Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Dubious Facts: The Evidence of Early Chinese Historiography

Dubious Facts: The Evidence of Early Chinese Historiography

Olberding, Garret P. S.

Hardcover

Series: Suny Chinese Philosophy and Culture

Chinese HistoryGeneral Military HistoryHistoriography

ISBN10: 1438443897
ISBN13: 9781438443898
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Published: Dec 1 2012
Pages: 288
Weight: 1.15
Height: 0.90 Width: 6.30 Depth: 9.10
Language: English

An innovative approach to historical records assesses how evidence claims and policy arguments were put forth in the royal courts of early China.

What were the intentions of early China's historians? Modern readers must contend with the tension between the narrators' moralizing commentary and their description of events. Although these historians had notions of evidence, it is not clear to what extent they valued what contemporary scholars would deem hard facts. Offering an innovative approach to premodern historical documents, Garret P. S. Olberding argues that the speeches of court advisors reveal subtle strategies of information management in the early monarchic context. Olberding focuses on those addresses concerning military campaigns where evidence would be important in guiding immediate social and political policy. His analysis reveals the sophisticated conventions that governed the imperial advisor's logic and suasion in critical state discussions, which were specifically intended to counter anticipated doubts. Dubious Facts illuminates both the decision-making processes that informed early Chinese military campaigns and the historical records that represent them.

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