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This collection provides new ways to understand how state power was exercised during the overlapping Liao, Song, Jin, and Yuan dynasties. Through a set of case studies, State Power in China, 900-1325 examines large questions concerning dynastic legitimacy, factional strife, the relationship between the literati and the state, and the value of centralization. How was state power exercised? Why did factional strife periodically become ferocious? Which problems did reformers seek to address? Could subordinate groups resist the state? How did politics shape the sources that survive?

The nine essays in this volume explore key elements of state power, ranging from armies, taxes, and imperial patronage to factional struggles, officials’ personal networks, and ways to secure control of conquered territory. Drawing on new sources, research methods, and historical perspectives, the contributors illuminate the institutional side of state power while confronting evidence of instability and change—of ways to gain, lose, or exercise power.

Table of Contents

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  1. Cover
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  1. Half Title, Title Page, Copyright
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  1. Contents
  2. pp. v-vi
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  1. Acknowledgments
  2. pp. vii-viii
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  1. Abbreviations Used in the Notes
  2. pp. ix-x
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  1. Introduction
  2. Paul Jakov Smith, Patricia Buckley Ebrey
  3. pp. 3-26
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  1. Part 1: The Ruling House
  1. 1. Invoking Higher Authorities: Song Taizong’s Quest for Imperial Legitimacy and Its Architectural Legacy
  2. Tracy Miller
  3. pp. 29-61
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  1. 2. Cao Xun and the Legend of Emperor Taizu’s Oath
  2. Charles Hartman
  3. pp. 62-98
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  1. Part 2: The Literati and the Political System
  1. 3. Governing a Multicentered Empire: Prefects and Their Networks in the 1040s and 1210s
  2. Song Chen
  3. pp. 101-152
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  1. 4. Anatomies of Reform: The Qingli-Era Reforms of Fan Zhongyan and the New Policies of Wang Anshi Compared
  2. Paul Jakov Smith
  3. pp. 153-191
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  1. 5. Bureaucratic Politics and Commemorative Biography: The Epitaphs of Fan Zhongyan
  2. Cong Ellen Zhang
  3. pp. 192-216
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  1. Part 3: Statecraft Theory
  1. 6. Northern Song Reformist Thought and Its Sources: Wang Anshi and Mencius
  2. Li Huarui
  3. pp. 219-243
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  1. 7. Debates on Just Taxation in Ma Duanlin’s Comprehensive Survey
  2. Jaeyoon Song
  3. pp. 244-274
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  1. Part 4: State Power in Practice
  1. 8. Soldier Mutinies and Resistance during the Northern Song
  2. Elad Alyagon
  3. pp. 277-306
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  1. 9. State-Forced Relocations in China, 900–1300
  2. Patricia Buckley Ebrey
  3. pp. 307-340
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  1. Glossary of Chinese Characters
  2. pp. 341-350
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  1. Contributors
  2. pp. 351-352
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  1. Index
  2. pp. 353-364
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