• Epiphanies of Sovereignty and the Rite of Jade Disc Immersion in Weft Narratives

    Author(s):
    Grégoire Espesset (see profile)
    Date:
    2014
    Group(s):
    History, Political Philosophy & Theory, Religious Studies, Textual Scholarship
    Subject(s):
    China, History, Ancient, Chinese--Religion, Historiography, History
    Item Type:
    Article
    Tag(s):
    dynastic founding, jade disc, political legitimacy, ritual practice, Ancient China, Chinese religions, Early China, Imperial China, Performance and politics
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/f95w-ye16
    Abstract:
    This paper deals with the political ideology of late pre-imperial and early imperial China as documented by remnants of an under-explored genre known in English as weft (wei 緯) writings or “Confucian Apocrypha”. It focuses on the transcendence of hierarchy and sovereignty, the transfer of dynastic legitimacy, and the pragmatic vehicle of “tangible” superhuman disclosure. After a terminological introduction, the study turns to weft concepts of society and sovereignty as being consubstantial with the intrinsic hierarchical order of the universe, then moves on to explore how these concepts are dealt with in a cluster of weft materials. Focused on a rite of jade disc immersion, the final section bridges the gap between myth and conventional history, showing how weft theories contributed to the formation of early imperial political ideology, remained active in the medieval era, and had a lasting impact on the political sphere as well as on liturgical practices intended to reenact the transcendent experience of epiphany.
    Metadata:
    xml
    Published as:
    Journal article     Show details
    Pub. DOI:
    10.1017/eac.2013.2
    Publisher:
    Cambridge University Press (CUP)
    Pub. Date:
    2014-7-4
    Journal:
    Early China
    Volume:
    37
    Page Range:
    393 - 443
    ISSN:
    0362-5028,2325-2324
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    4 years ago
    License:
    All Rights Reserved
    Share this:

    Downloads

    Item Name: pdf espesset-g.-epiphanies-of-sovereignty-jade-disc.pdf
      Download View in browser
    Activity: Downloads: 549

    Back to Deposits