Ts'ao P'i Transcendent

Ts’ao P’i Transcendent: The Political Culture of Dynasty-Founding in China at the End of the Han is a book written by Howard L. Goodman and released in 1998. It analyses the foundation of Wei by Cao Pi.

Official description
Analyses the foundation of the San-kuo Wei Dynasty by Ts'ao P'i in 220 CE, using the main historical accounts, a wide range of religious and philosophical writings, epigraphical records, and above all, the records contained in the commentaries to Ch'en Shou's San-kuo chih by the fifth century writer P'ei Sung-chih.

Chapters

 * INTRODUCTION TO STRATEGY AND SUBJECT MATTER
 * Writing Strategy
 * The Historical Subject of the Matter


 * PART I - RULING AUTHORITY AND LEGITIMACY BEFORE THE HAN-WEI TRANSITION
 * Chapter One. THE EARLY CULTURE OF AUTHORITY AND LEGITIMATION AND THE CH’IN AND HAN MODELS
 * Modern Approaches to the Study of Authority and Legitimation
 * Developments in the Ancient Period: Revelation, Divination, Philosophy
 * The Culture of Legitimation as a Tool of Dynasty-Founding
 * Chapter Two. STEPS TOWARDS DYNASTY-FOUNDING: TS’AO AND SSU-MA FAMILY, LOCAL, AND NATIONAL POWER
 * The Ts’ao and Ssu-ma Families: Northern Military Leaders
 * Setting the Stage for a New Authority and Legitimacy


 * PART II - NOVEMBER 19 TO DECEMBER 11: A MESS OF INK
 * Chapter Three. NOVEMBER 19: AN ANNOUNCEMENT IN THE HAN IMPERIAL CULT
 * Wei Chi’s Text of the Emperor’s Shrine Speech
 * A Scholar Specializing in Antique Scripts and and Legitimation Texts
 * Chapter Four. UNDATED: CELESTIAL-MASTER TAOISTS DELIVER A PRO-TS’AO P’I ORACLE
 * “Hsien-ti chuan”
 * Chang Lu and the Five-Peck, or Celestial-Master, Taoists
 * Ts’ao P’i Accepts the Oracle-Text and Its Prediction
 * Chapter Five. NOVEMBER 20-22: A CORE GROUP OF LEGITIMATION EXPERTS
 * Former Southerners at the Ts’ao Court
 * Eminent Northerners and the Ying-ch’uan Contingent
 * The Core Group Explains Oracle-Text
 * The Testimony o f Crucial Specialists
 * Chapter Six. NOVEMBER 23-24: SSU-MA I’S PHILOSOPHY OF POLITICAL ACTION AND TS’AO P’I'S HERO-REFUSERS
 * Landed General, Local Defender, and Military Ritualist
 * Chapter Seven. NOVEMBER 25-29: TS’AO P’I’S EMBLEMS OF TRANSCENDENT RULE
 * The Han Emperor Makes an Excuse
 * Ts’ao P’i Castigates the Core Group
 * A Chuang-tzu Emblem of the Transcendent-Refuser
 * Ts’ao P’i Calls upon Divine Omens
 * Collecting and Alluding: Literature as Political Jousting
 * Chapter Eight. NOVEMBER 30 - DECEMBER 7: RITUAL CHRONOLOGY LINKS THE TS’AO HOUSE WITH CHUAN HSÜ AND THE YELLOW EMPEROR
 * Tung Pa’s Theory of a Chuan Hsü Calendar
 * A Yellow Emperor Genealogy
 * An I-ching Pep-Talk
 * Chapter Nine. DECEMBER 7-10: THE HIGHEST OFFICIALS AND THE CORE GROUP FACILITATE THE ACCESSION
 * The Three Excellencies
 * The Ethics of Political Sharing
 * Philosophy, Souls of Deceased Rulers, and Omens


 * PART III - REVERBERATIONS
 * Chapter Ten. DECEMBER 11: THE UNFOLDING OF TS’AO-WEI COURT RITUAL
 * December 11: The Han Emperor’s Invocation
 * Ts’ao P’i’s (Wen-ti’s) Ceremonies and Proposals for Court Ritual
 * Trouble Ahead for Wen-ti and the Dynasty
 * Chapter Eleven. THE STELE OF 221 A.D.: TS’AO TS’AO’S GENERALS SIGN ON TO THE NEW DYNASTY
 * The Stele at Fan-yang
 * Translation and Provenance of the Stele Text
 * Ts’ao P’i’s Military Underpinning
 * Gesture and Historiography
 * CONCLUSION
 * Pioneers in the Study of Dynastic Legitimation
 * APPENDIX: THE RELIABILITY OF THE SOURCES
 * BIBLIOGRAPHY
 * INDEX
 * TABLES