Crisis and Conflict in Han China, 104 BC to AD 9

This book, first published in 1974, studies the historical development of China during the Western Han dynasty (202 BC-AD 9), a time of great intellectual, religious and political change. The struggle between Reformists and Modernists is analysed using texts contemporary to the time, and this struggle was a key point in Chinese history, leading as it did to enormous change, including to economics and foreign policy.

Michael Loewe is Professor Emeritus of Chinese Studies at the University of Cambridge, UK. Trained initially in Classics, he is one of the most prominent scholars of Chinese history and culture. Loewe has also served as the Director of the Needham Research Institute in Cambridge, UK, which is devoted to the study of the history of East-Asian science and technology. He is author of a dozen books on early China, and the co-editor of China's Early Empires: A Reappraisal (2010) and The Cambridge History of Ancient China (1986).

1. The Grand Beginning - 104 BC 2. The Case of Witchcraft in 91 BC 3. The Grand Inquest - 81 BC 4. The Fall of the House of Huo - 68-66 BC 5. K'uang Heng and the Reform of Religious Practices - 31 BC 6. The Office of Music - c. 114-7 BC 7. The Punishment of Chih-Chih - 36 BC 8. The Reign of Ai ti - 7-1 BC 9. The Support for Wang Mang - AD 9