Description
In this extensively revised and expanded edition, Richard Smith draws upon the enormous amount of new scholarship that has appeared in the last decade on one of the most dynamic and sophisticated of China’s dynasties. Employing the pinyin system of transliteration for this edition, the author has enriched the historical dimension and deepened his analysis of both philosophical diversity and popular culture. He gives special attention to gender issues, and provides fresh perspectives on all aspects of China’s enduring cultural tradition, from daily life, mythology, religion, and philosophy, to divination, food, music, festivals, child-rearing, and sexual practices.
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The Qing Dynasty (1644?1912)?a crucial bridge between ?traditional” and ?modern” China?was a period remarkable for its expansiveness and cultural sophistication. In this extensively revised and expanded edition of his highly regarded book, Richard J. Smith shows how the Chinese of the Qing Dynasty viewed the world; how their outlook was expressed in their institutions, material culture, and customs; and how China’s preoccupation with order, unity, and harmony contributed to the remarkable cohesiveness and continuity of traditional Chinese civilization. In addition to offering a new and challenging interpretation of Chinese culture as a whole, he provides a fresh perspective on a wide variety of topics, from gender issues, philosophy, religion, and mythology, to language, aesthetics, and symbolism. He also examines a number of important but too-often neglected aspects of traditional Chinese daily life, including divination, food, music, sexual practices, festivals, child-rearing, and games.Based on the author’s careful rethinking of certain themes and arguments presented in the first edition, this revised version of China’s Cultural Heritage also draws heavily upon the enormous body of new scholarship on Chinese history and culture that has appeared in the last decade. Although focused primarily on the Qing Dynasty, the book not only sheds valuable light on the distant past but it helps us to understand China’s contemporary problems of modernization. A concluding chapter systematically explores the legacy of traditional Chinese culture to the twentieth century.
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