Richard von Glahn

The most striking feature of Wutong, the preeminent God of Wealth in late imperial China, was the deity's diabolical character. Wutong was perceived not as a heroic figure or paragon of noble qualities but rather as an embodiment of humanity's basest vices, greed and lust, a maleficent demon who preyed on the weak and vulnerable. In The Sinister Way, Richard von Glahn examines the emergence and evolution of the Wutong cult within the larger framework of the historical development of Chinese popular or vernacular religion—as opposed to institutional religions such as Buddhism or Daoism. Von Glahn's study, spanning three millennia, gives due recognition to the morally ambivalent and demonic aspects of divine power within the common Chinese religious culture.

The Divine and the Demonic in Chinese Religious Culture

The Sinister Way

Marc Van De Mieroop

Kris Lane

Bonnie G. Smith

A Global History

World in the Making

The first comprehensive study of China's economic development across 3,000 years of history to be published in English.

From Antiquity to the Nineteenth Century

An Economic History of China

Debin Ma

A comprehensive survey of Chinese economic history from the pre-imperial era to 1800 from an international team of leading experts.

The Cambridge Economic History of China: Volume 1, To 1800

University Richard Von Glahn

Annotation A survey of Chinese religion from 1000 BC to the beginning of the 20th century, as well as a study of the ambiguitues of divine power in Chinese religion.

Two-volume primary source reader for use in conjuction with: Crossroads and cultures / Bonnie G. Smith ... [et al.].

A History of the World's Peoples

Sources of Crossroads and Cultures, Volume I: To 1450

Paul Jakov Smith

This volume seeks to study the connections between two well-studied epochs in Chinese history: the mid-imperial era of the Tang and Song (ca. 800-1270) and the late imperial era of the late Ming and Qing (1550-1900). Both eras are seen as periods of explosive change, particularly in economic activity, characterized by the emergence of new forms of social organization and a dramatic expansion in knowledge and culture. The task of establishing links between these two periods has been impeded by a lack of knowledge of the intervening Mongol Yuan dynasty (1271-1368). This historiographical "black hole" has artificially interrupted the narrative of Chinese history and bifurcated it into two distinct epochs. This book aims to restore continuity to that historical narrative by filling the gap between mid-imperial and late imperial China. The contributors argue that the Song-Yuan-Ming transition (early twelfth through the late fifteenth century) constitutes a distinct historical period of transition and not one of interruption and devolution. They trace this transition by investigating such subjects as contemporary impressions of the period, the role of the Mongols in intellectual life, the economy of Jiangnan, urban growth, neo-Confucianism and local society, commercial publishing, comic drama, and medical learning.

Richard von Glahn

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