The Age of Confucian Rule: The Song Transformation of China: 4 Hardcover – Illustrated, 16 March 2009
by Dieter Kuhn (Author), Timothy Brook (Editor)
4.6 out of 5 stars 46 ratings
Book 4 of 6: History of imperial China
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Just over a thousand years ago, the Song dynasty emerged as the most advanced civilization on earth. Within two centuries, China was home to nearly half of all humankind. In this concise history, we learn why the inventiveness of this era has been favorably compared with the European Renaissance, which in many ways the Song transformation surpassed.
With the chaotic dissolution of the Tang dynasty, the old aristocratic families vanished. A new class of scholar-officials-products of a meritocratic examination system-took up the task of reshaping Chinese tradition by adapting the precepts of Confucianism to a rapidly changing world. Through fiscal reforms, these elites liberalized the economy, eased the tax burden, and put paper money into circulation. Their redesigned capitals buzzed with traders, while the education system offered advancement to talented men of modest means. Their rationalist approach led to inventions in printing, shipbuilding, weaving, ceramics manufacture, mining, and agriculture. With a realist's eye, they studied the natural world and applied their observations in art and science. And with the souls of diplomats, they chose peace over war with the aggressors on their borders. Yet persistent military threats from these nomadic tribes-which the Chinese scorned as their cultural inferiors-redefined China's understanding of its place in the world and solidified a sense of what it meant to be Chinese.
The Age of Confucian Rule is an essential introduction to this transformative era. "A scholar should congratulate himself that he has been born in such a time" (Zhao Ruyu, 1194).
Review
One of the leading historians of the Song period offers an empirically rich and well-informed book that is especially good on material culture and the history of technology. Kuhn offers strong overviews of the transformation of the capital cities, education and examination, commerce, and the Song fiscal system, as well as lively discussions of religious beliefs, the study of natural phenomena, and private life in the public sphere. For readers who want an in-depth look at mid-imperial Chinese history and culture, Dieter Kuhn's Age of Confucian Rule promises to become the book of choice.Paul Jakov Smith, Haverford College
The first four chapters of this well-researched, clearly written book present a balanced synopsis of the political, institutional, and military history of Song and its neighbors during some three centuries, when this was 'the most advanced civilization on earth.' The remaining eight chapters deal with thought, life cycle rituals, poetry and painting, education and the examination system, dynastic capitals, the world of production, money and taxation, private lives, and the public sphere. The author's enthusiasm is matched by his erudition and outstanding expertise in Song material culture as he ranges widely from the plethora of goods for sale in bustling shops and markets to the origins of foot binding, and finds space for dental hygiene as well as tomb construction...Scholars already versed in the period can learn much from this book, while those just beginning to delve into Chinese history are very well served.C. SchirokauerChoice admirable account of the Song dynasty...This series on China, brilliantly overseen by Timothy Brook, is a credit to Harvard University Press. Above all, it encourages us to think of China in different ways.Jonathan MirskyLiterary Review
One hopes work will find a larger audience, for he has much to teach to general readers, world historians, and China specialists alike.Mark HalperinAmerican Historical ReviewThe Age of Confucian Rule is a book that everyone who teaches Chinese history should have on his or her shelf and consult frequently...The attention gives material culture is refreshing and helps him to make his case for the importance of China in Song times.Patricia EbreyInternational Journal of Asian Studies
About the Author
Dieter Kuhn was Professor and Chair of Chinese Studies, University of W++rzburg.
Timothy Brook is Professor of History and Republic of China Chair at the University of British Columbia.
Publisher : *Harvard University Press; 1st edition (16 March 2009)
Language : English
Hardcover : 368 pages
4.6 out of 5 stars 46 ratings
Dieter Kuhn
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4.0 out of 5 stars When Confucianism ruledReviewed in Germany 🇩🇪 on 27 April 2011
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This fourth volume of HUP's History of Imperial China focuses on the Song Dynasty between the 10th and the 13th century, a period during which Confucianism (re-)gained its role as a government doctrine in China. Contrasting its European contemporary societies, this also implied government by officials, who were primarily chosen because of (certain) merits, versus feudal governments chosing their officials through parentage.
The book outlines the many technological and commercial developments in China during this period, as money paper (including inflation) was introduced, trade was boosted and the infrastructure was improved. On the other hand, the Song Dynasty was constantly fighting against its Northern neighbours, the Khitan Liao and the Jurchen Jin dynasties, while the latter even pushed the Song out of their Chinese heartland and established a border along the Huai River in 1126. Nevertheless, until the Mongol invasion in 1279 the Southern Song recovered and established a different China, focussing much more on the South and its traditions.
In his set up of the book, the author Dieter Kuhn follows the example of the previous three volumes, written by Mark E. Lewis, starting with a rather short summary (90 pages) of the political history, followed by chapters on religion and philosophy, the system of recruiting officials, arts and science, the capitals, and economy and government finances.
The main text of roughly 280 pages is accompanied by maps (there could be more) and explanatory images, and followed by dynastic tables of the Song and their counter-dynasties in the North, as well as a 30 pages bibiography.
Again this volume is written well and gives an interesting overview of the period. Recommendable for all interested in Chinese history.
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Daniel Garcia
3.0 out of 5 stars Collection of EssaysReviewed in Germany 🇩🇪 on 23 February 2016
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This is a collection of essays on the political, economic and cultural history of the Song Dinasty. One advantage of the format is that each chapter reads on its own. The drawback, which to me is more substantial, is that it fails to penetrate certain aspects from a holistic perspective. In any case, it is a good read for anyone interested in an introduction to the most successful period of the Chinese Empire.
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dmiguer
4.0 out of 5 stars When Paper Money Was NewReviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 3 March 2018
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I asked my father-in-law, editor of a popular Chinese magazine in the '80s (and a well read person), 'What is your favorite dynasty?' He seemed somewhat uncomfortable with my question, perhaps due to some aspect of his prior learning on the subject. Then he unequivocally endorsed the Song. 'Why'? I said, in my broken Chinese and with the halting help of Google translate.
His answer was unclear due to my lack of language skills, but it had to do with the great advances in culture that occurred before the Mongol conquest of Kublai Khan in the 1250's. Science, technology, art and philosophy all had flourished. 'Neo-Confucianism?' I ventured. No, he said, that wasn't a popular subject during his period of education. I then surmised it didn't hurt that the later Southern Song were centered in Hangzhou, place of his birth, and the largest city on earth in the 13th century.
Dieter Kuhn's 'Age of Confucian Rule' is number 4 of 6 volumes in Harvard's recent History of Imperial China series. The series is available as a nicely made set of illustrated books (if you prefer your reading in analog) or in electronic versions (mysteriously stripped of their illustrations). That is all except for this volume, which has no e-book equivalent, for reasons unknown. Kuhn is something of an exception as well, a Chinese history professor at Wurzberg University, presumably writing in German and providing his own English translation. This extra measure of labor may speak to his pre-eminence on the subject.
The book follows the now well tread way of the series, combining a 99 page chronological survey with an additional 8 topical chapters on literature, education, religion, art and architecture, industry and economy, and finally family life. Kuhn is a good writer, and his knowledge and enthusiasm for the subject is well conveyed, if somewhat encyclopedic in style. If you pair this work with Jacques Gernet's classic 'Daily Life in China on the Eve of the Mongol Invasion' you can't go wrong on most things Song.
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Howard Schulman
4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent collection of essays on the Song DynastyReviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on 12 October 2020
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Although I thought the book was excellent, I have to admit, that I got a little confused early on because I was not prepared for hearing simultaneously about 3-4 different empires mostly at the same time, Tangut, Jurchen, Khitan, Song and each's emperors….and then the Northern Song gets invaded and moves to the South. I am sure if I re-read the first few chapters that would make more sense.
Nevertheless, the books in this series focus on themes throughout the dynasty, and not emperors, and I subsequently picked up. Thankfully, the first 3 pages in the reference section are lists of Emperors of each the dynasties from each of the territories, with dates of rule, and birth and death dates of the Emperors.
As someone who is learning Chinese, as I imagine many people reading this book would be, it was a little irritating that the Chinese characters for the Emperors and other Chinese terms was not given, nor was the pinyin. On the other hand, it was educational looking up the characters and what they and the radical components meant, and writing them down for reference in the back inner page.
Also, although the book is titled "The Age of Confucian Rule", the book minimally focused directly on Confucian writings and thought…thankfully. If anything, the book shined in trying to relay what it was like living during the Northern and then Southern Song Dynasties, with each chapter focusing on a different aspect, like money, the Capitals, the economy, education, home life.
I actually re-read a different book in this series on the Qing Dynasty and got a tremendous amount out of it the second time as well. I'm sure I could do the same with this book. This is the fourth book in the series of six I have read, and they all are extremely well written by top scholars in their fields at the heights of their careers (I imagine). Dense with information, yet easy to read and interesting.
Perhaps an orienting chapter focusing on the timelines of rulers would help. I also would have appreciated color pictures. Just so you don't get the wrong impression, I am going to give this book a solid 4 stars based on the quality of what is presented, and not down-grade it based on the shortcomings described above.
Mary Catelli
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October 1, 2017
The first book in this series to be written by a different author.
I don't like the organization as well as in the first three books, but it does contain a lot of interesting info.
How the measure of floor size was, prior to this time, in floor mats, and here is where chairs came in. The increasing number of concubines, even when the primary wife was not barren. The changes to the examination system, and how rich families would rise by marrying a daughter to a holder of an examination decree. How Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism changed and reacted to each other. And more.
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Justin Evans
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January 27, 2018
A very good introduction to a period I knew little about. Much easier reading than the earlier volumes in the series (all by Mark Edward Lewis); Kuhn includes masses of information, but it's well organized, and so you can skip paragraphs if you're not interested, safe in the knowledge that the point isn't buried in the middle somewhere. Kuhn describes the Song period (particularly the latter, Southern Song) as, essentially, a medieval version of our own world: monetized, slightly decadent, militarily unstable. But the Song, on his account, had first class administrators to see them through, and we have Trump, Putin, Erdogan and the Maybot.
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Ayu
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December 1, 2012
This was written by a different person than the one I'm used to. The organization of the chapters is different and some parts are slightly too dense for my taste, but I enjoyed getting a basic look on lief during the Song Dynasty.
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Ozymandias
397 reviews · 117 followers
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March 27, 2022
I do like Harvard University Press’s History of Imperial China. They offer the only detailed multi-volume thematic overview of Chinese imperial history focused on capturing the situation during each dynasty/era. But they are horribly inconsistent. The first half of the series is all written by a single author: Mark Edward Lewis. His volumes have been consistently informative, even if they seem less and less novel as time goes on. With this book we step into the first book by a new author: Dieter Kuhn. The repetitive titles are gone, along with the fixed approach that made the first book so good and the second two so similar. This book feels different, which is perhaps just what this series needs.
A recurring theme with these books is that I find myself focusing a lot on how they balance the narrative sections with the thematic ones. Lewis’s volumes ignored narrative entirely where they could, confining it mainly to the introduction and conclusion. That means that his books are terrible starting places for people who want to learn about Han or Tang history. Read a general history and then come back to them. You’ll find them a lot more useful. But this book clearly decided that narrative is essential to understanding the Song. That’s not wrong. The Song dynasty collapsed midway through and was replaced by a smaller version of the empire centered in the southern half of their empire. It makes sense to distinguish the two and do so early. What this book does is make the first third into a narrative summary and then follow it up with thematic sections. At the risk of not sounding happy with anything, I’m not sure that fully works either. It just repeats the highlights of the emperors’ reigns. It’s fond of good stories and sometimes a bit credulous.
This book, like the previous ones, is very detailed. It is not, however, as insightful as I would like. For example, its chapter on the exam system tells you everything you might want to know about the way the exam was organized and run but doesn’t leave you with a clear idea what it meant. Same with the section on commercialization. Not that it ignores the big picture entirely, but the ties connecting the big picture to the detail seem rather loose. I did like the way it included a section asking the same questions about the Jurchen and Khitans that it asked about the Song, but these sections are (oft by necessity) vague. There were also two more chapters than in the other books. Not sure why. Do we really need a whole chapter on death and marriage? Topics such as this make the book feel like about a book about Chinese society that happens to focus on the Song than a book about the Song that happens to have a chapter on society. Not every chapter falls into this trap. The one on cities is great. It explains what changed, why, and what that meant. And it gives you a wonderful feel for what it was like in Kaifeng.
This was not my favorite of these books. Unlike China Between Empires (my previous least favorite) I really wanted to learn about the Song. But I feel this book could have done a better job explaining and synthesizing the information in here. It does provide a lot of detail and explains what made the Song different from everyone else, I just think it could have done more than state these facts. We never really get a feel for what that means.
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Mel
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November 28, 2012
I must admit when I put this book on my wish list I hadn't paid very close attention. I thought it was going to be a scholarly, intellectual history particularly on the rise of neo-Confucianism in the Song dynasty. What it actually is, is a general history of the Song. The first half covers the political and military history of the dynasty (including the foreign dynasties in the North) and the second half is more of a social and economic history on different aspects of the dynasty. As such it wasn't all that useful for me, but is probably a good introduction to the dynasty, though not as interestingly written as Everyday life in China at the eve of the Mongol invasion. There is a little about printing (40-43)and the examination system that might be useful for my dissertation, but mostly for a general description on how the examination system works (3). There was an interesting couple of paragraphs about one of the Khitan Empresses who led warriors into battle and defied tradition instead of following her husband to the grave she tried to rule the Liao, cutting off her own hand and placing it in the tomb (23). In the discussion of religion what seems to be the author's prejudice against Taoism shows. He dismisses Taoist religious ceremonies as "theatre" and talks only about how Confucianism and Buddhism interact in the political arena which I thought was most disappointing (118-9) 166-167 discusses the most famous Song woman poet, Li Qingzhao which I found very interesting. 234 starts an interesting look at the printing of paper currency and the related problems of its use. This book is a good general introduction to the dynasty, it combines social and political history. But overall I found the style to be a bit dull and uninspiring. Still I think it was worth reading, and will be a good reference.
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Jonathan
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September 18, 2021
The 10th to the 13th centuries in China saw impressive advancements in the economy, science and technology, the arts and other sectors of society. The Song dynasty was the era in which the Chinese invented and perfected, for instance, paper money, movable-type printing and vastly improved mechanized means of production, all underlain by a rationalistic Confucian philosophy and state ideology, and managed by a new class of officials, chosen by a set of competitive civil service examinations, which, in turn, encouraged printing, literacy and education. In the end, however, the Song were militarily inept, allowing northern China to be overrun by "barbarians" from Manchuria and eventually the country and dynasty were conquered by the Mongols. Professor Kuhn covers all this and more in his very readable survey of this fascinating era of Chinese history, when that country was far in advance of any other society or region on earth. Well worth the time taken to sit down and read.
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Kevin
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January 1, 2021
Another solid entry in this series, IMO, the best thus far. This volume covers China's Song Dynasties (Northern and Southern). The period seems to truly be China's renaissance, despite the outside pressures from the Jin, Khitan (Liao), and ultimately the Mongols. I would venture to say, that this period laid the groundwork for China today. No, I don't mean communism, but really the Chinese society. The Song featured the rise of Neo-Confucianism, and really the dominance of that thought in Chinese society. As usual in the series, there is a general historical overview for the first half, with the balance focusing a bit more intently on certain aspects of Chinese society. I recommend the series for the casual reader who is interested in discovering more about the history that has shaped China.
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Bernard M.
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September 16, 2020
The highlights of the Song dynasty, as far as I gleaned from this book, were the capitals of the Northern Song and Southern Song, Kaifeng and Hangzhou, respectively. Kuhn describes these two cities in great detail, even naming many family restaurants such as the famous pancake kitchen of the Zhang family, located in one of Kaifeng's 121 wards. It was the first time I really appreciated how great was the potential of Chinese civilization so long ago. You have to wonder what would could have been if Kaifeng had not been overrun after 166 years by the Jurchen and the Mongols took control of Hangzhou, though peacefully.
Sometimes he is a bit sloppy with monetary issues, despite all the fascinating details he provides. For example, on p. 258 he says the money voucher replaced the exchange bill, but doesn't explain the difference between the two, though I might be able to guess. In the next paragraph, he refers to an increase in money vouchers "by 30% to 1,886,340 strings of cash" which later climbed to "an inflationary 5,886,340 strings." But it is very unclear how much of these strings of cash were unbacked by specie. Sometimes he does explicitly make the connection between inflation and unbacked currency but often he doesn't.
There is little true economic analysis beyond descriptions. At the end of chapter 10, Kuhn lists several factors (all in one single paragraph) which he plausibly claims accounted for the outstanding economic performance of the Song: (1) agricultural improvement (2) the concomitant technical improvements in tools (3) necessity of better mining (4) widely available coins fostering the national market. Commercial and proto-industrialization are huge topics which ought to engender far more than analysis. He does not say it, but the paragraph reads as if it were all a very straightforward, linear, and ultimately inevitable process, which of course it isn't.
It's interesting that the famed Chinese entrepreneurial spirit, really coming to the fore in Kaifeng and Hangzhou, did so to a great extent in spite of Confucian rule, based on Kuhn's account. Finally, he does spend quite a bit of time on the influence of Chinese culture on nomads, especially the powerful ones. It is part of the "Confucian Age," which is of course the title of the book, but at least for me, there was too much focus on the non-Chinese groups--the subtitle of the book after all is The Song Transformation of China.
Overall a great reference book which I'll definitely return too.
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