China during the Tang-Song Interregnum, 878–978: New Approaches to the Southern Kingdoms

Description

This book challenges the long-established structure of Chinese history around dynasties, adopting a more "organic" approach which emphasises cultural and economic trends that transcend arbitrary dynastic boundaries. It argues that with the collapse of the Tang court and northern control over the holistic empire in the last decades of the ninth century, the now-autonomous kingdoms that filled the political vacuum in the south responded with a burst of innovative energy that helped set the stage for the economic and cultural transformations of the following Song dynasty. Moreover, it argues that these transformations and this economic and cultural innovation deeply affected the subsequent model of holistic empire which continues right up to the present and that therefore the interregnum century of division left a critically important legacy. Cover Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents List of illustrations Preface Glossary 1. Introduction 2. Semi-colonialization under the Tang: Setting the Stage for the Independent South 3. Politics in an Age of Division: North–South Relations and Interstate Negotiation 4. The Economies of the South 5. The Social and Cultural Initiatives of the South 6. Steps Toward Restoration of the Holistic Empire 7. The Legacy of the Interregnum: Recruiting the Southern Elite, the Discourse on Civilization, and the Standardization of Values 8. Conclusions: The Holistic Legacy Bibliography Index