Liang Cai 
Witchcraft and the Rise of the First Confucian Empire 

Finalist for the 2015 Best First Book in the History of Religions presented by the American Academy of Religion


Winner of the 2014 Academic Award for Excellence presented by Chinese Historians in the United States



When did Confucianism become the reigning political ideology of imperial China? A pervasive narrative holds it was during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han dynasty (141–87 BCE). In this book, Liang Cai maintains that such a date would have been too early and provides a new account of this transformation. A hidden narrative in Sima Qian’s
The Grand Scribe’s Records (Shi ji) shows that Confucians were a powerless minority in the political realm of this period. Cai argues that the notorious witchcraft scandal of 91–87 BCE reshuffled the power structure of the Western Han bureaucracy and provided Confucians an opportune moment to seize power, evolve into a new elite class, and set the tenor of political discourse for centuries to come.

Table of Content

List of Charts and Tables

Acknowledgments



Introduction



1. Minority as the Protagonists: Revisiting
Ru儒 (Confucians) and Their Colleagues under Emperor Wu (141–87 BCE) of the Han




Ru, a Minority Group

Sources of the Myth



2. A Class Merely on Paper: A Study of “The Collective Biographies of
Ru” in
The Grand Scribe’s Records (
Shi ji 史記)




Ru Identity Suppressed by Conflicts

Transforming “
Ru” into Confucians

Redefining the Principles of Hierarchy



3. An Archeology of Interpretive Schools of the Five Classics in the Western Han Dynasty



Fragmented Scholarly Lineages

Revising Sima Qian

The Emergence and Proliferation of Interpretive Schools

Continuity or Disruption

Locating the Turning Point



4. A Reshuffle of Power: Witchcraft Scandal and the Birth of a New Class



A Fundamental Disjunction

The Rise of
Ru Officials

Witchcraft Scandal and the Birth of a New Class



5. Begin in the Middle: Who Entrusted
Ru with Political Power?



Huo Guang’s Dictatorship and
Ru Discourse

Techniques of the Classics (
jingshu 經術) and Legitimacy of the Throne


Ru Officials under Huo Guang and Emperor Xuan

Who Entrusted
Ru with Political Power?



Conclusion


Ru before the Rise of the
Ru Empire

Recruitment System of the Han Empire Revisited



Appendix: Major Official Titles of the Western Han Dynasty

Notes

Bibliography

Index

About the author

Liang Cai is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Arkansas.