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‘This Culture of Ours’ : Intellectual Transitions in T’ang and Sung China by Peter Kees Bol is a nonfiction available to read on EtoBox.

What is ‘This Culture of Ours’ : Intellectual Transitions in T’ang and Sung China about?

This book traces the shared culture of the Chinese elite from the seventh to the twelfth centuries. The early T'ang definition of 'This Culture of Ours' combined literary and scholarly traditions from the previous five centuries. The late Sung Neo-Confucian movement challenged that definition. The author argues that the Tang-Sung transition is best understood as a transition from a literary view of culture - in which literary accomplishment and mastery of traditional forms were regarded as essential - to the ethical orientation of Neo-Confucianism, in which the cultivation of one's innate moral ability was regarded as the goal of learning. The author shows that this transformation paralleled the collapse of the T'ang order and the restoration of a centralized empire under the Sung, underscoring the connection between elite formation and political institutions. ** Review “Bol’s book is a major accomplishment, intellectual history at its best. Bol deals with a very large topic as he relates changes in the underlying aims and objects of intellectual activity to the changing historical situation and composition of China’s elite. Along with a broad interpretative framework, Bol offers n

Who reads ‘This Culture of Ours’ : Intellectual Transitions in T’ang and Sung China?

Author

Peter Kees Bol

Publisher

Stanford University Press

Published

1992

Language

EN

ISBN

9780804719209

Category

nonfiction

Subjects

History, Humanities