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Harvard-Yenching Institute Monograph Series 71

The Poetics of Sovereignty

On Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty

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HARDCOVER

$55.00 • £47.95 • €50.95

ISBN 9780674056084

Publication Date: 01/15/2011

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468 pages

6 x 9 inches

Harvard University Asia Center > Harvard-Yenching Institute Monograph Series

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  • Acknowledgments
  • Conventions
  • Dynasties and Periods
  • Introduction
  • 1. Reading the Reign of Tang Taizong (r. 626–649)
    • Li Shimin’s Early Years
    • The Taiyuan Uprising and the Founding of the Tang
    • The Xuanwu Gate Incident
    • Problems of Historiography during Taizong’s Reign
    • The “Good Government of the Zhenguan Reign”
    • Taizong’s Victory over the Turks
    • The End of Taizong’s Reign
  • 2. On Sovereignty and Representation
    • The True King and the Tyrant
    • The Problem of Foundational Violence
    • The Zhou Ideal and the Anxiety of Empire
    • Qin Shihuang: Empire and Body
    • Denying the Imperial Body
    • “The Golden Mirror”
    • “Model for the Emperor”
  • 3. The Reception of Literature in Tang Taizong’s Court
    • Defining Poetry in Early China
    • The Mao “Great Preface”
    • Cao Pi’s “Discourse on Literature”
    • Pei Ziye’s Critique of Poetry
    • Li E’s Petition on Rectifying Literature
    • Taizong’s Academy of Literature
    • The Sui shu Preface to the “Biographies of Literary Men”
    • Two Anecdotes about Taizong and Literature
    • The Jin shu and Its Literary Preface
    • Taizong’s Essay on Lu Ji
  • 4. The Writing of Imperial Poetry in Medieval China
    • Han Gaozu (r. 206–195 BC)
    • Han Wudi (r. 141–87 BC)
    • Cao Pi or Wei Wendi (r. 220–26)
    • Three Poet-Emperors of the South
    • Zhou Mingdi (r. 557–60)
    • Sui Yangdi (r. 604–17)
    • Tang Taizong and the Northern Style
    • A Hunting Poem
    • Two Visits to Qingshan Palace
  • 5. The Significance of Court Poetry
    • Yongwu Poetry, or “Poems on Things”
    • A Poetic Genealogy of Snow
    • Taizong and Yongwu Poetry
    • Taizong on Snow
    • The Hanlin xueshi ji
    • “Traveling Past the Battlefield Where I Crushed Xue Ju”
    • Matching Poems by Zhangsun Wuji, Yang Shidao, Chu Suiliang, and Xu Jingzong
    • Shangguan Yi’s Matching Poem
  • 6. Palatial Form and the Rhapsodic Imagination
    • Sima Xiangru and the Poetry of Imperial Representation
    • An Anecdote about Taizong and Rhapsodies
    • The Early Discourse on Palaces
    • Palaces and Tyranny
    • Qin Shihuang and Palatial Ideology
    • The Question of the Palace during the Han
    • Taizong and Palatial Ideology
    • The Rhapsody on Daming Palace
  • 7. On “The Imperial Capital Poems”: Ritual Sovereignty and Imperial Askēsis
    • Ritual and Territorialization
    • Sui Yangdi’s Pleasure Excursions
    • The Feng and Shan Sacrifices during Taizong’s Reign
    • The Final Refusal of the Feng and Shan
    • “The Imperial Capital Poems”
  • Conclusion
  • Reference Matter
    • Bibliography
    • Index

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