New from Oxford University Press:
The Confucian-Legalist State: A New Theory of Chinese History, by
Dingxin Zhao (University of Chicago). A description from the Press:
In The Confucian-Legalist State, Dingxin Zhao offers a
radically new analysis of Chinese imperial history from the eleventh
century BCE to the fall of the Qing dynasty. This study first uncovers
the factors that explain how, and why, China developed into a
bureaucratic empire under the Qin dynasty in 221 BCE. It then examines
the political system that crystallized during the Western Han dynasty, a
system that drew on China's philosophical traditions of Confucianism
and Legalism. Despite great changes in China's demography, religion,
technology, and socioeconomic structures, this Confucian-Legalist
political system survived for over two millennia. Yet, it was precisely
because of the system's resilience that China, for better or worse, did
not develop industrial
capitalism as Western Europe did, notwithstanding China's economic
prosperity and technological sophistication beginning with the Northern
Song dynasty.
In examining the nature of this political system,
Zhao offers a new way of viewing Chinese history, one that emphasizes
the importance of structural forces and social mechanisms in shaping
historical dynamics. As a work of historical sociology, The Confucian-Legalist State
aims to show how the patterns of Chinese history were not shaped by any
single force, but instead by meaningful activities of social actors
which were greatly constrained by, and at the same time reproduced and
modified, the constellations of political, economic, military, and
ideological forces. This book thus offers a startling new understanding
of
long-term patterns of Chinese history, one that should trigger debates
for years to come among historians, political scientists, and
sociologists.
Reviewers say:
"Empirically rich and conceptually clear, Zhao's work combines vast
historical evidence, cutting-edge social theories, and rigorous
analytical strategy to present a compelling case of why China's pattern
of state formation diverged from Europe's more than two millennia ago,
creating a Confucianist-Legalist centralized bureaucratic state that
lasted into modern times. It is historical social sciences at its best.
This book is going to change our view on Chinese history
forever." -- Ho-fung Hung
"This book offers an intriguing and not uncontroversial
explication for a two-part problem of compelling interest today: (1) why
was China able to achieve a unified, bureaucratic empire by the Qin
dynasty? and (2) why did the imperial institutions and ideology forged
in the Qin-Han period show such great resilience over two millennia?
Zhao, in moving away from the simplistic narratives offered in all too
many textbooks, provides us a fresh look at complicated historical
processes that deserve our reconsideration." -- Michael Nylan
More information is available
here.
