Hereditary Succession and Abdication -- Legends of Dynasty Transitions in Ancient China

Author: Elan (Author)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-01-01
Features: Professor Elan is a scholar with unique and unconventional thinking. She was deeply influenced by the School of Historical Doubt in her early years and was passionate about the theories and methods of structuralism. This book is a revised first edition based on her doctoral dissertation, which she wrote under the guidance of the renowned Chinese-American scholar Professor Chen Shixiang at the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures, University of California, Berkeley, in the 1970s. In this work, although she, like the scholars of the School of Historical Doubt, approached the pre-Qin period and ancient historical legends with a bold skeptical attitude, she did not stop at simple verification or refutation. Instead, she skillfully drew on the structuralist theories and methods of Lévi-Strauss, examining the historical legends of Yao, Shun, Yu, and Qi, as well as the establishment of the Shang and Zhou dynasties in classical Chinese texts, as historical outcomes of a conceptual movement. This allowed her to reveal the underlying deep structures hidden in the legends and reveal the true nature of history. Professor Elan from Darmouth University is a long-time friend of mine. In Western sinology, she has gained a reputation. A few years ago, her book The Oracle Bone Enigma was introduced to China by Dr. Wang Tao and was later published in China as well. Chinese academia has become increasingly familiar with her, but she remains relatively unknown for her highly acclaimed research on historical legends. Grateful for her invitation, I asked Ms. Sun Xinfei, a colleague, and Dr. Zhou Yan, a disciple, to collaborate on translating her revised book Hereditary Rule and Abdication: Theories of Dynastic Succession in Ancient China, which is now completed and ready for publication. She asked me to write a few words for the preface, and I am truly honored.