Bing: From Farmer’s Son to Magistrate in Han China

220 Pages·2011·6.267 MB·English

by  Michael Loewe

BING
From Farmer’s Son
to Magistrate
in Han China
Michael Loewe
B i n g

B i n g
From Farmer’s Son to
Magistrate in Han China
Michael Loewe
Hackett Publishing Company, Inc.
Indianapolis/Cambridge
Copyright © 2011 by Hackett Publishing Company, Inc.
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
14 13 12 11 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
For further information, please address
Hackett Publishing Company, Inc.
P.O. Box 44937
Indianapolis, Indiana 46244-0937
www.hackettpublishing.com
Cover design by Abigail Coyle
Interior design and composition by Elizabeth L. Wilson
Printed at Edwards Brothers, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Loewe, Michael.
Bing : from farmer’s son to magistrate in Han China / Michael Loewe.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-1-60384-622-6 (pbk.) — ISBN 978-1-60384-623-3 (cloth)
1. China—History—Han dynasty, 202 B.C.-220 A.D—Fiction. I. Title.
PR6112.O28B56 2011
823'.92—dc22 2011019150
Adobe PDF ebook ISBN: 978-1-60384-663-9
For all those friends and colleagues, pupils and teachers,
who have helped the author to take a glance at the history
of Han China over the last fifty years, and for those who are
going to take a deeper look in the next fifty years.

Contents
Prefatory Note / ix
Map: The Han Empire, 108 BCE / xi
Introduction / xiii
Chapter One: On the farm / 1
Chapter Two: Conscript laborer and soldier / 15
Chapter Three: At the pass / 32
Chapter Four: In a nobleman’s mansion / 41
Chapter Five: On the road / 51
Chapter Six: A state occasion / 61
Chapter Seven: In Chang’an and Luoyang / 67
Chapter Eight: Pupil and junior clerk / 77
Chapter Nine: Assistant to the Imperial Counselor / 93
Chapter Ten: At work in the central government / 104
Chapter Eleven: Appointed magistrate / 115
Chapter Twelve: The governor and his residence / 126
Chapter Thirteen: The magistrate at work / 140
Chapter Fourteen: Country tasks / 149
Chapter Fifteen: Enforcement of the laws / 156
Chapter Sixteen: Final years / 167
Appendix: A Brief History of the Han Empire / 175
Notes for Futher Reading / 183
A selection of images and illustrations follow Chapter Eight.

Prefatory Note
I owe a debt that I can never repay to friends and teachers who over the
last years have lent me their unstinted encouragement, supplemented
my shortcomings patiently, and corrected my errors in a forceful but
kind manner. Impossible as it is to name them all, I select a few, now
no longer with us, for special mention. Arthur Cooper was the first
to engage me in a study of China; Walter Simon introduced me to
the niceties of classical scholarship and bibliography, D. C. Lau to the
treasures to be found in the writings of China’s traditional scholars.
A. F. P. Hulsewé was for a long time the only specialist in Han studies
whom I could meet and consult, and he gave unstintingly of his time;
Piet van der Loon, who suffered no fools gladly, yet allowed me
the benefit of his guidance and deep scholarship, together with his
friendship. Fujieda Akira and Ōba Osamu stood at my side with help
at seminars held in Kyoto, and cooperated in work that we undertook
in Europe. To my sorrow, Carmen Blacker was not there to call for a
more lively narrative in this book or to poke fun at its characters.
For the present volume I can only express my deepest thanks to
Deborah Wilkes for encouragement at an early stage, her editorial skill,
and perseverance in bringing the book to fruition.
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