Birth of an Empire: The State of Qin Revisited (New Perspectives on Chinese Culture and Society)

In 221 BCE the state of Qin vanquished its rivals and established the first empire on Chinese soil, starting a millennium-long imperial age in Chinese history. Hailed by some and maligned by many, Qin has long been an enigma. In this pathbreaking study, the authors integrate textual sources with newly available archeological and paleographic materials, providing a boldly novel picture of Qin’s cultural and political trajectory, its evolving institutions and its religion, its place in China’s history, and the reasons for its success and for its ultimate collapse. Machine Generated Contents Note: Introduction: Archaeological Perspectives On The Qin Unification Of China / Lothar Von Falkenhausen / Yuri Pines / Gideon Shelach / Robin D.s. Yates -- 1.new Explorations Of Early Qin Culture / Lothar Von Falkenhausen / Gideon Shelach -- 2.from Vassal State To Empire: An Archaeological Examination Of Qin Culture / Zhao Huacheng -- 3.collapse Or Transformation? Anthropological And Archaeological Perspectives On The Fall Of Qin / Teng Mingyu -- Introduction: The Empire Of The Scribes / Gideon Shelach -- 4.qin-han Census And Tax And Corvée Administration: Notes On Newly Discovered Materials / Robin D.s. Yates -- 5.religion And Religious Life Of The Qin / Hsing I-tien -- 6.the Changing Status Of Slaves In The Qin-han Transition / Poo Mu-chou -- Introduction: The First Emperor And His Image / Robin D.s. Yates -- 7.emperor Wu Of The Han And The First August Emperor Of Qin In Sima Qian's Shiji / Yuri Pines -- 8.the Messianic Emperor: A New Look At Qin's Place In China's History / Hans Van Ess -- 9.the First Emperors: Image And Memory / Yuri Pines. Edited By Yuri Pines, Gideon Shelach, Lothar Von Falkenhausen, And Robin D.s. Yates. Papers Originally Presented At A Conference Held In December 2008 At The Institute For Advanced Study, Hebrew University Of Jersualem. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 335-369) And Index.