Cosmology and Political Culture in Early China (Cambridge Studies in Chinese History, Literature and Institutions)

This book offers a radical reinterpretation of the formative stages of Chinese culture and history, tracing the central role played by cosmology in the formation of China's early empires. It crosses the disciplines of history, social anthropology, archaeology, and philosophy to illustrate how cosmological systems, particularly the Five Elements, shaped political culture. By focusing on dynamic change in early cosmology, the book undermines the notion that Chinese cosmology was homogenous and unchanging. By arguing that cosmology was intrinsic to power relations, it also challenges prevailing theories of political and intellectual history. This radical reinterpretation of the formative stages of Chinese culture and history traces the central role played by cosmology in the formation of China's early empires. It crosses the disciplines of history, social anthropology, archaeology and philosophy to illustrate how cosmological systems, particularly the Five Elements, shaped political culture. By focusing on dynamic change in early cosmology, the book undermines the notion that Chinese cosmology was homogeneous and unchanging. By arguing that cosmology was intrinsic to power relations, it also challenges prevailing theories of political and intellectual history "Wang examines the transformation of Chinese cosmology between two political eras - from the hegemonic states of the Bronze Age (the Shang and Western Zhou, ca. 1700-771 B.C.) to the unified empires of the Iron Age (Qin and Han, 221 B.C.-220 A.D.). Challenging the prevailing view of cosmology as a quintessential, unchanging, homogenous structure of Chinese culture, she demonstrates how cosmology was constructive to power while at the same time was constantly transformed by the political process."--Jacket Applying a structural analysis to ancient Chinese thought, both Angus Graham and Derk Bodde see the emergence of the Wuxing (Five Phases) system as the result of inserting centrality into older symmetry oppositions, which in turn caused a shift from four components to five, a phenomenon first seen in the texts of the fourth to second centuries B.C. "This book offers a radical reinterpretation of the formative stages of Chinese culture and history, tracing the central role played by cosmology in the development of China's early empires. Aihe Wang unveils the dynamic interaction between these two legacies - the cultural and the political - in the historical process."