Writing and the Ancient State
Early China in Comparative Perspective

Writing and the Ancient State is a comparative study of the use of writing to create and maintain order in early states.

Haicheng Wang (Author)

9781107028128, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 12 May 2014

427 pages, 69 b/w illus. 26 colour illus. 15 maps
26.1 x 18.6 x 2.5 cm, 1.1 kg

Writing and the Ancient State explores the early development of writing and its relationship to the growth of political structures. The first part of the book focuses on the contribution of writing to the state's legitimating project. The second part deals with the state's use of writing in administration, analyzing both textual and archaeological evidence to reconstruct how the state used bookkeeping to allocate land, police its people, and extract taxes from them. The third part focuses on education, the state's system for replenishing its staff of scribe-officials. The first half of each part surveys evidence from Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Maya lowlands, Central Mexico, and the Andes; against this background the second half examines the evidence from China. The chief aim of this book is to shed new light on early China (from the second millennium BC through the end of the Han period, ca. 220 AD) while bringing to bear the lens of cross-cultural analysis on each of the civilizations under discussion.

Part I. Writing and the Legitimation of the State: History as King List: 1. The Near East and the Americas
2. China
Part II. Writing and the Wealth of the State: People and Land, Census and Land Register: 3. The Near East and the Americas
4. China
Part III. Writing and the Perpetuation of the State: Scribal Education, Lexical Lists, and Literature: 5. The Near East and the Americas
6. China
Part IV. Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Archaeology [HD], Ancient history: to c 500 CE [HBLA], Palaeography [history of writing CFL]