The Destruction of the Medieval Chinese Aristocracy.

Intro -- The Destruction of the Medieval Chinese Aristocracy -- Contents -- List of Figures -- Acknowledgments -- Conventions -- Map of Tang China -- Introduction -- The Transformation of Medieval Elites -- Tomb Epitaphs as a Historical Source -- 1. The Bureaucratic Aristocracy of Medieval China -- Clan Lists and the Classification of the Great Clans -- The Demographic Expansion of the Medieval Aristocracy -- The Geographic Dispersal of Great Clan Descendants -- Bureaucratized Aristocrats -- Conclusion -- 2. The Geography of Power -- Localizing Elites -- Capital Elites -- National Elites in the Provinces -- Other Elite Migratory Pathways -- Conclusion -- 3. The Capital Elite Marriage Network -- Reconstructing Patrilines -- Localizing Patrilines -- Geographic Distribution and Size of the Late Tang Political Elite -- The Social Landscape of the Capitals -- Marriage Networks and Social Capital -- Conclusion -- 4. The Late Tang Provinces -- The Late Tang Provincial System and the Hebei Autonomous Provinces -- Recentralization after the Xianzong Restoration -- The Tang Political Oligarchy and the Provinces -- Social Mobility in Provincial Governments -- Provincial Cultures -- Conclusion -- 5. Huang Chao and the Destruction of the Medieval Aristocracy -- Chang'an under Huang Chao -- Devastation in Luoyang and the Provinces -- The Demise of the Tang Elite -- The Survivors and the New Structure of Power -- Conclusion -- Appendix A: Guide to the Accompanying Database -- Appendix B: Estimating the Total Size of the Late Tang Capital Elite -- Appendix C: Sources of Ninth-Century Excavated Epitaphs -- Bibliography -- Personal Name Index -- General Index -- HARVARD-YENCHING INSTITUTE MONOGRAPH SERIES.

Historians have long been perplexed by the complete disappearance of the medieval Chinese aristocracy by the tenth century--the "great clans" that had dominated China for centuries. In this book, Nicolas Tackett resolves the enigma of their disappearance, using new, digital methodologies to analyze a dazzling array of sources. Tackett systematically mines thousands of funerary biographies excavated in recent decades--most of them never before examined by scholars--while taking full advantage of the explanatory power of Geographic Information System (GIS) methods and social network analysis. Tackett supplements these analyses with extensive anecdotes culled from epitaphs, prose literature, and poetry, bringing to life women and men who lived a millennium in the past. The Destruction of the Medieval Chinese Aristocracy demonstrates that the great Tang aristocratic families adapted to the social, economic, and institutional transformations of the seventh and eighth centuries far more successfully than previously believed. Their political influence collapsed only after a large number were killed during three decades of extreme violence following Huang Chao's sack of the capital cities in 880 CE. 2015 James Breasted Prize, American Historical Association.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2024. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.