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Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty

2012-02-01 History
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Release : 2012-02-01
Genre : History
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 685/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty by : Victor Cunrui Xiong

Download or read book Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty written by Victor Cunrui Xiong. This book was released on 2012-02-01. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Looking at the life and legacy of Emperor Yang (569–618) of the brief Sui dynasty in a new light, this book presents a compelling case for his importance to Chinese history. Author Victor Cunrui Xiong utilizes traditional scholarship and secondary literature from China, Japan, and the West to go beyond the common perception of Emperor Yang as merely a profligate tyrant. Xiong accepts neither the traditional verdict against Emperor Yang nor the apologist effort to revise it, and instead offers a reassessment of Emperor Yang by exploring the larger political, economic, military, religious, and diplomatic contexts of Sui society. This reconstruction of the life of Emperor Yang reveals an astute visionary with literary, administrative, and reformist accomplishments. While a series of strategic blunders resulting from the darker side of his personality led to the collapse of the socioeconomic order and to his own death, the Sui legacy that Emperor Yang left behind lived on to provide the foundation for the rise of the Tang dynasty, the pinnacle of medieval Chinese civilization.

The Founding of the T'ang Dynasty

1941 China
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Release : 1941
Genre : China
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : /5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis The Founding of the T'ang Dynasty by : Woodbridge Bingham

Download or read book The Founding of the T'ang Dynasty written by Woodbridge Bingham. This book was released on 1941. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The end of the sixth century and the first years of the seventh marked the beginning of the "Golden Age" of the Sui and T'ang periods. After centuries of political disruption during which China had been invaded from the north and west and had been greatly affected by outside influences, chiefly Buddhism, the country was reunited under the Sui dynasty, 589-618. The latter year saw the beginning of the T'ang dynasty, an age of vigorous empire, which produced some of the world's greatest poetry and art, and which evolved a political and administrative system that was to be the model for future empires in the centuries to come. -- Preface.

Worldly Saviors and Imperial Authority in Medieval Chinese Buddhism

2021-05-31 History
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Release : 2021-05-31
Genre : History
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 707/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Worldly Saviors and Imperial Authority in Medieval Chinese Buddhism by : April D. Hughes

Download or read book Worldly Saviors and Imperial Authority in Medieval Chinese Buddhism written by April D. Hughes. This book was released on 2021-05-31. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although scholars have long assumed that early Chinese political authority was rooted in Confucianism, rulership in the medieval period was not bound by a single dominant tradition. To acquire power, emperors deployed objects and figures derived from a range of traditions imbued with religious and political significance. Author April D. Hughes demonstrates how dynastic founders like Wu Zhao (Wu Zetian, r. 690–705), the only woman to rule China under her own name, and Yang Jian (Emperor Wen, r. 581–604), the first ruler of the Sui dynasty, closely identified with Buddhist worldly saviors and Wheel-Turning Kings to legitimate their rule. During periods of upheaval caused by the decline of the Dharma, worldly saviors arrived on earth to quell chaos and to rule and liberate their subjects simultaneously. By incorporating these figures into the imperial system, sovereigns were able to depict themselves both as monarchs and as buddhas or bodhisattvas in uncertain times. In this inventive and original work, Hughes traces worldly saviors—in particular Maitreya Buddha and Prince Moonlight—as they appeared in apocalyptic scriptures from Dunhuang, claims to the throne made by various rebel leaders, and textual interpretations and assertions by Yang Jian and Wu Zhao. Yang Jian associated himself with Prince Moonlight and took on the persona of a Wheel-Turning King whose offerings to the Buddha were not flowers and incense but weapons of war to reunite a long-fragmented empire and revitalize the Dharma. Wu Zhao was associated with several different worldly savior figures. In addition, she saw herself as the incarnation of a Wheel-Turning King for whom it was said the Seven Treasures manifested as material representations of his right to rule. Wu Zhao duly had the Seven Treasures created and put on display whenever she held audiences at court. The worldly savior figure allowed rulers to inhabit the highest role in the religious realm along with the supreme role in the political sphere. This incorporation transformed notions of Chinese imperial sovereignty, and associating rulers with a buddha or bodhisattva continued long after the close of the medieval period.

Gardens of a Chinese Emperor

2013-06-12 History
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Release : 2013-06-12
Genre : History
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 294/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Gardens of a Chinese Emperor by : Victoria M. Siu

Download or read book Gardens of a Chinese Emperor written by Victoria M. Siu. This book was released on 2013-06-12. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Garden of Perfect Brightness (Yuanming Yuan) in the western suburbs of the Quing capital, Beijing, was begun by the great Kangxi (r. 1661-1722) and expanded by his son, Yongzheng (r. 1722-1736) and brought to its greatest glory by his grandson, Qianlong (r. 1736-1796). A lover of literature and art, Qinglong sought an earthly reflection of his greatness in his Yuanming Yuan. For many years he designed and directed an elaborate program of garden arrangements. Representing two generations of painstaking research, this book follows the emperor as he ruled his empire from within his garden. In a landscape of lush plants, artificial mountains and lakes, and colorful buildings, he sought to represent his wealth and power to his diverse subjects and to the world at large. Having been looted and burned in the mid-nineteenth century by western forces, it now lies mostly in ruins, but it was the world’s most elaborate garden in the eighteenth century. The garden suggested a whole set of concepts—religious, philosophical, political, artistic, and popular—represented in landscape and architecture. Just as bonsai portrays a garden in miniature, the imperial Yuanming Yuan at the height of its splendor represented the Qing Empire in microcosm. Includes 62 color plates and 35 black & white photographs.

Gale Researcher Guide for: Expansion and Consolidation: The Sui Dynasty

2018-09-28 Study Aids
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Release : 2018-09-28
Genre : Study Aids
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 156/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Gale Researcher Guide for: Expansion and Consolidation: The Sui Dynasty by : Victor Cunrui Xiong

Download or read book Gale Researcher Guide for: Expansion and Consolidation: The Sui Dynasty written by Victor Cunrui Xiong. This book was released on 2018-09-28. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gale Researcher Guide for: Expansion and Consolidation: The Sui Dynasty is selected from Gale's academic platform Gale Researcher. These study guides provide peer-reviewed articles that allow students early success in finding scholarly materials and to gain the confidence and vocabulary needed to pursue deeper research.

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