Ritual Performance in Early Chinese Thought by Thomas Radice - 9781350359000

Ritual Performance in Early Chinese ThoughtA Dramaturgical Perspective\nAuthor(s): Thomas Radice\nFormat: Paperback\nPublisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, United Kingdom\nImprint: Bloomsbury Academic\nISBN-13: 9781350359000, 978-1350359000\nSynopsis\nExamining early Chinese ritual discourse during the Warring States and early Western Han Periods, this book reveals how performance became a fundamental feature of ritual and politics in early China. Through a dramaturgical lens, Thomas Radice explores the extent to which performer/spectator relationships influenced all aspects of early Chinese religious, ethical, and political discourse.\n\nArguing that the Confucians conceived ritual as primarily a dramaturgical matter, this book demonstrates not only that theatricality was necessary for expression and deception in a community of spectators, but also how a theatrical presence ultimately became essential to all forms of public life in early China. Thomas Radice illuminates previously un.