Technical Arts in the Han Histories: Tables and Treatises in the Shiji and Hanshu

Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
	I. On the “Technical Arts” (shu 術) and “Ordering” (zhi 治)
	II. On the Shiji and Hanshu Projects
	III. Synopses of the Chapters in the Volume
	Notes
	Asian-language Bibliography
	Western-language Bibliography
1 Land Tenure and the Decline of Imperial Government in Eastern Han
	I. The Produce of the Land
	II. The “Orders of Honor” (jue 爵)
	III. The Large Estates
	IV. Gong tian, Ming tian, and Si tian
	V. The Vagrants
	VI. Inheritance and the Terms of a Will
	VII. Deeds of Purchase (quan 券)
	VIII. Officials’ Salaries
	IX. Size and Spread of the Population
	X. Conclusion
	Appendix I: The Extent of the Land
	Appendix II: Examples of Deeds for the Sale of Land
	Known Examples
	Notes
	Asian-language Bibliography
	Western-language Bibliography
2 Water Control and Policy-Making in the Shiji and Hanshu
	I. The Annals Story: The Zhang River, Loyalty, and Choosing the Best
	II. The Shiji Treatise
	III. The Hanshu Treatise
	IV. Water Control Redux
	Appendix 1: Summary, Shiji “Treatise on the Yellow River and Canals”
	Appendix 2: Summary, Hanshu “Treatise on Ditches and Canals”
	Notes
	Asian-language Bibliography
	Western-language Bibliography
3 The Hanshu Geographic Treatise on the Eastern Capital
	Preliminaries
	I. On the Documents Postface/Chapter Prefaces (xu 序)
	II. What’s in a Graph? Luo 雒 or Luo 洛
	III. On Siting Cities in the “Zhou Writings” 周書 Documents’ Section
		Further Complications: ChengZhou, near the Old Luo City Site?
	IV. The “Two Capitals” Model Promoted in the Hanshu Geographic Treatise
		a. Overview of the Model
		b. Later Influence of Ban Gu’s “Two Capitals” Model
	V. Archaeological Evidence for Luoyang
	Conclusion
	Appendix for Chapter 3
	Notes
	Asian-language Bibliography
	Western-language Bibliography
4 Celestial Signs in Three Historical Treatises
	I. Readers of Celestial Signs in History in the “Celestial Offices”
	II. The “Wuxing zhi” and Its Classical Models
	III. The “Wuxing zhi” Chronicle of Comets
	IV. Etiology, Chronology, and Classicism in the “Celestial Patterns”
	V. Linking Signs to the Classics in the “Celestial Patterns”
	VI. The “Celestial Patterns” as a Dynastic History
	VII. Conclusion
	Appendix A: Organization of the Shiji “Celestial Offices” and Hanshu “Celestial Patterns”
	Appendix B: Comparison of Planetary Correspondences
	Notes
	Asian-language Bibliography
	Western-language Bibliography
5 On Hanshu “Wuxing zhi” 五行志 and Ban Gu’s Project
	I. Hanshu on Omen Experts
	II. Structure and Contents of the Hanshu “Wuxing zhi”
		a. Preliminaries
		b. Organization of the Hanshu Omen Treatise
		c. Discrepancies between the Great Plan and the Hanshu “Wuxing zhi”
	III. Probable Authorship, Dating, and Motivation: Speculations
	IV. On Dong Zhongshu and Liu Xiang as Omen Experts
	V. Final Conundrums and Conclusions
	Appendix: A Brief Think Piece on Resonance Theory
	Notes
	Asian-language Bibliography
	Western-language Bibliography
6 Western Han Sacrifices to Taiyi
	I. Early Sitings of Taiyi
		a. Taiyi before Han Wudi’s Reign
		b. The Establishment of the Western Han Cult to Taiyi
		c. Reasons for the Great Altar at Ganquan (Sweet Springs) Palace Complex
	II. Cult Ceremonies at the Great Altar at Sweet Springs 甘泉泰畤
		a. The Material Form of the Ceremonial Site
		b. The Liturgies and Ceremonies at the Great Altar Erected to Taiyi
	III. The Shiji and Hanshu Treatises on Sacrifice
		a. The Nature of the Sacrifice at the Great Altar
		b. Discrepancies in the Shiji and Hanshu Accounts
	IV. Conclusion
	Notes
	Asian-language Bibliography
	Western-language Bibliography
7 Writing Abstractly in Mathematical Texts from Early Imperial China
	Introduction
	I. Abstraction as a Commentator’s Category
		a. Evidence for Ancient Actors’ Expectation of Abstraction
		b. Abstraction from a Wider Perspective: Elements of a History of the Term Kongyan
	II. A Form of Abstraction as Actors’ Category in The Nine Chapters
		a. Examining Features of a “Universal Procedure” in The Nine Chapters
		b. Interpreting Kongyan in The Nine Chapters
		c. The Characteristic Features of Abstract Procedures
	III. The Form of Abstraction Identified and the Excavated Manuscripts
	IV. Conclusion
	Notes
	Asian-language Bibliography
	Western-language Bibliography
8 Commentarial Episodes in Early Chinese Medicine: An Experiment in Decentering the Standard Histories
	I. Definitions and Contexts
	II. The Wuwei Manuscripts: A Case for a Hidden Commentary
	III. Social Context
	IV. Conclusions
	Notes
	Asian-language Bibliography
	Western-language Bibliography
9 Narratives of Decline and Fragmentation, and the Hanshu Bibliographic Taxonomies of Technical Arts
	I. Lost in Transmission: A Diminishing Classical Legacy
	II. The “Tianxia” 天下 and the Techniques of the Way
	III. The Simas 司馬氏 and Expertise in the Way
	IV. Technical Knowledge as the End Stage of Classical Knowledge in the “Yiwen zhi”
	V. Bibliography and Administration
	VI. Conclusion
	Notes
	Asian-language Bibliography
	Western-language Bibliography
Contributors
Index