Michael Loewe

The first volume is a survey and discussion of the inscriptions on about 700 wooden strips found in the excavations at Edsen-gol, being records of the official Han administration concerned largely with military organisation. The second volume sets out the evidence itself.

Records of Han Administration

Many of the basic characteristics of Imperial China took shape during the Han period (202 BC-AD 220). This book, first published in 1982, is a key contribution to our understanding of China’s cultural history. It explains the conceptual background of many of the artefacts of China’s past, and calls on the written word of the philosopher, poet and historian, and on cultural treasures revealed by archaeologists.

Faith, Myth and Reason in the Han Period (202 BC-AD 220)

Chinese Ideas of Life and Death

First published in 1979, in Ways to Paradise Michael Loewe, an internationally recognised authority on Han China, assesses a wealth of an archaeological evidence in an attempt to uncover the attitudes of the pre-Buddhist Chinese to matters relating to death and hereafter. Dr Loewe examines in particular three major subjects of Han art and iconography: a recently found silk painting from Central China dating from around 168 BC; the numerous bronze mirrors of the so-called TLV pattern that came into fashion at the beginning of the Christian era, and which are especially rich in cosmological symbolism; and the representations of the Queen Mother of the West which appear as a leading motif of Chinese art from perhaps a century later. These Dr Loewe sets within a framework of contemporary literature and historical incident to create a wonderfully vivid picture of religious life and thought in this early and fascinating period of Chinese history which was to contribute so much to later developments in Far Eastern Philosophy, religion and art.

The Chinese Quest for Immortality

Ways to Paradise

The creation or closure of institutions of government and the careers of men who took their part in public life show how human lives were affected by political concepts and official demands in the formative stages of China's imperial government.

Companion to a Biographical Dictionary of the Qin, Former Han and Xin Periods

The Men Who Governed Han China

China’s early emperors must pay their respects to their predecessors in the correct form; the conduct of government and commercial practice depended on a generally accepted system of weights and measures; critics needed a secure means of expressing their views.

Ancestral Rites, Weights and Measures, and the Means of Protest

Problems of Han Administration

Carmen Blacker

Oracles and Divination

Edward L. Shaughnessy

The Cambridge History of Ancient China provides a survey of the institutional and cultural history of pre-imperial China.

From the Origins of Civilization to 221 BC

The Cambridge History of Ancient China

Military Operations in the Han Period

Considers the important aspects of life during the Han period, when the foundations were laid for the chief political, economic, cultural and social structures that would characterise imperial China.

Everyday Life in Early Imperial China During the Han Period, 202 BC-AD 220

This is a unique and conclusive reference work about the 6,000 individual men and women known to us from China s formative first empires. Over decennia Michael Loewe (Cambridge, UK) has painstakingly collected all biographical information available. Not only those are dealt with who set the literary forms and intellectual background of traditional China, such as writers, scholars, historians and philosophers, but also those officials who administered the empire, and the military leaders who fought in civil warfare or with China s neighbours.The work draws on primary historical sources as interpreted by Chinese, Japanese and Western scholars and as supplemented by archaeological finds and inscriptions. By devoting extensive entries to each of the emperors the author provides the reader with the necessary historical context and gives insight into the dynastic disputes and their far-reaching consequences.No comparable work exists for this important period of Chinese history. Without exaggeration a real must for historians of both China and other cultures.

A Biographical Dictionary of the Qin, Former Han and Xin Periods, 221 BC - AD 24

records of han administration

In this concise volume, Michael Loewe provides an engaging overview of the government of the early empires of China. Topics discussed are: the seat of supreme authority; the structure of central government; provincial and local government; the armed forces; officials; government communications; laws of the empire; control of the people and the land; controversies; and problems and weaknesses of the imperial system. Enhanced by details from recently discovered manuscripts, relevant citations from official documents, maps, a chronology of relevant events, and suggestions for further reading keyed to each topic, this work is an ideal introduction to the ways in which China’s first emperors governed.

221 BCE - 220 CE

The Government of the Qin and Han Empires

First published in 1966, Imperial China sets out to explain China’s past histories to non-specialists. Too often the West has misunderstood the East. China is credited with an excessively long cultural history; with a continuous line of dynastic succession; with uniformly practised institutions; or with intellectual stagnation. Michael Loewe sets out here to dispel some of these misconceptions, and to mark the stages in the evolution of China’s political forms, social organizations and economic progress that can be traced from the days of the first empire (from 221 B.C.) until the dynamic changes of the nineteenth century. He believes that a full understanding of modern China depends on a more than perfunctory glance at her past and has tried to provide the general historical context. The author is well aware that, thanks to the research of the last fifty years, it is now possible and indeed requisite to reach a deeper understanding of China's past. This book will be an essential read for scholars and researchers of Chinese history, Asian history, history in general.

The Historical Background to the Modern Age

Imperial China

The assumption that a system described as ‘Confucianism’ formulated by Dong Zhongshu became accepted as the norm during the Western Han dynasty (202 BCE – 9 CE) is challenged and his supposed authorship of the Chunqiu fanlu examined.

Dong Zhongshu, a ‘Confucian’ Heritage and the Chunqiu fanlu

John King Fairbank

International scholars and sinologists discuss culture, economic growth, social change, political processes, and foreign influences in China since the earliest pre-dynastic period

The Cambridge History of China: Volume 1, The Ch'in and Han Empires, 221 BC-AD 220

Loewe Michael

An examination of the links between religion and statecraft and how they affected the concept of monarchy during the Han dynasty.

Michael Loewe

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