Faith, Myth, and Reason in Han China

Michael Loewe's book is a 2005 reprint of the 1982 original edition. Although it is still usable, I felt that his explanations were often lacking. Loewe aims, in this short book, to introduce the general reader to the religious, social, and political thought of the Han Dynasty. That's a lot of territory to cover, and to make it understandable to the modern Western reader requires analytical thinking, clear writing, and careful definition of terms. This is where Loewe falls short; indefinite and vague, Loewe seems to be so immersed in China that he never quite manages to come up for air.

If you're looking at this title, you've probably been led here from someplace else. Okay, I didn't mean that to sound as trivial as it came out. What I meant was: you probably already have a certain level of interest and/or familiarity with ancient China, and now you're wondering how much this book is likely to add to your knowledge.To begin with, the basics: that which you probably already know about. For example, the main channels of Chinese thought (Confucianism, Legalism, Taoism, blah blah), the concepts of Yin and Yang, the Five Elements, etc. [And if you do not already know about these things, I will caution you right here, this book will not be a good place for you to start.] Fortunately, this is only about fifteen percent of the text, so you will not be wasting much time in that regard.Next, for the esoterica: that which you do not really care to know about, (unless you are a true afficionado, in which case this book would probably not be substantial enough for you). These are things like the type of turtle that provided the best oracle bones, the proper type of yarrow stalks for divining the I Ching, the precise details of ancient burial rites, etc. Unfortunately, this is about sixty to sixty five percent of the text, so you quite likely will be wasting some time in this regard.And finally, that nebulous category of things you may or may not find of interest in rounding out your knowledge. This of course would be different for each reader. In my case, just as one example, I found quite perceptive the author's observation that the two most denigrated dynasties of ancient China, the short-lived Qin and equally short-lived Xin (under Wang Mang), actually contributed more than the long-lived Han to the future organization of imperial government as well to providing the ritual legitimacy for sustaining imperial rule. This, what I would call the potentially useful category, comprises the remaining twenty to twenty five percent.The bad news is that since all these categories are mixed together, there is no way to pre-isolate the potentially useful. You pretty much have to plow through the entire text. The good news is that the text is relatively brief. My recommendation would be not to buy this book (unless, oddly enough, you are one of those afficionados, as it seems to have an excellent bibliography of primary sources), but to find a library copy and take a few days to skim it.

Michael Loewe does an attempt to unveil the mysteries of the Han-dynasty. This is not an easy task, but Loewe succedes in an wellordered presentation of the ideas, mythes and thoughts in the magnificient Han-dynasty. Many of the fundamental ideas and imaginations in the cultural history of China comes from this period. It was also a time when different strands merge togther - all this Loewe tries to explain in a well written manner. Chapter two and three are important contributions to the religious thought - not only in the Han-dynasty, but also as a firm ground for later religious ideas and behavior in China.