Status und Ritus: Das China von den Anfängen bis zum 10. Jahrhundert nach Christus (review)

Reviews 161 words in the title, which cannot be considered, as Ames rightly argues, separately from any discussion of the body. On the whole, all the essays in the Chinese part of the book are thought-provoking pioneer studies on the topic of the body in Chinese culture and society, and these will serve as good references for future investigation. Kwok-kan Tarn The Chinese University of Hong Kong m $ $ Dieter Kuhn. Status und Ritus: Das China von den Anfängen bis zum 10. Jahrhundert nach Christus. Würzburger Sinologische Schriften. Heidelberg: Edition Forum, 1991. 753 pp. Hardcover $48.95. This history of China to the tenth century is a major accomplishment that deserves the careful attention ofthe members of our profession. Based on a series of lectures delivered twice a week over five semesters, it retains much of its character as a tool designed in the first instance to meet the needs of German university students beginning their serious study of China. But it also provides a welcome opportunity for all of us to take stock of the field and consider how the pieces of our current understanding may fit together both synchronically within a given period and diachronically over a longer time. Professor Kuhn's book serves these purposes because, contrary to what one might expect from the tiAe and even from some of the auAior's comments (pp. 15, 18), it is in fact a general history that emphasizes political, social, and economic developments (p. 44). It is organized quite conventionally but also usefully according to political chronology. Though fhe book's range is broad, the author alerts us in the introduction that he does not plan to deal in detail with geography, minorities, and foreign affairs. Moreover, philosophy, religion, art, and literature enter only to fhe extent that Aiey relate to the development of Chinese society (p. 45). On the other hand, since he is addressing a specialist audience, Kuhn does not shrink from rather detailed examination of confiicting interpretations prior to presenting his own conclusions .© 1994 by UniversityBefore we broach some broader issues of interpretation, it is worth stressing ofHawai ? Press^6 sneer ??(??( 0finformati0n contained in these 753 pages, which maywell constitute the most erudite general history dealing with China ever produced. 162 China Review International: Vol. 1, No. 2, Fall 1994 Scholars in the English-speaking world who read German less than easily, after looking at the two-and-a-half-page English "Short Description" of fhe book, will probably be drawn primarily to the reference apparatus, which is no small achievement in its own right. For example, the 1,139 footnotes do much more than simply provide references (always with full citations) to support points made in the text. Many of them include very handy bibliographies on specific topics such as the Shujing or Book ofDocuments (p. 172 n. 15); various subjects (despotism , economy and taxes, the excavations of the tomb of the first Emperor, etc.) having to do with the Qin (pp. 278-279 nn. 10-13); Eberhard's theory of the rise of "gentry society" in the Han (p. 337 n. 54); China and Aie idea of an "Asiatic mode of production" (p. 339 n. 60); Li Shimin of the Tang (p. 509 n. 28); and Tang historiography and its later influence (pp. 562-564 nn. 115-120). This is not to say that one would wish to rely exclusively on Kuhn's citations, which sometimes have a certain hit-or-miss quality. Thus the sole reference for biographical material on Laozi and Zhuangzi is to the Shiji (Chinese edition published by Zhonghua Shuju) (p. 232 n. 120). In the following note, four "new Chinese editions" of the Daodejing aie listed wiAiout any indication of their relative merit or indeed why these particular four were selected and all other Chinese editions and translations were omitted. (The only Western-language translation mentioned is Richard Wilhelm's 1910 version into German.) In general, fhe footnote references are particularly strong in Chinese and Japanese works, as well as in providing many references to writings in German that testify to the Aorescence of Chinese studies in contemporary Germany. The preference for German works is certainly...