Many of the basic characteristics of Imperial China took shape during the Han period (202 BC-AD 220). This book, first published in 1982, is a key contribution to our understanding of China¿s cultural history. It explains the conceptual background of many of the artefacts of China¿s past, and calls on the written word of the philosopher, poet and historian, and on cultural treasures revealed by archaeologists.

First published in 1979, in Ways to Paradise Michael Loewe, an internationally recognised authority on Han China, assesses a wealth of an archaeological evidence in an attempt to uncover the attitudes of the pre-Buddhist Chinese to matters relating to death and hereafter. Dr Loewe examines in particular three major subjects of Han art and a recently found silk painting from Central China dating from around 168 BC; the numerous bronze mirrors of the so-called TLV pattern that came into fashion at the beginning of the Christian era, and which are especially rich in cosmological symbolism; and the representations of the Queen Mother of the West which appear as a leading motif of Chinese art from perhaps a century later. These Dr Loewe sets within a framework of contemporary literature and historical incident to create a wonderfully vivid picture of religious life and thought in this early and fascinating period of Chinese history which was to contribute so much to later developments in Far Eastern Philosophy, religion and art.

Book is used and has been withdrawn from service from a Library. Book has a Library Binding and the usual Library Stamps, Stickers, Card Holder, Library Markings. May or May Not have a Dust Jacket.

First published in 1974. This volume illustrates the growth of two attitudes towards government in China during the first century B.C., the one progressive, realist and forward looking, the other conservative, idealist and harking back to the past. It demonstrates the close relationship that existed between political decisions, intellectual policy and the choice of religious observances of state, whilst showing how personal ambitions and the intrigues of the palace were intimately involved with the interplay of these two basis attitudes.