Acknowledgments INTRODUCTION Powers of Writing Writing and the Formation of the Chinese Empire 1. WRITING THE STATE The Archaic Background Laws and Registers Reports, Tallies, and Seals Writing and the King The Offices of Zhou Conclusion 2. WRITING THE MASTERS Scholarly Texts Scholarly Traditions and the State Social and Economic Bases of the Traditions The Master as Model Conclusion 3. WRITING THE PAST The Past in Speeches The Past in Political Philosophy The Past in Cosmogony The Past in Chronicle Conclusion 4. WRITING THE SELF Composing the Odes Speaking through the Odes The Odes as Proof and Sanction Anthology and Authorship Conclusion 5. THE POLITICAL HISTORY OF WRITING The Mythology of Fu Xi The Mythology of the Duke of Zhou The Mythology of Confucius Conclusion 6. THE NATURAL PHILOSOPHY OF WRITING Between Divination and Philosophy The Natural Philosophy of Signs Images and Writing Numbers and Writing Conclusion 7. THE ENCYCLOPEDIC EPOCH Totality and Truth Canon and Commentary State-Sponsored Compendia Sima Qian and Universal History Sima Xiangru and Universal Poetry The Liu Family and the Universal Library Conclusion 8. THE EMPIRE OF WRITING Establishment of the Canon Triumph of the Canon Conclusion Conclusion Notes Works Cited Index
Mark Edward Lewis is University Lecturer in Chinese Studies at the University of Cambridge. He is the author of Sanctioned Violence in Early China, also published by SUNY Press.
"This book is a masterful study of the ideology and uses of writing in early China. The scholarship is impeccable-indeed, stunning-the interpretation of an array of difficult texts is brilliant, and the conclusions are of central importance to all subsequent studies of this period. This book, in my opinion, is the single most valuable study in the field of early China scholarship since Angus Graham's Disputers of the Tao. It is certain to be read, cited, and disputed for many decades." - Stephen W. Durrant, author of the The Cloudy Mirror "Writing and Authority in Early China is a comprehensive presentation about the structure of society and authority in pre-imperial and early imperial China from a very important and heretofore unexplored perspective. I would not be surprised to see this book rise to a level of lasting importance that few modern works of scholarship, even good ones, can hope for." - William G. Boltz, University of Washington
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