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China's Cosmopolitan Empire
Sep. 6th, 2017 11:40 pmChina's Cosmopolitan Empire: The Tang Dynasty by Mark Edward Lewis,
From the geographical shifts of population and importance, the succession of emperors, the revisions of the legal code, the urban life, with its main roads forbidden to most by night, the beginning of the examination system (which might win you a prestigious marriage instead of a post), the importance of tribute bearers in their native costume to show how far its power reached, how Buddhism was still treated as foreign, the Buddha being denounced as mere ghost or ancestor, to honor only his own family, and accusations against foreign monks going so far to claim they were animals in disguise (one, it was declared, was revealed to be a camel), women who became Daoist or Buddhist nuns to escape marriage and more.
Arranged by theme.
From the geographical shifts of population and importance, the succession of emperors, the revisions of the legal code, the urban life, with its main roads forbidden to most by night, the beginning of the examination system (which might win you a prestigious marriage instead of a post), the importance of tribute bearers in their native costume to show how far its power reached, how Buddhism was still treated as foreign, the Buddha being denounced as mere ghost or ancestor, to honor only his own family, and accusations against foreign monks going so far to claim they were animals in disguise (one, it was declared, was revealed to be a camel), women who became Daoist or Buddhist nuns to escape marriage and more.
Arranged by theme.