Book Cover
E-book
Author Di Cosmo, Nicola, 1957-

Title Ancient China and its enemies : the rise of nomadic power in East Asian history / Nicola Di Cosmo
Published Cambridge, UK ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2002

Copies

Description 1 online resource (ix, 369 pages) : maps
Contents Steppe Highway: Rise of Pastoral Nomadism as a Eurasian phenomenon -- Bronze, Eron and Gold: Evolution of nomadic cultures on the Northern frontier of China -- Beasts and birds: Historical context of early Chinese perceptions of northern peoples -- Walls and horses: Beginning of historical contacts between horse-riding Nomads and Chinese states -- Those who draw the bow: Rise of the Hsiung-nu Nomadic Empire and the political unification of the Nomads -- From peace to war: China's shift from appeasement to military engagement -- In search of grass and water: Ethnography and history of the North in the Historian's Records -- Taming the North: Rationalization of the nomads in Ssu-ma Ch'ien's historical thought Conclusion
Summary Relations between Inner Asian nomads and Chinese are a continuous theme throughout Chinese history. By investigating the formation of nomadic cultures, by analyzing the evolution of patterns of interaction along China's northern frontiers, and by exploring how this interaction was recorded in early Chinese historiography, this book explores the origins of the cultural and political tensions between these two civilizations through the first millennium BC. The main purpose of the book is to analyze ethnic, cultural, and political frontiers between nomads and Chinese in the historical contexts that led to their formation, and to look at cultural perceptions of 'others' as a function of the same historical process. Based on both archaeological and textual sources, this book also introduces a new methodological approach to Chinese frontier history, which combines extensive factual data with a careful scrutiny of the motives, methods, and general conception of history that informed the Chinese historian Ssu-ma Ch'ien
Analysis Humaniora Historie
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 335-359) and index
Notes English
Print version record
Subject HISTORY.
Grenzkonflikt
Nomade
Geschiedschrijving.
Tsjow.
Nomader -- historia -- Ă–stasien.
China -- History -- To 221 B.C.
China
China
Genre/Form History
Form Electronic book
ISBN 0511040776
9780511040771
0511034148
9780511034145
0511118309
9780511118302
9780511511967
0511511965
9780511049385
0511049382
0511157177
9780511157172
9780521543828
0521543827
1107119073
9781107119079
1280159014
9781280159015
0511302592
9780511302596