Ethnic Identity in Tang China (Encounters with Asia) [Hardcover]

Marc S. Abramson (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0812240529 | ISBN-13: 978-0812240528 | Publication Date: December 5, 2007

Ethnic Identity in Tang China is the first work in any language to explore comprehensively the construction of ethnicity during the dynasty that reigned over China for roughly three centuries, from 618 to 907. Often viewed as one of the most cosmopolitan regimes in China's past, the Tang had roots in Inner Asia, and its rulers continued to have complex relationships with a population that included Turks, Tibetans, Japanese, Koreans, Southeast Asians, Persians, and Arabs.

Marc S. Abramson's rich portrait of this complex, multiethnic empire draws on political writings, religious texts, and other cultural artifacts, as well as comparative examples from other empires and frontiers. Abramson argues that various constituencies, ranging from Confucian elites to Buddhist monks to "barbarian" generals, sought to define ethnic boundaries for various reasons but often in part out of discomfort with the ambiguity of their own ethnic and cultural identity. The Tang court, meanwhile, alternately sought to absorb some alien populations to preserve the empire's integrity while seeking to preserve the ethnic distinctiveness of other groups whose particular skills it valued. Abramson demonstrates how the Tang era marked a key shift in definitions of China and the Chinese people, a shift that ultimately laid the foundation for the emergence of the modern Chinese nation.

Ethnic Identity in Tang China sheds new light on one of the most important periods in Chinese history. It also offers broader insights on East Asian and Inner Asian history, the history of ethnicity, and the comparative history of frontiers and empires.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The author has ranged far and wide, plucking nuggets of material from dynastic histories, gazetteers, contemporary scholarly treatises, memorials to the emperor, poetry, and artwork. This is a groundbreaking book."—Peter B. Golden, Rutgers University

"Striving to be objective and balanced, the author presents a fascinating look into the ways the Han Chinese conceptualized their non-Han ethnic Other, and vice versa. The concluding argument, that Tang China marks a key shift from ethnic pluralism to a model of Chinese cultural exclusivity, is a thought-provoking one."—Choice

About the Author

Marc S. Abramson holds a Ph.D. degree in East Asian studies from Princeton University and currently works for the U.S. Department of State.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press (December 5, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812240529
• ISBN-13: 978-0812240528
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,085,916 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Hidden treasure there..., May 17, 2011

By 

G. Glick (Pittsburgh-born) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ethnic Identity in Tang China (Encounters with Asia) (Hardcover)

This book has much valuable information regarding Chinese historical conceptions and treatment of ethnicity. Unfortunately the insights often have to be dug out from a pit of methodological [sociological? anthropologic? deconstructionist?] obscurantism which is very off-putting. Far better to have adapted a purely historic approach so as to deliver the fascinating story of how a semi-alien founding family established itself at the apex of a new orthodoxy.