Publisher Description

The Qianlong emperor, who dominated the religious and political life of eighteenth-century China, was in turn dominated by elaborate ritual prescriptions. These texts determined what he wore and ate, how he moved, and above all how he performed the yearly Grand Sacrifices. In Of Body and Brush, Angela Zito offers a stunningly original analysis of the way ritualizing power was produced jointly by the throne and the official literati who dictated these prescriptions.

Forging a critical cultural historical method that challenges traditional categories of Chinese studies, Zito shows for the first time that in their performance, the ritual texts embodied, literally, the metaphysics upon which imperial power rested. By combining rule through the brush (the production of ritual texts) with rule through the body (mandated performance), the throne both exhibited its power and attempted to control resistance to it. Bridging Chinese history, anthropology, religion, and performance and cultural studies, Zito brings an important new perspective to the human sciences in general.

Author Biography

Angela Zito is associate professor of anthropology and religious studies, director of the Religious Studies Program, and co-director of the Center for Religion and Media, all the New York University.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations Prologue: Clothing, Carrying, and Codifying Abbreviations Introduction Pt. 1: Ruling Boundaries 1: Signifying Emperorship: Of Portraits and Princes 2: Method, Monarchy, and Ritual Pt. 2: Text: Editing the Ritual Corpus 3: Classifying Li: Time and Agency 4: Writing the Ritualist Metaphysics: Self and World Pt. 3: Performance: The Ritualizing Body Inscribes 5: Sacrificial Spaces: Contextualizing the City 6: Cosmic Preparation: Orders of Knowledge 7: Filial Ceremony: Centering 8: The Politics of Boundary: Inscription and Incorporation Notes Glossary of Chinese Characters References Index

Long Description

Compelling and dramatic insights into crucial moments inside the cockpit. Discover the most sensational air disasters of recent years. Transcripts of actual black box recordings of conversations between captains, their crew, and air traffic control on the ground reveal the final moments during which life-and-death decisions were made. In some cases, disaster is averted; in others, the results are fatal. Every one of these real-life stories contains heroism and terror, and shows the sheer professionalism of those involved when under extreme pressure. They enable the reader to get right inside the cockpit and relive what happened, minute-by-minute, second-by-second. * Includes Air France Flight 4590, the famous Concorde disaster in July 2000

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