long after the death of the reputed author, Dong Zhongshu (ca. 195-104 BCE). The translation is fluent, the scholarship impeccable, and the interpretations convincing: it will not be surpassed for many generations. -- Robin D.S. Yates, FRSC, McGill University

"This book is a major achievement, one that will open many avenues for research into the mind and method of the most influential cosmological synthesis of ancient China. -- Victor H. Mair, University of Pennsylvania With this first complete translation of the famed Chunqiu fanlu, Sarah A. Queen and John S. Major have met a level of sinological scholarship and erudition seldom achieved since it was first set by James Legge's translations in the 1870s. Limpid throughout and with many and varied commentaries on the text and its context, this work is guaranteed to find a place on the bookshelf of every serious student of classical Chinese history and philosophy. Bravo!"" -- Henry Rosemont Jr., Brown University In this first complete translation of a complex and frequently misunderstood text, expert translator-editors Sarah A. Queen and John S. Major show how the work was brought together by some unknown compiler, long after the death of the reputed author, Dong Zhongshu. The translation is fluent, the scholarship impeccable, and the interpretations convincing: it will not be surpassed for many generations. -- Robin D. S. Yates, McGill University Queen and Major offer far more than a reliable, rigorous, and meticulous translation of a major work of ancient Chinese political thought: theirs is a new reading of the notoriously sprawling Chunqiu fanlu together with an exemplary, sophisticated study of the text as a layered, composite work, revealing in detail its multiple ideological agendas and contexts from across the centuries of early imperial intellectual history. An exemplary accomplishment and a wonderful resource for students and scholars alike! -- Martin Kern, Princeton University"

This book is a major achievement, one that will open many avenues for research into the mind and method of the most influential cosmological synthesis of ancient China. -- Victor H. Mair, University of Pennsylvania With this first complete translation of the famed Chunqiu fanlu, Sarah A. Queen and John S. Major have met a level of sinological scholarship and erudition seldom achieved since it was first set by James Legge's translations in the 1870s. Limpid throughout and with many and varied commentaries on the text and its context, this work is guaranteed to find a place on the bookshelf of every serious student of classical Chinese history and philosophy. Bravo! -- Henry Rosemont Jr., Brown University In this first complete translation of a complex and frequently misunderstood text, expert translator-editors Sarah A. Queen and John S. Major show how the work was brought together by some unknown compiler, long after the death of the reputed author, Dong Zhongshu. The translation is fluent, the scholarship impeccable, and the interpretations convincing: it will not be surpassed for many generations. -- Robin D. S. Yates, McGill University Queen and Major offer far more than a reliable, rigorous, and meticulous translation of a major work of ancient Chinese political thought: theirs is a new reading of the notoriously sprawling Chunqiu fanlu together with an exemplary, sophisticated study of the text as a layered, composite work, revealing in detail its multiple ideological agendas and contexts from across the centuries of early imperial intellectual history. An exemplary accomplishment and a wonderful resource for students and scholars alike! -- Martin Kern, Princeton University

Author Information

"Dong Zhongshu (195-104 B.C.E.) was a native of the kingdom of Guanquan (part of present-day Hebei Province), where at an early age he mastered the Spring and Autumn. A court-appointed scholar of the Gongyang Commentary to the Spring and Autumn, he was known for his interpretations of disasters and anomalies recorded in the text. Sarah A. Queen is professor of history at Connecticut College. She is the author of From Chronicle to Canon: The Hermeneutics of the ""Spring and Autumn"" According to Tung Chung-shu; the co-translator, with John S. Major, Andrew Seth Meyer, and Harold D. Roth, of The ""Huainanzi"": A Guide to the Theory and Practice of Government in Early Han China and The Essential ""Huainanzi""; and the coeditor, with Michael Puett, of The ""Huainanzi"" and Textual Production in Early China. John S. Major taught East Asian history at Dartmouth College. Now an independent scholar, he is the author of Heaven and Earth in Early Han Thought: Chapters Three, Four, and Five of the ""Huainanzi"" and the co-translator, with Queen, Meyer, and Roth, of The ""Huainanzi"" and The Essential ""Huainanzi."""

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