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Local Resistance in Early Medieval Chinese Historiography and the Problem of Religious Overinterpretation
- Author(s):
- Grégoire Espesset (see profile)
- Date:
- 2014
- Group(s):
- Historiography, History, Religious Studies
- Subject(s):
- Historiography, Critical theory, Chinese--Religion, Methodology, Hermeneutics, China, Middle Ages, Area studies, History, Deviant behavior
- Item Type:
- Article
- Tag(s):
- overinterpretation, interpretation, Critical historiography, Chinese religions, Early medieval China, Sinology, Deviance
- Permanent URL:
- http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/grma-qt40
- Abstract:
- Official Chinese historiography is a treasure trove of information on local resistance to the centralised empire in early medieval China (third to sixth century). Sinologists specialised in the study of Chinese religions commonly reconstruct the religious history of the era by interpreting some of these data. In the process, however, the primary purpose of the historiography of local resistance is often overlooked, and historical interpretation easily becomes ‘overinterpretation’—that is, ‘fabricating false intensity’ and ‘seeing intensity everywhere’, as French historian Paul Veyne proposed to define the term. Focusing on a cluster of historical anecdotes collected in the standard histories of the four centuries under consideration, this study discusses the supposedly ‘religious’ nature of some of the data they contain.
- Metadata:
- xml
- Published as:
- Journal article
- Status:
- Published
- Last Updated:
- 4 years ago
- License:
- All Rights Reserved
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