The Rise of Confucian Ritualism in Late Imperial China: Ethics, Classics, and Lineage Discourse - Hardcover

by Kai-Wing Chow (Author)

This pathbreaking work argues that the major intellectual trend in China from the 17th through the early 19th century was Confucian ritualism, as expressed in ethics, classical learning, and discourse on lineage.

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Wide-ranging, exhaustively documented, bold in its interpretations, and attuned simultaneously to questions of intellectual and social history--a rarity in sinological studies--this work will cause a sweeping reassessment of the eighteenth century in modern China's 'Confucian' past. The author's exciting new interpretation of textual scholarship and classical studies both challenges existing theories in modern Chinese intellectual history and adds rich support for new studies of social change at the local level in late imperial times.--Susan Mann, University of California, Davis
"Excellent. . . . Much of Chow's book is devoted to delineating the relationship between scholarly debates on ritual and concrete efforts at lineage building. In this endeavor he pulls together several major strands of recent scholarship on the Ch'ing: work on intellectual trends, elite patterns of dominance, lineage development, ritual, and popular culture."--Journal of Asian Studies