The Everlasting Empire: The Political Culture of Ancient China and Its Imperial Legacy

535 Pages·2012·4.55 MB·English

by  Yuri Pines

The Everlasting Empire
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The Everlasting Empire
THE POLITICAL CULTURE OF
ANCIENT
CHINA AND ITS IMPERIAL LEGACY
Yuri Pines
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS
Princeton and Oxford
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Copyright © 2012 by Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton,
New Jersey 08540
In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 6 Oxford Street,
Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1TW
press.princeton.edu
All Rights Reserved
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Pines, Yuri.
The everlasting empire : the political culture of ancient China and its imperial
legacy /
Yuri Pines,
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-691-13495-6 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. China—Politics and
government. 2. Political culture—China—History. 3. Political science—China—
Philosophy—History. 4. Imperialism—China—History. 5. Ideology—China—
History. I. Title.
JQ1510.P56 2012
306.20951—dc23 2011036388
British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available
This book has been composed in Garamond Pro
Printed on acid-free paper. ∞
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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Contents
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS vii
Introduction 1
Chapter 1 The Ideal of “Great Unity” 11
Chapter 2 The Monarch 44
Chapter 3 The Literati 76
Chapter 4 Local Elite 104
Chapter 5 The People 134
Chapter 6 Imperial Political Culture in the Modern Age 162
NOTES 185
BIBLIOGRAPHY 209
INDEX 233
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Acknowledgments
THIS BOOK IS WRITTEN as homage to two eminent scholars. First is my
teacher, Professor Liu Zehua
of the Nankai University, Tianjin, whose remarkable ability to combine
meticulous study of specific texts, periods, and personalities with bold
generalizations and highly original analysis of Chinese political culture
throughout the centuries serves as a source of constant inspiration for me.
Second is the late Professor Shmuel Noah Eisenstadt, in whose workshops I was
privileged to participate in the early 2000s, and who encouraged me to
contextualize Chinese history and Chinese political culture in broader global
patterns and to think in terms of comparative history. It is to these two great
teachers that my book is dedicated.

In preparing this book I have benefited tremendously from the advice of my
friends and colleagues: Zvi Ben-Dor, Michal Biran (whose illuminating remarks
on nomadic political culture proved exceptionally invaluable), Elizabeth Perry,
and Yitzhak Shichor. Paul Goldin and another reviewer for Princeton University
Press contributed greatly toward the manuscript’s improvement. I am deeply
grateful to these scholars—and to many other colleagues whose advice on
particular questions I sought and whose studies I have consulted. Naturally, I
remain singularly responsible for any possible inaccuracies and imprecise
interpretations of secondary research. I am grateful to Yitzchak Jaffe for
preparing the map.
I am grateful to Rob Tempio of Princeton University Press for his constant
encouragement; to the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, where the
exceptionally stimulating intellectual atmosphere strengthened my determination
to undertake this project back in 2006, and to my wife, Wang Yu, and my
friends, who tolerated my partial default on social obligations during the years of
writing and revisions.
This research was supported by the Israel Science Foundation (grant no.
1217/07) and by the Michael William Lipson Chair in Chinese Studies.
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