Myth and the Making of History

Sheds new light on the relationship between myth and history in ancient China and the central role they have played in shaping early Chinese thought.

Myth and the Making of History examines the relationship between myth and history in early China, a topic that has been explored by American paleographer and scholar of ancient China Sarah Allan throughout her career. Allan has worked at a crucial and sensitive intersection, where myth and history collide at the very heart of China's origin story. Her work has created an intellectual space in which the disciplines of philosophy, history, anthropology, archeology, philology, and literature have come together, helping to change the way scholars conceive of historical patterns in China's past. In Myth and the Making of History, eleven senior and emerging scholars, from both China and the West, respond to the intellectual challenge raised by Allan's theoretical model of analysis of mythologized and historical figures (and even dynasties) that have intrigued scholars for generations and play a central role in the Chinese historical imagination. The book will be of great interest to all scholars and students of China-of whatever level and discipline-and, indeed, those concerned with other early civilizations as well.

Constance A. Cook is Professor of Chinese at Lehigh University; Christopher J. Foster is an independent scholar; and Susan Blader is Associate Professor Emerita of Asian and Middle Eastern Languages and Literatures at Dartmouth College. Together they are also the coeditors of Bone, Bronze, and Bamboo: Unearthing Early China with Sarah Allan and Metaphor and Meaning: Thinking through Early China with Sarah Allan, both published by SUNY Press.