Overview

Charles Hartman presents an ambitious analysis of the workings of governance in Imperial China centered on the Song Dynasty (960–1279). Here he develops a new model for thinking about the deeper structures of governance in Song and pre-imperial China – the 'technocratic–Confucian continuum' – which challenges the prevailing perception of Confucian political dominance and offers a vehicle for expanding the definition and scope of Song political culture to embrace all its actors. Building on his acclaimed work The Making of Song Dynasty History: Sources and Narratives, 960–1279 CE (2021), this richly detailed exploration of the Song court is of significance beyond the immediate period of study both in rethinking the nature of monarchy in China and in examining the constructive possibility of political dissent.

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9781009235648

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Reviews

'In Structures of Governance, Charles Hartman provides a radically new interpretation of Song dynasty political culture. Building on decades of meticulous work in Song historical sources, Hartman argues persuasively that Song governance was not controlled by men who espoused Confucian rule, as the conventional picture would have it, but rather by their political enemies. Hartman brilliantly lays out the mechanisms by which those enemies - palace women, eunuchs, 'petty' technocrats and 'nefarious ministers' - were able to dominate Song political life. The result is a breathtakingly transformed understanding of the functioning of the Song state, one that every student of the Song - and of Chinese history more broadly - will need to take into account.' Beverly Bossler, Brown University 'Hartman has challenged long-held assumptions of Song politics and statecraft, persuasively arguing that technocratic visions and non-literati interest groups counterbalanced Confucian ideologies and scholar-officials. Combining a meticulous autopsy of the evidentiary record with a panoramic survey of institutional dynamics, this lucidly-written and persuasively-argued masterwork will have a revolutionary impact upon the field.' Ari Daniel Levine, University of Georgia 'Structures of Governance peels away the myth of the 'Confucian state' to depict how the Song government was actually structured: as overlapping constellations of monarchical, technocratic, and literati institutions, always in mutual tension and whose relative power was always in flux. It is a stunning achievement that will transform the way we think about Song (and late-imperial) political institutions.' Paul Jakov Smith, Haverford College 'Hartman's deconstruction of the Confucian narrative allows him to shed light on the large range of forces that shaped the Song institutions and changed the nature of the Chinese monarchy. By revealing the complexity of that transition, his book will become the most authoritative Song political history in any language.' Christian Lamouroux, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris

Author Information

Charles Hartman is Professor Emeritus of Chinese Studies in the Department of East Asian Studies at the University at Albany, State University of New York.

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