Ancient China and its Enemies: The Rise of Nomadic Power in East Asian HistoryRelations 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 frontiers, and by exploring how this interaction was recorded in historiography, this looks at 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 2002 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. |
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Ancient China and its Enemies: The Rise of Nomadic Power in East Asian History Nicola Di Cosmo No preview available - 2002 |
Common terms and phrases
Altai Ancient China animals archaeological army attack border Bronze Age burial Cambridge cavalry Central Asia Central Plain ch'an-yü ch'eng Ch'i Chao chapter chariot Chin Chinese history Chou Chung-kuo li-shih ti-t'u civilization commandery context Dereivka dynasty early nomadic east Eastern economic emperor Eurasian Steppes expansion fa-hsien foreign Han dynasty Han shu historian ho-ch'in policy horses Hsiung Hsiung-nu Hsiung-nu empire Inner Asian Inner Mongolia Iron Age Jung K'ao-ku hsüeh-pao Kansu king Legge located Loewe metallurgy military millennium B.C. Modun Mountains nomadic cultures non-Chou northern frontier Northern Zone Ordos pastoral nomadism Pazyryk peace political region relations ruler Scythian Shang Shih chi 110 Shih chi chu-yi social Spring and Autumn Ssu-ma Ch'ien T'ien Tarim Basin territory tion trade tradition treaty tribal tribes Tso-chuan chu University Press Upper Hsia-chia-tien walls Wang Wang Hui Warring States period Wen-wu Western Wu-ti Yellow River