The destruction of the medieval Chinese aristocracy
- Responsibility
- by Nicolas Tackett.
- Publication
- Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Asia Center, 2014.
- Copyright notice
- ©2014
- Physical description
- xiv, 281 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm.
- Series
- Harvard-Yenching Institute monograph series ; 93.
Course reserve
- Course
- CHINA-174-01 -- New Directions in the Study of Poetry and Literati Culture
- Instructor(s)
- Egan, Ronald
- Course
- CHINA-274-01 -- New Directions in the Study of Poetry and Literati Culture
- Instructor(s)
- Egan, Ronald
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| Call number | Status |
|---|---|
| DS749.35 .T33 2014 | 4-hour loan |
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Description
Creators/Contributors
- Author/Creator
- Tackett, Nicolas, 1975- author.
Contents/Summary
- Bibliography
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 253-264) and indexes.
- Contents
-
- Map of Tang China
- Conventions
- Introduction
- The transformation of medieval elites
- Tomb epitaphs as a historical source
- Chapter One. The bureaucratic aristocracy of medieval China
- Chapter Two. The geography of power
- Chapter Three. Capital elite marriage networks
- Chapter Four. The late Tang provinces
- Chapter Five. Huang Chao and the destruction of the medieval aristocracy
- Appendix A: Guide to the accompanying database
- Appendix B: Estimating the total size of the late Tang capital elite
- Appendix C: Sources of ninth-century excavated epitaphs.
- Summary
-
The complete disappearance by the tenth century of the medieval Chinese aristocracy, the "great clans" that had dominated China for centuries, has long perplexed historians. In this book, Nicolas Tackett resolves the enigma of their disappearance by using new, digital methodologies to analyze a dazzling array of sources. He systematically exploits the thousands of funerary biographies excavated in recent decades--most of them never before examined by scholars--while taking full advantage of the explanatory power of Geographic Information System (GIS) and social network analysis. Tackett supplements these analyses with an extensive use of anecdotes culled from epitaphs, prose literature, and poetry, bringing to life the women and men of a millennium ago. The Destruction of the Medieval Chinese Aristocracy "demonstrates that the great Tang aristocratic families were far more successful than previously believed in adapting to the social, economic, and institutional transformations of the seventh and eighth centuries. Their political influence collapsed only after a large proportion of them were physically eliminated during the three decades of extreme violence that followed Huang Chao's sack of the capital cities in 880 CE.
(source: Nielsen Book Data)
Subjects
- Subject
- Aristocracy (Social class) > China > History > To 1500.
- Elite (Social sciences) > China > History > To 1500.
- Power (Social sciences) > China > History > To 1500.
- Social change > China > History > To 1500.
- Adjustment (Psychology) > Social aspects > China > History > To 1500.
- China > History > Tang dynasty, 618-907.
- China > History > Tang dynasty, 618-907 > Sources.
- China > Social life and customs > 221 B.C.-960 A.D.
- China > Social conditions > 221 B.C.-960 A.D.
Bibliographic information
- Publication date
- 2014
- Copyright date
- 2014
- Series
- Harvard-Yenching Institute monograph series ; 93
- ISBN
- 9780674492059 (hardcover : acid-free paper)
- 0674492056 (hardcover : acid-free paper)
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