- 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
HARVARD-YENCHING INSTITUTE MONOGRAPH SERIES


Harvard-Yenching Institute Monograph Series 71
The Poetics of Sovereignty
On Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty
Product Details
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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