Yuri Pines
Biographic Data
| ID | 230396 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Yuri Pines |
| GIVEN NAMES | Yuri |
| FAMILY NAME | Pines |
| SIGNATURE | PINES Y |
| AFFILIATIONS | Hebrew University of Jerusalem |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-0854-0429 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 61 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 6 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 56 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 5 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1997 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
The Matriarch Speaks
Imperial China was well acquainted with the formidable power of empress dowagers. By contrast, preimperial texts remain all but silent about the dowagers’ potential political impact except for rare interventions in succession struggles or interministerial cleavages. However, new paleographic evidence, drawn primarily from the Springs-and-Autumns period (Chunqiu 春秋, 770–453 BCE ), suggests a much stronger impact of matriarchs on the course of thei…
China's Aristocratic Age
A Speechless Monarch
Although the earliest political text from early China, namely the Canon of Documents , comprises speeches attributed to ancient kings, for most of the Eastern Zhou period (770–255 BCE) monarchs remained conspicuously silent. This article surveys the instances of the rulers’ speeches in major historical collections and a sample of philosophical texts from the Warring States period. I demonstrate that the rulers’ voice in these texts is overwhelmin…
The Political One
The statement “Oneness brings orderly rule; doubleness brings chaos” (一則治, 兩則亂) became the bottom line of political thought of the Warring States period. This article traces the formation of this peculiar consensus in favor of unity of decision-making within a political entity and, ultimately, in All-under-Heaven. It explores the historical backdrop for the valorization of oneness and analyzes different arguments – historical, ritual, metaphysica…
New Perspectives on Historical Anecdotes from the Tsinghua Collection
An Anti-Elite Empire? – Qin’s Experience Revisited
Soft Subjugation”
Political centralization and the annexation of rival polities are commonly viewed as the dominant patterns of territorial expansion in preimperial China. This article draws attention to an alternative mode of expansion, in which the defeated state was allowed to continue as a dependency or a satellite of the major power. Through an analysis of the political trajectory of the state of Zeng 曾/Sui 隨 from a Zhou stronghold to a faithful satellite of …
Dao Companion to China’s fa Tradition
Han Feizi, a Complete Translation
Serving All-under-Heaven
Qin imperial unification in 221 bce is often conceived of as the 'unification of China'. Although from the long-term perspective of Chinese history this view is surely valid, it obscures some of the major trends of the Warring States period (453-221 bce). Back then, the Zhou ('Chinese') world was moving in the direction of the internal consolidation of large territorial states amid increasing political and cultural separation from their neighbour…
The Cambridge History of Nationhood and Nationalism
This major new reference work with contributions from an international team of scholars provides a comprehensive account of ideas and practices of nationhood and nationalism from antiquity to the present. It considers both continuities and discontinuities, engaging critically and analytically with the scholarly literature in the field. Volume I starts with a series of case studies of classical civilizations. It then explores a wide range of pivot…
Van Auken, Newell Ann
ZORA (Zurich Open Repository and Archive) provides open and worldwide access to the research and scholarly output of the University of Zurich, Switzerland. A focus is on qualified scientific publications. ZORA is operated by the University Library together with the Central IT of the University of Zurich
The Elusive Mandate of Heaven
The concept of tianming 天命 (Mandate of Heaven/Heaven’s Mandate) is often viewed as a foundational principle of Chinese political culture. However, as paleographic and textual evidence marshalled in our article suggests, during the formative age of this culture—the Eastern Zhou period (eighth through third centuries BCE )—this concept underwent profound changes and lost much of its original appeal. With the de facto collapse of Zhou authority in 7…
Another Life of the First Emperor
Antony Barbieri-Low presents an engaging and well researched analysis of the changing image of the First Emperor of Qin throughout centuries. Yet the study suffers from insufficient attention to nuances of Chinese political culture, from outright dismission of looted manuscripts (some of which are essential for understanding the Qin), and, primarily, from the author's own biases. Do these biases suggest the author's desire to use the First Empero…
Zhanguo Chu zhushu shixue jiazhi tanyan 戰國楚竹書史學價值探研 (Studies on the Historiographic Value of the Warring States Period Bamboo Manuscripts from Chu), written by Yang Bo 楊博
Didactic Narrative and the Art of Self-Strengthening
Yue gong qi shi 越公其事 is a recently published manuscript from the Tsinghua University collection. The manuscript provides a new version of the well-known story of King Goujian of Yue 越王句踐 (r. 496–464 b.c.e. ), who turned defeat into victory and overcame Yue's formidable rival, the state of Wu 吳. My exploration of this text focuses on its two most notable aspects. First, the story about the policy of self-strengthening allegedly adopted by Goujian …
Han Feizi and the Earliest Exegesis of Zuozhuan
The chapter “Objections 4” (“Nan 4”) occupies a peculiar position in Han Feizi. It comprises four historical anecdotes, each of which is centered on a speech or a short utterance that summarizes its moralizing message. Then an objector refutes this message by confronting it with a broader historical perspective, and a second debater refutes his predecessor’s views. In my essay I argue that not only are the first three anecdotes evidently borrowed…
The Limits of Universal Rule
All major continental empires proclaimed their desire to rule 'the entire world', investing considerable human and material resources in expanding their territory. Each, however, eventually had to stop expansion and come to terms with a shift to defensive strategy. This volume explores the factors that facilitated Eurasian empires' expansion and contraction: from ideology to ecology, economic and military considerations to changing composition of…
Limits of Universal Rule
Maat and Tianxia
Ancient China and pharaonic Egypt were two of the most long-lived polities of the ancient world. Both of them succeeded in integrating a diversity of regions and peoples under a single monarch and in creating unique self-referential cultures, which survived periods of political fragmentation and of conquest by foreign peoples. Under these conditions, key concepts emerged that served to express order, justice, harmony, and good government. They pr…
Forming the Early Chinese Court
Forming the Early Chinese Court: Rituals, Spaces, Roles. By Luke Habberstad. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2016. Pp. xii + 240. $90 (cloth); $30 (paper
"Earliest "Great Wall
This article explores textual, paleographic, and archeological evidence for the "Long Wall" of Qi, arguably one of the earliest long walls erected on Chinese soil. It analyzes the possible dates of the Wall's constructions, its route, its defensive role, and its relation to military, political, economic, and administrative developments of the Warring States period (453-221 BCE). I argue that the Long Wall played a significant role in Qi's militar…
Spring and Autumn Annals of Master Yan. Translated and annotated by Olivia Milburn
The Spring and Autumn Annals of Master Yan. Translated and annotated by Olivia Milburn. Sinica Leidensia, vol. 128. Leiden: Brill, 2016. Pp. xxx + 485. €161, $193
Keywords in Chinese Culture
Zhou History Unearthed
Zhou History Unearthed offers both a novel understanding of early Chinese historiography and a fully annotated translation of Xinian (String of Years) , the most notable historical manuscript from the state of Chu. Yuri Pines details the importance of Xinian and other recently discovered texts for our understanding of history writing in Zhou China
Maat and Tianxia
Ancient China and pharaonic Egypt were two of the most long-lived polities of the ancient world. Both of them succeeded in integrating a diversity of regions and peoples under a single monarch and in creating unique self-referential cultures, which survived periods of political fragmentation and of conquest by foreign peoples. Under these conditions, key concepts emerged that served to express order, justice, harmony, and good government. They pr…
The Everlasting Empire
Established in 221 BCE, the Chinese empire lasted for 2,132 years before being replaced by the Republic of China in 1912. During its two millennia, the empire endured internal wars, foreign incursions, alien occupations, and devastating rebellions-yet fundamental institutional, sociopolitical, and cultural features of the empire remained intact. This book traces the roots of the Chinese empire's exceptional longevity and unparalleled political du…
"Earliest "Great Wall
This article explores textual, paleographic, and archeological evidence for the "Long Wall" of Qi, arguably one of the earliest long walls erected on Chinese soil. It analyzes the possible dates of the Wall's constructions, its route, its defensive role, and its relation to military, political, economic, and administrative developments of the Warring States period (453-221 BCE). I argue that the Long Wall played a significant role in Qi's militar…
Political mythology and dynastic legitimacy in theRong Cheng shimanuscript
In this article I provide a complete translation and analysis of the recently unearthed bamboo manuscript,Rong Cheng shi, from the Shanghai Museum collection. This manuscript presents a previously unknown version of China's early history from the time of legendary rulers Yao, Shun, Yu and their predecessors to the establishment of the Zhou dynasty. The narrative is critical of both the dynastic principle of rule and "righteous rebellion", and adv…
Intellectual Change in the Chunqiu Period
Intellectual history of the Chunqiu period has not been at the focus of scholarly discussions due to the presumed absence of reliable sources for Chunqiu thought. This article argues that the speeches by Chunqiu statesmen recorded in the Zuo zhuan do reflect the Chunqiu intellectual milieu. First, the sources of the Zuo are discussed. Its author/compiler relied on abundant written materials prepared by the court scribes of Chunqiu states. These “…
"The One That Pervades the All" in Ancient Chinese Political Thought
The immense pluralism of Chinese political thought of the Zhanguo era (a1g1, 453-221)1 is well known. The contending hundred schools (baijia WR) suggested diverse, and sometimes mutually exclusive visions of the proper mode of rule, social systems, ruler-minister relations, human nature, social mobility, warfare, human relations with the transcendental, and almost all other aspects of political, social, economic, military, and religious life. Des…
Friends or Foes
新出土的郭店楚簡中有幾篇討論君臣關係及忠君觀念的文章。其中《語叢》 篇中所講的「君臣,朋友,其擇者也」 「君臣不相在也,則可己;不悅, 可去也」等表示出戰國士人的自豪意識,以及他們認為自己與國君地位基 本上平等一相匹的觀念。在本文中我將探討戰國士的自豪意識的歷史背景及 其對於「忠」觀念的影響,并討論春秋戰國時期君臣關系的演變。從春秋時 代的卿大夫以至到戰國時代的游士,在不同歷史條件之下,當官之人一直保 持了自己的較高地位,擺脫了對君主的依附性,因此其有君臣相匹的思潮。 這時代的「社稜重於君」、「從道不從君」、「君與臣為朋友」的思維方式 都提高了臣子的自由,允許臣違背君的命令,寓開國君,甚至「革之」。因 這神情況對于國內秩序其有消極的影響,戰國末葉的某些思想家提出了相反 的看法,意在提高君主的地位及臣對君的依附性。此後苟子將這些觀念綜合 起來,提出了「忠於道,即忠於社稜,即忠於君」的觀念,建立了歷來王朝 的君臣之倫理的基礎。而秦漢大一統以後,皇帝的地位越來越高,臣的依附 性越來越大,因此「…
Lexical Changes in Zhanguo Texts
This article explores lexical differences among several historical and philosophical texts composed between the fifth and the third centuries B.C. By tracing the changing usage of seven major terms of philosophical and political discourse, clear patterns of temporal change are demonstrated. These findings may suggest a new and reliable means of dating pre-imperial texts, or, more precisely, of dating their Ur-texts
History as a Guide to the Netherworld
The Question of Interpretation
Recently discovered epigraphic sources of Qin's history often seem to contradict the conventional wisdom regarding the history of this state. Thus, the recently published inscription on the jade tablets records a prayer to Mountain Hua by one of the last Qin kings, in which the latter surprisingly laments the demise of the Zhou house–an action for which traditionally Qin was blamed. On the other hand, some of the Shuihudi Qin statutes contain equ…
Beasts or Humans
Bodies, Lineages, Citizens, and Regions
The Construction of Space in Early China is a monumental volume. Few studies can match its breathtaking breadth, its richness of detail, its perfection of organization or–most notably–its continual display of its author's awesome erudition. In five hundred closely printed pages, Mark Edward Lewis touches upon an extraordinary variety of topics, ranging freely from medicine to political philosophy and from popular customs to legal codes. He takes …
Disputers of Abdication
Secondary State Formation and the Development of Local Identity
Envisioning Eternal Empire
This book looks into the reasons for the exceptional durability of the Chinese empire, which lasted for more than two millennia (221 BCE–1911 CE). It identifies the roots of the empire's longevity in the activities of thinkers of the Warring States period (453–221 BCE). The Chinese empire was envisioned long before it came into being: as a result, it was not only a military and administrative construct, but also an intellectual one. The book argu…
Political mythology and dynastic legitimacy in theRong Cheng shimanuscript
In this article I provide a complete translation and analysis of the recently unearthed bamboo manuscript,Rong Cheng shi, from the Shanghai Museum collection. This manuscript presents a previously unknown version of China's early history from the time of legendary rulers Yao, Shun, Yu and their predecessors to the establishment of the Zhou dynasty. The narrative is critical of both the dynastic principle of rule and "righteous rebellion", and adv…
Local Elite
This chapter focuses primarily on those members of local elites who were connected to the government apparatus. This core group of local elites had decisively shaped state-elite interactions throughout imperial history. The chapter first outlines historical changes in the character of local elites and in their relations with the pre-imperial, the early imperial, and the late imperial state. It shows that the process of establishing viable relatio…
The Literati
This chapter focuses on the intellectuals' voluntary attachment to the ruler's service as their single most significant choice. It elucidates both the advantages of this choice and its price. Having opted for a political career, leading intellectuals had to accept their position as the emperor's servitors, which was at odds with their self-proclaimed moral superiority over the throne; and the resultant tension between their roles as the leaders a…
Alienating Rhetoric in the Book of Lord Shang and its Moderation
Le Livre du Seigneur Shang, attribué à Shang Yang (?-338 av. J.-C.) et ses disciples, est l’un des textes les plus controversés de l’époque des Royaumes Combattants. De façon concomitante à leur implication dans ce qui peut être qualifié de polémique « normale » avec leurs opposants, les auteurs adoptent parfois une rhétorique de provocation radicale en s’en prenant à des idées et des valeurs adoptées par l’immense majorité des membres de l’élite…
The Everlasting Empire
Established in 221 BCE, the Chinese empire lasted for 2,132 years before being replaced by the Republic of China in 1912. During its two millennia, the empire endured internal wars, foreign incursions, alien occupations, and devastating rebellions--yet fundamental institutional, sociopolitical, and cultural features of the empire remained intact. The Everlasting Empire traces the roots of the Chinese empire's exceptional longevity and unparallele…
The Everlasting Empire
Established in 221 BCE, the Chinese empire lasted for 2,132 years before being replaced by the Republic of China in 1912. During its two millennia, the empire endured internal wars, foreign incursions, alien occupations, and devastating rebellions-yet fundamental institutional, sociopolitical, and cultural features of the empire remained intact. This book traces the roots of the Chinese empire's exceptional longevity and unparalleled political du…
From Historical Evolution to the End of History
Submerged by Absolute Power
Between Merit and Pedigree
Western admirers of Chinese civilization – from the French intellectuals of the age of Enlightenment, to the doyen of modern Sinology, John K. Fairbank (1907–91), to countless current scholars – remain fascinated with China's perceived ideology and practice of meritocracy. Doubtlessly, these admirers have the point. The idea of "elevating the worthy" (shang xian 尚賢) became one of the cornerstones of China's political ideology ever since the Warri…
Birth of an empire
In 221 BCE the state of Qin vanquished its rivals and established the first empire on Chinese soil, starting a millennium-long imperial age in Chinese history. Hailed by some and maligned by many, Qin has long been an enigma. In this pathbreaking study, the authors integrate textual sources with newly available archeological and paleographic materials, providing a boldly novel picture of Qinâ s cultural and political trajectory, its evolving inst…
The East Asian Challenge for Democracy
The rise of China, along with problems of governance in democratic countries, has reinvigorated the theory of political meritocracy. But what is the theory of political meritocracy and how can it set standards for evaluating political progress (and regress)? To help answer these questions, this volume gathers a series of commissioned research papers from an interdisciplinary group of leading philosophers, historians and social scientists. The res…
Zhou History and Historiography
Xinian is a recently published bamboo manuscript from the collection of Qinghua (Tsinghua) University. It is the lengthiest, most detailed historical text unearthed in recent decades. The text narrates major events from the history of the state of Chu, its rivals, and its allies from the beginning of the Western Zhou period to the early fourth century bce. In this introductory article I argue the following: first, both the language and the conten…
Ideology of Power and Power of Ideology in Early China
Ideology of Power and Power of Ideology in Early China explores ancient Chinese political thought during the centuries surrounding the formation of the empire in 221 BCE. The individual chapters examine the ideology and practices of legitimation, views of rulership, conceptualizations of ruler-minister relations, economic thought, and the bureaucratic administration of commoners. The contributors analyze the formation of power relations from vari…
A “Total War”? Rethinking Military Ideology in the Book of Lord Shang
The Book of Lord Shang , commonly identified as a major work of the so-called Legalist school, is also an important, albeit much neglected treatise in the history of Chinese military thought. Beyond specific recommendations concerning both defensive and offensive warfare, the book presents a coherent view that the state should restructure its socioeconomic and cultural policies in order to turn every man into a valiant soldier. The book epitomize…
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