Liang Cai. Witchcraft and the Rise of the First Confucian Empire

While the immensity of the Han Empire and its complex history have not been lost to historians of China and the world, in American or European academic circles in the past 50 years, only a couple dozen historians have been trained in the political and social history of the Han; of these, but a handful have made it to positions of prominence in the field. Given the sparse arena for discussing this essential history in Western circles, it is refreshing when a talented historian from China joins the ranks of Han historians in the West, and, with one fell swoop, rekindles debate about the core structure and mechanisms by which certain trends in Han governance came to be. Liang Cai's book, covering a period of about 100 years from Emperor Wu's reign (beginning in 141 b.c.e.) through that of Emperor Yuan (ending in 33 b.c.e.), drastically and persuasively revises assumptions about the iconic reign of Han Emperor Wu and his role as the pivotal figure who welcomed and inaugurated Confucian officials and their influence at court. By using quantitative and qualitative methods to compare the backgrounds of high officials during the time of Emperor Wu to those of officials prominent during the period of three emperors immediately after him, Cai is able to document a significant sociopolitical transformation. Counter to the standard narrative about Emperor Wu's favorable policies toward the recruitment of ru (Confucians), Cai shows that the face of imperial officialdom was changed not during Emperor Wu's reign, but after, in the wake of a vicious witch hunt involving the extermination of tens of thousands of court figures and high officials. Sweeping clean the ranks of officials from entrenched families, the witchcraft scandal created a power vacuum that allowed for a fundamental transition in rulership (the rise of the regent, Huo Guang, and his allies) as well as the rise of an alternative means of acquiring government office.

Aesthetics · Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · China · Emperor · Empire · Literature · Narrative · Period (music) · Political science · Politics · Reign · Chinese history and philosophy · Classics · History · Law