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
Why Ancient Chinese Political Thought Matters: Four Dialogues on China's Past, Present, and Future

Why Ancient Chinese Political Thought Matters: Four Dialogues on China's Past, Present, and Future

Bell, Daniel a.

Hardcover

PhilosophyChinese HistoryGeneral Political Science

ISBN10: 0691279802
ISBN13: 9780691279800
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: Apr 14 2026
Pages: 304
Weight: 1.05
Height: 1.50 Width: 5.60 Depth: 8.60
Language: English

An entertaining introduction to ancient Chinese thinkers--and what they can teach us about today's most pressing political questions in China and beyond

China's most original, diverse, and fascinating political debates took place more than two millennia ago, but they have profoundly shaped Chinese political thinking and practice ever since and, remarkably, their influence on the country's leaders is only growing today. Yet these timeless debates--which are very likely to influence the answers to such questions as whether China should use military force to take control of Taiwan--are still far too little understood in the West. In this enlightening and entertaining book, Daniel Bell, a leading expert on Chinese political thought, takes the greatest thinkers from China's past--Confucius, Mencius, Xunzi, Shang Yang, Han Feizi, Zhuangzi, and Mozi--and puts them in dialogue with each other in modern settings. The result is a creative and engaging introduction to ancient Chinese political thought that reveals its relevance to the future of China and the rest of the world.

Before China's unification in 221 BCE, the brilliant political thinkers who founded Confucianism, Daoism, Legalism, and Mohism roamed from state to state, argued with each other, and tried to persuade rulers to follow their ideas. Bell draws on their debates--about such perennial issues as war, corruption, government involvement in family life, and whether the state should subsidize culture--to create vivid imaginative dialogues about important contemporary social and political controversies.

China's political thinking is rooted in its past. Understanding what ancient Chinese political thought can teach us about today's critical debates is essential to understanding the future of China and the world.

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