Bøker i Michigan Monographs in Chinese Studies-serien

Graduate students have traditionally learned a good part of what they know about sources and research aids on modern China through hearsay and serendipity. It is now possible for beginning researchers to start with some shared basic knowledge of research aids and documentary resources. This research guide is meant to provide that knowledge.

Argues that while many competing positions can coexist in the same person, the seeds of the positive, instrumental value of individual autonomy in Chinese inquiry are beginning to compete in both scholarly and popular culture with other, older approaches.

Presents two texts in translation that provide dual insight into the Painting Academy of Emperor Hui-tsung and the literati school of painting. The Shan-shui ch'un-ch'uan chi is a treatise for beginning landscape painters dated to the Hsuan-ho era. The Hua-chi is a history of painting written as a sequel to two earlier histories.

With the establishment of the Ming dynasty, a major historical tension rose into prominence between more absolutist and less absolutist modes of rulership. This produced a distinctive style of rule that modern students have come to call Ming despotism. It proved a capriciously absolutist pattern for Chinese government into our own time.

The most comprehensive book to date on the relevant issues in Chinese film studies