The Great State of White and High : Buddhism and State Formation in Eleventh-Century Xia

“A major contribution to our understanding of the rise of the Tangut as a cultural and political unity.” __—Studies of Central and East Asian Religions__“ Ruth Dunnell's long-awaited book on Buddhism and Tangut state formation expands on themes raised in her earlier work on Tangut history, in particular, the place of Buddhism in the early Xia state officially founded by Li (Weiming) Yuanhao in 1038 and the role of the empress dowager regents in preserving that state against external and internal enemies.” __—China Review International__

Reading the Right Text introduces six new plays from contemporary China, five of which are translated here into English for the first time. Chosen from a wide variety of well-received dramas of the period, each play represents the traditions and changes in a particular subgenre: regional theater, proletarian theater, women's theater, history plays, and experimental theater. Xiaomei Chen's wide-ranging and perceptive introduction locates the plays in the political and cultural history of modern China to demonstrate the interrelationship between theater, history, society, and everyday experience. She highlights the origin and development of the different sub-genres and outlines critical approaches from numerous fields, including gender studies, performance studies, subaltern studies, and comparative cultural studies.

Quite apart from their importance as theater, these plays are crucial for a fully rounded understanding of the cultural dynamics involved in the transition from Maoist to post-Mao China, from socialist realist drama to the post-socialist response to a market economy and a society in flux.

Contents Preface Conventions Xia Rulers and Reign Era Titles Genealogy of Eleventh-Century Xia Dynastic Alliances Brief Chronology of the Main Events in Xia History Part 1. Buddhism in Eleventh-Century Xia CHAPTER 1. Introduction CHAPTER 2. Buddhism and Monarchy in the Early Tangut State CHAPTER 3. Buddhism under the Regencies (1049–1099) PART 2. The 1094 Stele Inscriptions from Liangzhou CHAPTER 4. A History of the Dayun (Huguo) Temple at Liangzhou CHAPTER 5. Annotated Translation of the 1094 Stele Inscriptions CHAPTER 6 .Reading between the Lines: A Comparison and Analysis of the Tangut and Han Texts CHAPTER 7. Conclusion Appendices A. Photoreproductions of Rubbings of the 1094 Gantong Stûpa Stele Inscriptions APPENDIX B. Chronology of Sources Recording or Discussing the Inscriptions on the Gantong Stûpa Stele Abbreviations Notes A Select Glossary of Chinese Names and Terms Bibliography Index In the late tenth and eleventh centuries, a group of people known in Western and Japanese scholarship as the Tangut established an independent regime in the Ordos (present-day Ningxia, Shaanxi, Gansu, and Inner Mongolia). It quickly grew into the Xia empire, a multiethnic, multilingual state whose ruling dynasty, a people ethnically and linguistically related to Tibetans, adapted elements of Chinese and Inner Asian statecraft, culture, and religion . The Great State of White and High is the first book-length treatment in English of Tangut Xia history. Exhibiting a mastery of languages, Ruth Dunnell has produced a pioneering, systematic study using primary and secondary sources in Tangut and Chinese to reconstruct early imperial Xia history from the inside Xia continued to grow in prominence, and its people became renowned throughout Asia as devout Buddhists. An imperial state was formally born in 1038 and chronicled its existence up to 1227, when it was finally crushed in Chinggis Khan's last campaign