China's transition to modernity : the new classical vision of Dai Zhen / Minghui Hu.
Includes bibliographical references and index.

The man and his times -- How Jesuit science conquered the Kangxi court -- Searching for truth in the origins of civilizations -- How to build a coalition around science -- An outsider enters the mainstream -- How to dethrone Jesuit science -- Bringing it home to the palace of light -- Legibility of visionary scholars.

Local access dig.pdf. [Hu-China's Transition.pdf]

Contents: Coming out of the Middle Ages: historical reflections on the late Ming to the late Qing -- The drama of "god-making" 360 years ago -- The Confucius of history and the history of Confucius -- Johann Adam Schall von Bell and Yang Guangxian -- Han learning and Western learning in the Eighteenth Century -- Yangming scholarship in early modern China -- A historical investigation into the early formation of the historical materialist viewpoint in China -- China's lost renaissance -- Appendix: The strange ideas of philosophers as one historical period supersedes another.

Keywords: Johann Adam Schall von Bell 湯若望, Yang Guangxian 楊光先, Kang Youwei 康有為, Neo-Confucianism , Historical materialism , May 4th movement, Hanxue 漢學.

Mapping meanings : the field of new learning in late Qing China / edited by Michael Lackner and Natascha Vittinghoff.
Collection of contributions to the international conference "Translating Western Knowledge into late Imperial China," held at the ... University of Gottingen University in Dec. 1999.
Includes bibliographical references and index.

"Mapping Meanings is essentially a broad-ranged introduction to China's intellectual entry into the family of nations. Written by a fine selection of experts, it guides the reader into the terrain of China's (late Qing) encounter with Western knowledge and modern sciences, and at the same time connects convincingly to the broader question of the mobility of knowledge. The late Qing literati's pursue of New Learning was a transnational practice inseparable from the local context. "Mapping Meanings therefore attempts to highlight what the encountered global knowledge could have meant to specific social actors in the specific historical situation. Subjects included are the transformation of the examination system, the establishment of academic disciplines, and new social actors and questions of new terminologies. Both an introduction and a reference work on the subject."--OCLC note.

Local access dig.pdf. [Lackner-Mapping Meanings.pdf]

Reign Periods of the Ming and Ching Dynasties -- 1. The Crisis of the Confucian Order and Didactic Responses -- 2. Ritualist Ethics and Textual Purism in the Kang-hsi Reign -- 3. Lineage Discourse: Gentry, Local Society, and the State -- 4. Ancestral Rites and Lineage in Early Ching Scholarship -- 5. Ritual and the Classics in the Early Ching -- 6. Linguistic Purism and the Hermeneutics of the Han Learning Movement -- 7. Ritualist Ethics and the Han Learning Movement -- 8. Ritualism and Gentry Culture: Women and Lineage.

This pathbreaking work argues that the major intellectual trend in China from the seventeenth through the early nineteenth century was Confucian ritualism as expressed in ethics, classical learning, and discourse on lineage. The conquest of China by the Manchus and the establishment of the Ching dynasty in the mid-seventeenth century provoked both political and identity crises for Chinese intellectuals. As a result, they returned to the classical heritage in an intensified search for pure Confucian doctrine and a ritualist expression of cultural identity under alien rule. Through the performance of rites, especially those concerned with family and lineage, the early Ching scholars believed they could cultivate Confucian virtues and rebuild a social order broadly based on kinship organization.

The quest for pure Confucian doctrine and rituals resulted not only in the revival of the exegetical tradition of Sung neo-Confucians in the early Ching, but also the rise of the Han learning movement in the mid-eighteenth century. Within the ritualist framework, many Confucian literati re-examined their role in relation to the Confucian heritage, the imperial state, and the common people.

Despite the growing centralization of power, the imperial state had to rely on the gentry to preserve order at the local level. Popular unrest, rebellion, and the swift collapse of local resistance to the Manchu conquest convinced many gentry of the need for a local institution that would unify society and allow the gentry to control and channel popular forces. They came to see lineage as the answer. The author shows how Confucian ritualism, with its emphasis on family and lineage, became a broad movement of social reform that emphasized conformity and clearly prescribed rules of behavior, expressed notably in the growing cult of patrilineal descent and female chastity. Through their manipulation of well-organized lineages, the gentry were able to achieve a dominant role in shaping and maintaining local order.

Introduction -- 1. The Making of an Imprint in China, 1000 - 1800 -- 2. The Ascendance of the Imprint in China -- 3. Distribution of Books and Literati Culture -- 4. The Problem of Access in the World of Chinese Learning -- 5. Ameliorations and a Community of Learning -- 6. Literati Writings and the Case of Qian Jinren 錢進仁 -- Notes -- Bibliographical Notes on Studies Useful for the Writing of This Book -- Glossary -- Index.

"Joseph McDermott traces the history of the book in China from 1000 to 1800, illustrating the Chinese experience with books through comparisons to other civilizations, particularly those in Europe. He presents novel analyses of the changes in Chinese woodblock book-making over several centuries and a new view of the period in which the printed book replaced the manuscript. He also explores the distribution and marketing structure of books and the history of book collecting. This broad and comprehensive account of the development of printed Chinese culture from 1000 to 1800 is written for anyone interested in the history of the book. It also offers important new insights into book culture and its place in society for the student of Chinese history and culture"--OCLC #239488520

Local access dig.pdf. [McDermott-Social History Chinese Book.pdf]

The internal organization of Ch'ing bureaucracy : legal, normative, and communication aspects / Thomas A. Metzger, 1933-.

The Qing dynasty and traditional Chinese culture / Richard J. Smith.

"The Qing dynasty (1636-1912)--a crucial bridge between 'traditional' and 'modern' China--was remarkable for its expansiveness and cultural sophistication. This engaging and insightful history of Qing political, social, and cultural life traces the complex interaction between the Inner Asian traditions of the Manchus, who conquered China in 1644, and indigenous Chinese cultural traditions. Noted historian Richard J. Smith argues that the pragmatic Qing emperors presented a 'Chinese' face to their subjects who lived south of the Great Wall and other ethnic faces (particularly Manchu, Mongolian, Central Asian, and Tibetan) to subjects in other parts of their vast multicultural empire. They were attracted by many aspects of Chinese culture, but far from being completely 'sinicized' as many scholars argue, they were also proud of their own cultural traditions and interested in other cultures as well. Setting Qing dynasty culture in historical and global perspective, Smith shows how the Chinese of the era viewed the world; how their outlook was expressed in their institutions, material culture, and customs; and how China's preoccupation with order, unity, and harmony contributed to the civilization's remarkable cohesiveness and continuity. Nuanced and wide-ranging, his authoritative book provides an essential introduction to late imperial Chinese culture and society."