Writing of Weddings in Middle-Period China, The: Text and Ritual Practice in the Eighth through Fourteenth Centuries

Approaching Writing As A Form Of Cultural Practice And Understanding Text As An Historical Object, This Book Not Only Recovers Elements Of The Ritual Practice Of Middle-period Weddings, But Also Reassesses The Relationship Between Texts And The Middle-period Past. Its Fourfold Narrative Of The Writing Of Weddings And Its Spirited Engagement With The Texts - Ritual Manuals, Engagement Letters, Nuptial Songs, Calendars And Almanacs, And Legal Texts - Offer A Form And Style For A Cultural History That Accommodates The Particularities Of The Sources Of The Chinese Imperial Past.--book Jacket. Introduction: The Practice Of The Text -- Ritual Manuals : Exegetical Hermeneutics And The Re-embodiment Of Antiquity -- Wedding Correspondence And Nuptial Songs : Writing As Cultural Capital And Text As Ritual Object -- Calendars, Almanacs, Miracle Tales, And Medical Texts : Cosmic Cycles And The Liminal Affairs Of Man -- Legal Codes, Verdicts, And Contracts : Universal Order And Local Practice -- Conclusion: Texts And Tombs, Ritual And History. Christian De Pee. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 317-355) And Index.