This book brings together studies from Chin-shing Huang's decades-long research into Confucius temples that individually and collectively consider Confucianism as religion. It offers keen insights into Confucius temples and their significance in the intertwined intellectual, political, social, and religious histories of imperial China.
This book counters the conventional narrative of state formation, which overlooks the fact that state bureaucracies in East Asia had emerged 1,000 years earlier than in Europe. It argues that state formation in Korea, Japan, Vietnam occurred through emulation of China-the hegemon with a civilizational influence-not in direct competition with it.
Why and when does China exercise restraint-and how does this aspect of Chinese statecraft challenge the assumptions of international relations theory? Chin- Hao Huang argues that a rising power's aspirations for acceptance provide a key rationale for refraining from coercive measures.