Hawaii Reader in Traditional Chinese Culture (review)

Most of the ninety-two selections in the handsomely produced Hawaii Reader (hereafter HR) are newly translated, and by no means all are familiar. By page count, only about 13 percent of the translations have previously been published, although a much larger percentage of the selections has appeared before in other English translations. The selections tend to be short and well-calculated to catch the reader's attention (only four run to more than twenty-five pages). Each of the fifty or so scholars who contributed also introduce their own selections. This makes for a lively mixture of voices and emphases. The fact that each of the editors has provided a different type of input also adds to the strength of the volume. Nearly all the contributors manage to open wider vistas on their subjects while introducing their selections; a good example is Jan L. Hagma's two-page summary of the history of the civil-service examinations by way of introducing his translation of the first part of the Mingshi chapter on schools (pp. 494-504). The 117 color illustrations also add greatly to the value of the book The chief editor, Victor Mair, whose energy and flair has contributed so much to making the HR a reality, in addition to contributing numerous selections has written a forcefully argued introduction underlining the multifaceted nature of Chinese civilization and advancing his view of what held it together for so long. What, then, is the niche that the HR is designed to fill? Mair explains in the preface:

This Reader is designed to serve as a fund of primary texts for introductory college courses on the history, culture, and society of China, both modern and pre-modern. Unique in the breadth of its coverage, the Reader can be used either as the main textbook for studying about Chinese civilization or to accompany, for example, one of the many excellent histories of China that are available.

(p. xviii)

So, the scope of the HR is wider than its title might suggest. It is intended as a reader not only in Chinese traditional culture but also in Chinese modern culture, and it contains selections not only on culture but also on history and society. Moreover, as mentioned in the Introduction, the intention was to make the HR "as comprehensive as possible."

How well does the HR achieve these aims? Comprehensive anthologies of selected readings on the history, culture, and society of a country as long-lived and varied as China present a particular challenge to their editors. There are the familiar problems of which periods to emphasize and from whose perspectives, and what selections to include and where to start and stop. Usually, the beginnings are easier than the endings, and so it is with the HR. For obvious reasons, the first selections are from the oldest extant written sources: the Shang dynasty oracle-bone scripts and the Shang and Zhou bronze scripts. There are also five illustrations from Neolithic cultures—Yangshao (Banpo), Majiayao, Hongshan, Longshan, and Liangzhu—the caption to the third of which begins with "It has been known since the 1970s that the Yellow River Valley was but one of the cradles of Chinese civilization." If this is indeed the case, then why are three out of the five illustrations of Neolithic cultures from the Yellow River Valley? Doubtless there are good reasons, but given the editor's welcome emphasis on the multifaceted nature of Chinese civilization perhaps this point could have received a little more clarification.

The brief curtain-raiser on prehistoric Chinese culture appears in the captions to the first illustrations (facing page 150), but the HR text selections begin on firmer ground from page 8 with a coherent selection of texts from the Shang, Zhou, and Han dynasties—coherent largely because one of the editors, Paul Goldin, has contributed no fewer than twenty-seven of the thirty-three selections...